Loving Laurel Animals MC book 6

Chapter Three.

The ear piercing scream woke Ivan from a deep and dreamless sleep, he bolted up right in the bed confused at first as to where he was. He wasn't in his shitty apartment he was in a shitty hotel along the highway and Laurel was in the other bed, screaming bloody murder.

He tumbled from his own bed, the blankets wrapping around his legs for a minute and tripping him. He hit the dirty, stinky floor and pushed up scrambling towards the other bed.

"Laurel, Laurel, Wake up."

Switching on the light he caught her by her shoulders, her body thrashing beneath the sheets as he gave her a firm but gentle shake.

"Laurel!"

She sat up nearly knocking him over, gasping for air and covered in sweat. She glanced around, seeming confused and pushing a shaking hand through her blonde hair.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, I think so."

"Nightmares?" He guessed.

"Yeah."

"I thought they had gotten better."

"So did I," She said with a shake of her head.

"When did they start again?" He asked.

"I don't know sometime around getting shot and then they got worse after.......after Ezra."

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked, the hurt evident in his voice.

"Why would I? There's nothing you can do, I'll get through it."

She looked away, a stubborn set to her jaw but he saw the tears that were building in her pale blue eyes. Reaching out he cupped her chin with one hand, forcing her to look at him.

"It's okay to still be scared, Laurel."

She shoved him hard enough he nearly fell off the bed, then she scrambled from the bed herself moving across the room to the mini fridge she pulled out a tiny bottle of whiskey, unscrewing the lid and downing the contents.

"What's there to be scared of? You killed them all."

"Yeah I did but.....I can't undo what they did to you. You never talked about it, maybe you need too."

"It was six years ago, I talked to plenty. To the cops, the therapist, I talked to lots of people just not you."

"You could have."

"No I couldn't because you weren't there, you checked out."

For once he couldn't argue with her, he had checked out and he'd closed off. He'd been away for the day when Ezra called him, the strain in his cousins voice alerting him there was a problem before Ezra even told him the worst. He'd found Laurel, naked, unconscious on the kitchen floor, she'd been beaten and raped. Somewhere during Ezra rattling off where she was taken by ambulance Ivan shut down.

The frantic drive to the hospital, the interviews with the police, taking her home, cleaning up the mess that was made of the kitchen and caring for her all passed in a blur. Ivan could barely remember most of it looking back, like a bad dream that his mind wanted to ignore but Laurel didn't have that luxury, she remembered everything.

At first she tried to talk to him, tried to explain why she recoiled every time he so much as glanced at her, at first he tried to listen but hearing her admit to the things they did to her was too much. Eventually it was easier to not listen anymore, not feel.

He abandoned her in the time that Laurel needed him the most and she had recovered all alone.

"Laurel....." He started to speak.

"Let's just get some sleep, I'll be fine now."

"Will it help if I leave the light on?" He asked.

"No, I'm fine, really."

She tossed the empty bottle into the trash and climbed across the bed, it was at this point he remembered her stripping for bed. She was wearing nothing but a t-shirt and black panties that did everything for her long legs.

Before she pulled the blankets over her body he caught a glimpse of just one of the many scars left behind by that night. It ran from her hip down her thigh to nearly her knee and he knew there were plenty more, he hadn't seen her this undressed in years and had almost forgotten the scars that lay there physically as well as mentally.

She leaned over and switched off the light, plunging the room into darkness. However brief and vague their conversation had been it was over. He stood and walked back to his own bed, climbing under the blankets.

"For what it's worth.....I don't blame you," She said in the darkness.

"I do."

"Ivan...."

"I should have been there, I should have known they would come after you, I should have....." He trailed off, not ready to go where his train of thought wanted to lead him.

"They would have killed you."

She knew they would have killed Ivan had he been home, she knew because it was that threat that they whispered in her ear to keep her from fighting back. Ivan had been the only reason she'd even somewhat cooperated.

"Do you really think we can pull this off with your parents?" He asked, needing to change the subject.

"Yeah, why not? We were in love once, it can't be that hard to fake it just a few days."

"Any ideas on what you'll tell them after this week?"

"I'm still thinking that through. I think maybe if mid way through this week we start to argue and not get along, if we have one good fight then I can tell them it's not working out anymore. They won't be as shocked."

"You really think that's going to work?"

"It's worth a try."

"Laurel......if...if you want to talk..."

"I don't it was a long time ago, I'm talked out."

"Okay, I'll let you get some sleep then."

He stood from her bed and she took that as a sign to slide down deeper into the blankets with a heavy sigh.

As he climbed into his own bed and switched off the light he briefly wondered how long Laurel had been struggling with the nightmares. When they got their divorce they had been getting better, if he'd known she was struggling he might have tried to hold onto his sobriety a little more and tried to help her. The woman in that bed next to his had taken a bullet for him and he didn't even know she was struggling.

AuthorNote: If you haven't yet be sure to check out my other books, including Heavenly Beast, Teachers Secret and my book of short stories!!