They hadn’t touched her, not… that way.
But her personal sense of self had still been violated.
She’d distanced herself from Chris. I’d rarely seen her as it was, but I knew she and Chris were close. The anger he’d felt after that night at the Omegas was stronger than I’d ever seen in him before. He threw himself into the training that followed, working until his muscles quivered and he dripped with sweat. I’d told him to stop, to take a break, to walk away if needed to. To ignore the pack and focus on Jessie if that’s what he thought was right.
He’d looked at me, stricken. “Are you telling me to leave?” he’d asked, voice small.
I hadn’t known the extent of my reach over them. Over the pack. I didn’t understand, not really, up until that moment. Because if I’d told him to leave, he would have. He would have left us and cared for his sister and stayed away from the pack because I’d told him to do so. And it would have hurt him, and me, in the process.
It was selfish. I should have told him to leave.
I didn’t.
I said, “No. No, I don’t want you to leave.”
He had relaxed and let out a long, slow breath.
SHE DID come back, though. During the summer.
The bell over the front door of the shop rang out.
I ignored it, focusing instead on the radiator fan I was trying to install. Robbie was at the front desk. For everyone’s sake, we’d agreed it’d be safer if he
was kept away from any and all tools, as he had a tendency to hurt himself and others if he came within a few feet of anything sharp. He answered the phones now. Dealt with the customers. Scheduled the appointments. People who came to the shop loved him, and he loved talking to them. It made life easier for all of us.
Until that day when I heard shrill, raised voices.
“I don’t care what the fuck you are, you will let me back there because I have something I need to say to them!”
“Look, lady—”
“It’s Jessie, you asshole.”
“Jessie, you can’t just—”
“Oh for fuck’s sake, get the fuck out of my way.”
Chris sighed from the next auto bay over. “This isn’t going to go well. Knowing her, it’s been building up all this time.”
“Better you than me,” Tanner snorted.
“Actually, she’s probably gonna scream at alfa over here,” Rico said.
“What did I do?” I said with a groan.
“Jefe, what didn’t you do.”
“Son of a bitch,” I muttered, setting the fan down. Then, in the same low voice, “Robbie, just let her back here.”
Robbie cut off midretort at the front of the office. I heard the door that led from the front reception to the shop slam open.
“Ox!” Jessie bellowed.
“This is going to be loud,” Chris said.
“Should we leave?” Tanner asked.
“Nah,” Rico said. “I want to watch what happens.”