Hard as Stone(13)
“What exactly do you mean by that?” Zeke asked carefully, not meeting Jacob’s eyes.
“Let’s just say that none of the ladies, save Faith, seems real keen on developing relationships with men. I’ve seen those flashes of fear in Harmony’s eyes when I step a little too close or look at her a little too long.” Jacob shifted on the picnic bench as he sighed. “She’s been scarred, Zeke. They all have. I’ve barely known any of them a month, and I can see that plain as day. I’m just askin’ to know how they, but especially how Harmony, got burned. Did all of this… this distrust and skittishness stem from what happened to Honor six years ago or is there something more to it?”
“What do you know about Honor?” Ezekiel growled with eyes that glinted dangerously and promised a brutal demise to Jacob if he didn’t answer quickly. The Sheriff looked more than capable of ripping the heart out of the other man’s chest and shoving it down his throat. “I swear to God, if you’ve upset the fragile balance that she’s fought to find the past few years, you won’t have to worry about Tanner and Diego and their would-be infiltration of Paradise. You’ll be meeting them in Hell when I kill you myself.”
Jacob had never taken the Sheriff for a particularly violent man in the short time he’d been studying him, but he knew better. He’d done his research, too, and Jacob realized there was a seething violence lurking just below the usually unflappable man’s skin. It was obvious that Zeke would kill without hesitation to prevent one ounce of pain to come Honor’s way. Based on what he’d unearthed, the man had done it before and wouldn’t hesitate to do it again if the situation called for it. Jacob wasn’t judging… if he learned that Harmony had been through something similar, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to maintain his balance either. And he’d only known her a few weeks. But he needed to know what the fuck he was up against.
“I’m an asshole, not an idiot,” Jacob snapped back with a look of disgust. “I haven’t said a word to Honor, nor would I. All I know is what I read in the newspaper clippings I looked at while I was researching all the McKinnon women and the files my agency put together on the family. Everything I read said she endured some kind of assault when she was a teenager. She went missing for a couple of days, didn’t she?” He almost regretted his question when he saw the torment reflected in Zeke’s eyes.
“They had her fifty-eight hours and thirty seven minutes,” Zeke replied tightly.
The pain laced through Zeke’s comment struck a chord in Jacob. It sounded like the sheriff was in agony, and it spoke to the pain Jacob carried inside himself over his sister’s senseless death. “They?” Jacob probed carefully. He hated to make the other man rehash something that was blatantly painful, but he had to know exactly what he was up against in order to break through the walls Harmony had built around her. He’d never be able to protect her if she refused to let him into her life.
Zeke flinched. “Yeah, they. There were a total of five assailants. And it wasn’t just a simple assault. The editor of our local paper is a good friend of mine. She did me a favor and reported a softer version of the truth in the story to preserve as much of Honor’s dignity as she could. The truth was that five of those animals gang-raped her, beat her nearly to death, stabbed her and dumped her naked and alone in a sink hole and left her there to die. Two of them have been dealt with. The other three, Honor couldn’t give us anything on, but their semen wasn’t found in the rape kit, so we’re not sure if…” Zeke took a deep breath and got control of his rising temper. “At any rate, yeah, Stone, Honor’s so-called assault had a lasting effect on both her and her sisters,” he managed to bite out.
“I’m sorry,” Jacob said softly. He was. Nobody deserved what had happened to Honor; especially not the sixteen-year-old girl she’d been when she’d been brutalized. Christ, Honor was petite now, but she must have been tiny then – certainly no match for five grown men.
“Me, too. But you need to hear the rest. There was more to it than even that – for both Honor and Harmony.” Running a hand over his face, Zeke swallowed hard. “Jesus, I haven’t talked about this shit in years,” he muttered.
Jacob gave the other man a sidelong look. He felt for the guy. It looked like his memories were ripping him apart. “Wanna take me up on that beer now? You look like you could use it, Sheriff.”
“Screw the beer. I’m gonna need a whiskey,” Zeke declared, rising from the bench and turning to face Jacob. “And if you’re truly interested in Harmony in the way you claim to be, you’re gonna need one, too. This isn’t a pretty story, Stone. It’s ugly…sad… and totally fucking infuriating.”