by K E Osborn
Opening my eyes, I didn’t even realize I’d closed them. I take a deep breath as I look at him. “Keep talking to me as you drive, make me talk back to you.”
“Tell me about what it was like before I came along. What it was like to be an only child,” he asks. I look at him as he pulls out of the park driving toward the gate.
We pull up out in front of a little red townhouse. It’s not what I was expecting of Torque and Foxy’s home, to be honest, but looks can be deceiving. Chains walks around to my side, pulling open the door helping me out.
“It’s okay, I’ll walk,” I murmur.
He doesn’t argue but simply wraps his arm around my waist as we head up the path. He leads me to the door and knocks lightly. I feel the heaviness of concussion setting in. I don’t think it’s bad, but I need Foxy to fix the wound more than anything. Suddenly, the door swings open to a rifle aimed straight at us. Torque stands there in a pair of boxer briefs and nothing else.
My eyes open wide as Chains exhales, grabbing the tip of the rifle, shoving it to the side away from me dramatically. “It’s us, Pres,” he tells his president gruffly. Torque visibly relaxes dropping the gun to his side.
Torque’s hand rushes to his face, rubbing it slighting like he’s still waking up. “Shit, Chains, I’m still asleep, brother. Way to get yourself fuckin’ shot.”
Chains winces. “Should’ve called first, my bad, was kinda in a rush.”
Torque looks from Chains to me then back to Chains. “What’s going on?”
“We need Foxy. Bex’s hurt.”
Torque stands taller. “Luc?”
My head throbs. “I fell and hit my head on a cupboard.”
Torque scrunches his brows together like he doesn’t believe me, but steps back gesturing for us to enter his home. Chains ushers me forward, and I walk with him inside the small house. Opening my eyes wide, I was right, looks are deceiving. From the outside, it appears like a rundown townhouse, but on the inside, it’s a sleek, modern, well-kept and very expensive looking home. It’s actually really lovely in here. We walk through into a modern-looking living room. The sofa is a brown L-shape which looks comfortable as I move to take a seat. I sit down with Chains next to me, but I don’t lean back remembering the blood on the back of my head.
Torque walks in taking a seat on the ottoman in front of us as he rubs his neck. “Guys, if you’re gonna come in here looking for help, I’m gonna need the truth.”
“Is it safe to come out?” a weak voice calls from behind us.
“Shit! Yeah, sorry, babe. It’s Chains and Bex,” Torque calls looking over my shoulder.
Bounding footsteps sound over the floorboards as I turn to see Foxy wearing a little pink negligee. She looks adorable as she rounds the sofa walking over to Torque, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. Foxy looks at Chains and me with a concerned gaze. “What’s going on?” she asks.
I glance at Chains. He exhales looking at me like he’s wondering what I feel about telling them. But I know if Chains doesn’t tell Torque the truth, it will put him in the shit. I didn’t really want to come in here with the truth, but if it’s going to save Chains from being reamed a new asshole, then maybe it is better to just be honest. If Chains and I are going to start this thing anyway, eventually it’s going to come out, so who better to test the waters with than Foxy and Torque?
I turn to Foxy, looking in her confused eyes and start, “I need you to look at the back of my head. It has a gash…” I close then open my eyes, “… I’m pretty sure I have a concussion.”
Foxy opens her eyes wide as she rushes behind me examining my head. “What! Why?” she asks instantly assessing my scalp. I glance at Chains, then reach out grabbing his hand in mine. Torque looks at our joined hands. I can tell he’s fighting back a smile. Which actually kind of shocks me.
“Chains and I… we were asleep in his bed, but Chains had one of his nightmares.”
Foxy continues to fiddle with my hair as Torque cracks his neck to the side, thoughts obviously rushing through his mind. I know I just confirmed to them that Chains and I are a thing. This isn’t the way I wanted them to find out, but here we are, and it is what it is.
Torque exhales rubbing his chin. “Are you saying Chains did this to you in his sleep, Kline?” Torque asks glancing at Chains not mentioning the elephant in the room.
I sigh. “Not really—”
“Yes,” Chains interrupts. “I was having a nightmare and somehow I pushed Bex out of the bed with my thrashing around. She smacked her head on the bedside table.”
I grip his hand tighter to comfort him. “It wasn’t his fault, Torque, he didn’t know what he was doing.”
“Night terrors? Is that what he has, Bex?” Foxy asks from behind me.
“Yes,” I reply even though I can’t see her.
Torque looks from me to Foxy behind me. “It’s not Chains’ fault, Torque. He’s not in control of his body when he’s asleep, or for the first few moments after he wakes either,” Foxy states matter-of-factly. “How about you and Chains talk while I take Bex into the bathroom to suture her up?” Foxy asks as I glance at Torque. I know he’s going to be asking Chains some heavy questions. I want to make sure Chains is okay, so I look at him raising my brow.
“Go… get your head fixed. I need you to feel better. I need to know you’re okay.”
I exhale while standing from the sofa dodging past Chains and Torque, turning to see Foxy who’s watching me like a hawk. She reaches out grabbing me around the waist, walking with me while leading me to a white hall.
“So, Chains… you better start talking,” I hear Torque say before we enter the hall walking down toward the bathroom.
“You and Chains, huh?” Foxy asks quietly.
I let out a huff as we enter the bathroom. She flicks on the light leading me over to the bathtub. I take a seat on the edge as she moves about grabbing all her med gear.
“Yeah, it’s new. So damn new, then this happens. Maybe it’s the universe telling us it’s a bad idea?”
Foxy snorts out a laugh. “Don’t be ridiculous. If there’s anyone who’s equipped to handle a man who has night terrors, it’s a doctor. You of all people should know how to handle him when he’s having them.”
I sigh. “Yeah, I do. I didn’t try to wake him. I let it ride… but Foxy, shit! It was so damn hard to watch him going through that. Sitting on the bed, trying not to move so it wouldn’t wake him while he’s thrashing about.” My heart starts to race remembering back to it as I bite down on my bottom lip.
“Hey, you did great. Sure, your head came off second best, but it looks like he’s doing all right. Normally, when a guy hurts the person they care about in a terror, it can go one of two ways.”
“I know, he was panicking when he saw I got hurt, but I tried to calm him down as quickly as I could.”
She places her medical supplies on the basin looking right at me. “Good, because Chains losing his shit right now could be bad. Luc’s at the club, and Chains needs to keep his shit together. I think Luc could be an asset, but Chains is the one driving the train. Torque’s ready to pull the pin on Luc the minute it gets too difficult, so Chains needs to keep his head.”
I take all that in. “Noted. Foxy…”
She looks at me with kind eyes. “Yeah?”
“Thanks for being so cool with all of this. I know Chains and me being together is… strange—”
“We’ve been through this. The only people who think it’s strange are you and Chains. I’m all for it. I think you two are hot together. Always have. I just want you to be happy, Bex. If it’s with Chains, which I know it will be, then stop holding back and just do it. Are there hurdles? Well, what relationship doesn’t have them? Just overcome them the best way you can… together.”
She pulls out a needle with an exhale. “Now, I know you’re not going to be brave and do this without anesthetic.”
“Nope, I’m not like those idiot brothers. Hit me with it,” I tell h
er.
She squirts a little out the tip of the needle with a giggle. I sit forward thinking back to tonight, back to before all this started, back to when I was simply laying in his arms and everything felt so fucking perfect.
Foxy’s right. Things might be hard, we might have hurdles to overcome, but fuck if I’m not willing to jump for the man I’ve grown to adore over the last nineteen years. Because there’s one thing I know for sure, if he tells me to jump, my answer will always be how fucking high?
CHAINS
I feel like shit as I drive Bex’s car back to her place. We all thought it would be best for us to spend the rest of the night there. She can rest in her own bed, I can crash on the sofa. I don’t want to sleep in the bed with her and risk hurting her again tonight. Bex tried to fight me on it, but I’m putting my foot down. I’ll stay at her place for sure. I need to make sure she’s okay after what happened tonight, but we can sleep separately.
I pull into her driveway. The drive over has been quiet, she isn’t talking much. I know she’s tired, and she told me it’s okay for her to rest. She thinks the concussion is mild at best. Foxy checked her over saying Bex should be fine to sleep, though she needed six sutures in her head.
Because of me.
Because of what I did to her.
I don’t know what this means for us, but I know I don’t want to take any chances hurting her again. She’s probably better off away from me. I’m so damaged, so broken. I don’t want to break her too.
I turn off the engine, the deafening silence in the air makes my heart rate spike as she simply turns to get out of her car. I exhale, sliding out, making sure to lock her car as I walk with her to the door. I hand Bex’s keys to her, she unlocks the door, then we walk inside her pristine home. It’s always so clinical in here, it could do with some color. We stride into the main living area as I make my way straight for her sofa. I sit down while she gathers a blanket from the linen closet and brings it over.
“This really isn’t necessary, Ty. Come sleep in my bed,” she offers.
My lip curls with my inner battle. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
Bex hands me the blanket with a shrug. “So, we’re never going to sleep next to each other again? How does a relationship work with that kind of barrier?”
“I… I don’t know.”
Her bottom lip trembles as she turns and walks toward her room without another word. I feel like I could have said more. I should have said more.
I’m not good for her.
I’m only going to hurt her.
Maybe not emotionally, but physically, and I couldn’t stand it if I did that again.
I kick off my boots then lie down on the uncomfortable sofa, my head hitting the hard arm. I cringe. How she can like this fucking thing I have no idea as I yank the cover over me. I think of her in her room. In her bed. Sleeping, without me. I wish I could wrap my arms around her, hold her to me. But I don’t know if I can ever do that again.
I close my eyes hoping like hell I don’t go deep enough to dream. The sun should be rising in a matter of a couple of hours. I will have to go anyway, so I’ll rest. Just enough to get my functions back, just enough to make sure she’s all right, then I’ll leave to deal with the fallout when it happens.
The harsh crack of the whip flicks through the air. Luc’s sickening scream follows making me feel vile to my stomach as tears well in my eyes.
I couldn’t stop it.
I tried.
I tried to make them take me instead of him, but they wouldn’t. They shoved me to the ground, punching my ribs until I couldn’t breathe. I had to give in. I had no choice. If I didn’t, they would kill me. If they did that, no one could protect Luc.
I glance up as another sickening scream pierces through the air. I hunch over feeling my stomach tighten and twist, threatening to expel its contents all over the dirt. Luc’s defeated face scrunches up as another crack of the whip lashes onto his back. The metallic tang of blood filters through the air as I lay on the dirt, my ribs aching, surely cracked and broken from my own beating. Luc’s eyes meet mine as he’s tied to the wooden cross, naked, chains wrapped all around him holding him in place.
Thwack.
He yelps again as my eyes water.
“Stop! Stop it! You’re gonna kill him,” I yell out to Edgar, but he simply looks at me with a sneer.
“You deserve it. You deserve everything you get, Ty,” Edgar spits at me.
I turn away as the sound of another whip cracks through the air followed by an ear piercing scream. The sound turning in the pit of my stomach.
“Look, Ty, look at what you’ve done. Look at the punishment you’re dishing out.”
Thwack.
A scream rings out.
“No! I won’t look.”
Thwack.
A bigger scream.
“Look, Ty, look at what you’ve done!”
Thwack.
This scream is different, it grabs my attention, but it makes me even more scared to look.
“Look, or she dies!”
My head snaps up to see Luc’s gone, but tied to the wooden cross is a sixteen-year-old Bex. She’s crying, covered in blood as I jump up from where I lay. My ribs ache, but I don’t care as I run to rescue her, but Edgar sneers wide bringing the whip back slamming it into her.
Thwack.
A shrill ear-piercing scream almost breaks my eardrums, my hands rush to my ears. It’s like a shockwave hits me so intense I can’t breathe.
I gasp for air as everything turns black.
I can’t breathe.
Oh God, I can’t fucking breathe.
I burst up, frantic as sweat pours off every fucking inch of me. I claw at my chest as I pull in frenzied breaths trying to figure out where the fuck I am. I’m hot, so fucking hot, as I look around the open space living room to finally realize I’m at Bex’s place.
It all comes rushing back.
Her sleeping in my arms.
My night terror.
Me pushing her out of bed.
Her needing sutures.
It’s all too fucking much.
I stand up, but my feet are unsteady as I stumble bumping into her coffee table, the legs of it screeching on the tiled floor. I pant for breath needing to calm the hell down. This fucking nightmare was intense. I’ve never had one where a memory has morphed before, where reality has turned from something which actually happened into a nightmare. Something I can’t even fathom. Something so fucking terrifying it makes me want to puke. My stomach rolls as I picture Bex on that damn cross. Edgar beside her. The sound of the whip cracks in my mind as my stomach lurches. I can’t hold it in. I rush for the back sliding door, fling the glass open then rush out onto the grass. I drop to my knees as my stomach lurches, emptying all over her perfectly manicured lawn. I heave with all the memories and terrifying thoughts which plague my mind. My stomach twists as I throw up everything I have while coughing and spluttering.
Bex is right.
I need help.
“Ty?” a soft voice echoes from behind me.
Falling to my ass, my hand waves at her to stop her advancing. “No, go inside. Don’t see me like this.”
She ignores me, rushing over, then bends at my side placing her hand on my forehead. “You’re hot as hell. I heard you mumbling. Did you have another nightmare?”
I clench my eyes shut trying not to think about it.
Her hands run down my face trying to soothe me. “Ty, talk to me.”
“You—”
“What about me?”
I open my eyes to look at her. “It was one of my nightmares like normal, but at the end… for some reason… you were in it. You were there, in that place… being…”
Her eyes soften as she pulls me to her, wrapping herself around me. “Oh God, Ty. It’s okay. You’re manifesting, but don’t you ever, ever, think you’re like them. You are not capable of hurting me, do you hear me?”
She pulls back looking
at me as my eyes water, I lick my lips and close my eyes. “I need help, Bex.”
She nods with a warmth about her features. “Then I’ll get you the best help there is. You leave Luc to me. You go sort your head out with one of my colleagues. Deal?”
Sighing, I lean in embracing her. “Deal.”
She plants a kiss on my forehead. “C’mon, come inside. Let me get you into the shower.”
“I’m supposed to be looking after you.”
She softens. “How about we look after each other?”
I raise my brow. “What do you mean?”
She grabs both my hands looking me dead in the eyes, hers look calm and focused. “Shower with me?”
“Do you think that’s a good idea?”
She exhales. “I have blood in my hair, you’re covered in sweat. I think we both need a shower… you know, save water?”
“That’s not what I mean, and you know it, woman.”
She stifles a laugh. “I know what you mean, and yes, this is a big step for us, but Ty, I want to show you I’m here for you… in the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. Sure, we have some hurdles to overcome, but we can do it if we do it together, right?”
Bex stands pulling me with her.
Having a shower together seems like a huge step. Seeing each other naked is big, especially without taking things further. I don’t think either of us are in the headspace to take it further right now. It’s not what this is about. It’s simply being here for each other in our darkest hours.
She leads me inside, down the hall to her bedroom. I take in the clinical nature of her room—she really needs some life put into this place.
We walk into the bathroom, and she turns to face me. Looking me in the eyes, she steps closer, her hands move up to my chest sliding under my cut. I watch her movements. She looks at me, her eyes hooded like she gives zero fucks about anything. Right now she wants to take care of me. I need to remember she’s the one in physical pain here. She has sutures in her head, blood staining her hair, and I am the reason. But I need to man up.
She pulls my cut down over my shoulders. I shrug out of it as she slides it off then places it over the basin. My breathing is rushed as she grabs the hem of my shirt pulling it over my head. I let her take it off as the energy in the air sizzles between us. Right now, I’m most definitely not looking at Bex as a friend but seeing her as the woman I’m falling for. The woman I’ve adored for years. She means so much to me, and right now, she’s showing me just how much I mean to her.