In the morning light, he looked worse than I realized. The bruises were massive, decorating his torso in shades of red. One had begun to form beneath his right eye, swelling it noticeably.

The entrance required a key card. He must have left it behind because he ended up banging harshly against the door with his fist. It took a few minutes of waiting before it opened. A tall, fat man with long grey-black hair and an equally long grey-black beard appeared, groggy eyed and irritated. The second his eyes fell on Remy, the frown he wore washed away.

“The fuck happened to you, Reap?” His voice was unique; the kind of creakiness that reminded me of rusty hinges. “Saw you pressin’ the button on the gate and now you’re standing here looking like a beaten hobo.”

“Shit went down bad, Barge. Get the men together now.” Remy’s words brooked no argument. The man immediately hurried away, and we followed inside.

I took in the large room as Remy steered me through. There was a massive bar in the corner, stools pushed away – some on their sides – and then a huge lounge area where several large couches sat in front of a massive television screen. There were two men passed out on one couch and a half naked woman asleep on the plush rug on the floor beside them. Classy. Alcohol bottles littered the area around them.

A pool table and several other round tables sat on the other side. Gambling chips and cards were crowded on the tables along with empty beer bottles and left-over foods. This entire room seemed to be the entertainment area, and it stunk badly of cigarettes and alcohol.

Once we were out of the room and into a wide corridor, we passed offices and closed rooms. Remy took me up a long staircase to a second level where more endless closed doors sat. I distinctly heard the muffled sounds of moaning and the creaking of a bed spring from a room. I looked at Remy from the corner of my eye. The sounds didn’t seem to faze him at all.

He opened the last door and took me in. The smell of his cologne hit me hard. We were in his bedroom and it was huge. There was nothing interesting about it, mind you, just the essentials of a man who went to his bedroom solely to sleep and change clothes.

“Get in bed, Birdy,” he said, nudging me to his king sized bed. “You need to get some rest after this morning.”

He went to let go of my hand but I held it tighter. I looked at him with fretful eyes and said, “You’re leaving me here, aren’t you?”

He stared back, taking in my anxiety with bunched brows and flattened lips. “Sit down, Sara.”

I noticed that he only ever said my name in serious moments. The rest of the time it was Birdy. I did as I was told and sat down on the edge of his bed. He kneeled down in front of me until we were face to face. There was conflict in those eyes.

“I let you down,” he started, eyeing my throat as he spoke. “I was meant to keep you safe in that bunker, not have you in the hands of a man that was going to strangle you to death.”

“But you stopped it. You saved me.”

“And had I not gotten out of that shower, I wouldn’t have. I don’t even fuckin’ know why I did either.” He shook his head bitterly. “If I’d even been a minute late—”

“But you weren’t,” I interrupted. “So what’s the point of ‘ifs’?”

“Point is there should never be ‘ifs’, Sara. I should have taken you here instead. At least here you’re under the protection of all the Jackals and not just me. I was being selfish. I wanted you for myself and I shouldn’t have. Really fuckin’ stupid of me.”

“The attack wasn’t your fault. Stop making it out to be. You weren’t responsible for what happened.”

Though he didn’t believe my words, he nodded. “Yeah, well, now it’s my responsibility to find out who did this to you. This means I need you in here. I need you to rest so I can go and talk with the boys. I gotta figure this shit out with ‘em. Understand?”

I didn’t respond. He took my hand and squeezed it tightly. “Birdy, I gotta go do this.”

“Then let me go, too. I don’t want to be alone.”

“You can’t. This shit’s club business. You gotta respect that now that you’re here.”

With a heavy heart and a burdened gulp, I eventually nodded. “Fine.”

“Okay. I’ll be back soon. That’s a promise.”

When he let go of my hand, he stood up straight and motioned me up the bed. I obliged, moving up to rest my head on the pillows. He grabbed the covers and threw them over me.

“Get some rest, Birdy.”

I watched him leave, thinking, Why do I feel like I’m made of glass? I was so damn scared. I stared about the room and tried my hardest to hear sounds from anywhere. Hell, I’d gladly listen to the people down the hall having sex if it meant escaping silence. Because silence meant being alone, and I couldn’t handle being alone anymore.

*****

Miraculously, I’d fallen asleep. No tears shed, either. Still numbed out by what happened, I was pleased to escape the shock of it. Only my chest was evoking emotions I was helpless against. I found I couldn’t stand the stillness around me. Couldn’t stand to hear myself breathe. It was like being in the bunker again. I needed Remy’s warmth because the repetitive images of blood in my head made me cold to the bone.

It was screams that woke me up. My palms were sweaty, my heart was racing… What the fuck was I going to wake up to this time? Fear gripped me as the door slammed open. I sat up, taken off guard by the bronze skinned brunette storming into the room with an anger that would put the Hulk to shame.

“You’re a fucking mistake!” she screeched, pointing her finger at me. “Everywhere you fucking go, you make a mess of shit! Now it’s my brother?! Do us a fucking favour and just die already! If you think you’re going to take another brother away from me, you fucking bitch, you’ve got another thing coming!”

“RITA!” The vehemence Remy’s voice startled me. He hurried into the room with the look of wrath on his face and went to grab her. She dodged him and took a few steps back, continuing to point at me while she turned and faced him.

“You didn’t bury our fucking brother because of her?! This bitch right here?! Why do you always put her first? Always! This fucking obsession has to stop! She’s bad for you, Remy! Joanne said it herself. She’s nothing but a horrible little bitch. Why do you think she wanted nothing to do with her?!”