Trust In Love (A McCord Family Novel Book 2) (25 page)

"Yeah, it does. It's unavoidable sometimes. Real relationships have their ups and downs. You think Ava and I don't argue sometimes. Most of the time it's because I'm in the wrong. Because really, it's just easier to tell your woman they're right," Zane said, grinning at Ava.

She nudged him in the stomach, muttering, "You're gonna get it for saying that."

He leaned down and whispered in her ear, "Promise?" He kissed her on the neck and glanced back at Austin. "Austin, Ava and I were talking. We want to invite Sophie over for supper and try talking to her. At least about her safety. We want to help in any way we can."

Austin looked up, wanting to smile at the way his brother held Ava into his side, but couldn't manage it. "I don't know. You just said to give her time."

"I did say that, but I also want to try. She needs time from you, but not necessarily from us. Someone other than Deja needs to try because Deja isn't really trying on your behalf. Just let me make a quick call to her," Ava said, encouragingly.

"Why are you even asking?" Austin asked with a shrug.

"Because I don't want you mad at us. You have enough to deal with. I hated it when you ignored me last time. I'm not looking forward to that again," Ava replied.

Austin sighed. "Fine. Whatever. Probably won't work. She's stubborn as hell."

"That she is," Ava said, smiling as she grabbed her phone and dialed Sophie.

Ava tapped her fingers on the counter while she waited for Sophie to answer. The light in her eyes shined when Sophie answered. "Hey, Sophie. How's it going?"

Ava shook her head. "Okay. Are you alright? Because I just have a quick question."

The light in her eyes dimmed as each minute passed. Austin started to fidget on his feet, knowing the conversation wasn't going well. It killed him not to hear Sophie's voice and what she was saying.

"But Sophie, please, can we just talk about this? Don't say things like that. If you will just come over—"

Ava dropped the phone onto the counter and glanced at Austin. "She hung up on me."

"I told you it wouldn't work. She's stubborn," Austin said. He didn't want to talk anymore or even know what she said. He didn't.

He turned around to leave, then whipped back around. "What did she say? You told her not to say things like that. What did she say?"

Ava stared at him with a frown, hesitating.

"Please, Ava. Just what did she say?" Austin pleaded.

"It was weird, actually. She seemed occupied and...I don't know."

"Ava, what did she say?" Austin yelled.

"Calm down, Austin," Zane said, stepping away from the counter to stand next to Ava. "Just spit it out to him, Ava. You can see he's already in pain. If she never wants to talk to him, just put him out of his misery."

"Wow, thanks, Zane," Austin muttered.

Zane shrugged his shoulders, knowing no amount of words would make him feel better anyway.

"She said she never wanted to see you again, Austin. She was very quick to say that," Ava said softly. "I'm sorry."

"What's so damn weird about that? I knew I lost her when she kicked me out," Austin said, turning around to leave again.

"That's not what was weird. She said to tell you, you were never a sexy beast. I've never heard her talk like that before. It was just weird," Ava said as she grabbed Zane's hand.

Austin stopped moving. "What did she say?"

"Geez, Austin, how many times do you want Ava to say it?" Zane exclaimed. "She—"

"Sexy beast. She said those exact words," Austin demanded, as he turned back towards her.

"Yes, why? What is it?" Ava asked, recognizing his fear right away.

"Call nine-one-one, Ava. Get every available officer over there. Sophie's in trouble," Austin shouted as he ran out of the house.

He hopped in the truck, cranked the engine, and moved to shift into drive when the passenger door opened and Zane and Ava piled in.

"Drive. Talk," Ava said, dialing her phone as she said it.

"That's our safe word. We made it when I went to New York. She was supposed to say those words if she had a problem with Deja. She has a problem now. She would never say that to you if she didn't. He has to be there. He has to," Austin said, as he took a right a little too sharply.

Zane's shoulder rammed into the door. "Slow down, Austin." He saw Austin's pointed look and grimaced. "Well, at least drive a little better. You don't want to kill us before we can reach her, do you?"

"Shh, both of you. Yes, I need all available units to Sophie Greene's residence. Possible hostage situation, subject is most likely Kevin Dittmore out of New York. Unknown if he is armed," Ava said.

She kept talking to the person on the line as Austin drowned her voice out and everything she said. His focus centered on getting to Sophie. She needed to be alright. He refused to lose her to that lunatic. He pressed his foot harder on the pedal, picking up speed, barely hearing his brother yell as he ran a red light. He didn't care. He only cared about getting to Sophie. That's all that mattered as he slowed on the brakes to take another hard right.

Five minutes later, he pulled in front of her house.

"Damn, I'm driving next time," Zane mumbled as he opened the door. He barely set a foot on the ground as Austin already rounded the truck. "Ava, where the hell are the police? He's gonna get hurt, or worse, kill that man inside. Stay in the damn car," he said, slamming the door before she could exit or even answer his question.

As Zane ran behind Austin, the sirens could be heard in the distance. "Don't be stupid, Austin."

Austin whipped open the front door, stumbling inside from the force of opening it. "Sophie!"

He heard a soft yelp coming from upstairs and took the stairs two at a time. He ran to their room, because no matter what she said it was
their
room, and ran inside.

Immediately jerking in his tracks, he saw Kevin by the window. Sophie lay on the floor, a foot pressed to her throat and blood dripping from her mouth. Austin already saw a few faint bruises forming on her face and his rage instantly bubbled to the surface at the sight.

His eyes processed it all when he stepped inside.

Kevin, the deranged man who called himself a man when he was really a sniveling, no-account coward.

The tremors that ran through Sophie's body as she lay immobile on the floor, bleeding, in pain.

Her clothes scattered all over the room, her dresser drawers wide open. Her jewelry and the few things she found precious and dear to her that normally sat on top of her dresser scattered around the floor.

And her angel, her beloved angel with the broken wing, in pieces, broken beyond repair. He refused to lose his angel. She was everything to him.

"Get off of her," Austin demanded. "You wanna fight? You wanna hurt someone? Why don't you try it with someone who can fight back, you bastard."

"I suppose your Austin, the not so sexy beast she muttered about on the phone. I should have never let her answer it, but she was quicker than me. Very bad of you, Sophie. Very bad," Kevin said, pressing his foot down a little, eliciting another small whimper from her.

"You're nothing but a coward. A disgusting, poor excuse for a man. You have to beat a woman to feel good, is that what your problem is?" Austin said, taking a step closer.

"What? You're telling me you showed her what a real man is? I highly doubt it," Kevin said.

"He is a real man. The only man in this room. Go ahead and beat me. He'll just make me forget because he's really good at it. He's good at it all," Sophie whispered, half laughing as she did.

A vein bulged in Kevin's neck, his eyes glazing over in anger.

"Sophie, let me do the talking, huh, my pixie angel," Austin said softly, never taking his eyes off Kevin.

"How in the world do you think you're going to get out of this mess? You hear those sirens. The police are here. Your ass is going to jail," Austin said, taking another step closer.

"I highly doubt that. You'd be amazed with the power I have," Kevin snickered.

"Wow, you're more full of yourself than I realized. You're truly delusional. I guess you have no idea the power I have either," Austin said, one more foot going forward.

"I know about all you pathetic people helping Sophie. Farmers, nothing but little pathetic farmers. You are nothing. I didn't hurt Sophie, did I, dear? She hurt herself. She's sick. I need to take her home," Kevin said.

"A farmer. That's right I am. You definitely don't wanna mess with this farmer. I will shovel the shit out of you before you even know what hit you. I can tell you with complete certainty, you're wrong. You messed up, Kevin. I will destroy you for touching the woman I love. I love you, Sophie," Austin said, a smile on his face as he glanced at her.

She smiled back even though a foot lay pressed on her throat. "I love you, too, Austin. Go ahead, Kevin. Kick me again. Hit me again. It doesn't hurt. None of it hurts. You can't hurt me anymore."

Kevin lifted his foot to oblige her wishes when Austin jumped on him, slamming him into the wall. Austin grabbed him by the collar, hitting him squarely in the face and knocked him to the ground. Austin tried not to step on Sophie as he did all that, but thankfully, she managed to scramble out of the way, as he advanced on Kevin.

Kevin tried to sit up, but Austin was quicker, the anger flowing through his veins for every hurt Sophie ever endured by the man, and started to pound him in the face.

Each time his fist hit Kevin's face, he thought of Sophie and her beauty, her smile, her sweet kindness. He thought of the memories they made and how her face lit up in delight at the littlest thing. He thought of her wrapped in his arms, safe, loved, sated from his warm, caressing hands. He would never let this man hurt her again. Never.

He didn't know how many punches he delivered before he felt hands pulling him off.

He tried to fight them off until he heard his brother in his ear. "Stop, Austin. Stop. It's okay. Sophie's okay. She needs you. Let the police handle the rest. Let them arrest him, not you. Any more punches and they might."

His senses finally came to him as focused his eyes on Kevin lying on the floor, blood pouring from his face. He was mumbling, groaning, and demanding the police get off him. Except his demands came more out as a murmur, his face too bloodied and bruised to speak very well. They paid him no attention as they cuffed him behind his back and carried him out of the room.

Austin turned around expecting to see Sophie, but the room stood empty except for him and Zane.

"Sophie? Where is she? You said she was okay," Austin said, whipping his head around the room as his panic started to well up inside.

Zane let Austin go. "She's in the hallway. The chief pulled her out when we couldn't get you off him right away. Be calm. She's okay now. She's fine. He can't hurt her."

"The chief's here?" Austin asked, surprised.

"When Ava calls something in, the whole damn department drops what they are doing and responds. Come on now, Austin. Haven't you figured that out yet?" Zane said with a laugh as he put a calming hand on Austin's shoulder. "Come on. Sophie needs you. She's pretty banged up."

Austin nodded and walked into the hallway where Sophie sat on the floor, the chief sitting right next to her. Sophie looked up when she noticed him. "Austin."

He dropped to his knees and gently pulled her into his arms. "Oh, God, Sophie. Please tell me you're alright. He didn't hurt you too bad, I hope."

***

"I'm okay. I'm okay," she said, hugging him back even as the pain radiated throughout her body.

"I'll go see when that ambulance is going to get here. Help me do that, Zane," Chief Tanner said, getting up and winking at Sophie when she glanced at him.

Austin gently let her go and rested against the wall next to her. He grabbed her hand, pulling it onto his lap. "I'm sorry, Sophie."

"For what?"

"For everything. For lying, even if they were little lies. For breaking your trust. For letting you get hurt. For not being here when that bastard came. For not...no, I can't be sorry for that actually. I'm not sorry for beating him. I just wish I got a few more punches in. I'm sorry for everything else, though," Austin said, pulling her hand to his mouth, lightly kissing it. He turned his head towards her to see a small smile light up her face.

"You're smiling. I love your smile. Don't ever stop," Austin whispered, kissing her hand again.

"My sexy beast," she said.

"Yes, I am," he chuckled.

"Maybe I overreacted about what you did. You've never done anything to hurt me. I should have known that."

"Sophie, I was wrong and—"

"No, let me finish." Sophie inhaled softly, pulled his hand closer to her lap and traced his knuckles that were bleeding. "You know when I first saw this house and its horrible curbside appeal, I thought of bloody knuckles. Who thinks of something like that? Most people would see red peeling paint, but no, I saw bloody knuckles."

"My life has been one bloody knuckle after another. That's as plain as I can put it. My mother always taught me lying was bad. Yet, she lied all the time. To my teachers...the police...me. I could never figure out why. Why did she cry when my real father walked out? Why did she put up with the abuse from my stepfather? Why would she lie that it didn't hurt? I love my mother. She was the only bright spot in my life. She tried her hardest to make my life good and happy despite all the beatings, the rage, the sadness, the loneliness."