“Do you have any idea how hard it’s gonna be sitting across from that motherfucker, knowing that he has seen you? Tasted you? Fucked you?” Luke’s eyes glided over my body as he spoke. He had made me feel a lot of things since I had been with him, now I could add cheap to that list.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, tears welling up in my eyes. In no way was I responsible for this. I didn’t even know Luke existed when I knew Jeff, yet somehow this was all my fault. I would have told him anything to get him to give me some space. This was too much. I had been more than understanding. I didn’t deserve to be treated like this. Luke was still too close for comfort and time seemed to drag on. Tears now fell freely down my face as Luke glared at me.
“Brother,” Worm said from the back seat, placing his hand on Luke’s shoulder. “She didn’t know.”
I almost passed out at his words. Luke thought I was playing him. He thought I knew Jeff worked for Frankie. My tears of fear and sadness turned to anger, as it dawned on me that this motherfucker actually thought that I had turned on him.
“You son of a bitch,” I whispered in his face, no longer scared of the man staring at me. “You think I knew about this?” Luke sat up and replaced the console so that it was separating us. Smart move. “You think I sold you out? I’m guilty of nothing but loving you.” Luke stared straight ahead, his arm resting casually on the steering wheel.
“Look at me!” I screamed, my patience lost. “Do you know what they did to me? Do you?” Luke’s eyes fell to his lap. “They came in my fucking house! They grabbed me and I fought back, but they hit me so hard that I lost consciousness. When I woke up they were throwing cold water on me. They hung me in a fucking barn, Luke!”
His eyes found mine and I knew he regretted everything he had said and done, but I wasn’t finished. My voice was weaker as I fought the sobs that bubbled in my chest, “They ripped my clothes off of me. Then they duct taped my mouth so I couldn’t scream.” I stared into his blue eyes as I shared with him that awful night. Telling the story was making me relive it over again, but I pushed on. “They threatened to cut my tongue out if I screamed. When he… touched me,” Luke closed his eyes as I struggled to get the words out. “When he told me what he was going to do, how he was going to let everyone get a turn, I started screaming again. I hoped that if I screamed enough, they would just kill me. You know what I was screaming?” Luke’s eyes shot open and he shook his head.
“Baby,” he whispered, shaking his head and fighting tears of his own.
“I screamed for you.” My voice broke as I covered my face with my hands and sobbed into them. “I screamed for you over, and over, and over, I begged for you, and you didn’t come.” I was screaming now into my hands, my body convulsing with sobs as I remembered the feel of their hands on me. Frankie had taken over my life. Every day I thought about how he had scarred me. The only comfort I found in life was when I was with Luke, and now he thought that I had betrayed him. Frankie had consumed my mind and body, but Luke gave the fatal blow when he crushed my heart.
Chapter 10
Dallas
I was in a whirlwind, I couldn’t fully process what was going on around me, but I knew that I was cradled in Luke’s arms and the truck was moving. Luke was saying something, but my loud sobs and shivering body overpowered his voice and it went unheard.
When I wake-up, it’s dark outside and it takes me a minute to realize where I am. The only clothing I’m missing is my shoes, and I am curled up like a baby in Luke’s arms. Memories of today wash over me and as much as I want to run, I know I can’t. Despite his ridiculous behavior from earlier, I know Luke has my best interests at heart. I’m still not sure what triggered him, or how he found out about Jeff, but I would get to the bottom of it before he left. Regardless of today’s actions, I knew Luke would still be on a manhunt to find Frankie and make him pay for what he had done. My confession from earlier sealed Frankie’s fate. There would be no second chance, or time for discussion. His only reason for living, the girl who had won over the club’s heart, was not enough to keep him alive anymore. Maddie would deal with the death of Frankie and I would be there to help her through it. I knew all of these things like I knew myself. Regg had obviously withheld information from Luke and I wasn’t really sure why. He knew that I had been with Jeff, because he had been the one to follow me. How had he not figured it out? Surely they looked into everyone that I dated if their job was to keep me safe. The thought was unnerving. The last thing I wanted to do was accuse one of Luke’s brothers of something, but this was my life we were talking about. I didn’t give a shit about how Luke would feel if he had to confront one of his own. He didn’t seem to have a problem accusing me, and I was under the impression that I was pretty high on the important people in Luke’s life ladder.