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“She cries in her sleep,” I say when he doesn’t finish his thought. “When she called me, she sounded fucking terrified. Not just ‘Hey, come pick me up,’ but in fear for her life.”
“Did she say what led to her leaving?”
“No. Just basically that he tried to kill her,” I answer. “She’s Sierra, but… I don’t know. He really fucked her up.”
“I want to fucking kill him for this,” Mason says, tightening his fists.
“Me too, but we have to respect that she wants us to leave it alone,” I say.
“Yeah, she is saying that because she’s scared of the prick, Bex. It’s not because she needs to heal. She can heal at his fucking funeral.”
I want to argue, but he’s right. She will never know peace until that motherfucker is dead. “How about we look into him?” I suggest. “Gather some information. We don’t stick our noses too deep in the bullshit, but we see where he is most vulnerable.”
“I can get Ronan to dig into him,” Mason suggests.
“No. Someone not tied to us,” I say. “We outsource so it can’t tie back to her.”
“What do we do about the past?” Mason asks. “You fucked my girlfriend, dude.”
“I’m not doing this with you today,” I say. “I’m not talking about it. I’m not fighting. We focus on her first.”
After seven years, he still lies to my fucking face. He’s lucky I am focused on Sierra and not beating his ass for what he did.
“Fine,” he huffs. “My guys will be good. Can you say the same?”
“They know when to shut up,” I say. “Do you?”
“I said fine,” Mason snaps.
“Mason, I’m saying this as nicely as I can. If you can’t check your shit, I don’t want you around her,” I warn.
“You can’t tell me I can’t see my own fucking sister,” he says, raising his voice.
“Yeah? When you scream like a fucking child, you scare her. You realize that, right? The only thing she sees is the man who tried to kill her. If you want to be the man, be my fucking guest, but I will not stand here and let you hurt her.”
“I swear to God, if you try and get with Sie…”
“You don’t get to choose that, Mason,” I say calmly. “Have you not fucking understood that yet? You and your parents fucking forbid her from seeing Anthony. What fucking good did that do, huh?”
“That’s not the same, and you know it,” Mason argues. “You grew up with her.”
“You think I’m just at the house fucking your abused, traumatized sister? Is that how little you think of me? Mason, she flinches if you look at her too long. She apologizes for existing and overexplains to keep herself from being beaten. She’s fucking traumatized. Sierra is back, but she is still stuck in that fucking house with that monster. So, yeah. She sleeps in my bed. I hold her when she cries. You want to know why? Because she fucking deserves it. She deserves to have someone wait on her hand and foot and dote on her, even if she’s triggered. Even if she’s stuck in those memories. That girl who ran from this town isn’t back yet, Mason. If you want her to come back to you, get the fuck out of her hair and let her make her own decisions. Start asking her and stop telling her. Anthony has controlled her for long enough, and she doesn’t need the same from the one person in the fucking world who should encourage her to grow. It should have been you last night to hold her while she sobbed in her sleep, but it was me. So I’m going to keep being there until she tells me to go away.”
“Alright,” Mason says quietly. Maybe I went too far and made him feel like it’s his fault, but forcing her to be normal and control what she does isn’t going to help her heal. She’s free, but she still has to face everything after.
Chapter Five
Sierra
Bella is standing in front of the rack holding two sundresses, her brows furrowed. They are both pretty, a sage green and dusty blue color. “So, which one?” Bella asks.
“I… I don’t know,” I say quietly.
“You don’t know, or you don’t like them?”
“No, I like them…” I admit, looking down at my hands.
“So, pick one.”
