I’M SO DONE with this fucker, I’m going to beat him to death if he doesn’t tell me where Chloe is. His face is a mess and I’m having trouble seeing him my vision is so blurred. Arms wrap around me and yank me off and I swing for that motherfucker too.
‘Dom it’s me.’ Andre’s words filter through the red mist and I huff out a tired breath, I feel like I just fought ten rounds. I stumble back and Andre takes in the scene.
‘The girls are in the van.’ I look at him with disbelief. Is it really that easy? We have her back? ‘Go,’ he tells me stepping over Patrick, going to Mike’s aid. I leave the cabin and look for the van with my gun drawn in case I come across anyone else. It feels like forever before I get the van door open.
I take in the sight before me and almost fall to my knees. Chloe scrambles on her hands and knees toward me and climbs into my arms.
‘Oh thank god you’re alive.’ She sobs in my ear. Clutching me so tight around my neck I’m almost choking.
I chuckle. ‘Babe you need to let me breathe.’ She lets go she clasps my face in between her hands.
‘Is Mike okay?’ Charity calls from further inside the van, also in tears. They’re both filthy and look like they’ve been dragged through a hedge. I can’t answer her though because I didn’t pay much attention to Mike.
‘Come on we’ll go find out.’ I take her hand —she’s shaking so hard her teeth are chattering— and we climb out. I spot she’s wearing only a t-shirt that barely covers her ass. Her eyes meet mine as I’m about to ask why she’s half naked.
‘I was in the shower when he came.’ Her eyes flit to Charity and back to me. ‘It was all I could grab,’ she explains.
As I open the door to the kitchen the first thing I notice is the pool of blood by Patricks mouth. He’s still out cold and Mike is now up on his feet untied and being tended to by Andre. Charity runs past the both of us and throws her arms around him. I take my jacket off and hand it to Chloe, and she wraps it around her waist.
I stare intently at Mike. ‘Was he alone? Have you seen anyone else?’
He looks up and shakes his head. ‘I didn’t see anyone else he completely blindsided me.’ His hand reaches up to the huge bleeding lump on his head. Chloe dashes off to the bathroom and as I go to follow her I notice her PJ pants on the floor by the counter. I close my eyes against the pain tightening my chest. That red mist lowers once more and as it descends I hear a groan at my feet.
‘You bastard’ I kick Patrick in the ribs once twice and again in the head, but it doesn’t satisfy me. As I pull my foot back aiming it at his skull Charity cries out behind me.
‘Stop please.’
‘He needs to fucking die.’ I growl at her.
‘Go.’ Andre lifts his chin telling me to go after Chloe. ‘I’ll secure him. I turn without another word and go after her. I find her scrubbing herself in the shower. I strip and go in behind her reaching for the loofah she’s using. As my hand touches hers she screams and jumps forward away from me.
‘It’s me, baby it’s just me.’ I reassure her.
Collapsing into my arms she cries silently, as her body shakes in my arms, all I can do is hold her. I want to know what he did to her, I need to know what he did, but at this moment in time I can’t ask her. This is what she needs from me. Just this and nothing more.
As I hold her, the images I have in my mind of her half naked and finding her pj bottoms on the floor in the kitchen work me over like some evil invader. I can’t get the horrible pictures out of my mind. A cry rips out from inside me, and I’m just as shocked as Chloe as she looks up into my eyes, the water cascading down her back.
‘Did he… Did he…’ I swallow the lump in my throat as I try desperately to get the words out. ‘I’m so sorry Chloe, I’m so fucking sorry.’ I squeeze her tight to my chest.
‘He didn’t rape me,’ she says so quietly I can barely hear her over the din of the water. Relief floods through me, but then she hiccups. ‘He tried. But, Charity got me out.’
‘Thank god for Charity,’ I say barely able to keep my emotions in check. ‘You need to talk about it?’ I offer but she shakes her head she isn’t ready, and honestly neither am I. I hold her tight and let her cry into my chest.
***
Chloe
Dom carries me from the bathroom straight into our room and gently lays me down on the bed.
He covers me and then tosses on his sleep shorts and t-shirt. I try to will the tears to stop falling from my eyes, but I just can’t. They’re tears of pain, and anguish and tears of happiness for this finally being over. Dom pulls me even closer and the wetness from his own tears hit my skin.
‘Baby I’m alright. We’re alright now.’ Dom says. I pull away enough to bring his face closer.
Clasping his strong jaw in my hand, I bring his mouth to mine, tenderly kissing the pain away. My lips move to his cheeks and kiss away his tears too. His hands thread through my hair and he brings my lips back to his.
‘I’m so sorry I let that bastard get to you, baby.’ He gently sucks my bottom lip into his mouth. ‘I’m so fucking sorry.’ He puts all his feelings into kissing me and I take in all that I can.
‘I love you, Dominic.’
‘I love you too.’ I look deep into his multi-coloured eyes and I see the truth that they hold. This man has been through everything for me. Put himself and the people he holds dear in danger. All to save me. I pull him in and put everything I have into kissing him, showing him how much I love him in return.
The feeling the need to wash away everything that’s happened and replace it with love and happiness, I reach down, grabbing the hem of his grey cotton shirt and pull it over his head.
‘We don’t have to do this, Chloe.’
‘I need you, Dom. I need you.’ His lips meet mine once again, but this time with vigour and a purpose. His hands caress my sides as they make their way to the place where I need him the most. He nibbles down my neck reaching his lips for my nipple. As he pulls it into his mouth he inserts a finger into my soaking wet pussy. I moan out at the sensations and my body lifts towards him.
‘I need you inside me, Dom, now.’ My gaze pleads with his. ‘Please, Dom.’ The emptiness from him removing his finger is filled only seconds later as I feel him there, rubbing my wetness back and forth, preparing to enter me. In one swift movement, he’s there my body begins to tremble. ‘Make love to me, Dominic.’ And he does. Slowly bringing me to the edge and then letting me come back down before doing it all over again. His mouths meets mine one last time before his strokes start to become frantic as he tightens within me. My hips raise up to meet his, both of us releasing at the same time.
Collapsing down on top of me, we remain there until our breathing evens and my heart rate makes it back to normal. He raises his eyes and meets mine.
‘Chloe, when this is all over with, will you marry me? Right away. No waiting.’ My heart stops. The look on his face tells me he’s for real. But seriously, who am I kidding.
‘Yes. Yes, I will.’ My heart soars as he pulls me into his arms, placing small kisses all over my forehead.
In that moment, a scary thought crosses my mind. Oh my God, the other guys that drove up.
‘Dom, there were a least two more vehicles that drove up when Charity and I were hiding out behind the shed. Did you guys find them?’
‘What? No, we didn’t find anyone else. Shit.’ He jumps out of bed and throws on some basketball shorts. The door practically slams open and then closed behind him, leaving me with only the sound of his pounding footsteps as he runs down the hall.