“He hasn’t, sweetheart,” I murmur softly in her ear. “He hasn’t lost everything, baby, because he’s still got you. The man’s gonna feel this, no doubt, and when he does he’s gonna feel it deep. Any father who’s lost his little girl will feel that all the way to the pit of his soul, but he’s got you to help him through it, Beth. He isn’t alone and never will be. You’ve just gotta see to it that he believes that when he’s ready to hear it, yeah?”
Without pause, Beth presses her bruised lips to my neck whispering,
“I love you, Jackson Carr, so very, very much.”
“Heart, soul, till the day I take my last breath I love you too, baby,” I groan in response.
Deciding it’s overtime I get my woman out of here, Avery and Bec too, I glance at Fury.
“You need to focus on, Jay. He’s not gonna make it easy for you, and you need to handle him with as much care as the situation permits. My guess, you’ll need Gage, Cash, Tank, and Reaper to get him out of there. Set Sly on getting hold of Bec’s Dad, and tell him to go gently when he does. Only the basics. He doesn’t need to know how this went down, no father does. Seeing as Saint hasn’t gone on a fucking rampage yet it’s safe to say he’ll be more agreeable to letting Ree be seen to. Make sure he knows her room’s been set up for Doc to do triage, and that need to happen soon, like now. Ride back is gonna be rough on her, brother, so if needs be, tell him to take whoever he thinks best to make sure that goes as easy as it can for her. Not until Jay’s locked down, though,” I warn. “Man can be fucking unpredictable on a good day, and this is not a good fucking day, so see to it that he’s contained before you make that offer.”
“Received,” he replies jerking his head in the affirmative.
“I want that motherfucker, Markham stripped and in the crypt waiting for me. Post two patches outside the door, and tell them they don’t move until I get there. And someone,” I demand, glancing between Sly and Fury, “Find that fucking bitch, Laura and get her ass locked up in the cell beside him.”
Grinning widely, Fury asks,
“Same instructions?”
“No,” I snap shaking my head. “She keeps her clothes, but shackle her.”
“She said they were leaving,” Beth breaks in. “Laura said she and Oliver were getting on a plane departing from a private airport near Boulder in four hours. I don’t know how long ago that was, but that’s what she said and he confirmed it.”
“Hear that,” I grind out. “Sly, get Deke, Roam, and Gunner to take a ride out to Boulder Municipal. Do it now.”
Sly grabs his phone out of his back pocket punching buttons as he walks toward the door. Over his shoulder he says,
“Get better, darlin’,” before he rounds the corner and we lose sight of him.
Piercing Fury with a hard look, I caution him.
“Blaine’s at the clubhouse, Sarge is with her. Ree’s got her Dad here, her Uncles, and Ade. She’s got people, and those people care a fuck of a lot about her. You’ve got a choice to make here, brother, and no a lot of time to make it.”
“Don’t,” he hisses. “Just fucking don’t.”
“That’s not gonna fly this time, Fury, and you know it,” I counter. “Ten years, brother. Ten long fucking years you’ve lived in the shadow of what happened to Rosalie, and I’m sorry. I’m so damn sorry, but she’s gone and she’s not coming back. You’re lucky, though. You’ve got a woman out there who thinks you hung the moon and stole the stars for her; her day starts and finishes with you. And you know it. I’ve seen you with her. I’ve watched you handle her with the kind of care you don’t handle other women with, brother. You feel deep for her, you always have. No man who has been through what you have, seen the shit you have and come out the other side is gentle the way you are with her unless she means something to you.”
“Of course, she fucking does,” Fury roars. “She’s Avery. She means more to me than you’ll ever know, but that doesn’t change the fact that she deserves a better man than me. She deserves everything I can’t give her, and you know it,” he spits.
“Yeah, and you know that how?” I question. Not waiting for his answer, I push on. “You’re gonna lose her, Fury. I know that girl, and you’re gonna miss your opportunity if you don’t take it now. She might not have been ready for your approach before, but you don’t have time to waste anymore. You’ve waited years, fucking years to make something happen with her. Fuck knows why, but whatever the reason you’ve gotta do it now or not at all. Her Dad’s gonna want to wrap her in cotton wool, protect her, shield her from everything that could hurt her for here on out, but you’ve gotta power through that and show him you’re gonna take up where he left off.”
Beth shivers in my arms so I pull her closer, engulfing her in my arms, surrounding her with my heat.
“Not saying it’s gonna be easy to convince him to let go of the reins so that you can step up, but it’ll be worth it,” I say kissing Beth’s hair. “I know you, Fury, so I know you’ll break your back to make sure she’s happy and protected. You’ll give your life for hers. And you’ll sacrifice your last breath to see her smile again. I’ve got your back, always, no question but if you don’t make the right choice here, I promise you’re gonna regret it. Now and until the day your ticket’s called, brother.”
Fury scowls at me a second, schooling his features into his trademark blank mask only moments later.
“Don’t know if any of that is in me to give her, so the best I can do is tell you I’ll think about what you’ve said and I’ll do it long and hard.”
There isn’t much I’d wish for, but if I did, it would be for Fury to wake up and realize that the source of his happiness and the light to his darkness is all wrapped up in one small broken package. And see that needs him more now than she ever has. Or, for that matter, ever will.
With nothing left to say, or, at least, nothing that will penetrate the thick armor he’s encased his heart in, I grunt,
“Fair enough. You’ve got shit to do, and I’ve got a woman who needs to get out of the cold and back to the clubhouse to see Doc. Need you to spread it far and wide that everyone needs to be in church at seven am. No fucking excuse. No exceptions. Reaper’s probably called Ade already, but if he hasn’t get him on that. She’ll look in on our women while we’re there. Tell him to talk to her so she can give Blaine heads up about what she should expect when Ree’s brought in. The last thing we need is for her to lose her shit because that’ll only set Ree off and she’s got enough to worry about.”
Without a word, Fury stalks out leaving me alone for the first time with Beth.
“Do you think he’ll take your advice about making Avery his?” She inquires softly into my neck.
Shifting her in my arms, making a move to get her the hell out of this shithole, I reply,
“I don’t know, Sweetheart. I fucking hope so, but honestly, I don’t know.”
The last thing that reaches my ears, Beth falling asleep soundly or passing out is,
“Me too, honey. Me too.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
~ Beth ~
“When do you know you really, truly love someone? The instant you understand and accept sanity is a thing of the past.”
- Text from Beth to Avery
Five and a half weeks later…
Over the days and weeks that followed our kidnapping and subsequent rescue, a lot has happened, and not all of it has been good. One positive was that after being poked, prodded, taped, bandaged, and examined within an inch of my life (a great deal of that was far from good), I was given the all clear by a man who is affectionately referred to as, Doc.
As gentle as he was, and I can assure you he was indeed gentle, Doc or Lee as he requested I call him took his time assessing my injuries, in the end happily proclaiming that the vast majority of them were superficial. That didn’t mean it didn’t hurt like a bitch when I had to apply the antibacterial burn cream to my arms twice a day, moved, twisted, or even breathed with my bro
ken ribs, but thankfully I would heal. The same could not be said for my mind.
Lee voiced his concern over my state of mind after what those animals did to me. He was kind and considerate in the way he approached me about it, but just hearing him question whether I would need to speak to a professional caused me to panic. I’m not ashamed to say that I cried like a baby when I had to recall every horrific detail of my attack. My humiliation didn’t stop there, though.
Jackson heard my sobs where he was stationed not unlike a sentinel would be outside our bedroom door and charged in before I could get myself under control. I’d never wanted him to hear everything. In fact, I had planned to keep it from him for as long as I could. Forever if at all possible. That decision wasn’t based on me not trusting him with my demons or the fear he wouldn’t beat them back if I needed him to. He would without question. No, I decided to keep it from him because of the pain I saw flash through his beautiful gray eyes when he found me beaten, broken and bloodied in that basement.
At the end of my near on hysterical breakdown, Jackson didn’t give me a choice but to share, however. He carefully but firmly informed me that I needed to give him my hurt, my fear, my pain so that he could help shoulder the burden. He promised he could handle it, promised he would make everything okay, and I believed him. I shouldn’t have but I did.
On collapsing against the headboard of his massive bed, in a room that I felt safe and loved in, I watch my man break. No, that’s not the right way to describe Jackson’s reaction it is too tame, too placid. That day, I watched my big, strong biker shatter. Of all the reactions I imagined, his tears were the last on my list. Actually, I hadn’t even considered them within the realm of possibility. It just goes to show that even the strongest of men can fracture like the rest of us.
Jackson didn’t cry for long, and he definitely didn’t sob the way I had, but every tear he shed was like a river to me. I held him while he let it out; his fear of me being taken never to come home to him again, his anguish when he learned what had been done to me and, in turn, him. It wasn’t until a week later that I realized how cathartic us letting go together had been.
Not once in that week did I have a sleepless night or wake because a nightmare had taken hold. I didn’t dream of pain and torture or the men who raped and beat me in my sleep. Every night without fail, I fell asleep in Jackson’s arms, I woke in them too. He didn’t leave our bed until I was awake and somewhat functioning every morning, and if he had to go before I was ready to face the day, he would wake me to say goodbye.
There was no fear, no anxiety, none of the things Lee had warned me I might struggle with. This time was nothing like what I had gone through in the aftermath of Oliver’s first attack on me. Nothing. When Jackson asked, and he did it often and regularly if I was coping, I was quick to assure him I was and that was not a lie. It’s taken time, but he has finally come to accept that when I say I’m okay, I am. The same can’t be said for beautiful, broken Avery however.
Avery is one of the not so good things that happened over the last weeks. She is healing, it’s just the way she has chosen to do so that has us all worried.
It isn’t my story to tell, but in short, Avery suffered at the hands of the monsters who abducted us far worse than Bec or I did. Brutally so. And as such, her recovery took much longer. Avery wasn’t able to get out of bed for eleven days, and when she could it was only for trips to the bathroom attached to her room in the clubhouse and back.
She refused to let anyone help her other than Blaine, she wouldn’t speak to Adelyn – a beautiful woman possibly a decade or so older than me that I met the day I was brought home. Even her Dad, Saint got one word answers. And from what I’ve been told, they were as close as two people could be before this happened. Sarge tried to reason with her once, something that ended with her demanding he leaves and not come back unless she expressly invited him to.
Seeing Sarge defeated, struggling to contain the pain at being evicted from her room brought tears to my eyes. Lonnie, Ade, Blaine, and Bella’s too. None of us could understand why she was shutting everyone out. We could sympathize but we couldn’t fathom her not wanting, at least, one person to talk to. Not even Blaine was able to get into her head to try and help her sort herself out. Avery blatantly refused to speak of what occurred, which spurred a terrifyingly angry, frustrated Fury into action.
Until the day Avery pushed Sarge away, Fury had sat in the hallway close to her door, never moving unless it was to shower or use the bathroom. He didn’t talk much, but based on what Jackson told me, Fury had no intention of leaving his post until he was reassured Avery was well and truly on the mend. Something that had not happened, and for all intents and purposes wouldn’t.
Avery had locked her emotions down tight. She hadn’t even cried yet, not one tear. Not even when Lee was attending to her injuries did a whimper leave her lips. She took the pain stoically, silently, but that didn’t mean Avery didn’t suffer. She did, greatly.
Her inability to accept help of any kind and the way she was retreating into herself more and more as the days passed was alarming, and I can’t say that I wasn’t relieved when Fury declared he’d had enough of that shit and was hell bent on doing something about it.
At first, Saint refused to let Fury anywhere near his daughter, and for the most part, I can understand why. Fury isn’t the most approachable, personable of men when he isn’t scarily pissed off, but when he is, he takes on another persona altogether. There is nothing left of the man who is intensely quiet, Fury becomes all man, all raw power when he’s riled. And mark my words, Avery’s descent into her own personal hell more than riled him.
Thirty-seven minutes after he entered, Fury walked out of her room a different man. There is only one word to describe the look on his face as he rounded the corner and I came face-to-face with him and that is; destroyed. Completely and utterly destroyed. In my life, I have never seen a man as desolate as the one I tried to comfort that day.
I wrapped my arms around him regardless of his protests, whispering,
“Time doesn’t heal wounds, Fury, patience, determination, and belief does. Believe in her, be patient with her, but do that determined to pull her off whatever path she’s set herself on.”
I let him go at his muttered ‘thanks’, but I promised myself I would do whatever it took to help them find their way back to each other. They might never have been a couple in the traditional sense, but there was no question Fury is madly, irrevocably in love with the beautifully broken, Avery. Not one.
We thought that may have been the turning point for Avery, that she would maybe begin her road to recovery after that conversation. We were sorely mistaken. After that, things got worse, just not in a way any of us could have predicted.
At some point during the night, Avery packed her stuff, sought out Blaine’s car keys and left. It took less than an hour to find Avery, she hadn’t gone into hiding and if she had she hadn’t done it very well. Blaine’s car was parked in the lot outside the apartment complex I had rented a unit in and hadn’t moved. How she got hold of the keys is beyond me, I was quietly elated she hadn’t disappeared and was safe.
Saint returned the following day, haggard. He looked like he had aged fifteen years overnight. No one was happy with his declaration that Avery would be staying in my vacant apartment until she was fit to travel home, especially not Fury. I knew immediately why she made that play. Fury wouldn’t have access to her there, and that was exactly how she wanted it.
Saint was even less happy when two weeks ago, medically cleared by Lee, Avery resolutely informed him she wasn’t returning to Blackwater with him. Tilly, Avery’s Mom, traveled between Furnace and Blackwater every second day, her sisters, Neveah and Dakota often coming with her, all of whom were devastated on hearing their sister and daughter had no intention of going home with them. If she ever did.
Days of trying to convince Avery to change her mind yielded no results, highlighted by a moving truck arriving
on the third day filled with her possession from her rented two-bed cottage back home.
Because of Avery’s undetermined, bordering on what looks to be permanent stay in Furnace Blaine made the decision to move as well. Something which gave Saint and Tilly a small measure of relief, but sent her own parents, Tank – a beast of a man, hot and undoubtedly delicious but no less frightening, and Priscilla into a frenzy of their own. Neither were happy with her decision, but in saying that, they made peace with it quickly.
I don’t know much about Blaine, but what I do know is that she is gentle, compassionate beyond belief, loyal, strikingly beautiful, and has a heart capable of healing even the most lost souls. Which is demonstrated by the kindness she shows Jonas as he grieves for Bec.
Rebecca Michelle Foster was laid to rest five days after we were rescued and Jonas carried her body from the basement where she lost her life. Kevin was beside himself as you can only expect a man who had just lost his only daughter would be, but he didn’t blame me like I had convinced myself he would.
Vengeance MC Box Set - Volume 1: Call Me...Vengeance ~ Fury ~ Jonas Page 33
