Page 68 of Pretty Broken Wings

“Nothing!” I try to pull my sleeve down further. “It would have been fine if he hadn’tkidnappedme.”

Gage’s eyes flash with anger, and Buddy whines. Gage then whirls on Axel, who raises his hands.

“Beat my ass later. Take care of her first. She said it might be broken.”

Gage turns again, throwing his hands up. “Fucking show me.”

I hate that I flinch. Muscle memory, I suppose, but I do. Gage sees it, pausing, and his face gets even more red. He stands there, frozen for a second, sucking in deep breaths. When hespeaks, his voice is lower. “I’m gonna kill him in a second, but can you please let me look at your hand?”

Axel makes steady eye contact with me from behind his glasses. His eyes flick to the door. He knows I’m thinking about running. There’s the tiniest smirk.

I straighten, pointing at Gage. “No. You’re going to let me go. If you don’t, I’m going straight to the police, and I’m telling them every single thing.”

Silence. Gage processes what I’m saying. The silence feels so long, and for some stupid reason, I have hope that he’ll help me. That he’ll see how scared I am and fucking help.

Gage talks over his shoulder, “Tell me you didn’tkidnapher, Axel.”

“She was starving to death, Gage, and she has a stalker! He knows where she lives, and she wants to keep putting herself at risk. I’m protecting her.”

“Raven,” Gage’s voice is strained. “Can we sit on the couch and talk about this?”

I want to scream. What does he not understand about this?

“No.” I reach for the door handle. “I’m fucking leaving.”

A few things happen at once. Axel lunges for me, and Buddy jumps at him, snarling and snapping her teeth. The movement of turning the handle hurts more than I expect, shooting white-hot pain up my arm. I let out a cry, cradling my arm.

Then Gage is beside me. He snatches my arm, holding it up so he can see my hand.

“Let go of me!” I try to pull away, stumbling back into the door.

“This isn’t what we talked about, brother,” Gage hisses, bending down and scooping me up into his arms, bridal style.

It takes my brain a solid second to figure out that Gage isn’t helping me. That he’s walking me further into the house.

And that’s when I start screaming. Because fuck them. Fuck them, fuck this, fuck it all. I struggle, striking Gage’s face. He stumbles, putting me down, and I run. Axel blocks my path to the back door, so I dart down the hallway. There’s a shout and scrambling behind me, but I don’t care.

There are multiple open doorways. I can see light coming into the room on the right, so I run into it. It’s a bedroom with a window, but the window is thin and high up on the ceiling.

There’s scrambling in the hallway. I jump farther into the room, facing them, when Buddy bursts into the bedroom. She stands still for a second, head swiveling. Then, she runs to me, crashing into my body, then turning to face the door. As the men fill the doorway, Buddy gives a dark, rumbly growl that makes the hair on my arms stand on end.

Gage steps into the room first.

I stiffen, and Buddy barks, the sound loud and harsh.

Gage stops, looking at the dog, frowning. Axel stands in the doorway behind him.

“Get away from me.” My voice shakes.

Buddy stares at her owner with the hair on her back raised.

“Buddy?” Gage’s voice cracks a bit.

“Please, just go away.”

Gage looks at me. “Raven, I—we can make this right?—”

“No. Get the fuck out.” My voice is high-pitched, but I don’t care. The adrenaline is rushing through me, and I don’t want to look at either of them. I don’t want to hear their bullshit manipulation or them telling me why this is all my fault. All men are the same.