Page 21 of Property of Brute & Axl
“What did they say?” I have to know. I need to know.
“Your father's reasoning was that they didn’t want to interrupt the healing process after discovering you had amnesia,” Axl reluctantly fills me in.
“He knew? They knew! I was left to die.” My whispered horror silences everyone around us. “They left me to die in a ditch. What if my attackers came after me in the hospital? They didn’t care? Nobody cared?” Springing to my feet, I rush off into the dark, ignoring the voices calling my name until everything is shrouded from my view.
Is this how it was that night? Not being able to see anything? Losing my bearings in an escape from the men who wanted to kill me?
How could my parents just ignore me?
Dropping to my knees, I cup my arms around my belly and lean over protectively. “I’ll never be like them, I swear.” Making promises isn’t something I should do, but it can’t be helped. I’ll always claim my child, always protect them. Never abandon them.
Peacefulness encompasses the night as I sit alone, listening to nature’s sounds, when one in particular catches my ear. Frogs bellowing out a love song launches a memory, one that remains and grows with each call into the night.
“I can’t believe you brought him home!” My best friend Nora giggles as she gazes into the aquarium of my new pet frog, Flip.
“I couldn’t just leave him.”
I happened to find Flip all alone in a pet store window, and he appeared sad. The shopkeeper told me he’d been there since he was born. Since feeling lonely after meeting Brute and Axl, I decided on a roommate.
Nora stands and places the bottle of wine she brought on the counter before grabbing some glasses.
“I can’t have that,” I tell her quietly.
“Why not?” She ignores me and pours a glass for both of us.
Nora and I have been best friends since grade school, and right now, she’s my most trusted person, especially after the argument I got into with my parents about marrying Shawn Reynolds. The man is sleazy, and I can’t stand him.
“I’m pregnant,” I confess, scooping Flip out of his enclosure where he settles into the palm of my hand and closes his eyes. Like he knows he’s finally found his home.
“But…wait…what!” Nora screams, downs her glass of wine, and then comes to hug me before dropping to her knees and hugging my belly. “I’m going to be your favorite aunty,” she says, making me snort.
“My sisters might argue with you if they ever come home.”
Nora’s eyes twinkle up at me. “Exactly, so I’ll be the favorite!” Getting to her feet, she grips my shoulders and holds my stare. “It’s theirs, right?”
Nora is the only person who knows about my weekend with the bikers.
“Yes. They’re the only ones I’ve been with in like a year.” Rolling my eyes, I place Flip back on his rock and wash my hands in the kitchen.
“Are you telling them?” she asks as she opens the freezer to grab the ice cream so we can have banana splits instead of wine.
“I will. Eventually.” She gives me a pointed stare. “I’d like to make it through the first trimester first, I think.”
“Okay, fine.” She scoops out the ice cream; I slice up the bananas and get the crushed Oreo cookies for the toppings. “So you’re like what, five weeks?”
“Give or take. I saw the doctor today, and she’s given me a list of things I’ll need.”
Shaking the bottle of folic acid I picked up on my way home, I pop one out and take it with water.
“No more sushi then, huh?” Nora pouts before laughing and drenching our ice creams in chocolate fudge sauce. “What are their names again?”
“Brute and Axl.” And boy, can they make a woman’s body sing.
Chapter 13
Axl
“It’s coming back,” I say to Brute as we watch Finleigh wander away from the bonfire. Her defeated look and slumped shoulders make it obvious she’s starting to recall things. Whether it’s full memories or feelings, they’re returning.