Page 1 of Loving Wild

Prologue

Gabe.

Turning off my wipers,I watch the rain trail a path down my windscreen. It’s falling so hard my view is instantly blurred.

Despite the downpour, I climb out of my truck and walk to the edge of the viewing platform. The low cloud hides the usual view of Port Phillip Bay. Up this high, I’m amongst them. Grey and heavy, I feel those clouds right down to my very soul.

The wind whips the cold rain against my face as I tilt it towards the sky. Raising my arms, I lace my fingers and place them on top of my head, opening myself up to the icy lashes. I’m not wearing a jacket, and my long-sleeved T-shirt is instantly soaked.

“What do I do, Mum?” I ask the clouds. “He came to our house, to our home. I was there, but I didn’t protect her.”

Thunder rumbles, the sound echoing across the bay, the rain falling harder as the storm grows closer.

“When she told me what he’d done to her, I ran. Instead of being a fucking man, I ran, and I fucked it all up. It was stupid, it was nothing, but she won’t listen, and I don’t know what to do.”

The driving rain stings my skin as lightning forks across the sky, the crack of thunder sounding instantly now that the storm is right above me . . . but from my mum, nothing.

Silence.

Chapter 2

Gabe.

Holdingher trembling body against me, I used Lauren’s phone, which I found on the floor, to call for an ambulance and the police. I repeat the gate code over and over to the operator so I don’t have to leave Lauren to let them in. I thought she was unconscious when I first saw her lying outside the front door, but her eyes were open, focused on me, as tears streamed down her face.

“It’s okay, baby, I’ve got you. Where does it hurt? Tell me what hurts?”

I attempt to hide the tremble in my voice, but I feel like lightning is zigzagging through my brain. My thoughts and anger collide, exploding, making me shake almost as hard as Lauren is.

“Was it him?” I question

I know it washim.

I don’t need her to confirm it, I already know.

Her lip’s bleeding, and she has a small cut on her cheek, but I can’t see any other injuries.

Her clothes are all in place, so it doesn’t look like he touched her any other way. Just the thought of that makes me want to vomit.

I took a shower. While she was being beaten, while he was doing whatever he did to her, Itookafucking shower.

Lauren makes a noise, and it’s a fucking awful noise. Somewhere between a groan and a sob. I pull her tighter against me.

“The ambulance is on its way. The police are coming. I’ve got you now, you’re safe, baby, you’re safe.”

“Don’t leave me,” she whispers.

“I’m going nowhere. I’ve got you and I’m going nowhere.”

“He’s never gonna stop,” she says against my chest. “I didn’t want him locked up, but unless that happens, he’s never gonna stop.” She heaves out her words between choking and sobs, and all I can do is rock us as I hold her.

“He’s gonna stop. I’ll make sure he fucking stops,” I grit out.

As I cup the back of her head, I realise her hair is wet, and I panic that she’s bleeding.

“Where you hurt, Ren? What did he do? Did you hit your head?”

A siren sounds in the distance as Lauren holds on to me but doesn’t answer my question.