Saving Mia (13 page)

Mia was ushered into the little exam room where a severely beaten girl lay on the bed. Mia was shocked seeing how young she was. Why was Ratchet showing her this poor child?

“This is why Mia. This is what he did. He violated her.” Ratchet told her.

Mia was standing beside the bed holding the girls hand. She stared at the girl who looked to be only about sixteen or seventeen. She had blonde hair and her face was swollen. Her jaw had been broken from the beating the man had given her, and her eyes were almost swollen shut. How could anyone do this to a child?

“She’s my baby, only sixteen. And he-he cut out her tongue.” Vera the child’s mother informed her from the doorway Doc was holding her against him as she cried.

Ratchet grimaced. He hadn’t intended to tell Mia about that wanting to protect her from the cruel reality of what the man had done to this sweet little girl. Mia’s lips trembled and she looked up at him with silent tears running down her face. When she spoke her next words Ratchet was glad for the first time in his life for everything his daddy had taught him.

“Go back and do it all again. Make him feel it.” Mia whispered, her face pale and the tears broke his heart.

It was after midnight when Ratchet finally walked into Bear’s front door. Bear was on the couch but there was no sign of Pearl or Mia. Ratchet was tired and he felt the darkness that clung to his skin. He always felt this way after he’d been asked to do what he’d done today to Harry. Even when the man deserved it like Harry did he always felt like he’d been through the ringer when he was done.

“Mia and Pearl asleep?” He asked the man feeling worn down. He could smell the scent of blood and sweat on his skin and it sickened him.

“Yeah. Mia told Pearl about what happened. She was a little broken up about the girl.” Bear told him taking a swig of his beer.

“I know. Wish I didn’t have to show her that.” Ratchet muttered, rubbing his eyes with two fingers before letting his hand drop to his side.

“She’s strong. Her knowing who you are isn’t such a bad thing. You can’t protect her from that part of yourself. If you did it wouldn’t be right.” Bear stared at him in a way that reminded him of Tiny. Huh, funny how both Racheal and her mother had ended up with quiet men who seemed to see everything you tried to hide, he thought sighing.

“Maybe. But to have to be the one to show her that it nearly killed me. I never wanted her to see that. She shouldn’t know that people like that are out there in the world. I want her to feel safe with me.” Ratchet ran a hand over his head, rubbing back and forth in frustration before letting out a gruff sigh.

“Her feeling protected don’t mean she shouldn’t know what she may have to fight one day, boy. Take it from me. I watched men protect their women from what was out there in the dark waiting for them. Most times those are the ones who lost them when the Jackal’s came with an offer of war. We’re there again. Women need to know they’re safe that’s true, but they also need to know what they’re up against. That way if they have to face it they’re prepared.” Bear pointed at him with the beer, “You can protect her, but what if you need her to give you time to get there. Like Molly needed to do before Bone got her out of that Jackal’s hidey-hole.”

“Huh.” Ratchet replied really thinking about what Bear was saying. It was true, he wanted her to be strong. To live.

“It’s about protecting them while still letting them be strong boy. That’s what you should want for your woman. Strength. It will mean the difference in finding a dead body or her breathing even if it isn’t pretty.” Bear leaned back then apparently done with his advice for the night. Ratchet leaned against the wall thinking about the other man’s words. He felt the rightness of them in his soul, but it didn’t make what he’d had to show her today any easier.

It also was lucky that he’d had something like that to show her otherwise he might have lost her before he ever really had her. Not that what happened to Monica was something he ever wanted to happen again. That was horrible. The girl would never be the same, and Doc was worried the she’d never return from the almost cationic state she was in.

Ratchet knew that Harry had broken Monica like he broke men but to do that to a child. How anyone could live with that was beyond him.

“Break him yet?” Bear asked suddenly startling him out of his morbid musing.

“No, don’t think I’m going to either. He’s sure he isn’t going to live, so he doesn’t care what happens to him. Or it might be there was never anything to tell. Tomorrow I’m going to try again, but if that doesn’t work I’m going to call in Bone to let Vera in.”

“Vera wants to see him?” Bear asked, surprised.

“Yep, only way she would let me in with Mia to see Monica. Bone hasn’t heard yet so keep that between us for now. She is going to demand it I think. Not sure he’d be able to dissuaded her from that either. She’s pretty damned determined to have her moment with him.” Ratchet banged his head lightly back against the wall. Frustrated with the sight the woman would be witnessing.

“Can’t say that I blame her. I’d want a chance to see that the bastard had suffered if I was her too.” Pearl said as she entered the room from their room.

“Yes, but should she see what I did to him. Is that really something she needs to live with?” Ratchet asked.

“My daughter was brutalized Ratchet. She was beaten almost to death and the bastard didn’t suffer. He didn’t feel fear or know that he was going to die. He just got shot by my girl so she could survive. And I hate that he was able to die so quickly. That he didn’t feel a thousand times more pain than Racheal did. That’s what she needs to survive. The knowledge that he suffered.” Pearl said fiercely.

“That boy. That right there is what you want in your woman. That fierce need to protect the one’s they love and the ability to do it if it needs to be done.” Bear said as he gathered Pearl into his arms.    

Ratchet looked at Pearl realizing that maybe men and women weren’t so different when it came to the ones they loved. He’d forgotten that some of the most brutal things he’d seen when he was a young man learning the ways to break a man had been done by a woman. He’d once seen a man hung up by his balls while they’d fed him glass. That had been a woman who’d found him raping her ten year old boy who’d decided on the retribution. His father had known that when he turned the punishment over to her. He’d recognized that she’d be crueler than any other person ever could or would be. A mother’s instinct was to protect.

Ratchet nodded, then pushed off the wall. “I’m going to head in to take a shower. Night.”

“Night boy.”

Pearl called out to him softly making him pause in the entrance to the hall. “Ratchet, she can handle what she saw today. But it could take time for her to accept that part of you. You might need to be a bit patient with her.”

“I know.” He threw over his shoulder as he heading into the room he and Mia shared. He could see her still form on the bed from the light in the hall that poured into the room. Her hair was fanned out all around her and her hand rested beneath her cheek. The covers were kicked to the bottom of the bed and she was wearing only his t-shirt. He smiled, remembering how she’d laughingly told him the first time she’d stolen one that he didn’t wear them anyway.

He grabbed some clothes heading into the shower to get the stench of darkness off his skin. He leaned against the wall in the shower as he let the water soothe away some of the gloom he always felt after a day like today. Somehow forcing a man to break was harder than just out right killing him. He understood now why his father hadn’t wanted to share his life with a woman. It was because he didn’t want to subject her to this. The evil that seemed to cling to his skin after hours of torture.

He sighed, leaning his head against the wall. He knew that what Bear had said to him tonight had merit. He didn’t want Mia to become like him, but her knowing that she could handle herself was something he did want. He wanted her to be able to fight if she needed to. He couldn’t know for sure that no one would get through the defenses that they were setting up at the farm. 

He would have to teach her to shoot he decided. When she’d accepted that this was who he was, he thought then he’d teach her to protect herself. He didn’t want to allow the darker side of the world to get anywhere near her, but if it did he wanted her to know how to handle herself.

Getting out he threw on the boxers and a shirt. He normally slept naked but with everything that had happened today he didn’t know how Mia would feel about him. He didn’t want her to think that all he needed from her was sex.

He just needed to hold her for a while. Something sweet and good to wash away the nightmare like cries he could still hear in his head. Not that Harry hadn’t deserved what he had done to him and so much more. Walking into the room he saw that Mia was sitting up on the bed and hesitated in the doorway for a moment watching her. Finally unable to take her staring at him in the dark and not knowing her thoughts he spoke.

“You’re awake.” He told her, cringing when he realized he sounded like an idiot. He’d never get her to feel comfortable with him if he kept throwing out gems like that, he thought.

Mia heard the shower running in the next room and realized she’d fallen asleep waiting on him. He was back and she wondered after considering the grim pain on his face today when he’d left her how doing this affected him. He was a good man. A kind man, and hurting someone that way had to hurt him. She didn’t know how she knew that about him but she did. She watched as he entered the room a little surprised to see him wearing a shirt and boxers. The man hated clothing, so this must be something the maddening man thought was for her benefit which was ridiculous.

She’d always liked to ogle his firm golden body. Those sexy flat abs and that tight ass that made her mouth water. She thought with a smile.

“You’re awake.” He finally said after a long moment still hovering on the other side of the room.  She waited wondering what he was thinking. Was he okay? She’d never really seen him unsure. He was acting that way right now though, she realized. She wanted to do something to reassure him that everything was okay, but she didn’t know how.

“Yeah,” Mia said after a moment more of silence. Ratchet came over sitting down on the other side of the bed where he normally slept. But he didn’t lay down. His shoulders were tense she could see and he didn’t look like he knew what to do. Deciding that he needed reassurance she reached out and laid her hands on his shoulders from behind. Feeling him tense for a moment before he relaxed. She began to rub them trying to work the tension out of them. He moaned as she worked on his tense muscles.

“You’re holding a lot of tension in your shoulders. Are you okay? I-I mean I know you’re okay, but what you had to do. What I asked you to do. Well I just thought that maybe it didn’t sit well with you.” Mia whispered as she continued to rub his shoulders.

Ratchet felt his heart clench at those words from her. She wasn’t worried about her own feelings but his. He leaned into her soft hands feeling his cock harden painfully. He wanted to moan at the feelings knowing she cared about how he felt unleashed inside him. Instead he allowed her to take the lead.

“I’m okay. We’re okay.” He whispered to her. Unable to hold back the groan when she hit the spot right between his shoulder blades that was knotted. She reached down pulling his shirt up.

“Take this off and lie down. I’ll grab the oil I use on my hands to massage you.” Mia smiled at the way he jerked off the shirt and lay down on his stomach when she suggested a massage. “The boxers too, Ratchet.” She called from the dresser where she was grabbing the bottle of oil.

She watched him throw those as well then she was climbing on the bed beside him. She sat down on his ass feeling him jerk slightly when her bare pussy landed on his ass. She almost laughed, but managed to hold it in.

“This okay? Comfortable?” Mia asked although she knew from the glimpse of his cock that it wasn’t very comfortable which was kinda the point. She needed him to not be so tense around her.

“Yes.” Ratchet managed to say. He heard his voice embarrassed that it squeaked out and cringed a bit. All he wanted to do was roll over and pull her hot little body down over his hard cock. He was so hard that he was sure that if he didn’t get inside her soon his balls were going to be blue.

Mia began to massage his shoulders knowing that this wouldn’t take long to turn into what she really wanted. Her man back. She placed her oil covered hands on his shoulders again and began working the muscles.

Ratchet lay beneath her feeling those hands sliding over him and it was all he could do not to flip over and take her. She was so sexy that just feeling her touch him even in such a platonic way lit him on fire unlike any other woman ever had. Only he had to let her decide what to do about her own desire. She definitely still felt it. He could tell by the wet heat of her as she rubbed against him. Her breathing picked up as she became more aroused by the feel of his body beneath her hands.

Mia had taken off his shirt which she’d been wearing when she’d climbed on top of him and as she rubbed his shoulders she leaned forward letting her bare breasts rub against his back. She felt him stiffen when her breasts made contact and she almost laughed. Containing it, she continued to squeeze and rub at his tense muscles. Her hands sliding around to rub his neck as her breasts brushed against his back again. He let out a loud moan and his body tensed again. She knew he was trying not to react to her ministrations. Silly man, he thought that was what she wanted. She felt her lips curving in a grin as she moaned and rubbed her breasts along his back again. Rubbing her nipples over him, moaning with pleasure at the light sensation.

“Roll over. Let me get the front.” She whispered near his ear. She lifted off him so that he could flip over. Sitting beside him as he did. He lay back his arms under his head waiting for her to make the next move. She saw his eyes devouring her bare breasts. He didn’t try to touch though. She climbed back over him. She felt the tip of his cock rub against her and she moaned. That felt so good.

Ratchet was about to go out of his mind. Mia had begun rubbing her tits against his back then she’d suggested he turn over and her wet heat was hovering over his hard thick cock. He wanted to grab her and thrust into her over and over until they both screamed in pleasure. Only he needed to let her choose. If they were going to start this again she had to be the one who initiated it.

He waited his breath coming in hard pants as he stared like a starving beast at her breasts which hovered so close to his face. Then she moved her hands to his shoulders she started rubbing them again. Her mouth opening a little as she moved a bit rubbing the head of his cock against her vulva. Her breasts moved as she rubbed making him clench the headboard in order not to reach up and grab those perfect globes.