by Hilary Storm
“Tell me now! I have always been there for you, now you fucking tell me what is going on.”
“I can't. It is not my place to tell you. I can tell you that you need to go home now. She needs you. I can't tell you why, just trust me on this one.”
“What about the show tonight?”
“To hell with the show! You have to take care of business. I'm calling the airlines now for two tickets. Would you like me to make it three?” I see the dead serious look on his face and know that I have to go back.
“Yes.”
We catch the earliest flight home. We should land at 3:00 a.m. After the bus ride across the country, my ass is dragging. I look at my phone and try to fit the pieces together. I just can't seem to figure out what I'm walking in to. I know their safety is in danger by the way Talon is reacting.
“You need to tell me what I am going home to face. I take care of your ass all the time and you can't even give me a heads up.”
“Eaven specifically asked me not to tell you. I think you need to know. I'm coming home with you because my ass will be grass when she finds out I have you on this flight.”
“Are you going to tell me what the hell is going on?” Holden leans over me to ask Talon.
“Just know that we need to install security at the house. The girls will be staying there while we are gone. Holden, you will need to stay with them until all of this blows over.”
“Who is with them now?” Holden beats me to ask the most important question.
“Probably cowboy.” The thoughts going through my mind when he says cowboy begin to piss me off even more than I am already.
“Little brother. I'm getting really fucking pissed about this and I need you to tell me right now. Quit being a pussy whipped mother fucker and tell me!” My voice rises above everyone else on the airplane. “I need answers.” I say through gritted teeth. He knows my limit has been reached.
“Dylan tried to rape Ivy last night. He was inside her bedroom when she woke up. He forced himself on her until cowboy came to the rescue.”
My skin began to crawl at his first word. My gut is clinching at the fourth. Everything goes downhill from there. My entire body starts to shake in anger. I grab the seat in front of me and try my hardest not to stand up and kill anyone who tries to stop me from screaming at the top of my lungs.
“You have to calm down. She needs you calm. She needs you to reign in your barbarics and be there for her.” Holden puts his hand on my shoulder and squeezes. This is what he has always done to straighten me up since we were kids. I shrug his grip off.
“Taron, chill. You made me tell you. Now you know why we have to go home. We need to make sure the girls are safe.”
Ivy
I figure out two things tonight. Macy really likes wine and I'm tired as hell.
I slip away to his bedroom and start to snoop around. There isn't much left in here. I grab a t-shirt from the foot of his bed and pull it over my head. His scent comforts me and this helps with my constant ache to be near him. I drop my shorts to the ground, and pull back his comforter. I slip between the sheets and melt into the softness of his bed. His pillows are fluffy and the perfect kind to cuddle. I flip one long ways in front of me and prop another under my head. I close my eyes and let his scent linger while I inhale and exhale.
I feel him slide in behind me. A smile forms on my lips when I feel him press into my backside. He is happy to see me.
He grabs my wrist from behind and quickly yanks it to the middle of my back. His other hand reaches around my head and covers my mouth. He leans in close to my ear.
“Did you think I would leave you that easily?” His tongue leaves my ear wet and my stomach twists at the sound of his voice.
I start to squirm and try to scream. He tightens his grip when I begin to fight. My heart begins to race uncontrollably. Hysterics over take me and I bite down as hard as my teeth will grip. I use my legs and try to kick him. I can’t get my scream to release from my lips.
I continue to struggle and thrash until a roar finally escapes me.
“Ivy, baby, I’m here. Come on. Wake up! I won’t let anything happen to you.” The sound of Taron’s voice pulls me out of my personal hell almost immediately. His arms envelop me from behind and he holds me tight. The tears and sobs begin to pour out of me and I can’t get control of the speed that my heart is pounding. I didn’t want him to see me like this, but instantly feel relief in his arms. The arms that I wish had never left me that terrible night.
The harder I cry, the tighter he squeezes and I feel wetness from his face brush across mine.
Why is he here? He is supposed to be in concert tonight.
“I’m so fucking sorry I left you that night. I’m here now.” I can hear the lump in his throat constricting the sound of his voice.
I pull his arms up so I can wrap mine around his. We both lie there silently in voice, but actions speaking loudly. I know this can’t be forever, but I wish I could use this moment to slip back into in the future.
I finally let myself relax completely and close my eyes to inhale and exhale his scent again. The only difference is that this time he is here wrapped all around me.
I feel him all over. This is what I’ve been dying to feel. Craving with every ounce of my soul. I draw strength from his hold on me and eventually the tears quit falling.
This is getting dangerous. I can’t need someone like I feel I need him. I won’t be that vulnerable. I can’t fall in love with a guy who is incapable of loving me back. I make a deal with myself to end whatever this relationship is in the morning. Right after I cherish his hold on me through the night.
I will tell him we can just be friends. He should be thankful for that anyway. No strings. That’s what he needs to go on tour. I can’t be the reason he doesn’t succeed. I won’t hold him back, just like I won’t let my heart be vulnerable to him.
~Seven~
Taron
What the hell have I done? How did I miss this? She is completely broken. My tough as hell, feisty girl, is broken and I helped break her.
I hold her through the night. I can feel the tension as her body struggles to calm down from my touch. She finally relaxes and drifts asleep a couple of hours after I slide in the bed with her.
There is nothing in the world that could pull me from this bed in this moment. I hold the woman that is slowly breaking her way into my heart. A place I don’t let anyone into. I don’t want to leave her again.
I hear someone in the hallway, but don’t move. I don’t want to ruin this. I haven’t slept at all as I plot my revenge on the asshole who did this to her. I could go to jail for murder very easily. I have never felt a hatred for anyone like I do right now. I have no respect for him or anyone who would force himself on a woman. That fucker will rot in hell.
She begins to stir and I watch as she realizes where she is. She starts to pull away from me and I ease her back into my arms.
“Taron, I can’t.” She starts to tug at my arm to get me to release her. I don’t let go and I know she’s getting ready to pull away from me. That’s something I’ve learned over the past few months. She doesn’t let people in. There are very few people that have been there for her.
“Please,” she begs.
I release my hold knowing this ride is just fucking getting started.
“Why can’t you let me hold you?” She sits up and refuses to look at me.
“You held me all night.”
“Why does it have to end? She turns to face me and this is when I see how empty her face looks.
“Because you need to go.” I laugh at her.
“Babe, I hate to tell you this, but you are in my bed.”
“I know. I’m, sorry. I won’t let it happen again.”
“Ivy, you are always welcome in my bed, especially if I’m in it.”
I watch her expressionless face as I try to get a rise out of her. She pulls her pants on and begins to slip on her shoes. She is getting ready to
bolt.
“Where are you going?”
“Aiden is taking me to my apartment to get my things.”
“I’ll take you.”
“No, Taron, you need to go back on tour.”
“My flight back isn’t until tomorrow.” I watch her conflicted expressions. She is internally analyzing what her next move should be.
“We can’t do this, Taron.”
“What? I can’t help you move your shit?”
“You know what I’m talking about.”
“No, Ivy, I don’t.”
“We can’t be more than friends. It will never work.”
“That ship has sailed.” I’m not letting her off this easy. She is going to push me away because things are complicated right off the bat. We will have issues, but who doesn’t?
“Taron, please. I don’t have the energy to fight you today.”
“Then don’t.”
Ivy
I don’t have the strength to fight him. I need to keep my distance from him. When I’m in the same room with him, he owns me.
I tread lightly as I walk through the house. I hope Aiden is either gone or still sleeping. Taron may be pissed since he was sleeping over here.
“If you’re looking for cowboy, I sent him home last night.”
“What did you say to him?”
“Nothing. I just told him I was here and that I would take care of you. I just said it quickly when I walked in and headed straight to find you.” I hope he wasn’t an ass to Aiden. After everything that he has done for me, I won’t tolerate Taron attacking him anymore.
We go to my apartment with Eaven and Talon. Just being back here is making me feel the full emotions of it all. My mind can’t take all of this right now. I stay close to the door and attempt to get some of our kitchen stuff packed up.
The guys insist on carrying everything out. Eaven packs up my room for me and it isn’t until she screams out that I even consider going into my room. The guys are downstairs and I rush to my room even though I’m scared to death right now. I could never leave Eaven when she is obviously in trouble.
“Oh. My. God.” Her scream is hysterical.
I run in and find her backing away from my closet. Her eyes are fixated inside of it. I let my eyes focus on what she is seeing and I see a large square of sheet rock cut out of the wall. It’s propped up to appear as if it’s never been separated from the wall. My heart begins to race as I finally realize exactly how Dylan got in. How many times did he come in here?
Eaven yanks my hand as she runs by. Her pull is the only reason I begin to move. The shock of seeing how sick he is froze me in the very spot I saw into the closet.
We barely make it out of the bedroom door when we slam into two solid walls of muscle.
“Call the police. He is crazy.” Eaven is still screaming when both guys position themselves in front of us.
“Where is that mother fucker?” Taron moves away from me and barrels into the room. Eaven and I are in each other’s arms and both back away until we reach the front door. I’m struggling to breathe again. Memories begin to replay in my head and nightmares of him in my room haunt my thoughts.
I listen as Eaven explains what we found to the police. She seems to calm down as she gives the information for them to come to investigate. Her words become just a sound in the room as I begin to close myself off.
Anxiety begins to over take me. I can’t shake this feeling that something really bad is going to happen again. I watch for the guys to return, but they aren’t coming back quick enough for me. I need them to get back here so I can calm myself down. I just want to hold on to something stable and strong until the panic passes. I can hear them talking about pictures and videos and my stomach begins to twist in pain again.
“Ev, tell them to come in here. What are they doing?”
She yells for them to return. They come through the bedroom door and they both looked pissed. I notice that each of them run their hands through their hair when they are frustrated and the image sticks with me. Their mannerisms are almost identical right now.
“There is no way you are EVER coming back here. You are moving in with me,” Talon demands Eaven. There is no room for discussion. I look down because I know that I’m soon to be on my own. She is getting married and should move in with him. I just wish it was better timing.
“Talon, I can’t leave Ivy.”
“Then she moves in too. I’m not leaving you here next door to a fucking rapist, Ev. He has been living there and has photos of her. The asshole built a shrine of shit he probably jacks off to. Neither one of you are coming back here again so get your shit together. We are done here.”
I look at Taron’s reaction as his brother suggests I move in. His face seems a little pale. I can tell this is way too much for him to process.
~Eight~
Taron
There is no way in hell I’m leaving her. That mother fucker has naked photos of her in the shower and changing in her room. He is a psycho bastard and I won’t leave her here to deal with this fucker without me. I need to do this correctly or I will scare her off. I’m trying to process the best way to calm her into staying at our house. Or better yet, going with me on tour.
“You can stay with us.” That came out short and to the point.
“I’ll find a new roommate soon. I’ll only stay until then.” She doesn’t look happy about the situation, but I don’t care. I didn’t get to see everything, but from what I can tell Dylan has been in her apartment numerous times. I lost it when I saw a picture of her naked in the shower. Then I reached for the perfume bottle that was near his bed. I slowly inhaled it hoping it wasn’t hers, but it was. I know her smell. I dream of her scent and could never mistake it. I probably ruined any chance of the police getting fingerprints off of the bottle, but I don’t give a shit. My mind was all over the place with the images he had of her.
“The house is secure now, but I think they should come with us on tour.” I throw the idea out there hoping Talon will take my lead.
“We have classes and we can’t just pack up and leave.” Eaven needs to get on board here. She is so dependable and I need her to be a free spirit right now.
“Drop the classes and enroll in online classes. You can’t stay here by yourselves.” I’m quick on my feet with a solution.
“Either do that or I’m canceling the tour because I won’t be able to concentrate if I’m worrying about you the entire time.” Talon knows how to get to Eaven. He walks right up to her and pulls her close, face to face. Shit if they were any closer, he would be inside of her. “It will be fun. We can see all of the different locations’ together and I won’t complain about spending every night with you.” Talon is good at getting what he wants.
That is usually me. I feel like if I try too hard, I will scare her off since she pulled the friend card this morning. If I don’t try at all she won’t think I want her to come. She wants to be friends, so I will go with that for now. I know if she goes on tour with me, I will get her to cave again. Right now she needs a friend anyway. She has a lot to deal with, and I’m not that big of an asshole.
“Yea it’ll be fun, Ivy. We can go and humiliate these two the whole time. We can moan back at them when they have sex, and bang on the walls when Ev is about to finish him off.”
She finally smiles. It’s a small one, but it’s a smile. I have my work cut out for me. I want my feisty girl back. I could kill Dylan for taking her away from me. Maybe they will find him while we are gone and he will rot in hell for the rest of his worthless life.
“Maybe it would be good to get away from here, Ivy. We could see the things we would have missed out on. We could SHOP!”
It’s a done deal now that I have Eaven up for the idea.
“You know I’m always up for anything, but I need to talk to Taron first.”
“Yea, yea. He is going to be a perfect gentleman and all of that. We are going and we will live it up the entire time! Ivy, think of the pi
ctures we can take!”
The police take our statement and we end up back at the police station to give more details. I’m outraged that Ivy has to relive this scene over and over. They make her verify that each of the photos were hers. They let me stay with her as she begins the humiliating display of proof that he is as psycho as I felt he was when I entered his apartment. The police tell us that he has been in the apartment next to Ivy’s for the last couple of weeks. They bring in the evidence and begin to show Ivy items that belong to her.
I watch Ivy deplete with every photo. I watch as the last little bit of strength in my girl flows out in the tears running down her face. I silently vow to her that I will take care of her as my lips press to her temple in my attempt to remind her that she isn’t alone.
The police finally finish with the evidence and we make our way out of the hell around us. I stop her once we get to the truck. She hasn’t lifted her head since I came back for her. I wrap my arms around her and she doesn’t push me away. Her body has no fight left and she completely leans on me to hold her upright.
“Let me in, Ivy. I will be here for you.” I talk into her hair as I lean down to completely surround her. I wish I could pull some of the hurt from her.
She slowly wraps her arms around my waist and I feel her squeeze just slightly. This is enough communication for me to know she is still in there. I still have a chance to build this girl up and help her survive this nightmare.
I hold her until she pulls away from me. She climbs into my truck and slides all the way over to the door on the other side. I know she is using it to help hold her up and I wish she would let me hold her. I drive us back to my house and allow her the silence she needs.
We spend the afternoon tying up loose ends. I get my phone fixed and Talon and I both tell the head of security that the girls need constant protection so they can provide more security on tour. He seems irritated when I grab the phone and demand security after Talon had already said everything. I just want to make sure he knows that I’m not messing around with this. I will drop the gig in a second if I think they don’t have it covered.
