"It's like a switch flipped in my head and the old me came back." I say as I sit opposite Dr Ashton
"Is that a good thing?" She asks
"I don't know, it just feels weird that I've gone from the terrified little victim to having sex with Reaper, several times in one night, and yelling at my brother so quickly. I'm going crazier than I already am aren't I?" I sigh
"No, I think now you're home and you're living a more normal life the old you, as you call her, is starting to come back out because you're remembering you lived before what happened. Remember how you used to act, there was nothing wrong with it then, so why is it weird now?"
"Because I'm not that girl anymore, I locked myself away for five years and she was long gone." I shrug
"But you have always been tough, strong and a fighter. Even as a child your dad was unable to care for you and Elijah and you were there to do it, you fed and clothed him, walked him to school and helped him with homework. Even before your dad passed you were Elijahs closest thing to a parent. You were determined he was going to finish high school when many would've given up and walked away. You could've left him to earn your degree and you didn't. The past five years have just been a blip, now you're adjusting to life again you're becoming yourself again. I thought it would happen, just not so soon." Dr Ashton explains
"I still want to continue our sessions, you still have triggers and you will still have moments of fear and anxiety, but I'm happy with my decision to release you and I'm so proud of you, so let's go down to twice a week, but I'm always just a phone call away." She smiles and I nod.
"Have you thought about your future?" She asks
"No, no I haven't. I've just been taking it one day at a time and I always thought I would end up back here permanently, because I couldn't cope out there." I reply
"Well I'm not saying you need to get off your butt and get a job tomorrow but I want you to start thinking. Do you want to go back to work? Do you want to pick up where you left your education? Elijah is all grown up, you don't have anyone depending on you. There's nothing you can't do. Before our next session I want you to write down your ideas for the future, write as many as you want, whatever you want and we can discuss how to achieve them. What is it you were studying?"
"Art. I had a dream I could be an artist and sell paintings for millions of dollars." I laugh
"Why did you stop painting? I would've been happy for you to have art supplies in your room." Dr Ashton asks
"Because after the.. the thing, I feel like a need a fucking code word for gang rape." I air quote the term I despise.
"You can code word it if you prefer but I like that you're acknowledging it, that's the closest you've come to saying it in one of my sessions, but never the less continue." Dr Ashton says waving her hand
"After that I hated colour, my favourite color was always purple, my bedroom, my clothes and all my stuff was purple, including my nails. That night when I was, you know, I dug my nails into the dirt and although it was pitch black I focused on the colour of my nails, purple. I haven't had color on my nails since." I explain
"Well now you have your brother, you have Reaper and you have all these girlfriends, maybe you could start adding some color back into your life." Dr Ashton shrugs.
"You Alright?" Reaper says as he stands up and I nod
"I'll see you in a couple of days." Dr Ashton waves me off. Reaper takes my hand and guides me back to Scarlett's car where I find Knuckles pinning Scarlett to the drivers door, kissing her passionately and I laugh
"Sorry" Scarlett blushes as she tries and fails to fix her lipstick "ready to go?"
"Yeah." I reply, Reaper pulls me to him for a kiss before helping me into the car and climbing onto his motorcycle. We pull out of the parking lot and begin heading back to the compound. My brother rides in front of me, Reaper is behind me and Knuckles and Ace ride on the drivers side.
"When lockdown is over how would you feel about coming to my club for a girls night? You can stay behind the bar like Indigo if you like, Cordelia, Skye, Izzy and I will stay with you, just us girls drinking and laughing." Scarlett asks as we drive
"I think I'd like that." I reply
"Good." She smiles.
"Oh fuck." Her expression sours and I look in the mirror to see eight motorcycles behind us
"Do you know how to shoot?" She asks
"No." I reply as I grip my flashlight and feel my panic rising
"You know how to drive though right?" She asks and I nod
"Ok, go fast as fuck and just get us to the compound." She says as we awkwardly shuffle in the car until I'm driving. Scarlett pulls a gun from the glove and leans out of the passenger window. Ace and my brother separate from us and lead half of the bad guys away but there are still four following us. I push the pedal to the floor and push the car as hard as I can through the streets as Scarlett, Knuckles and Reaper fire back at them.
"Son of a bitch they're aiming for the tyres, get us out of here." Scarlett orders as she reloads her gun, I look in the rear view mirror just in time to see one of them fall from his bike and slide down the road. I make a sharp turn and grab onto Scarlett's belt to stop her falling out the window. After a few more turns I've got us away from the bad guys, but I've also lost Knuckles and Reaper in the chaos
"Pull up in an alley somewhere I think they damaged my car." Scarlett says as she climbs back in
"Holy fuck you've been shot." I gasp as I see blood trickling from her shoulder
"Ah no worries, just caught me, I've had shit ton worse." She smiles as she pointlessly dabs it with a napkin laughing.
"How are you so calm right now?" I ask as I park the car behind a dumpster.
"Here, Knuckles always leaves cigarettes lying around, smoke and calm down. I've faced a lot worse. I dropped one of them so there's still three after us. Me verses three, fun all round." She shrugs. I take the cigarettes from her and light one up taking a long drag praying it calms my hands violent shaking. Scarlett climbs out of the car to assess the damage
"Mother fucker!" She curses when she sees both back tyres are flat. She opens the trunk and pulls out another gun, along with a knife
"Take these." She says as she hands me a box of bullets and a gun, she slips a knife into my belt
"I'm not expecting you to fight, you hide, I'll fight, but throw me supplies." She smirks patting my shoulders
"Oh today is not my day!" She curses looking up at the sky
"I must've lost my cell leaning out of the window, got yours?" She asks and I pull it out to find a dead battery
"Oh you're so fucking funny Karma! I'll make you dance at my club bitch!" She shouts at the sky and if I wasn't terrified I would be laughing.
"Ok so the guys will be looking for us and I have no way of telling them where we are, but so will the fucking Devils. Stay hidden, stay low, we gotta move, they'll be looking for my car." Scarlett says as she takes my hand and pulls me out of the alley.
YOU ARE READING
MC's Nomad (Broken Demons MC #5)
ChickLitReaper hasn't belonged to a chapter of the Broken Demons since his wife was killed 10 years ago. He prefers to live alone on the road travelling to different chapters of the club, never staying too long. However on his latest visit with Killers clu...
