“Stop staring at her fucking tits,” King growled. Ray let out a small laugh.

I held her for a beat longer after she tried to pull away and she swatted my shoulder playfully and laughed again before I finally let her go. I missed her voice. Her laugh. It was even nice to have King growling next to me again.

It was all so… normal.

“You get your tits done, beautiful?” I asked mostly to piss off King, I knew they weren’t fake because of how they felt smashed up against my chest when she’d hugged me. “Cause I’ll tell ya they were always pretty fucking fantastic.”

“Bear,” King warned and I wondered how far I could push it until he drew his gun.

“Oh come on, Bear, you seriously don’t know why?” she asked, cocking her head to the side.

King tugged on her arm, pulling her against his chest.

My chest tightened.

I looked Ray over again, and she was right, they were soft and yet looked like they were about to explode out the top of her shirt. The rest of her was curvier too, her thighs a bit thicker. Even her face had filled out. And yes, her ass had gotten bigger but hot damn was that a good thing.

Fifteen or so pounds didn’t look good on her. It looked great on her.

“You seriously don’t remember?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest which made them pop out of her top even more. King reached out and uncrossed them, and that’s when I noticed it through the fabric of her shirt. A slightly rounded belly. Like she’d recently… “Fuck, I’m a dumb shit,” I admitted, finally realizing what I’d forgotten. “Congrats, guys, I mean it,” I said, pulling Ray in for another hug that was rewarded with yet another growl from King.

Now my chest hurt for an entirely new reason. My friends, closer to me than any family, had a baby while I was away and I hadn’t even remembered Ray was pregnant.

A shrill scream came from the other room and then stopped just as fast as it had started.

“She’s been doing that every few minutes since Gus brought her here,” Ray said, pulling away from King. “Sally, who runs one of the Granny Growhouses. She’s a retired nurse. She just left a few minutes ago. She cleaned and bandaged her up best she could where the girl would let her, but every time she tried to take off her shorts to inspect the damage the girl kicks and screams. Whatever happened, I think it was brutal to say the least.”

Kings eyes darted to mine and I knew what he was thinking. He was the only one who knew what Eli and his group of cunts did to me and he was searching my face for any sort of reaction. I wasn’t a chump. I wasn’t some chick whose virginity was stolen. It was torture. Plain and simple. Did we kill every last one of those motherfuckers?

Yes, we did.

“Great of you guys to take her in, but you ever think she might be on their payroll? That she’s not a victim but out to get info?”

“Crossed my mind. Don’t say shit around her just in case. But I’ll tell you something. If her beat down was all for show, it’s a pretty impressive act,” King said.

“You should go in and check on her. If she starts to shake or anything, Sally said to put her in the warm shower,” Ray said.

“Fuck!” I said, running my hands through my hair. “Shock? What if this is real? What the fuck did they do to her?”

“Ray’s been with her all night and she’s been either sleeping or screaming, but hasn’t said anything about what happened,” King said.

“She’s just a fucking kid!” I yelled. “You don’t think that he would…” But I answered my own question. “He would. He totally would. And not just him either…” I trailed off. I walked over to the couch and sat down feeling my stomach turn over and over again when I thought of Chop raping a little girl and then letting the sick fucks, and there were several in the club, have at her.

“How did she get your ring?” King asked.

“I was a dumb kid and I gave it to a little girl because she didn’t call the cops when Skid held her at gunpoint at a gas station. I never expected to see her again. I told her a story. A lie. Told her if she ever needed anything to come find me and give me the ring and I had to do whatever she asked of me. Thought she’d forget all about it.”

“You should go in and see her,” Ray said. “If she really did come to you to seek some sort of help from you, seeing you, knowing that you’re here, might do her some good.”

“Why?” I asked. “She doesn’t know me. I haven’t seen her since I gave her the ring years ago.” I sprang off the couch. “Chop wanted to send me a message by beating on and possibly raping a little girl. What I’m going to do is sneak back into the clubhouse and slit my old man’s throat and then hit the road again. This shit shouldn’t be at your doorstep. I won’t let it happen again. I’ll put her in the van and drop her at the hospital. We’ll both be gone by morning.”