Page 101 of Addicted

Doc unlocks my door, stepping in and pulling it shut before the Soldiers can come inside. They just wait outside the bars, hands clasped in front of them like some messed up bouncers, their eyes tracing up and down my body with looks that make me want to vomit.

“I’m here to give you your daily check,” Doc informs me, clutching his brown bag so tightly that it creaks in his clenched fist. “And then I’m to take you to get ready for this evening.”

Wind rushes past my ears, my eyes no longer focusing on the here and now as I realize what he means. It’s Friday, and somehow, I’d lost track of the days, forgetting that on Friday I have a duty to perform. I am to take up the mantle of Soldier’s Darling again.

“Lark?” Doc’s voice filters in through the whistling breeze, and I blink several times in order to bring him back into focus. I can’t say anything, just nod as I lie down, not even feeling the pull on my ribs. Doc sighs, then kneels next to me, his examination quick and thorough as usual. I embrace the numbness that is washing over me, knowing that it will be the only thing that allows me to get through what is coming. “Time to go,” Doc says gently, and I ignore the hand he offers to help me up.

I follow as he leads me out of the cage, vaguely hearing him tell the Soldiers to go ahead of us.

“Dove!” My steps falter, my heart racing, and I’m unable to stop my head from turning to the side and being capturedin ocean-blue eyes, a maelstrom of emotions swirling in their depths. My brows dip when I feel the brush of fingers on my cheek, smearing wetness from tears that I didn't know had fallen. “We will come for you; I fucking swear it.”

My chin trembles and I bite the inside of my cheek so hard that copper fills my mouth. I don’t say a word, can’t talk past the boulder that sits in my throat, a vice around my chest barely letting me breathe.

“We have to go,” Doc pleads quietly from my side, the warmth of his hand hovering over my bicep. “I’m sorry, Mr. Taylor.”

Aeron holds my gaze, my soul screaming and pounding at me to run to him and let him hold me until this all fades away like a bad dream, but this is no land of make-believe, even a hellish one. There is no escape, not yet anyway. So, I somehow find the strength to look away, his fingers falling as I place one foot in front of the other and walk away from them.

I try to ignore the roar that I know belongs to Knox, the sound of the bars being pounded and the sobs of Jude. If I am to survive this, I have to retreat to that place inside me I used to visit all too often growing up.

The place that no one ever touched, no matter how much they violated my body.

“GONE” BY BLAKE ROSE

AERON

I watch her walk out of the door and, like Knox who’s losing hisshit behind me, I want to rage and tear this place apart with my bare hands. She takes a fundamental part of me with her as she leaves, something that I didn’t even realize I had until she came into our lives. Something that I don’t think will remain if she gets hurt again.

My fists clench around the bars to the point of pain when I think about that first day, when that scum Soldier beat her and took her in front of us as we had to watch and suffer the agony of being unable to help her.

Fuck, I hate this.

Suddenly, I’m ripped off the bars and spun around, not even ducking as Knox’s fist hits my cheek, splitting open my already cut lip.

“Use the fucking key now, asshole!” He can barely speak, the rage making his entire body vibrate. I wipe my mouth with my sleeve, grimacing at how fucking filthy I feel. One problem at a time.

“I can’t,” I grit out, feeling the words cut me as they leave my throat.

“Bullshit!” he roars, taking a step to launch at me again, and I’d fucking let him if Tarl hadn’t wrapped him in a tight embrace from behind.

“We have to wait. Think about it, Knox, you know how many Soldiers are out there. We wouldn’t stand a chance, and Lark would still get hurt,” Tarl reasons, and I see the fight drain out of Knox, even though a part of me wants him to keep fighting. To hurt me more because the pain can’t compare to what I feel inside knowing that she’s out there, probably about to get violated while we have to wait in here like fucking cunts. Knox growls in frustration, but his rage has left him, to be replaced with the desolation that fills my soul and has turned everything to ashes. Jude sniffles at the bars.

“But she’s all alone,” Jude whispers, the sound like broken glass as it cuts straight fucking through me.

Taking a huge breath that only makes me hurt more, I take the few steps that separate us, putting my arm over his shoulder and pulling him close. From the moment that he and June were born, I knew I would protect them with everything I had, a love so fierce blossoming inside me I thought nothing could top it. Until her.

“I know,” I say back, unable to offer any platitudes. “She’s strong, Jude. Stronger than any of us that’s for fucking sure.”

“But even the strong break sometimes,” he replies with another sniffle, and I have to bite my lip hard, the sting grounding me enough not to say fuck it all and lead us out of here with nothing but our bare hands and our lives to give.

We remain in silence, just staring at the door as if she might walk back through at any moment.

Stay strong, Dove. We’re coming for you, even if it kills us.

CHAPTER TEN

“PANIC ROOM” BY AU/RA

LARK