Page 24

“You know?”
“She just fucking told me.It’snot true, man.Tell me it’s not true.”Gash didn’t want it to betrue.He didn’t want her to have gone through that kind of shit onher own.Fuck, he’d been so consumed by himself that he’d not eventhought about anyone else.
Whizz didn’t say anything.“I’ve justfinished printing her stuff out.”
“Is it bad?”
“It’s worse, and you’ll geteverything you need in there.There’s a spare bedroom upstairs onthe right.It’s where I’m going to put you and Charlottetonight.”
Gash thanked him and walked upstairs.His hands were shaking, and when he closed the door to the bedroom,he sat down on the bed and stared at the folder.He saw the sheetsof paper peeking out at the edges, taunting him.
Closing his eyes, he finally sawCharlotte, the woman without a face, and she fit perfectly.He’dfucked her hard, and taken what he wanted without asking.Charlottehad submitted to him, giving him everything he wanted, and they hadbeen perfect for each other.
Opening the file, he started toread,Charlotte’s words ringing around his head.Twenty-four hours ago,he’d been intent on hurting her, and yet because of her associationwith him, she’d been the one hurt.
She wanted to help him, and on thepaperwork in front of him there were calls, proof that she hadtried to reach out to him.Gritting his teeth, he read throughevery single piece of paper, even down to Charlotte’sadmission.
He evenchuckled,though he felt anything but laughing.Charlotte had been pregnantwith their kid, and then she’d had it torn from her.She had goneto a mental facility at the same time he’d been sent to prison, andreleased the exact same day that he had.
Fucking shit!
Throwing the file to the floor,he started to pace the bedroom.This was all just too damn much forhim.
“Fuck!Fuck!Fuck!”
He’d always assumed that he’d been the onefucked over.Now he learned that not only had Jeff and Rebeccafucked him, they had also fucked over an innocent.Charlotte hadbeen an innocent.She shouldn’t have been brought into this shit,and yet she was.
Even now he remembered her as a shininglight, always smiling and laughing with him.Just being around herhad made him feel good.He’d always tried to make her laugh, whichwasn’t hard to do.
Since he’d seen her again,Charlotte hadn’t laughed or joked.The carefree woman was gone, andin her place was a brokenone.Anger filled him, consuming him, and therewas nothing he could do to give her back what had been taken fromthem.
Moving toward the window hepaused.Charlotte was still outside, and she was staring up at thesky.Did she even realize the way she was sitting?Her legs wereout, and her hands with her palms facing up.It was the same position thatshe had taken in one of the pictures as she’d been interviewed.There was no life inside her.
“You’ve both been broken,”Whizz said, startling him.
“What the fuck are youdoing here?”
“I thought I’d come to seehow you were getting on.Lacey’s ruining what Charlotte did ofdinner.”
“You knew this when I askedyou to do the search?”
“Yes.”
“It’s why you didn’t wantme to go hunting for her?”
“Charlotte has sufferedenough.She doesn’t need to be used by you to find out moretruth.”
Gash gritted his teeth to stop himselffrom crying.He just wanted to scream and cry, and hurt someone.Jeff Wright.He was going to hurt that son of a bitch, and when hewas done, he was going to make sure that the bastard wished fordeath long before he even got it.
“They tortured her,” Gashsaid.
“She was helpless.”
“I know.”He’d not been there tohelp or save her.Instead he’d been locked in a cell, and spent hisdays planning to hurt those who had put him there.“I didn’t helpher.”
“Dude, you couldn’t help her.Don’t beat yourself up about shit you couldn’t control.You canhelp her now, and that is all that counts.”
Charlotte’s face was turned up to the sky.There was no smile on her face, and she was staring up at nothing.Her face was blank.