vibrating through Gunner. She was woozy from the drugs, and the adrenaline rush from earlier had most definitely passed.
The thought of seeing Key, Grace and Dare made her stomach clench. The fact that she couldn’t recall anything from the files Landon showed her made her angry, and the guilt about not telling Gunner or Jem about it was crushing.
“I hate seeing you look like that,” he said quietly. “I know you’re thinking about him.”
She couldn’t deny it.
“I will kill him, Avery.” He could barely get the words out. They were clipped, forced, coming through gritted teeth. It was the way he’d spoken to her when she and Jem were interrogating him, and she didn’t want that.
“No. You’ll go to jail.”
“It’ll be worth it.”
She pulled in a deep breath, despite the fact that it hurt, and blurted out, “I’m going to be the one to take him down. I’ll need all of S8 to do it, but I will be the one who disgraces him and pulls the trigger. It’s not just for me, Gunner. It’s for us. I won’t let anyone get between us again, and that’s exactly what he’s done.”
Her voice was firm and Gunner’s jaw clenched, but he didn’t say anything more. She closed her eyes and let the pain meds wash over her.
She wouldn’t remain a broken woman. She would save herself, Gunner and Section 8. And she would take the consequences, no matter what they were.
“I don’t want you taking on my burdens, Avery,” he said finally.
“Our burdens,” she told him, reached for his hand. The hum of the road quieted them both for the rest of the trip as she drifted in and out of sleep. She didn’t know how long it took to get to the next safe house, but she woke, blinked blearily as they pulled into a lit garage. Gunner watched the rearview mirror until the door closed firmly. She heard the beep of a house alarm and he said, “Dare and Grace are here. Jem and Key are close behind.”
“They have Drea?”
“Yeah, she’s safe.”
“Good.” She wished she could go into the house on her own steam, because that would go a long way in reassuring both Gunner and Dare that she was fine. Grace would know she was full of shit either way, but dealing with the men required a little more subterfuge.
Even if she could have walked on her own, Gunner wasn’t having it. He carried her the short distance from the attached garage through the doorway into the kitchen and finally into the living room where her brother and Grace waited.
“I’ve got the bedroom over here all set up,” she heard Grace say, then felt the woman’s cool palm grip hers. She knew if she looked into Grace’s eyes, she’d lose it, and so she didn’t. Just squeezed Grace’s hand and Grace squeezed back.
When Gunner put her down on the bed, Dare was hugging her gingerly. “Avery, fuck, you have no idea . . .”
His voice broke and she did know. They were the only family each other had, barring S8. And they’d only found each other months before. “I’m okay, Dare. I will be. Please . . . it’s not Gunner’s fault.”
He didn’t say anything about that. But he knew enough to avoid touching her in any of the places she’d been cut. He eased away from her, helped her back onto the pillows and she saw they were alone in the room. “Avery . . . don’t do that to me again.”
She’d feel the same way if Dare had done something like this. “I had reasons.”
“Not good enough. You’re my family.” He squeezed her hand. “You rest, okay? We’ll deal with all of it when you’re better. I don’t want you to worry. About anything.”
She nodded and then Grace was in the room and Dare was leaving. She grabbed Grace’s wrist, told her, “Don’t let them treat me like . . .”
“Like a woman?” Grace finished. “Good luck with that.”
There was a knock on the door and after Grace called, “Come in,” the door opened and Drea stuck her head in hesitantly.
“Sorry, I just wanted to see if you needed anything.”
Avery waved the woman in. “Grace, this is Drea. She’s the doctor who helped me.”
“We owe you, Drea.”
“And now I owe all of you.” Drea hugged her arms around herself.
“Seems to be an epidemic around here,” Grace murmured.
Chapter Twenty-one
Drea had stayed in the room with Avery and Grace until the meeting with the guys had broken up. Without Grace or Avery there—especially without Avery there—it hadn’t felt right.
But at least they were all in agreement that she needed a part in this. That none of them would ever rest if they’d been in her shoes.
Now Drea came out of the bedroom behind Grace, after Gunner went inside and closed the door. Grace took Dare’s hand and Jem motioned to the couch. “It pulls out. You can sleep there and I’ll take the chair, okay?”
He’d given Key the last bedroom, mainly because he needed to figure some shit out about their newest houseguest. He pulled out the bed—Grace had already put sheets on it, and put pillows and a comforter on the chair. When he finished, she stripped out of her jeans and crawled under the covers.
He snagged a pillow and made himself comfortable in the recliner closest to the door, his weapon tucked in by his side. The security cams were in easy viewing range and so far it was all quiet.
“Was Avery okay?” he asked.
“I think so. She and Grace have both been through a lot, it sounds like. They’re . . . nice. I didn’t expect them to be so nice to me,” she said honestly.
“They’re good judges of character.”
That got a small smile from her. “I feel like I’ve lived a thousand lifetimes in the past twenty-four hours.”
When she’d left the house, he’d destroyed her SIM card and left her phone behind. No reason to let the past follow her. A clean break was what was required and necessary, for her safety and her sanity.
Now he just needed to know what, exactly she was running from.
She wiped a tear away. “Sorry. Just . . . hearing Grace talk about what she went through and Avery . . . I know what she’s been through. Brought up a lot.”
She didn’t elaborate and he didn’t push. Hopefully, she’d talk to Grace and Avery about it, if for no other reason than catharsis.
He knew that Landon hadn’t raped Avery. But, as Drea had told Avery earlier, what he’d done to her was most definitely a violation. No mistake on that. “Did something similar happen to you, Drea?”
“In a way.” Her voice had that quiet strength he’d come to expect from her over the past twenty-four hours. He wondered if she’d always been this strong, or if life had forced that strength into her.
He didn’t push for a better answer. “Been a shitty couple of days for all of us.”
“Tomorrow, I can find someplace to stay. I have a bank account set up for this eventuality, and I have other IDs. I can use that for a while . . .” She trailed off. “Or, I mean, I’ll take care of Avery until she’s healed and then —”
“Drea, we don’t expect anything from you. We got you out of there because we compromised you. I didn’t know your ex watched your every move. It’s our fault and—”
“What? You’re not going to force me to perform medical services,” she asked wryly.
“Something like that.” He paused. “You were in danger back where we found you, but you’re in danger with us too.”
“Because whoever did that to Avery is still out there?”
“Yes.”
