Page 105 of Savage Ends

He cupped her face.“I will fix this.”

“But Lauren is gone.”

“I know, and I’m sorry.”

Her lip wobbled.“How can she be gone?She was so young and in love, and that is ...it is just not fair.”She sniffled.“It is so wrong.”

This was tearing him apart.The anger he felt was unlike anything he had felt in a very long time.He removed his clothes and helped Ava, grabbing the soap, and trying to rid her body of all the evidence of what had happened to her.Pat didn’t know how it had gotten into her hair, only that it had.

He washed her completely, and when he was finished, he closed off the shower and grabbed a towel.Wrapping one around his waist, he grabbed a second, and helped Ava.He washed her body, taking his time, attending to what she needed.Once she was washed, dried, he then dressed her in a pair of his sweatpants and oversized shirt.

“I can’t go to work,” Ava said.

He helped her into bed, and he knelt on the floor.Taking hold of her hand, he looked into her eyes.“I’ve got you, Ava.”

“I should have called the police.”

“No, you came to me.That is what you do.You come to me.”

“You’re the only one I thought to come to,” Ava said.“Is that a good thing?”

“Yes, yes, it is.”

Ava nodded.“I know ...sometimes you have to do bad things.I get it.I mean, I watch television from time to time, and I know you have to do bad things.”

This was breaking his heart.

“If you find the person responsible, please be a bad man to them,” Ava said.

Tears fell from her eyes, and he reached down and pressed his lips against hers.“I will.”

“Don’t hold back.”

“I won’t.Rest, Ava,” he said.

She let go of his hand, and he watched the exhaustion wash over her as she fell asleep.He had a feeling she was not going to be sleeping for long.Once he was sure she had fallen asleep, he quickly changed into a pair of sweatpants and shirt, and made his way downstairs to find Rusty, Rip, and Grant had returned.They did not look good.

“We’re taking care of it,” Grant said.

“What’s going on?”

“We got the tape.Lauren had security around the whole building and in her shop.I don’t know why,” Grant said.

“She had been robbed in the past,” Rip said, speaking up.

All the brothers turned toward him.

“I was the one she was dating,” Rip said.

Now, this was a shock to everyone.

“I fucking love coffee and cake,” Rip said.“I went there once, before Ava was working there.I had a slice of cake, it fucking broke me, how good it was.So, I started to order it delivered, and Lauren delivered the cake.We started to hook up.Nothing ...we were just dating.I liked her.She was a good woman.Sweet.This shouldn’t have happened to her.Lauren wouldn’t hurt a soul.”

“We’ve got to watch the tape,” Grant said, lifting up a computer USB cable.

“Lauren recorded everything within a twenty-four-hour time period,” Rip said.“She did it like this so she could keep the same space, and if nothing eventful happened within twenty-four hours, then she could wipe it.”

They entered Bull’s office, and he had a projector hooked up to his computer.He had it installed to make it easier to deal with business.