Blyssfully Undone: The Blyss Trilogy - book 3 (32 page)

“Jules,” he whispers to me, "no one is going to hurt you anymore." What he fails to realize is he has just hurt me ten times more than my father or Nick ever could. With my plan of revenge plucked from my grasp, I have no other reason to live. It’s game over.

“Travis, she’s already checked out; just look at her. She’s rocking back and forth nonstop. How can you think she doesn’t need help, man?”

“I don’t give a fuck. She needs
me
, not doctors.” Travis turns his head to address his men, or the one supposedly in charge, using a sharp tone. “I’ve brought the crime syndicate of the century to its fucking knees. The very least you can do is let me handle this.”

“You went and made this personal, Jackson, didn’t you?”

Travis doesn’t answer back, and the entire room is silent with tension. “Dammit, Travis, you don’t know how many strings I’ll have to pull for this.” Travis turns back toward me, trying to lock his gaze with mine, but he doesn’t have the effect on me like he used to. The man behind him lets out a huge sigh. “Fine, I’ll give you a week with her, but you are to report back to me daily. Am I clear? If she gets worse, and I mean in the slightest, I’m coming for her,” he threatens.

“Got it.” Travis’ voice is low and rough, and I can’t help but think I’m being bargained for yet again. As I pull harder at the roots of my hair, Travis pleads with me on a choked whisper, “Shit, Jules, stop…you’re killin’ me.”

He drops down on his knees and pulls me into an embrace, drawing my lifeless body against his broad chest. His arms squeeze me tight, but I don’t feel him. I’m numb.

“All right, men, show time is over. Let’s get this wrapped up.” Quinn claps his hands loudly, and I hear multiple heavy footsteps moving about on the hardwood floor.

Travis scoops me up into his arms and orders out, “Someone find me something for her to wear. I’m not having her traveling in a damn blanket.” Traveling to another unknown destination again, I see. Whatever Travis’ plans are, they will be in vain. I’m hollow inside. Desolate. There is nothing left for me to live for. I curl up inside myself, denying my surroundings as I shake with violent tremors. I’m nonexistent.

Travis

My adrenaline was running so high it was all I could do to wait for the signal for the guys and me to bust through the door together as a team. With my heart hammering in my chest, I somehow knew what was going on behind those closed doors. A large part of me didn’t want to open them, because I knew it would be an image that would take years to work out of my mind. I counted to ten, focusing on each breath, preparing myself against what lay on the other side of those walls. I held my hand up and gave the three second countdown to my men, who knew the drill.

The second I busted down the door and saw Nick's naked ass as he was dick-deep in my girl, all I could see was fire engine red. I do not see myself getting over that scene anytime soon; the very memory twists in my gut to the point I want to vomit. Someone may as well be driving a hundred ice picks into my heart right now. I was seriously planning on killing the motherfucker until Quinn pulled me off him. I couldn’t hear or see anything except for wanting this man's blood on my hands.

Only God knows where Julianna's mental status lies right now. She’s been pushed over the edge one too many times. Judging from her tremors and blank stares, she’s not in a good place. Her despondency has me more than concerned. She probably does belong in a psych ward right now, but I will be damned if she winds up in one. I blame myself for not having heard her escape in the night. She should have never been able to crack the window without me knowing about it.

I hold her in my lap, my arms wrapped tightly around her as I rock her listless body soothingly. Stryker is driving us back to the cabin. I plan on rehabilitating her myself. I don’t know what the fuck to give her or what the hell she needs, but I will die trying to figure it out. I refuse to leave Jules to the professionals, the ones who don’t understand. Just because they hold a degree, doesn’t mean they are the ones who can always heal. They weren’t there, and they sure as fuck didn’t help Clarissa. They say they can relate as they relentlessly poke and prod into the victims’ psyche, asking inane questions, which only serve to set them back. They would probably condemn Jules to a life of prescription pills and doctors.

I was the one who was there, and I lived with her turmoil every damn day. There is no one better or more qualified to handle her than me. I will not let her leave the confines of the cabin until she faces her demons head on, because dammit, I have a fear I got to her too late, just like Clarissa. Two days of torture is all it took for Clarissa, and I pray to God those few days with Nick didn’t destroy Jules.

I thought I was going to have a fucking heart attack before we got to her father’s house. I remembered going numb on the inside when I heard through the transmitted receiver what her father had confessed to. Thankfully, Quinn had their conversations recording onto his laptop, because I was stunned. I knew something wasn’t right with her father, but holy shit. There are simply no words.

When her father took her medallion, Quinn couldn’t scramble fast enough to get systems in place to sync his software with her hip tracker. Yes, when Stryker removed her GPS tracker, we put one of our own in. Quinn was able to get his hands on one. How the fuck he did that in a matter of a couple hours was a mystery to me. Since he’s the guru of all this shit, it seems as if he has contacts in every corner and facet of the world.

Unfortunately, we didn’t bank on this happening. It’s unusual for us, but yes, we were unprepared. It took hours to get the new software downloaded and installed. Then he had to work through the system bugs to get it working. By the time it was operational, she was gone, off the fucking radar.

Needless to say, when we got to her father’s house and he didn’t know where Nick could’ve taken her, he was worthless to me. Thank God for Chase getting shit lined up ahead of time with the authorities, because if they weren’t there, I would have killed the bastard with my own two hands. As it was, my own men had to hold me back, authorities and legalities be damned.

I could now see Nick’s frustration with the new tracking technology. There were too many false positives, and if they wound up going somewhere out of range like the mountains, we were screwed. Most definitely we wound up being fucked, because that’s exactly where they took off. Every hour that ticked by, all I could think about was history repeating itself. I fucking couldn’t sleep, and I was a hateful son of a bitch to deal with. Once Quinn pinned down her coordinates, we were able to call in for backup. I wanted a fucking army charging in, and thank goodness that’s almost what I got. I feel like I’ve failed the most important mission of all, and that was keeping Jules safe.

“Trav, let me give her a sedative,” Stryker says, glancing at me from the driver’s seat.

“No, she will just feel like I’m betraying her all over again, using drugs on her. I can help her through this.”

“Shit, Travis, she’s shaking like a leaf. That’s not good, dude. She needs something to take the edge off. I don’t want to knock her out either, but maybe a Xanax or something?”

I contemplate Stryker’s words as I cradle her head to my chest. Since my adrenaline rush is now dissipating, I’m starting to notice small details about her, such as her wrists. They’re chafed and red. I clench my jaw, trying to suppress the rising anger. The fucker tied her up again. Maybe she does need something to help her with the initial shock.

“Jules, sweetheart, I don’t want to give you anything unless you want to take it. I’m not gonna drug you,” I softly say while stroking her hair. “Would it make you feel better to have a little something to calm your nerves? Stryker’s probably right, you know. You’re shaking like a leaf.”

I imagine she’s dehydrated too, but she doesn’t answer me. I look into the rearview mirror, and meet Stryker’s gaze. He looks as if he wants to say something, but he keeps silent. She’s probably not in the right mental state to know what she needs. “All right, Stryke.” I let out a sigh. “Why don’t you pull out your bag of tricks? I’ll see if she’ll willingly swallow a pill for me, but if she doesn’t, I’m not gonna force it.”

“You got it. Give me a sec to pull over and I’ll get her something.”

Holy shit, what a long day. I step out of the vehicle and arch my back, stretching out. We spent seven hours on the road, and after the morning we had, both Stryker and I look like hell. Jules finally did take some medicine to calm her nerves, which made her sleepy, so she slept half the way. When we stopped for dinner and fuel, I could barely get her to eat. Stryker assured me this was normal, and the most important thing was to push the fluids, so I did.

It’s about eight o’clock, with a little bit of daylight left. I turn around and look at Jules. She’s laying down on the back seat staring blankly at the ceiling. I rub my forehead, the tension mounting.

Stryker comes up behind me and slaps my back. “Buddy, it’s late, and by the looks of her, she ain’t walkin’ in. Let me go unlock everything so you can carry her in.”

“Yeah, okay,” I agree in a tired voice. Once Stryker is inside and flips on a few lights, I give her a light kiss on the top of her head and heave her into my arms. I damn near break my back getting Jules out of the car. She’s dead weight.

Just before we hit the first step of the cabin’s front porch, she starts to push against my chest, making my step falter. “Jules, what are you doing?” I ask, my brows knitting together.

She starts to come alive in that moment, like a light switch has just flicked on in her head, and her motor skills kick in.

Highly distraught, she puts up a powerful struggle, fighting to get loose. I wind up losing my grip, and she falls to the ground. She starts screaming, and I stand here looking down at her in bewilderment. “What the fuck is going on?”

“No...no...no...no,” she screams profusely, shaking her head. I bend down to try and pick her back up, and she goes ballistic, uncontrollably thrashing around on the ground. Stryker leaps off the porch and skids to his knees beside us, grabbing her face in his hands.

“Jules, it’s okay. The house is clean,” Stryker says in an urgent voice. “The house is spotless; you would never know.”

Then it dawns on me. This is where she took down one of Nick’s men. Why the fuck didn’t I think about this? Stryker sees the look in my eyes, and tries to reassure me, “Travis, we both fucked this up. We’re men. Men who can kill, and move on. Neither one of us thought this through.”

Desperate, shrill cries fill the silence of the night air. “Get her some meds, Stryker,” I order. I can’t take her being this distraught. “Jules, we’re not going in, okay?” I take her into my arms and hold onto her tightly. She’s shaking all over. “You don’t ever have to go in there, okay?” That seems to be the magic words, because she starts nodding her head instead of shaking it back and forth. “Okay, baby. It’s okay. I’ve got you.”

Stryker comes back with another pill and a bottled water. When he tries to slip a pill into her mouth, she gets combative and knocks the water and pill out of his hands, sending them flying. “Well, alrighty then. Looks like we’re not thirsty,” Stryker says cooly, letting the stress roll off him.

She starts that rocking shit again, and I don’t know what to do other than start rocking with her. “How about I take her to the bunker?”

“How do you plan on that? You can’t carry her like this,” Stryker rationalizes.

“If you’d get the ATV out, I can take the back route.”

Stryker pauses for a second as he thinks about my suggestion. “All right, we’ll try it. If that doesn’t work, we can always pitch a tent.”

I shoot him a half grin, thankful for his little bit of humor to ease the tension.

I sit outside holding Jules for the next few minutes while Stryker makes quick work of pulling out the ATV. “Hey, baby,” I whisper. “We’re gonna go for a little ride. Need you to hang on tight for me, okay?” I try to keep whispering reassurances to her. I don’t know if they are sinking in or not, but she seems to calm down slightly.