Chapter Four

“Because I’ve known you for twenty-eight years,” Briley said in a low voice. “And I know that the only reason you bashed Trevor’s head in that night was because he was bashing your head in, and it wasn’t the first time he’d done that. It wasn’t even the hundredth. I saw your face when I got to your house, remember, I saw what he’d done to you before you put him down like the feral dog that he was.”

“Briley –”

“I’m begging you, please don’t talk about this anymore. I can’t – I can’t keep going back over it all in my head, thinking about Gideon and the things he forced on me. I have to start to look forward, not behind me. If I don’t keep my eyes nailed on the horizon, I’m going to drown in the memories, and I can’t let him take one more thing from me. Do you understand what I mean?”

“I’m sorry,” Cheryl whispered. “I’m so sorry. If I could take everything back that he did to you, I would. I’d serve jail time for killing Trevor and us burying him in that quarry, and I’d do it standing on my head if it meant that Gideon never got his claws into you.”

“I know. It’s OK.” Briley gave a small laugh. “Well, it’s not OK yet… but it will be.”

Cheryl was quiet. “You’re the strongest person I know, Bee. You always have been. You’ve always stepped up and protected others, no matter the risk or cost to you. I’m lucky to have you as my friend. I just wish – I wish that you had an easier time being my friend.”

“It’s the easiest thing in the world, Cee,” Briley said simply. “I love being your friend and no part of that is a hardship.”

“I’m sorry for what you went through.”

Briley sighed. “Me too. But it kept you safe, and now you’re free to start again. Nobody will be able to hold Trevor’s mysterious disappearance over your head ever again, so that makes it worth it.”

“Are you free, too?”

“Not yet. I’m working on it.”

“So… Pennsylvania?”

Briley smiled and ran her hand through her thick blonde hair. “You know what? Yeah, I think so. I mean, why not? I’m in love with the mountains and I love being this close to you for weekend visits and Christmas, so maybe I should just go for it. I can find a nice town with views of the Appalachians, and I can look at some houses, maybe even have the guys help me settle in, if they don’t have to rush back to Denver and I find something that I love in my budget. I’ve spent the past two years fighting like hell just to get through the day on nerves and adrenaline, so maybe I can make things a bit easier on myself now.”

“You deserve some easy.”

“Ain’t that the truth.” She glanced over at the table and saw that the waitress was just bringing a tray of food. “Hey, listen, my lunch is here. I’ll call you tomorrow, OK?”

“Take care, Bee. Stay safe.”

“You know it. You too, Cee.”

Briley disconnected the burner and then suddenly, she felt absolutely exhausted. OK sure, what she’d said to Cheryl was totally true: for the past two years, she’d been stressed to the eyeballs worrying about keeping Cheryl safe from Gideon. Add the constant threats that he’d made that whole time, the sexual assaults that he’d carried out, the taunts and degrading words uttered by Gideon as he’d forced his cock into her mouth and her body, and she was stretched beyond endurance… and all of that was before she grappled with the more recent facts.

One fact was that she’d killed a man in cold blood, maybe more than one if any of the Guardians that she’d hit over the head on her way to rescue Iris/ Elle from the basement had actually died because of her actions. Another bunch of facts: she’d walked away from her job, she’d left her life in Walton, she’d sold her beloved house; she’d taken off in a van with a bunch of MC guys that she’d met the day before the grand assault in the Garden, she’d been complicit in everything that they’d done that night. Now here she was, seven states away from the scene of all the bloodshed and madness and chaos – and she was casually contemplating going house-hunting with two guys who were more or less strangers.

It all washed over her all at once, just how far she was from where she’d been less than two weeks ago. Yes, it was true that Gideon had been a fucking asshole who’d had it all coming, as had his cruel Guardians, and running away had been the only logical thing to do… but it was a lot to get past in a short period of time. It was a hell of a lot.

That was when it happened again, as it had happened so often over the past two years: without warning she was back in Gideon’s office, down on her knees, his hands gripping her head, his repulsive cock in her mouth or deep in her body, her gasping for breath as she choked and fought down bile.

She felt him in her, all around her; he was so huge and terrifying that he blocked out the sun, the air, the sky, the whole damn world. He’d so totally commanded her for so long, it felt like he’d become a part of her, a part that she despised and didn’t know how to cut out of her. He was like a cancer and she was beginning to think that she’d forever be afflicted with his malignancy.

When Briley looked up again, Dux and Drake were standing in front of her, wearing matching expressions of barely-concealed anger. It was one of the first times that she’d seen them angry – even that night at the Garden, they’d looked more focused than anything.

Now, though… now they looked furious and Briley wasn’t too far gone into her hazy fear to see how this totally kicked the hotness factor up about twenty-six notches apiece. Those eyes were a stormy dark blue, those full lips pressed together in set lines, those muscular bodies huge and hard and dangerous.

“What’s going on, babe?” Dux asked in a low tone. “What’s wrong with Cheryl?”

“Nothing,” she said in a small voice. “She’s fine, I promise.”

“So it’s you,” Drake said. “You look terrified, darlin’.”

“I – I do?”

“Damn right you do,” Dux said. “It was as clear as day from all the way across the room. What’s happened? What are you afraid of?”

“I – nothing,” she repeated. “I was just thinking about –”