Look After Me (3 page)

I can barely tolerate Ava, but
him
. . . He’s the fucking reason my life turned to shit. I have a feeling today could turn ugly. I’ll try and keep my emotions together for the sake of my daughter, but my anger management isn’t exactly what you would call normal. I still tear up like a motherfucking baby when I think back to
that
day. In fact, I can remember it like it was only yesterday . . .

I look down at my watch and sigh with impatience as I realize only ten minutes have passed since I last checked. I’ve been on this flight back to the States for hours and we’re not even close to landing on U.S. soil. I’ve been waiting for this day to come for four months. I’ve missed Ava and my little girl so much. I can’t wait to get home and begin the rest of our lives together. I sound like an absolute sap, but I don’t care. I just want to see my girls. And after months of not getting laid, I’m definitely looking forward to burying myself in Ava . . .

Justin stomps his foot against my ankle. “Dude, seriously, you gotta stop with the knee bouncing shit.”

I grin as I look over at him. “Sorry . . . I’m just . . . God, I can’t wait to see my girls.”

He matches my shit-eating grin as he sucker-punches my knee. “I know, but you need to chill or I might have to do something extreme like push you off this goddamn plane.”

After an excruciatingly long flight we finally land. Even though I feel and smell like a wet dog, and I’m so exhausted I could probably sleep for a week, it doesn’t matter. In a couple of hours, I’ll get to see both my girl and my daughter for the first time in months. It’s quite possibly the best feeling in the world.

As I make my way through the Army base, my steps seem lighter. I will never have to fly to Afghanistan again. I will never have to set foot in that country for the rest of my life. I will never have to leave my family again.

It’s late when I finally leave the base, but I finally make it home. Ava hasn’t a clue that I’m here, and the wicked thoughts of waking her up with my head buried between her thighs has me hard in seconds. I can’t wait to get my hands on her, to fuck her into submission, to make love to her . . .

As I approach the front door, I chuckle. That probably won’t happen considering I’m moments away from passing out from sheer exhaustion. The moment my head hits the pillow, I’ll be flat out. When I unlock the door, I’m pleasantly surprised to find the hall light is still on and I smile, knowing Ava must still be up. As I place my backpack on the floor, I’m suddenly halted to a stop when Caleb and two other guys come charging at the door. The look of shock on Caleb’s face when he sees me puts me on edge immediately. “Oh fuck.”

Something’s wrong.

“What’s going on, Caleb?” I ask, preparing myself for the unknown.

He steps out slowly in front of the dude on his left, his eyes dark and panicked. “We haven’t got time to explain, but Ava’s been kidnapped.”

The moment I hear the word ‘kidnapped,’ I’m on red alert, and I’m suddenly wide awake. I fist my fingers around his arm in a tight grip as he tries to walk past me. “What do you mean Ava’s been kidnapped?” I ask with an angry growl, my heart beating overtime.

“I mean she’s been kidnapped,” he barks, “and we’ve just found her location, which we need to get to. Now.”

Confusion and anger fuel my body as I grip his arm aggressively, wanting to know what the hell is going on. “Hold the fuck up! You can’t just tell me the moment I get home after four months on tour that my fiancée has been kidnapped and expect me to understand what you guys are talking about.”

I send a death glare to the two guys in my hallway. One looks vaguely familiar yet I can’t pinpoint him. “Who the fuck are these two chumps?”

The guy beside Caleb takes a defensive step forward, his fists clenched at his sides, but the other guy stops him in his tracks, pushing him in the chest.

“What the hell’s going on?”

I watch as Caleb and the other guy have a moment, and Caleb shrugs his shoulders. “You need to tell him.”

My blood boils, and I can’t control my anger. “Tell me what!”

“Her brother has kidnapped her,” the guy who looks familiar snaps at me, and I feel the sudden urge to punch him square in the face.

“Avery? I don’t understand.” I have no idea what the hell is going on, but I feel like I’ve walked into the wrong apartment in the wrong fucking century.

He looks at Caleb. “I don’t feel comfortable about this. This should come from Ava.”

Unable to take any more of this tiptoeing around me, I snap, my body trembling with a dark emotion I didn’t realize even existed until this very moment. “Well, Ava isn’t here to tell me is she? So you better get talking. Now!”

The guy takes another aggressive step forward, his face has the look of pure murder. “Who the hell do you think you’re talking to, man?”

A panicked Caleb steps between us. “This is no time to get into a pissing contest, Ashton. Just fucking tell him what he needs to know, so we can go and get Ava!”

Ashton . . . Why is that name so fucking familiar? And why would it be a pissing contest?

“Who is this guy, Caleb?”

Caleb gives me a sheepish look which puts me on edge even more. Instead of answering me, Ashton responds, “Look, Ava is in danger. We need to get to her before it’s too late.”

More confusion ignites through my body. “I don’t understand, how is she in danger? She’s with her brother for Christ’s sake. He’s family.”

“That motherfucker raped her!”

My heart jolts to an excruciating stop as Ashton screams in my face, shoving at my chest with pure anger. Raped? Avery raped her? “Is this some kind of sick joke?”

“I wish! Do you want to know how old she was when she was raped for the first time? She was fifteen years old. Fifteen!”

Now this has to be a motherfucking joke. From the moment I walked through my front door, this entire experience has been a fucking joke.

When am I going to wake from this nightmare?

“No! No, I don’t believe you. She would have told me. I’m her fiancé.” I look at Caleb and the sad look he gives me, tells me everything I need to know. “Is this true?” I ask, praying that the haunted grimace on his face is because of the situation and not because of the things Ashton said.

It can’t be true . . .

It just can’t . . .

“Yeah, it’s true,” Caleb says regretfully.

I stumble backwards as his words slam into me, and it feels next to impossible to take my next breath.

Raped . . . By her brother.

My shock quickly turns into anger when I look up and realize Ashton knows a hell of a lot more than I do. I suddenly remember how I know him. He’s Dr. Bailey, my daughter’s doctor. Why the fuck is my daughter’s doctor in my house? Suspicion circles its way through my veins, and my blood begins to boil to the surface. I try to ignore a voice in my head that says, ‘Ava is cheating on you,’ and concentrate on this asshole in front of me.

“I don’t understand why she never told me, and why this guy seems to know more shit than I do!” Unable to control my anger, I slam my chest against his, getting in his face, breathing heavily. “What the fuck’s your deal? Why are you in my house telling me shit about my girl?”

My heart rate soars.

My breathing accelerates.

My fists clench.

His jaw locks and just when I think I can’t reach above the boiling point, he pushes me over the edge by raising his eyebrows, a clear indication he’s been fucking with my girl.

I punch him in the jaw.

He falls back from the blow, but when I move to unleash my fury on his face, his words stop me.

“I will let you kick my ass later, but right now we need to get to Ava! So you can either stay and lick your wounds or come with us. It’s up to you, but I’m going. Come on, Darnell.”

They rush out of my apartment, and I realize he’s right. There will be time to get angry later, but first things first. We need to save Ava. Without another thought, I follow Caleb into the back of Darnell’s car, and we’re rocketing up the highway at a speed that is way over the limit. I rock back and forth in my seat, staring daggers at the prick in the passenger seat. The image of Ava’s brother doing those things to her begin to cloud my thoughts. Back in high school, I hung out at that dick’s house, smoking joints, getting wasted, while all the time he was . . .

God, I can’t even say it. It’s too fucking twisted. If I could turn back time, I would rip that fucker’s head off.

My Ava . . .

My poor Ava . . .

I startle at the sound of Ashton shouting again, and I realize we’re parked outside of a shabby motel. Without a moment’s hesitation, both Ashton and Darnell are out of the car and charging towards the motel. It takes me a moment to find my feet, but as soon as I see the heavily armed police barreling forward, with more police surrounding the area, the severity of this situation suddenly clicks into place. My military training forces me into action, and I run on the asphalt to my girl, not caring if Caleb is following.

The next few seconds are a blur, but the moment I hear the sound of a gunshot, I’m pushing my way through the police officers, desperate to get to my beautiful girl. I step over the threshold of the motel room, and the image I see in front of me will be instilled in my mind forever.

Ava covered in blood.

The cops haul Avery off her body, and I sigh in relief, knowing she’s okay. But my heart comes to a painful standstill as I watch Ashton kneel down beside her, pulling her into a tight embrace, and she suddenly slams her lips onto his, kissing him desperately. And when I think things can’t get any worse, she says the three words that I never thought she’d say to another man.

“I love you.”

“Sebastian?”

My sister is standing in front of me with a confused look on her face. “You okay?” she asks.

I blink. “Grace.” I finally come to my senses and pull her into a hug, twirling her around in a circle and causing her to squeal. I smile for the first time in months as I finally place her back on her feet and pull away. “God, I’ve missed you.”

“You too, big bro. You okay? You seemed a little out of it.”

“I’m fine.” I’m not fine, I’m far fucking from it, but I say the words to appease my sister. “I’m just ready to go home.”

The moment I say the words out loud, I realize I don’t have a home. I’m, in fact, homeless. The majority of my stuff is currently at Caleb’s while all of my bulkier items are in storage. After I went AWOL, I got kicked out of my rented apartment—the apartment I was forced to move into because I couldn’t face going back to the home I once shared with the love of my life.

Grace smiles sadly, understanding the magnitude of what I just said, and links her arm through mine. “Come on then, let’s go.”

She leads me to a car I presume she’s rented for the next two weeks. She lives in Charlotte, with my dad, but she wanted to come and stay with me while I got back on my feet. Knowing I can rely on my sister for the next fourteen days gives me peace of mind. I’m not alone. I still have my family, people who love me, unlike
Ava.
Plus, she’s excited to see her niece on her birthday.

The drive to Seattle is quiet until we get caught in the Saturday traffic, and Grace finally turns to me. “How are you really doing? And don’t you dare give me some crap excuse because if you do, I’m gonna know it’s bullshit. I know you, Sebastian Gilbert.”

I pivot my body to face her, giving her a sad grimace, the one look I’ve become accustomed to wearing, especially since I’ve had seven months of practice. For the first time in a long time, I speak my feelings out loud to somebody other than a trained professional. “I’m not doing good. Physically, I’m fine. The rehab did its job, but emotionally . . . I, um . . . I’m still a fucking mess.”

My sister grasps my hand, giving it a supportive squeeze. “I just wish there was something I could do to take your pain away, but for what it’s worth, I hate her guts. Like, I wouldn’t spit on her if she were on fire, kind of hate.” I know she’s only saying it for my benefit because my sister isn’t that hateful, but I love her for having my back.

“Well, as much as I would love to hate her . . . I-I just can’t.” That is all I can manage before my throat closes, putting a stop to my words. I blink back the tears that threaten to spill and lean my head against the passenger window, looking out onto the street. Will the ache in my heart ever disappear? The dark depression begins to settle over me, but before it can pull me under, Grace’s voice calls me back to the surface.

“Well, considering you’ve been in rehab for the past three months, I assume that you haven’t bought your daughter a gift? How about we head to Toys R Us and spoil her rotten?” she says with an excited glint in her eyes.

The mention of my daughter puts a slight smile on my face.