Blood covered my hands. His laughter turned into screams and grunts of pain, but still I didn’t stop. He’d never know the pain he’d caused, but I’d make sure he came damn close. His skin was slippery, several cuts on his eyes and cheeks spurting blood, but the red rage had taken me over, and I couldn’t stop. My brain was working on automatic, and the more noises he made, the harder I hit. My knuckles ripped open, but still I didn’t stop. I’d never stop.
The only sound in the room was flesh hitting flesh, not one peep from Elodie, and in the back of my mind I knew I should have checked on her, but I was in a daze. My anger was fueling every part of my body, and it didn’t matter that my arms ached from each punch I threw down on him. It didn’t matter how much pain my knuckles were in, because it would never amount to the agony he’d caused. The torment he’d wanted to inflict.
“Stop,” he gurgled, and more blood dribbled out of his mouth. But I didn’t. He hadn’t stopped. He hadn’t fuckin’ stopped when he’d laid his hands on her. He hadn’t fuckin’ stopped when he raped Elodie
“You fuckin’ didn’t!” I roared, slamming another punch down onto his face and catching his temple. His eyes rolled back in his head, a signal I should pause the punishment I was dealing out, but I didn’t. I kept going, wanting to make sure he knew exactly what happened when he touched Elodie. Exactly what happened when you crossed an Easton. Exactly what happened when you fucked with a Marine.
His body was limp, completely spent, but I continued on, causing the maximum amount of damage I could until arms wrapped around me from behind, but I yanked out of their grip. I was zoned in, intent on not pausing until he couldn’t take another breath. Shouts rang out, arms grappled at me again, then another set, and finally they managed to stop my momentum, but that didn’t mean I would give up. I’d never give up when it came to protecting Elodie.
“Get the fuck off of me!” I shouted, pulling at them, but they were yanking so hard that I fell backward onto one of them. The red mist wasn’t lifting anytime soon, so I kept fighting. I jerked my right arm, gritting my teeth, but whoever had ahold of it was determined to not let go.
“Stop!” a male voice shouted, a voice I’d never heard before. I blinked, then blinked again, slowly coming around. My breaths were hard and heavy, sweat dripping down my brow. I tried to focus my gaze on any one thing, but I was too frantic, too caught up on the image from when I’d walked in. I stared down at my shaky hands, concentrating on the blood dripping over my knuckles, and I knew right then it wasn’t only his blood, but mine too. My ears whooshed as everything slowed down and the telltale sign of police radios became clearer and clearer. How the hell did they get here so fast—
“You’re under arrest,” another voice said, and my heaving breaths became heavier. But still I didn’t look away from the body I’d decimated. His face was swollen and covered in blood, yet I didn’t want to stop. I wanted to continue my punishment, but the arms holding me weren’t letting up.
More people ran into the apartment as I was flipped over onto my front. A knee jammed into the center of my back to keep me in place, and any other time I would have winced in pain, but I was so consumed by everything that had just happened, I didn’t feel a thing. Cool metal cuffs clicked around my wrists, biting into my skin. There were at least eight people in here now, and two of them were paramedics. Paramedics who were tending to the fucker who came into my goddamn property and raped my—
“He doesn’t deserve fuckin’ treatment,” I ground out.
“Sir, please calm down,” a woman’s voice said from in front of me. I lifted my head to see a female uniformed officer standing a couple of feet to the side, and that was when I spotted her. My angel curled up into a ball, her jeans still halfway down her legs, and her eyes so empty there wasn’t a piece of Elodie left in sight.
“Elodie,” I called, my voice rough and hoarse. I tried to soften it. “Elodie, sweetheart.” No answer. No turn of her head. Not even a jerk of a single muscle. She wasn’t here. She’d gone inside herself. “Please.” I turned to the woman. “Please help her.”
“We will,” she told me, glancing around the room. “The paramedics will help him first—”
“No!” I pulled and finally got out of the other officers' hold and pushed up into a crouching position. “He was fuckin’ raping her!”
The woman’s eyes sparked. “I know,” she said softly. “But he needs more medical attention and—”
“I don’t care!” I jerked up onto my feet, and hands grappled with me again, but I didn’t want to go to the fuck face. I needed to go to Elodie. I needed to bring her back. I needed to—
“Put him in the first car,” a male voice said, and then I was being pulled away from her.
“No.” I tried to dig my feet in, but they were too strong. My strength was waning. I couldn’t fight to get to her. I couldn’t hold her. I couldn’t tell her it would be okay.
“Elodie!” I shouted again, but she still didn’t make a move. She still didn’t look my way. I tried to hook my leg around the doorframe, but it did nothing to help as they dragged me out of there and away from the one person who needed me most.
ELODIE
I didn’t move my gaze from the counter. I didn’t stop staring, not while he was pumping away inside me, invading the only thing I had left, and not even when he disappeared off of me, his weight leaving but his torment staying behind. I thought of happier times, like when I’d placed first in my competition, or when my dad had bought me an ice cream when I was six and I’d dropped it on the ground, so he just went and got me a new one. I thought about Asher and the way he looked into my eyes. I thought about how safe he made me feel. I thought about Jax and everything he’d done for me. I thought about the homework I needed to complete over the next week.
I thought of anything and everything other than what was happening around me. Grunts sounded out and my stomach rolled, but my body was free. I wasn’t being held down anymore. I wasn’t having pieces of me ripped away violently. And yet, I couldn’t bring myself to do much more than curl up into a ball and stare at the counter. The counter where Asher had placed me. The counter where Asher had shown me how much he liked me. The counter where he made me feel special, like I was the only girl in the world he would ever look at or touch.
“Elodie?” a small voice asked from close to me, but I didn’t turn to look at it. I couldn’t break my concentration, because if I did, I was afraid of what would happen. Would I fall apart more than I already had? Would it all be over with no way to come back? Would—
“Elodie?” the voice said again. “I’m Jenette, an officer with the local police department." I heard the squeak of her boots and from the corner of my eye saw her shadow as she crouched next to me. “I’m here to help, okay?” Her voice was soft and gentle, but I knew how quickly someone could turn. In the blink of an eye they were no longer the person you thought they were, and everything would change.
Everything had already changed.
Nothing would be the same again.
I was broken, shattered into tiny pieces, which were impossible to pick up and put back together. That was how I felt, but as I finally slid my gaze to the woman, I couldn’t tell her that. I couldn’t explain to her how even looking at her felt like a task I couldn’t quite do.
“It’s okay," she whispered, but someone walking behind her had me shuffling back and my arms tightening around myself. Was he still here? Had he—
“It’s fine, Elodie. Hey, hey. It’s okay, it’s just another officer.” I opened my mouth, willing words to come out, but it was impossible, so I shook my head, hoping she understood what I was saying. “Give me a second.” She smiled at me, but it was a sad kind of smile, the kind people gave to you to make themselves feel better. The smile wasn’t for me. It was for her.
Her footsteps echoed on the floor, and I placed my ear to the carpet, not able to stop my gaze sliding back to the counter. While I was looking there, I could breathe properly. The air
entered my lungs and exited easily, but then more footsteps rang out, and finally the woman—Jenette—was back.
“I’ve sent them all away. It’s just you and me here now.”
I swallowed and rubbed my fingertips back and forth on my arm. The soothing motion helped me concentrate when all I wanted to do was sleep—to escape everything that just happened.
“A…” My voice was raw, a croak of a tone, but I was determined to ask. “Asher?” A sob bubbled up, my emotions taking me over at lightning speed, but I couldn’t let her see them. I couldn’t expose myself even more. “I need Asher.”
“They’re taking him down to county jail.” My gaze snapped to hers. “He assaulted someone and—”
“Knox.” I sniffled, trying with all my might to keep my control, but it was no use. My lips trembled and tears streamed down my face. “He…he…”
The woman nodded. “I know.” She slid her gaze to the side, bit down on her bottom lip, then stared back at me. “We need to get you to the hospital. Is it okay if I take you?”
I inhaled a deep breath and turned my head to look at my open apartment door. The room was completely empty apart from me and Jenette, and although she didn’t make me feel safe in the way Asher did, I thought I’d be okay with her. But I couldn’t get my muscles to work. My body refused to move.
“I…” I closed my eyes, trying to imagine Asher’s face so I’d have the inspiration to get up. Maybe just the thought of him would give me the strength I needed. “I…I’m scared.”
“You’ll be safe with me,” Jenette whispered, and I opened my eyes to look at her. “I promise.” She glanced at my legs, then back at my face. “Let’s get your jeans pulled up and then we can slowly go to my car, okay?” I wanted to tell her it wasn’t okay. None of this was okay. All I needed was for Asher to be beside me. All I wanted was for him to wrap me in his arms and tell me he was there no matter what. All I needed was—
“You can take your time.” She tilted her head to the side. “As long as it takes you.”
I pulled in a deep breath and winced from the pain in my chest. I wasn’t sure whether it was physical or mental, but I knew something wasn’t right. Counting to ten didn’t work, and neither did pretending Asher was right beside me. I was scared I’d never get out of this apartment. The apartment which was now full of bad memories. No. Bad wasn’t the right word. Awful. Catastrophic. Unforgettable. Those were the right words to describe what this apartment was now.
My heart hammered in my chest as I slowly moved onto my knees, and I choked on a sob when I looked down and saw smeared blood on my inner thighs. “I…I can’t.” I shook my head and squeezed my eyes closed. I was afraid I’d fall apart, and I knew if I did, I’d never be able to put myself back together again. I’d been through so much, but nothing—nothing—compared to this.
“Let me help you,” I heard Jenette say, and all I could do was nod. I couldn’t open my eyes because I was petrified what else I would see. “I’m going to take hold of your hands and help you into a standing position, okay?”
I bit down on my bottom lip and just about managed to give her a small nod. I shivered as her palm met mine, and every fiber of my being wanted to snap my hand away from hers, but she was trying to help me. She was trying to get me out of this apartment, and that was exactly what I wanted.
“That’s it, Elodie.” She pulled on my hands and my muscles finally came to life. I swayed right and left as I stood on shaky feet, but I was no longer on the floor. I could run away from her, from this, from what had happened. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t pretend it didn’t happen. I couldn’t go the rest of my life running from Knox.
“I’m going to pull your jeans up now.”
I held my breath as she pulled them over my hips, and my hands whipped out to stop her. “I…I can do it now,” I murmured, but I still didn’t open my eyes. I kept them squeezed shut as I fiddled for the button and zip, then did them up. My head pounded with each little move I made, but it was nothing compared to the stinging between my legs.
“Let’s get you out of here and to the hospital, yeah?” Jenette said.
I took another breath, trying to prepare myself. “Okay.”
“Want me to lead you out?”
I shook my head and slowly opened my eyes, trying not to concentrate on anything in the apartment. But it was no use because my gaze slid right to the floor where Knox had held me down, where he’d taken what he wanted and not cared about the pain he’d caused in the process. He’d said he was trying to teach me a lesson, and I wasn’t sure whether he’d achieved what he wanted to or not, but I knew I’d never be the same again.
Tears flowed down my cheeks and dripped off my chin as I stood frozen to the spot, almost able to see the shadow of what Knox had done. Stains littered the rug, and from the dark color, I could tell it was blood. My blood. His blood. Asher’s blood.
“Elodie?” I looked at Jenette out of the corner of my eyes, not able to give her my full attention. “Are you ready?”
Was I ready? I had no idea, but what I did know was I could never step foot in here again. It was meant to be my safe place. The home I’d never had. Knox hadn’t just ripped away the last piece of me.
He’d stolen all of this too.
ASHER
I didn’t take my gaze off the back of the ambulance as the paramedics loaded the fucker into the back. He started to stir as they pushed him inside, and I yanked on my cuffed wrists causing the metal to dig into my flesh, wishing I could get to him. But reality was that I couldn’t. I was sitting in the back of a police car going nowhere but county jail.
Fuck.
I should have been able to curb my temper. I should have been able to pull him off and then help Elodie. But I hadn’t. I’d lost it. Lost every ounce of rational thinking. But I wouldn’t regret it. I would never be sorry for what I did to that piece of shit. He deserved it, and much more.
The front door of the car opened, and two officers slipped inside. A metal grid sat between the front and back seats to protect them, and I wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it. I wasn’t a dangerous person. Well, not unless you hurt the people I cared most about and then all bets were off. I was the protector, the Marine who had fought for his country and took pride in doing so. Now I was nothing but a criminal in their eyes. I gritted my teeth as I stared at the back of their heads, and although I didn’t want to hear what they were talking about, I couldn’t help it in the small, confined space.
“Jenette’s getting the girl out to take her over to med,” one of them said, and I shuffled forward at his words.
“We gotta wait, then?” the second officer who was in the driver’s seat huffed out.
“Nah. The other unit is here now. They’re gonna take pics of the scene.”
I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t want to go yet. I needed to see Elodie. I needed to make sure she was okay. I needed—fuck! I couldn’t do a damn thing now that I was inside this car, and I felt as helpless as I did the day we lost four members of our team. I hadn’t been able to save them either. And now…now Elodie was going to have to handle this alone because I’d been too damn stupid to keep my cool.
I bounced my leg up and down, needing them to move faster. If they wanted to leave, then why the hell hadn’t we already? I’d never been arrested before, but I knew as soon as I was booked, I’d get a phone call. A phone call I had every intention of using. But first, I had to get to the goddamn jail, and these two were dragging ass, thinking we had all the time in the world, but I didn’t—Elodie didn’t.
Finally, they started the car and I let out a breath of relief. I turned my head to keep my attention on the store as long as possible, but there was no movement by the time we got to the corner, and then we were out of sight and there was nothing else I could do but wait. I was leaving Elodie behind, and my stomach bottomed out at the thought. I’d promised her she’d be safe. I’d made sure she knew she could rely on me. But none of it mattered now. I should have
walked her inside—I always walked her inside. Fuck. Why the hell didn’t I walk her inside?
“Hey! Keep it down back there,” one of the officers spat at me, and I wanted to throw my words back at him and kick up a fuss, but I knew it wouldn’t help. All they saw was a man they hadn’t been able to control inside that apartment. They didn’t know who I was and the things I stood for. I could have told them everything. Told them how I’d come back to find my store broken into and that piece of shit on top of Elodie. But I didn’t, because they didn’t need to know. My dad may have worked for the good side, but even he had warned me about talking to beat cops. I knew what I needed to do and what I had to wait for, but until then, I had to stay silent.
They pulled up around the back of the county jail and drove right up to a metal door. My heart beat out of my chest, but I exuded calm. Show one thing and feel another. It was a talent I’d learned in the Marines, and one which would come in useful now.
One officer pulled open the back door, and I shuffled to the edge until his hand grasped my bicep. He dug his fingers in, most probably trying to show some kind of power over me, but the bite of pain was nothing compared to what I’d seen tonight—it paled in comparison.
The metal door clicked open and we all walked inside. The scent of bleach mixed with damp blasted my nostrils. Banging echoed from several doors, shouts mixing in with the cacophony of sounds and smells, but all the while, I kept my head held high and my face a mask no one could penetrate.
I didn’t talk as they booked me in, only to answer questions and state who I was. I made sure to keep my wits about me while I was out in the open and exposed, and then finally, the woman behind the desk stood and pulled some keys off her belt. She nodded at the officers, a silent command that she would take it from here, and then the cuffs around my wrists clicked and the cool metal disappeared. I stretched my fingers out and brought my hands around to my front.
Burned Duet: Asher & Elodie: Fast Burn & Deep Burn (Easton Family Duet Boxsets Book 4) Page 23