I brushed West’s cheek with the back of my fingers. “My amazing friend, there were no sins to purge. There was nothing wrong with you. They were wrong.” I picked up the pills and dropped three out. “Help him sit a little to take these,” I said. Adrik did. “West, these are pain pills. You’ll need to swallow them, sorry. I know it’ll hurt, but they’ll help a little.”
He nodded and winced. Blinking again and again, he shook his head. “Tired.”
“I know. You can keep your eyes closed, but you have to take these. Open your mouth for me.” He did. I placed the pills in and helped him drink. He cringed when they slid down. I glanced to Country. “When I have him bandaged, we’ll need to move him right away. Get him home, and I’ll go to the hospital for things.”
Country nodded. “We’re set to go when you are. There’ll be no witnesses. The other brothers will stay. They know what to do.”
I went to work, and even though I hated myself for hurting him more, it had to get done. I had to keep going through his whimpers, his cries, and his begging for me to stop. By the end of it, he passed out.
“West,” Adrik called, panicked.
I rested my hand on his arm. “It’s okay. He’s just unconscious. His mind is protecting itself.”
His jaw clenched, but he nodded.
Looking to Wade, I ordered, “Find something we can use as a stretcher.” Wade walked from the basement without a question. “We have to be very careful when we move him.”
“Da,”
“Adrik, what do you want me to do?” Dimitri asked.
“Go to my parents. Tell them I won’t be home. Tell them what happened.”
Dimitri’s lips thinned. “Do they—”
“They know. Take the men outside with you.”
Dimitri nodded and left.
“You can go too—” Country started to say to Adrik.
“Do not say another fucking word,” Adrik snarled. “I do not leave West’s side.”
“Don’t!” The word came from me. Country’s eyes were already on me when I looked up. “Adrik needs to stay.”
“I agree,” Kylo stated.
Country tipped his chin up. “Okay then.”
“I killed the father too quickly,” Adrik muttered, more to himself maybe. “He should have suffered for what they have done.”
“He’s burning in hell for it right now,” Saint said.
“Not enough,” Adrik clipped.
“No, it’s not,” Kylo agreed. “At least we have the other… cunt to rain pain on.”
Adrik’s smile was sinister. “She will learn just what they have done to him by doing it to her.”
“He’ll need boxers or something wrapped around his waist,” I said.
“He can have mine,” Kylo replied, already undoing his jeans.
“Jesus,” my brother clipped. He pulled Kylo to a corner and guarded him so no other saw.
By the time Wade came back down the stairs with State, we had helped West into the boxers. They had found an ironing board, and even though it was old, it was wide and perfect. I nodded. “Good. We’ll lift him gently and lay him on his stomach. It’s going to be hard going up the stairs, but we can do this. I need at least four surrounding him at all times.”
I was surprised when West didn’t wake, only whimpered when we managed to get him on the ironing board. State, Saint, Country, and Adrik slowly carried West out, with Kylo following.
I needed a moment.
“Lucas,” Wade said, his hand slid to my shoulder from behind me.
“They tortured him. Poured vinegar down his throat. Who does that?”
“Vile creatures.”
“He didn’t deserve that. No one does,” I whispered. A heavy weight settled against my heart for my friend.
He applied pressure. “No.”
“His own parents.”
“I know.”
I swallowed thickly. Tears brimmed and fell once again. “He’ll need us all.” I sucked in a deep, shuddering breath and straightened.
“And he’ll have us.” His hand slid across my shoulders, and he pulled my back into his chest. “Love you, babe.”
“Love you always, Wade.” I dipped my head down to kiss his arm. “Let’s get him home.”
He kissed the back of my head. “Where he belongs.”
“Yes.” He did. He belonged with us. We were our own little family, and we’d cocoon him in so much love and support. West would get through this. He would, but the path to it was going to be rough.
Chapter Eleven
Adrik
My chest felt like it was torn wide open so everyone could see the split, bleeding, damaged heart, which only still beat for the man lying on his stomach on the mattress. A part of me wanted to crawl into the bed with West, curl myself around him, and protect him from the rest of the world for life.
No, that was not true. It was not a part of me that wanted to do it. It was all of me.
I could not get his screams out of my head from when we had carried him into the house. They rang through my mind over and over, along with all his others from when we had found him. Lucas had given him a mild sedative as soon as we got into the room. I never left his side the whole time, and I would stay always, ignoring the acid burning in my gut.
My sweet West did not warrant the treatment he went through. Fury lit under my skin, burning me with the thought of how his parents had done this.
“The church,” I stated softly.
“What?” Kylo asked, also in a hushed tone, from where he stood beside me. I could feel Lucas’s eyes on me from my other side.
“I will have my men investigate the church where those people attended,” I answered.
Kylo hummed. “Good fuckin’ idea. We need to make sure those two weren’t the only cunts like that. I’m sure the brothers will help with that.”
I nodded once. “We will work together.”
“I-I need a shower,” Lucas whispered. It had been hard on him assisting West with the wounds, but I could see the strength he held within himself.
“I will stay with him,” I told Lucas.
“I’ll go talk to the brothers about the church.”
“Have someone speak with Dimitri when he returns.”
Kylo gently slapped my back. “I will.” He exited the room, quietly closing the door behind him.
Lucas stayed a little longer, and I waited him out, knowing he had something to say. He sucked in a shuddering breath. “I’m glad you were here today, Adrik. If you hadn’t been, we might not have got to him in time. We might have walked away.” He sniffed. “It’ll be a long healing process, not only physically, but mentally.”
“I will help him.”
“I know you will. But what I’m saying is that he might not want you around when he wakes and is fully with it. He won’t want to be a burden. He won’t want you to see him like this. You’ll need to be persistent.”
“Nothing will have me leave him. Not now.” Not ever. West was mine. If I had not been stubborn in the first place, none of this would have happened. I would have had him with me, at my side, protecting him. “I fucked up.”