Closing the door to Jessie’s bedroom, I walk through the apartment to Shane’s office. My head is spinning with questions. I’m pretty sure Jessie just accused me of wanting to hand her over to the Wolf, but right now I’m so fucking angry, I can’t process any rational thoughts.
Walking inside Shane’s office, I slam the door behind me. I didn’t imagine I could be any angrier than I was thirty minutes ago when I came home to find he had left her down in that shit-box room without even checking on her for almost twenty fucking hours. But then I found her like that. And when I saw the blood, I thought she had really hurt herself and my world stopped turning. It was only as I was lifting her into my arms, I realized she had got her period and I have never been so relieved in my entire life.
Shane looks up and glares at me as I stride over to his desk. “Did you fuck her?” I snarl.
He continues glaring at me, his jaw set and a vein throbbing in his temple, but I clearly saw the pair of torn panties in that room downstairs. I’m pretty sure Jessie didn’t rip them off herself.
“Did you fuck her?” I shout this time.
“Yes,” he snaps, and I have to stop myself from jumping over his desk and punching him in the mouth.
“So, it’s just me and the twins who have to keep away from her, is that it? But you can fuck her whenever you feel like it?”
“It just happened,” he snaps, his eyes narrowed at me in anger.
“Seriously? You just fell into her?”
“You know what I mean!”
“And you say I’m blinded by her. A few minutes in her company and you can’t help but bury your dick in her? And was she even okay with it?”
“Of course she fucking was, Conor!” he snarls at me.
“What the fuck, Shane?” I snarl back. “How could you just fuck her and then leave her down there like that? How could you not check on her?”
“She’s okay, isn’t she? Liam told me she got her period. I didn’t know she was bleeding. She was fine when I left her.”
“But you left her for almost a whole fucking day and night, Shane. Anything could have happened to her. Why the fuck would you do that?”
“What the hell else was I supposed to do, Conor? She won’t fucking talk. She’s working for the Russian mob, and she won’t give us any answers. She’s had every fucking opportunity to talk, and she refuses to.”
“You don’t know that she’s working for them.” I remind him.
He shakes his head at me, the way he used to when I was fourteen years old and I’d come home drunk after staying out all night. “You are so fucking blind when it comes to her.”
Planting my hands on his desk, I lean forward. “I’m blind?” I shout. “You refuse to consider any possibility other than her betraying us. There are other reasons why she might have left, but you won’t listen to any of them.”
He stands up and leans forward too. “She was holding his fucking hand, Conor. She didn’t look frightened or threatened, or any of the other things you’ve suggested to me these past few days. In fact, she looked fucking thrilled to be walking out on us.”
“You don’t fucking know that though.”
“No, I don’t,” he snarls. “And while she refuses to give us any explanation, I suppose my theory will just have to do, won’t it? Maybe we’ll never understand why she left. But I do know that she ripped out our fucking hearts, and I will never forgive her for that.”
“So, what do you plan on doing with her, then?” I lean back, my arms crossed over my chest.
He shrugs. “Fuck knows.”
“You know that we’re going to have to let her go eventually?”
“What?” he frowns at me.
“If she doesn’t want to be here, then what’s the alternative, Shane? Because I’ll be fucked if I’ll let you hurt her any more than we already have, or send her back down to that basement.”
“I want answers Conor. She needs to explain herself. I need to understand why she left with him and what the hell she was doing here in the first place.”
We’re interrupted by a knock at the door and I turn around to see Liam opening it. “Doc is on her way,” he says to Shane.
Shane nods in response.
“You called Lisa?” I ask him.
“I didn’t know what was up with her until Liam told me. Probably best we get her checked over anyway,” he shrugs.
“Yeah,” I nod in agreement, and it’s only then that I realize his anger is masking everything else he’s feeling. The pain of losing her. The guilt at the state we’ve just found her in. Shane loves her just as much as I do, but he will never admit it. It’s easier for him to pretend that he hates her. I wish I could hate her too. I wish I could let her walk out of here and be happy to never see her face again. But the thought of doing that makes me sick to my stomach. We need to find a solution to this nightmare we’ve ended up in. And soon.
