Graham, Jan - Finding Angel [Wylde Shore] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) (30 page)

“He sharpened the knives at home sometimes. He’d make me watch him…mostly after he had hurt me with one.”

“How did he hurt you, sweetheart?” Christian’s voice was soft and gentle to her ears.

“He stabbed me, and I was scared of him and his knives ever since.”

“Angel, look at me please.” Daniel’s voice was soft as she raised her head to look into his eyes. “I know this is hard for you, but you need to tell us everything. Why did he stab you?”

“I was leaving him. He got angry. He found me at the train station, and he tried to kill me for leaving him. He stabbed me in the shoulder, and he tried to cut my throat.” Angel knew tears were running down her face, but she didn’t really feel them. She didn’t really feel anything at the moment. She was simply numb. “He only stopped because someone saw him and called the police. Otherwise I’d be dead. The police couldn’t help me. They tried, but he sent me a message and I had to go home so he didn’t hurt anyone else. So I went back there and stayed with him even though he hated me and never let me forget trying to run away.”

Daniel felt sick as he listened to Angel describe her ordeal. She sat perfectly still as she spoke. Her face was void of emotion and even the tremble in her hands had stopped. Her voice was calm and soft, no wavers of emotion to indicate how hard this must be for her to talk about. The only sign of distress was the silent tears that streamed slowly down her face. It was eerily terrifying.

“What was the message he sent you?” Christian finally asked.

“‘I just saw your brother’s three children getting off the bus to go to school. I assume their throats will be easier to slash than yours. Come home today.’”

Angel’s stare sent a chill down Daniel’s spine. Her eyes filled with pain as she continued.

“So I did. I left the hospital that day. He used to do horrible things to me when I got home. He threatened everyone I had ever known just so I would always remember I wasn’t allowed to leave. He kept all my bank cards and any money that I had. I had to ask even if I wanted to buy milk or bread. I got home late one day. He’d allow me to go out to the shops, and they were really busy, so I didn’t get home by the time he had told me. I saw the bloody knife on the table when I walked into the house with the groceries…He had cut my dog’s throat. He said it was my fault for being late, that he thought I had run away again. I was never late home again after that.”

Angel was silent for a long while. There was obviously more she wanted to say, needed to tell them. Daniel appreciated how difficult this was for her as he sat silently with Christian waiting for her to be ready to speak again. Angel moved uneasily in her chair and inhaled deeply.

“Every time he made me have sex, it was always with a knife in his hand. He always ended up holding it to my throat to stop me from fighting him. I was so relieved when he left me. I thought everything would be so much better, and in some ways it is, but there are things I still need to sort out.” Angel fingered the ruby ring. “Lots of healing still to do.”

“Why did he decide to leave, Angel? Where did he go?” Daniel wondered why she just didn’t admit he was dead. Why was it easier for her to say he had left her?

“I don’t know why he left. I’m just glad he did. He can’t ever come back either. He hung himself and moved straight into hell, where he belongs.” She looked at Daniel and smiled. “He’s dead. And now everyone I have ever known or loved is safe. He can’t hurt any of them.”

“And he can’t hurt you either, Angel. You’re safe as well,” Christian offered.

Daniel was surprised at Angel’s reaction to Christian, who had reached across the table to take hold of her hand, only to have her pull away. She didn’t agree she was safe. She didn’t comment on what he had said. She just stared at Christian coldly. He wondered if she was angry with his brother, if she now thought of him as scary like Samuel because of seeing him with the knife. Daniel reached out to touch her arms, and she flinched away from him as well, like she had just been burned by something hot. Daniel stood to walk over and sit near her, but Angel jumped from her seat and backed away from the table as if Daniel might be going to hurt her.

“Don’t.” Angel held out one hand defensively. “Please don’t touch me. It hurts.”

“Neither of us wants to hurt you, Angel. We both just want to hold you and comfort you. We want to let you feel our love and let you know you’re safe.” Christian was now standing as well. Daniel saw concern written all over his face as he stared at Angel in disbelief. Christian seemed to believe, as Daniel did, that she would need comfort after telling them all that she had been through.

“You aren’t hearing what I’m saying. Neither of you are. You can’t touch me because it hurts. You can’t touch an open wound without pain, and it hurts to be touched, so don’t touch me.” She continued to back away from them as she spoke.

“Angel, I don’t understand what you’re saying. Please just come here and let one of us hold you?” Christian asked.

Daniel’s heart ached for her. He stood seeing the pain flood her whole being as she spoke it only increased the need to comfort her, but she kept backing away.

“I am an open wound, Christian. You just asked me to put my hand inside my heart and rip open a wound that’s been closed for three years. I don’t want you to touch me, or look at me, or be near me. It hurts. Please understand it hurts.” Angel was begging, pleading with both men as she backed herself into the corner of the dining cove. Daniel spoke to her gently, and he saw the tears begin to well in his brother’s eyes.

“I know it hurts, Angel, and please forgive me for what I’m about to do, but all wounds need to be tended to when they are open and bleeding. It’s the only way for them to heal properly.”

With that Daniel lunged himself at Angel and scooped her up into his arms. The scream from Angel was deafening, like the screams heard at car accidents, when people were injured so badly that to move them caused excruciating pain. She beat at Daniel’s face and chest, trying to get away from him as he scooped up her legs and carried her cradled in his arms to the sofa. Once Daniel was seated with Angel on his lap, he held her firmly against his chest. Christian joined them, placing Angel’s kicking legs over his lap and holding them to stop her using them as leverage to get away from the bear hug Daniel now held her in. Angel continued to scream and cry as both men told her she was loved and safe.

Tears trickled down Daniel’s cheeks as he felt Angel’s anguish course through his body. He hated seeing anyone in pain or suffer, which was one reason he had studied medicine. Daniel had learnt over the years to remain stoic during times when patients or their families were expressing their hurt and grief, but when it came to Angel, he couldn’t keep hold of his emotions. Every scream coursed through his body like a bolt of electricity. It was all he could do not to scream himself as he felt her pain and watched her struggle against him.

Daniel hated what had happened to Angel, hated that she had been forced to go back and live with a brutal man. To live in fear that had continued until he had finally died. Hated that she had never been able to truly heal from what had happened to her, but most of all he hated that all he could do for her right now was hold her, watching her wrestle with the pain and fear that engulfed her.

When Angel eventually quieted, her body ached from head to toe. It felt like spending three hours at the gym after not exercising for a year. Daniel still held her tight. He hadn’t let her go or loosened his hold of her in what seemed like an eternity. As Angel opened her eyes, she saw Christian gazing at her, his hands gently stoking her tired legs.

“Hello, Angel, welcome back.” Christian smiled when she gave him a brief smile. “How are you feeling now?”

“Sore,” Angel answered, her voice croaky from her hours of screaming and crying. She felt Daniel’s hold loosen on her, and he moved his hand up to brush the hair away from her face. At some stage her clip had fallen out, and her hair lay in a knotted mess between his arms and her back. He gently lifted her away from him, her white dress wet from tears and perspiration. Daniel’s shirt clung to his chest from the body heat of the two of them pressed together. Angel started to shiver as the evening air flowed through the open windows and hit the damp material against her skin.

“Christian’s going to take you to the bedroom and put something warmer on you, sweetheart.” She felt Daniel’s lips brush against her and gently kiss the side of her face before Christian scooped her off Daniel’s lap and carried her down the hall.

She wanted to tell Christian that she’d be fine to walk but really didn’t know if she could. Speaking was hard enough, so she thought walking may be impossible. Christian sat Angel on the bed before getting one of her pyjama sets out of the drawer. He gently undressed her, and she felt immediately warmer after having the damp clothes removed. Once she was dressed, Christian brushed her hair, scooped her back up into his arms, and carried her back to the lounge area. Angel sighed as they reached the lounge room, wondering how long they would continue to carry her around the house. She glanced at the clock and saw it was ten o’clock. Angel had lost all track of time. She felt like she had faded in and out of reality for most of the night. She could remember bits of the conversation that had taken place over dinner. She remembered telling Daniel not to touch her, remembered being held in his lap, and remembered the pain and fear that engulfed her. Angel also remembered Daniel’s words from the other night when they were talking about her scars and Daniel waiting for her to trust him enough to tell him about them.

“When you do that, Angel, Christian and I will both be here to help them heal.”

And tonight they were both here, and despite the pain she had felt, they were helping her. As she remembered his words she looked at Daniel, walking back into the lounge room in a fresh set of clothes. They really did love her. She had known them for such a short amount of time, but she had felt their love every day since she had been there. And tonight, Angel knew she wasn’t just fond of these men. Angel knew she loved them, too.

Chapter Fourteen

Christian had gotten into his bed about : a.m. Both he and Daniel had taken Angel to bed in Daniel’s room to sleep just after : p.m. She had been exhausted from the evening’s events, and even this morning Christian felt solely responsible for how badly the night had gone.

Even once they were in bed, the trauma for her didn’t end. Angel’s nightmares had started not long after they had all fallen asleep and recurred over and over every time she finally lapsed back to sleep. She had cried out for Daniel in her sleep, had snuggled back into his chest over and over throughout the night. The few times she had nestled into Christian’s arms she had woken violently, fighting and hitting out at him when he tried to calm her, and a few times she had even called him Samuel.

“Samuel, no,”
“Samuel let me go,”
and
“Please don’t hurt me.”

Christian’s heart had ached when he looked into her eyes and saw the fear looking back at him, and then she had said his name, not Samuel but Christian.

“Please don’t hurt me, Christian.”

He had decided to return to his own bed after that, and since then she hadn’t woken, hadn’t screamed, hadn’t been afraid. He left the bed, and she finally slept without fear. Christian had checked on them both a few times during the early morning. His own sleep had been fitful, the evening’s events playing heavily on his mind. As he walked past Daniel’s bedroom, he glanced at them again, and even now, four hours later, they were both sleeping soundly, Angel nestled into Daniel’s side.

Christian was never a man for regret. He believed that once something was done or said, then that was it. The repercussions either faded away and rectified themselves or lasted a lifetime. Both he and Daniel had been raised to speak the truth and stand by their actions. Neither of them were men that shirked responsibility. As he made his morning coffee, Christian hoped his spur of the moment actions last night wouldn’t end in being the first decision he had made that caused him true regret.