He growled in my ear, “Allie, I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but you better explain yourself very quickly right now.”

His words rendered me speechless for a second, not only what he said, but the razor sharp tone of his voice. “I…Brandon, I’m sorry, but I don’t know. I’m standing outside, Emma is in the house with her. We pulled up from the grocery store and there was a woman sitting on the porch. We had no idea who she was…I didn’t even know her name when I called Jacks!”

“Okay, but why did you say…what you said?” Brandon caught himself before he repeated what I’d told him.

“Something has obviously happened to her, so just get here. You might want to prepare him a bit…she looks pretty bad-” I cut off as Emma opened the front door, calling out to me to see what was taking so long. I held up my finger, giving her the universal ‘gimme a sec’ sign and she nodded before going back in a closing the door behind her. “I gotta go, I have to get the rest of the groceries out of the car and get back in there with Em. I’ll see you when you get here…hurry!” I hung up on him without saying goodbye and grabbed the last few bags from the car before going back inside with Emma and Chloe.

When I got inside, Emma was standing at the kitchen counter, making a sandwich and plating it with some chips. She grabbed a can of pop from the fridge and brought everything to the living room, sitting it down on the coffee table in front of the now empty couch.

“Where’d she go?” I asked Emma.

“She’s in the bathroom. Allie, she won’t talk to me…and I don’t want to pry but, son of a bitch, someone did a number on her!” Emma shook her head sadly.

I nodded in agreement. “I know. I called Jacks and he was getting upset with me, but I didn’t want to blurt it out over the phone. I told Brandon, so I’m assuming they should be pulling up any time now. Especially if Jackson gets to the keys before they do.”

Chloe came out of the bathroom and cautiously made her way back to the couch, thanking Emma for the food she’d made her. Still keeping her left arm cradled against her stomach, she gingerly picked up the sandwich and took a very small bite, grimacing when the cut on her lip pulled.

She chewed and once she swallowed, she cleared her throat and said, softly, “So you’re Allie, huh?”

I blinked at her, taken aback by her question. “Yeah…I’m Allie. And you’re Chloe?”

She nodded briefly. “Jackson’s talked about you like crazy since you met. He’s completely head over heels in love with you, you know that right?”

My jaw dropped and I could feel my face getting red. “Wha-I…huh?” I stammered, unable to find any words.

The corner of her lips quirked up in a small smile and nodded again. “I take it he hasn’t said the words yet, huh? Trust me to be the one to put my foot in it,” she said wryly.

“No, you’re fine. It’s something we’ve all been able to see…Allie has just been a little slow on the uptake for some reason!” Emma said.

I shook my head and then jumped, as did the other girls, when the front door flew open and footsteps came pounding toward us like a runaway freight train.

Emma and I jumped out of the way as Jackson skidded to a stop and dropped to his knees in front of his sister where she sat on the edge of the couch.

“Chloe! Sweetheart are you okay? Let me see…” Jackson gently lifted her chin with his fingers and swore loudly when he took in the view. His voice dropped to a dangerously low growl as he said, “Where is the mother fucker that did this to you, Chloe? Was it Chris? Was it? I swear on fucking everything and everyone that I will bury that fucker so deep he’ll never be seen again.”

“Jackson, stop.” Chloe broke into his tirade and pulled her chin back from his fingers. “It wasn’t Chris. I broke up with him eight months ago, if you’d ever pay attention.” She sighed before continuing, “I-it was this guy I met. His name is Greg and I thought he was everything I wanted. Turned out, I was more of a punching bag for him because I’m not the perfect Stepford Wife he wanted me to be.”

“You married that fucker?” Jackson yelled incredulously.

“NO! Jesus…hell no! It’s a figure of speech, Jacks. I did get pretty serious with him and then once I moved into his house with him, he started changing. He…he raped me one night when I didn’t want to…you know.” She looked up quickly when she heard me and Emma both gasp and her face paled even further. “Oh, God. I’m so sorry, I forgot you guys were even there…I-just-I gotta go.”

“No!” I cried out quickly. “No, you and Jackson just sit here and talk. You need to talk to him and we’re just gonna go sit out back, okay?”

I grabbed Emma and jerked my head toward the back door, indicating that I wanted Brandon and Luke to follow and leave Jackson and Chloe alone to talk. Luke followed without a word, stopping briefly to cup Chloe’s shoulder in his hand and to gently kiss the top of her head. He murmured something to her and then grabbed Emma’s hand, pulling her with him through the kitchen and out the back door.

I followed them, slowing when I saw Brandon drop to his knees beside Jackson and reach up to cup Chloe’s face in his hand. His face was ravaged with pain as he traced the line of dark bruising down her cheek. I turned away, strangely hurt by the tenderness he was showing with her.

I stepped outside and immediately came face to face with Emma, her expression worried and almost fearful. She quickly grabbed my hand and said, “They’ve just known each other a long time, Allie, you don’t have anything to worry about.”

I blinked at her in surprise, then realized I shouldn’t have been surprised in the least. She’s my best friend; of course she can read me. I shook my head slightly at her and moved to sit on the steps. Luke came and sat beside me, nudging me with his shoulder.

“Emma’s right, you know,” he said softly. “My brother had his sights set on you since you dragged that one into our shop. Which, by the way, have I ever thanked you for that? I don’t think I have, so thank you. Seriously.” He looked over his shoulder as he continued speaking. “She’s absolutely the best thing that ever happened to me and I love her with everything that I am.” He nudged my shoulder with his again as he said, “Love you, too…you know, just for the record. Now, since I have you here, let’s just go ahead right now and agree that there will be no male strippers at her bachelorette party. Right?”

I laughed out loud and shook my head. “Nope, no promises. I haven’t even started planning it yet, actually!” I turned around and grinned at Emma when I heard her gasp behind us.

“You are a bad maid of honor! For shame, Allie!” she screeched in mock anger.

Our laughter faded away when Brandon walked out of the door and strode past us without saying a word. I looked up at Luke again and he just shrugged, patted my arm, and got up to follow him. Emma came and took his place beside me.

“It really sucks seeing someone beat up like that,” she said softly. “Reminds me of looking at myself in the mirror for the first time after…” She trailed off, her voice catching on the last word.