Chapter 7: LAW

"Are you fucking shitting me?" She looked up at me with those big sad green eyes that were swollen from her dad's fists. I don't trust those eyes or what they make me feel; I don't want to feel anything about nothing except my own shit.

I looked away from her so she didn't draw me in with those eyes of hers and that look of sadness that only a blind man could resist.

It's been a long time since I let anything get to me, and even longer since I gave a fuck about a female; I had better things to do with my time. But I can't let this shit slide; there's too much here that I can work with.

My mind was already moving things around, but I had to think real hard before I did anything. Whatever I chose to do with this was going to impact all our lives.

I'd just found out that I was now in possession of something my enemy wanted. I've been waiting a long time to get the jump on him, but could I really use an innocent to do it? Fuck yeah.

The only thing was that if I did this, I could be affecting my own life for years to come.

None of that mattered now though, all that mattered was making that fucker bleed anyway I could.

I looked at her again, this innocent that had got herself caught in the crosshairs of this little war that we had going on Davis and I.

It wasn't hard to make up my mind, all I had to remember was what had been done to my mother and sister, and it was easy. Fuck conscience, that shit died a fast death a long fucking time ago.

"Tell me everything you know about this deal between your dad and Davis." I now stood over her looking down.

She looked small and vulnerable, and yes, I did have a slight twinge of regret for what I was contemplating, but that didn't last either.

A man in my position took what he could get and used what he had at his disposal, anything that would get me closer to my objective. If there were casualties along the way, that was to be expected. There usually are in a war.

"Why? You can't let him have me." I didn't know females still did that wringing hands and biting lip shit. She sure is a nervous little thing. That shit would soon drive my ass to drink; who has time for that fuckery?

"Who said anything about letting him have you? I just need to know what we're looking at here." I pulled my phone to call Kyle.

"Bro, tell the guys to be on high alert; Davis is involved in this mess. I'll fill you in when I know more, but I'm not sure what her old man is going to do next, so we can't wait."

"I'll tell them, Law, but this guy doesn't look so good; he hasn't woken up yet; what do you think we should do?"

"Have Tyson and Chaz take him to the hospital in Cooperstown. Make sure they stay on him and bring his ass back here as soon as he's been seen to."

"They're gonna ask questions."

"Tell them the fuck got in a fight; what the fuck do I care? I look like a nursemaid to you?"

I hung up and went back to her. "Well?" She ducked her head really fast when I turned around and then started fixing her hair.

Maybe the old man had hit her in the head harder than we thought. And now she was hiding her face and pulling at her dress.

"You got somewhere to go?"

"Of course not, I was just..." her face lit up in a blush under her bruises, and I prayed for patience.

"Listen, I don't have all day, you brought this shit to my door, and now I have to deal, so please tell me what the fuck I need to know."

I maybe could've been a bit more diplomatic, but I wasn't in the mood. I hadn't planned on having my day disrupted with this shit, and there were other things I should be doing.

"I don't know that much; as soon as my dad told me what was going on, I got upset. We started yelling at each other, and then he began hitting me."

She touched her cheek, and I actually felt for her, so not gonna happen. I had no feelings left unless they were directed towards my brother, and I wasn't looking for any. That way leads trouble.

"All I know for sure is that Mr. Davis was the one who paid for my education and that he's expecting me to marry him in return.

I only just returned home last week after graduation and was under the impression that I was going to go off to a nice college, but instead..."

"Does your mother know? Of course, she does; what am I saying." I answered my own question as I walked away.

"I'll be right back." I left her there and headed out the door. I could see the men getting into position around the perimeter, and somebody had already pulled the security gates.

I never took anything for granted where Royce Davis was concerned; any man who would rape a mother and child or order such a thing to be done was not someone I'd want to turn my back on.

Her mother was sitting in the front room of the cottage, looking out of place, like she was on tenterhooks.

She jumped a few feet into the air when she heard me coming. I pulled a table chair over to the couch where she was sitting and straddled it.

"I need to know about the deal your husband had with Davis." I kept my eyes on her face for any sign that she was lying to me.

Her eyes widened in surprise; I guess she wasn't expecting her daughter to share family secrets.

"Please don't try to stall me or feed me any bullshit; I already have half the story and can pretty much put two and two together; I just need you to fill in the blanks.

I didn't pull my punches because I could see she already had that look about her, that look that says she was ready to forgive and forget.

Well, she could do whatever the fuck she wanted; that girl was not going to fucking Royce Davis, no way, no how.

"What is it that you want to know?"

Uh-huh, stalling. I gave her a look that I'm sure would put more fear in her than her husband's fists. No, I don't have any fucking patience with this shit.

"Look, I can see that you've already had a change of heart and started worrying about what life is going to be like without your piece a shit spouse; I could give a fuck about you or him.

I do give a fuck about the young girl that came crawling onto my place this morning. Now you wanna go back there for more beatings and bullshit, feel fucking free, but if you have some fairy tale notion in your head that she's going with you, you can forget that shit right now.

Even if she changes her mind and decides she wants to leave, she can't."

"But you can't keep us here against our will." She wrung her hands together and looked at me pleadingly. If I had time to give a fuck I might've worked on her a little bit to get her to come to her fucking senses.

But I ran out of time to give a fuck when someone slaughtered most of my blood. These days my give a shit meter stayed stuck on empty.