My eyes fluttered open. My body aching in places that I wasn’t even sure I knew existed, and the pain in my head, it was very real. I groaned, rolling over, wanting so badly to just make it go away.

Why wouldn’t it go away!

“Hey,” a soft deep voice whispered, making me jolt back and the memories came flooding in.

I was with Eric. He wasn’t the man I thought he was. He wanted to hurt me. To sell me. He kept giving me those pills, and I stopped fighting him. I’d turned back into a junkie, just wanting the pain and the noise to go away.

The noise!

I could hear it in my ears, it was buzzing like there was a bee flying around my head. I tried to grab it, ending up with fistfuls of my hair in my hands.

“Sugar!” the voice hissed, and I stilled. They grabbed my wrists and gently pulled them away from my head, my fingers slowly becoming detangled from my hair until my arms were pressed down by my sides.

It wasn’t him.

Not Eric.

Someone else.

Eric didn’t call me Sugar.

Only the club called me Sugar.

I forced my eyes open, my eyelids so heavy I was straining just to move them, my breathing heavy.

“Hey, it’s okay. I’m here.”

Tears instantly sprung to my eyes, and I let out a loud sob.

It was Wrench.

My eyes were blurred, but I could see his face, his body, and that damn cap that he never went anywhere without. That cap that I absolutely fucking loved. He didn’t say anything else, just sat silently, his hand slipping into mine and our fingers intertwining. It reminded me of the first time he’d sat with me as I broke down. Only this time, I wanted his touch. My head was in a daze, and I needed to physically feel him there with me, I needed to know that he wasn’t going to leave me.

He held a glass of water up in front of me, and I sipped at it greedily, my throat raw and scratchy.

“Just a little bit,” Wrench warned. “Or you’ll make yourself sick.”

He pulled the glass away, and I pouted as an uncontrollable tremor went through my body. With Wrench beside me, the noise soon faded into the background, the sound of his deep masculine voice, so much more powerful. The other symptoms, though, they were still there. My mind was starting to catch on and piece together what had happened, flashes of memories sending chills through me. The effects of the drugs wearing off and leaving me with the physical withdrawals, though they were just as debilitating. My hands trembled as I searched for Wrench’s hands, the warmth of his skin soothing the chill that was settling over my skin.

“You’ll get through this,” he said simply. “And I’ll be here with you.”

Every part of me believed him.

There was no doubt in my mind that Wrench would stand with me.

It was a setback. Like I’d made it to the edge of the swimming pool, just to be picked up and tossed into the deep end again. But I had more than one reason to fight and come back stronger than before.

Wrench was my shelter from the storm that raged inside me, the thing that kept me grounded when I felt as though I was being swept away.

Then there was my baby girl. Harlyn was the reason I kept fighting to begin with, the reason I kept moving forward. I was on a mission to prove to her that anything was possible, no matter how much people tried to break you down.

I may not have believed that myself for a long time, but I would stand my ground now.

With her helping me move forward and him by my side, there was no way I could lose.

 

 

Sugar was in the hospital for a little over a day before her vitals returned to normal. The large amount of drugs he’d given her was almost like a fucking cocktail of death. It wasn’t just ‘Manic’ he’d forced into her system, she’d also had sedatives and other pills. Basically, Eric wanted to make her dopey, addicted and horny. All things that would appeal to her new owner.

Unfortunately, while she survived the lethal mixture, it had fucked even further with the balance that she’d fought so hard to find in her head. She was having nightmares which would result in panic attacks three or four times a night, which meant that neither of us was getting any sleep.

The days weren’t much better. I would find her sitting, gazing out into space with that blank look on her face and it scared the fucking life out of me, thinking maybe she’d taken something.

Harlyn wasn’t coping much better with seeing her mom so broken, she’d started talking back at school to her teachers and having arguments with her friends. Then she would come home and just curl up beside Sugar on the bed, and the two of them would stay like that for hours. It wasn’t fucking healthy, not to mention the fact that we were now also trying to cut off the fucking man who’d bought her—he either wanted her or he wanted his money back. One hundred thousand dollars.

Never a fucking dull moment.

I was sitting in church a week after bringing Sugar home, and my stomach was in knots. I was about to ask the club for permission to do something, and I wasn’t sure just how Optimus would feel about it.

“Anyone have business?” Op asked the table.

I took a deep breath and raised my hand. All eyes fell on me.

“Wrench, you have the floor.”

I cleared my throat and pulled my shoulders back. “I want to take Sugar away,” I said clearly, seeing the confusion set in on my brothers’ faces. “She’s not coping. Her medication isn’t working like it should, and to be honest man, I think she needs somewhere clear to get her head right again.”

Op’s jaw was set, his arms folded across his chest. “How long do you think she’ll need?”

“However long it takes,” Blizzard cut in, looking over to Op. “It could be weeks, it could be months, but you know that he’s right. She’s not doing well, and Harlyn is barely getting by, too.”

My brothers down the table nodded, it was obvious with her panic attacks and the way she simply couldn’t even smile, barely could stand being touched by anyone other than Har or me, that she needed space. She needed time to focus on what was important again. And if that time was away from the club where there wasn’t that reminder, then so be it.

Optimus sighed and reclined back in his chair. “Hurts to see her like this,” he said quietly.

Sugar and Op may never have been fully in love, but they shared a child, so they had a different kind of love between them. Optimus would always care for her and fight for her, but it was my job now to protect her and make sure that Harlyn, in a few weeks or months or however long it took, gets to have her mom back.

Sugar’s mind was delicate right now, and while the club was supportive, it was still filled with chaos at the best of times.

“You have something in mind?” Leo asked from across the table.

I nodded and pulled a pamphlet out of my back pocket, placing it on the table. “It’s in Texas. The program itself goes for a few weeks, then we just see what happens. We stay there as long as needed to get her back to a place where she’s… her again.”

I looked at each of my brothers around the table, and they all nodded in support. They knew this was what needed to be done, and they were going to support us because that’s what family fucking does.

“We’re with you,” Optimus said seriously. “We will do what we can from here. Money or whatever you need, it’s yours.”

I shook my head. “Thanks. The only thing I need is to look after her, and figure out what the hell we’re gonna do about this guy who still thinks he owns her. The only thing we can do is to try and give him back his money. And that’s gonna take some effort and time without me being caught, which is another reason why it’s best if we leave.”

My probation requirements didn’t hold me within the state, but I’d still need to get approval to leave, given that it was going to be for some time.

But that was all minor details. I didn’t care what it took, I’d fucking jump through their damn hoops and roll over if it meant giving Sugar what she needed to fight back against the trauma she’d been through.

This woman was it for me.

I was done.

She was mine, and I was hers, and I’d willingly give up my life and my freedom if it meant giving it to her.