“I think it’s best if you come inside.”
“I’ve got two friends with me.” Henry and Caleb walked up behind him. “Are they invited in as well?”
“Yes.”
He followed the two men inside. Neither of them showed any signs of being a threat. Henry was the one to close the door. The two men entered a sitting room, both of them taking a seat.
“How is Cherry? Is she well? I’m Bradley, and that’s Daniel.” The one who’d been on the left spoke.
“She’s well.” Elijah took a seat, staring at both men.
Daniel stared at Elijah, the shame so easy to see. “You’re here on her behalf? Does she need anything? Want anything?”
“You want to know if she wants you to hand yourself in for raping her all those years ago?”
Both men’s cheeks went a bright shade of red. If it was left to Elijah he would kill both men.
“It didn’t get that far,” Bradley said.
“It doesn’t matter. We were close, Brad. We fucked up, and she was scared. We were fucking idiots.” Daniel rested his elbows on his arms.
“What do you mean?”
“We were joking around with her. She was beautiful, all that blonde hair, and she had big tits.” Daniel stopped talking, closing his eyes. “Didn’t she tell you all of it?”
“All of what?” Elijah was starting to wonder about Cherry. She’d not said anything against them, not really. She had asked him not to come, but he’d been determined.
“It was a game. We were tormenting her about her breasts and hair. The guys at school wanted her, and I don’t know what happened,” Bradley said.
“We attacked her. I’ll never forget how much she screamed, but it was like something snapped in my head.”
Bradley and Daniel shared a look.
“We didn’t do anything because our dad found us before we could. He protected Cherry by getting her away from us. That day he took her back to the foster home with an apology. When he got home, he took the belt to us. He taught us the hard way that when a woman or girl says no, we were to fucking listen. We’ve never forgotten.” Daniel finished talking. “Is she okay? Does she want us to confess? We’ve been wondering for a long time if we should find her. Dad, he told us not to.”
“You’ve not raped another woman or forced her?” Elijah asked.
“No. Never.”
Tapping his fingers on his leg, Elijah still wanted to hurt the men for scaring Cherry. Boys made mistakes, and their father handled it. Getting to his feet, he started toward the door.
“Please tell her we’re sorry. It was never supposed to happen.”
He shook his head. Climbing into the backseat of the car, he waited for Caleb and Henry to join him. No one spoke as Henry started up the car.
Minutes passed before Caleb spoke up. “Donna’s invited you around for Sunday lunch.”
“I’m not going to make it. I’m spending the day with Mindy and Cherry.” He rubbed at his temples. “Take me straight home.” He should probably stop by Marcel’s place to handle another coke deal, but he wasn’t in the mood for business.
He listened to the two men in the front of the car making plans. Neither of them seemed put out by what just happened. For the first time in his life, Elijah had simply walked away. Cherry asked him not to hurt them, and he hadn’t. The anger he was known for hadn’t risen to take care of them.
Three hours later Henry dropped him off outside of his home. Elijah stopped when he saw Cherry’s car in the driveway. Why was she home?
Entering his home, he walked down the hall only to stop at the dining room. Cherry sat at the table. She held a cup to her chest, and she stared at him.
“What are you doing home?”
“I dropped Mindy off at school. I had no intention of going to college today, especially knowing where you were going.”
“I don’t want to do this, Cherry.”
“You want to see the twins. Bradley and Daniel.” She didn’t move from her seat, and he watched her take a sip of her drink. “Did you get everything you wanted out of today?”
“Why didn’t you just tell me all of it?”
“You were intent on hurting everyone. There are some men that have already paid the price for what they did. You needed to see that.”
“How did you know they paid?”
“Their father came to visit me before I was moved to another home. He apologized for the way their sons behaved. Not only did he apologize but he also filmed them saying sorry. He taught them a lesson they would never forget. He wanted to take me home with him, but he didn’t want to put me in danger.” Cherry smiled. “He told me that I could call him the next time an asshole thought they could put a hand on me. He’d be there to help.”