Chapter 28
Ensley
One of the guys, who I knew had been guarding my apartment door earlier, had dragged me out of the motel room.
“My name is Jamison, and I work with Thorn. You need to trust me right now,” I heard him say. He had his thick muscular arms wrapped tightly around my waist, trying to hold me back from running back into the room.
I wanted to go back in. I wanted to force Thorn to get out of there. We needed to leave! That was all there was on my mind. I just wanted to get out of this place with Thorn and forget about everything that had happened.
Jamison had slammed the door shut behind him on his way out, and now I couldn’t see or hear what was going on inside. For all I knew, Ryan and Thorn were in a fight, and one of them was going to be hurt. I didn’t care what happened to Ryan, I just didn’t want it to be Thorn.
“Please, just let me go back in there. I can put a stop to this,” I cried, while Jamison dragged me further and further away from the room’s door. I could sense that he was taking me towards the parked bikes.
“Miss, you really need to stop fighting me. I have my orders from Thorn, and I’m not going to let you go back in there,” Jamison said, and I finally stopped struggling. I knew I wasn’t going to get my way.
“Can I let go of you now?” he asked, and grudgingly, I nodded my head.
Jamison released his grip on me, and I stumbled back a little as I tried to steady myself.
“I didn’t think it was going to be this hard to keep you in one place,” he said, with a grin, as we stood to face each other. I wasn’t exactly in the mood for small-talk, but it was way better than being stuck inside with Ryan with his knife at my throat.
“What are they doing in there?” I asked him, throwing a look back at the door over my shoulder.
“Thorn is taking care of business,” Jamison said, crossing his arms over his chest. I licked my lips and blinked rapidly. I still needed some time before I could feel like myself again. I still wasn’t used to the fact that I was out in the open now, free to go. Yet, there was nowhere I wanted to be, but here, right with Thorn.
“Look, Miss,” Jamison began again, and I crossed my brows.
“Call me Ensley, please,” I said, and he grinned at me again.
“Okay, Ensley, I just wanted to tell you, because I’m fairly sure that Thorn won’t tell you exactly what happened. He might take all the blame on himself for what happened to you, but the truth is that it was all my fault,” he said. I shook my head and rubbed a hand over my forehead.
“It doesn’t matter, Jamison. I’m safe now. You guys rescued me. That is all that matters,” I said to him, and he clenched his jaw and took in a deep breath.
“I was supposed to be on duty, I was supposed to keep an eye on you the whole time, and stupidly, I thought it would be okay to go for a smoke break downstairs. I swear I wasn’t gone for more than fifteen minutes,” he said, and I could see the look of apology in his eyes.
“Jamison, it’s fine. You don’t have to apologize to me. Ryan would have found me one way or another. He would have gotten to me, I know it,” I replied, and he nodded his head slowly. I didn’t know what Thorn had said to him, but I could see that he was extremely guilty.
I would have said something more to reassure him, but at that moment, we heard a loud thud come from the room.
“Thorn!” I shrieked, and before Jamison could get to me, I had already started running towards the door. In my panic, I was sure that Thorn had been shot. That he was dying.
“Ensley!” I heard Jamison yell for me, but I had already pushed open the door.
In the room, I saw the other men huddled in a circle, with Thorn standing in the middle. Ryan was lying in front of him, he had clearly thudded against the wall. There was blood on the wall behind him and a bleeding gunshot wound in his head.
The men turned to look at me, and so did Thorn.
“Ensley, you shouldn’t be here,” he said to me, in a low guttural voice. There was a rage in his eyes, but when he saw the look of horror on my face, his green eyes softened.
I let out a whimper when I saw Ryan’s fallen body on the floor. I didn’t know whether to be horrified that he was dead, or feel happy and relieved.
Thorn pushed past his friends, and stuffing his gun into his belt, he came towards me. Thorn was carrying a gun? I didn’t even realize that he was armed. What else did I expect from a man like him?
“Ensley, are you okay?” I heard him say, and my eyes adjusted to his face.
I couldn’t speak. It was like my lips were glued shut together.
“I had to do this. He hurt you. He kept hurting you. He would have come after you again. He would have hurt other women…” Thorn was trying to justify himself to me, and I looked up at him with understanding in my eyes.
“I don’t need an explanation, Thorn. I’m happy you did what you did. He deserved it. He would have killed me if he had the chance,” I said, and Thorn threw his arms around me and pulled me close to himself. The moment the words left my mouth, I knew it was true. Ryan would have stopped at nothing to get me back. This was the only way I would finally be safe.
“Are you all right?” I heard him ask as I buried my face in his chest. I clung on to his biceps like I was holding him for dear life. I nodded my head, and he pulled himself away from me. His eyes were searching mine, looking at my face repeatedly.
“You’re bleeding,” he said and traced the trail of blood from my nose with his finger. His eyes flitted over my face till he found the other bruises and scratches.
“What did he do to you?” he growled, and I licked my lips and looked into Thorn’s eyes.
“He’s dead now. I’m safe. We can go home,” I said, and the words got stuck in my throat. What was home? My apartment wasn’t his home, was it? He had a rented hotel room near me. He had his own apartment in Pomona to go back to. What was I talking about?
I felt my cheeks flush and I dragged my gaze away from him.
“I meant that we can get out of here,” I said and slowly, Thorn released his hold on me. He was nodding his head, and I could feel a flutter in my heart somewhere. Did this mean that he was coming back with me?
“Jamison, take Ensley home, and stay at her door till I tell you to,” Thorn said. I shook my head in panic again.
“We all need to go. The cops could get here any moment!” I squealed, but I felt Jamison’s hands close in on my shoulders already. He was beginning to pull me away from Thorn again.
“We’re going to deal with this before the cops get here. This is why you need to go, Ensley, please listen to me,” Thorn said, and now he had taken on a commanding tone of voice which I knew I had to abide by.
I couldn’t say anything more. Thorn had already made his decision. I was going to have to go back with Jamison, and he was going to remain here with the others, and clean up the mess.
I looked back at Thorn before we left the motel room. He was standing with his arms crossed over his expansive chest. His green eyes were glowing in the dim light of the motel room. He looked tall and muscular as he stood there and I knew he was my savior. I knew I had made the right decision by hiring him as my protector.
I didn’t think about Ryan, I didn’t even look at him. My body and brain might have still been in shock. Like a machine, I followed Thorn’s orders and allowed Jamison to lead me to his bike. I sat behind him as he rode me back to my apartment, and the whole time, I could only think of Thorn and when I was going to see him again.