“Enough of the fucking lying, man. Cut the bullshit. You’re a dead man regardless. So just tell me the fucking truth, alright? Die with some fucking dignity.” Jaxon ignored the hysteric panting that ensued from the fucker’s mouth. “You were hired to kill us. How did you find us?”

“He-he kn-knew where you were.”

“How?”

“I-I don’t know!”

“Don’t fucking lie to me.”

“I’m not, I’m not! I swear, I’m not!”

Fucking liar. He’d get that out of him eventually. “What gang are you from and where’s the marking?” Jaxon knew the fucking drill. Knew he was a hired killer, which meant his emblem was covered up, and he wanted to see it.

When the man didn’t answer, Jaxon pulled his hair roughly and inched closer to his face. “Listen to me, you piece of maggot shit, I’m going to ask you one more fucking time where your marking is, and if you don’t fucking answer, I’m going to make this experience as slow and painful as I can. And I’m a really imaginative fucker, so you wouldn’t like what I have planned. Where’s your fucking marking?”

The man still didn’t respond. Persistent bastard. It was actually admirable.

Jaxon sighed. He was so sick of getting his hands dirty, but what did it matter anyway? The cabin was a total write off now and the piece of shit deserved to die.

“Fine,” he said with a casual shrug. “You want to play it that way, dead man? We’ll play it that way nice and slow.”

And he did.

Twenty Four

Only I could fall asleep while someone was being tortured. It was just after many hours there’d been some silence, and my body had taken advantage of that silence and fallen into unconsciousness.

I inhaled sharply and awoke when a hand touched my cheek. I opened my eyes to Jaxon. He was knelt down beside the couch. His eyes were no longer distant or cold. They were soft and troubled, roaming me head to toe with concern.

“Hey,” I whispered.

“Hey.”

God, he looked tired. There were bags under his eyes and his face was paler. My stomach churned at the sight of splattered blood all over his shirt, arms and jeans. He reminded me of a gladiator that’d just walked out of the Colosseum. He was certainly big enough for one…

“Is he…?” my voice trailed off, but the question was thick in the air. I didn’t need to finish.

He gave me a stern nod. “Yeah.”

I nodded. “Are you okay?”

“Am I okay?” Bewildered, he sucked in a breath as his eyes watered. He leaned over and put his hand to my face. He was suddenly falling apart in front of me. “You… He took you… I watched him …” His breaths came out short and hard.

I rested my hand over his, massaging my thumb against his knuckles. “I needed him to.”

His bottom lip quivered as a single tear fell from his eye. “You killed one but I made the other one pay.” Then he hastily added, “It needed to be done. They would have killed you –”

“I know,” I said. “I know.”

I pulled him onto the couch and then I huddled against his bloody clothes. He wrapped his arms around me and held me for a long, long time. We didn’t talk.

I never felt so filthy in my life, on the inside and out. I would have gladly set fire to my body to rid the touch of that man. Yet Jaxon’s touch overpowered it, ridding away the sickness he left behind and replacing it with adulation. I knew I would forever be changed for what I’d done, but I didn’t fear the change; I embraced it. I wouldn’t succumb to fragility or self-pity. I’d already gone that route before. No, that was the caterpillar. The resolute, strong woman I aspired to be was the butterfly I knew was within me.

“What now?” My voice sounded dry and scratchy.

He was quiet for a heartbeat or two, and then he said, “Now we make the fucker that sent them pay.”

*****

Dawn broke just as we whipped into Gosnells.

We were risking it all coming back. What awaited us was the unknown. And while my world had changed in Maddington, Gosnells remained a portrait frozen in time. It was the place the Jackals would forever own; a place where my horrors were born, love was forged, and pain resided.

Just a few hours prior, Jaxon had taken me into the bathroom, determined to clean me up and adamant I keep my eyes closed on the way there. He didn’t want me to see what became of the tortured man, and I frankly was tired of harbouring sick images. In the bathroom, he cleaned me head to toe, even went so far as washing inside of me. It was hard for him to do it. Easy to kill a man but broken to help his woman, Jaxon had more layers than an onion – unconquerable, remember?

“I’m going to protect you forever,” he’d told me, lathering me in soap with determination. “No one will ever touch you again. Ever.” The veins in his neck protruded as he fought to keep his temper at bay.

“It’s okay,” I quietly told him, throwing my arms around his neck. “It wasn’t your fault. I can see it in your face that you think it was. It wasn’t. I’m not broken, Jaxon. I’ve never been more fixed in my life than standing here with you.”

I emerged out of my thoughts as Jaxon parked in front of the familiar red bricked bar. I felt nostalgic seeing the giant “King’s Temple” sign. The last time I was here held no fond memories I wanted to revisit. He jumped off the bike and turned to me just as I stepped down. He looked me up and down with that look of concern still carved in his features. I knew in a matter of moments that look would be shut away.

I had been shocked to find that although I’d dressed in clean clothes after I’d stepped out of the shower, Jaxon had put on the exact same ones. I thought, is he trying to parade his bloody clothes like a trophy? Only I saw his look of disdain as he threw them on, as if he too was sickened by it. Then I realized this was how he wanted to appear. He wanted to look raw after what we’d just come out of.

He retrieved the gun from the bike and placed it in his pants, not trying to conceal it. It bulged noticeably. He grabbed my hand and we walked to the entrance door. I had turned my mind off, allowing Jaxon complete control. Right before we entered the room of unpredictability, I turned my head up to the sky and watched the sun trickle in through the clouds thinking, if ever there’s an unchanging constant, it’s the sun.