It took hours, but they eventually sent Farrah home with me because she refused to stay overnight at the hospital. She told me she couldn’t afford to stay there, but there was an underlying reason in her eyes that I couldn’t interpret.

We held hands and cried as they took photos of her naked body. She wouldn’t let me go, and I was glad. I didn’t think I could let go, either. She had bruises covering her legs and torso, and there were crusted-over welts on her small breasts that looked like cigarette burns. The blood in her hair had come from a small cut on the back of her head that didn’t even need stitches, and both bones in her forearm were broken. The bruises on her back and bottom were even worse than those on her front, and to top it all off, she was emaciated to the point that I could count every single one of her ribs.

More than once during the whole documentation process I had to swallow back my urge to vomit.

They set her arm and bandaged her the best they could before we left, and I was thankful for the strong injection of pain medicine she was given. She’d fallen asleep in the wheelchair before we reached the outside door which was probably for the best because Echo was waiting for us. I watched him closely as he carried her like a baby to the car.

The guilt he felt was like a fog hovering around him.

By the time we got home, it was the middle of the night and Asa was due within a few hours. It drove me crazy that he was riding his bike through the night, but he would have laughed at me if I’d said anything. I trusted that he knew what he was doing and left it at that. I was selfish enough to need him with me, no matter how he had to get there.

I made Echo put Farrah in our bed for the night even though he argued that she should go home with him. I knew she wouldn’t want that, even unconscious, and I found myself sneering at him that he had no way to move her. He’d done something. I didn’t know what, but I knew that he was guilty. He wasn’t taking her anywhere.

A few hours later, Farrah woke up moaning, and I was sitting on the edge of the bed with her when Asa showed up. There was no emotion on his face as he walked forward, looking at both of us closely before leaning in for a kiss.

“You okay, Sugar?” he asked softly into my mouth.

“Better, now that you’re here.”

“Good,” he answered gruffly before turning to Farrah.

“Damn, girl. I hope the other guy looks worse,” he teased her softly.

“Killed that bitch,” she replied with a small smile.

“Yeah?” he questioned seriously, his voice still soft.

“No,” she moaned back as her face crumpled and tears began running down her cheeks.

“Well, I’ll take care of that for you,” he promised with a nod, causing Farrah to nod back.

I gave Farrah her pain medicine and followed Asa out of the room, closing the door quietly. Before I could move down the hallway, he was in my face, pushing me against the wall and running his hands all over my body.

“Fuck, Callie,” he whispered. “Fuck. Fuck.”

“I know,” I whispered back, putting my hands on his cheeks. “She’s okay. I’m okay.”

He kissed me long and deep, pressing my head into the wall until he was calm enough to pull back.

“She said anything to you?” he asked, locking his arm around my shoulder as he guided us toward the living room.

“No,” I hesitated for a moment, “but I think Echo knows something.”

His eyes shot to me in disbelief before nodding that he understood. Things were not going to go well for Echo if he had anything to do with what happened to Farrah.

We swerved toward the kitchen when we saw the guys standing by the counter, and Asa leaned against the wall across from them, pulling my back against his chest so he could wrap both arms over my shoulders.

“You got something to tell me, Echo?” he asked calmly, watching Echo with an unnerving intensity.

“No,” Echo stuttered back, his brows furrowed in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“Seems you know something you aren’t saying.”

Echo gulped and opened and closed his mouth a few times before dropping his eyes to the floor.

“That stepdad of hers is a member,” Michael cut in, his eyes swinging back and forth between the other men in the kitchen. “Echo came to us about him a few months back and said something wasn’t right with the dude.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Farrah wasn’t talkin’, but shit, all of us saw the way she was fuckin’ wastin’ away. So we had a little talk with the man, tried to feel him out a bit without steppin’ on any toes.”

I scoffed, but went silent when Asa squeezed me in warning.

“So, everything’s fine for a while, but Farrah’s not coming around as often, and Echo here’s getting worried. Then one night, outta the blue, she shows up on his doorstep, soakin’ wet and wearin’ nothing but her pajamas.” He paused for a moment, glancing away from Asa’s stare, and when he looked back his eyes were pained. “She’d locked herself in the bathroom at home and had to turn on the shower to hide the noise of opening the window… The whole story came out that night. Seems Farrah’s mom was beating the shit outta her while her old man watched, and all the while, Gator’s been eying Farrah like a prime cut o’ meat.”

I felt my legs lose all feeling, and Asa wrapped one arm around my waist to keep me standing.

“Some of the boys went and quietly taught the man a lesson. He’s a brother, and in that he deserves some respect, but that’s Echo’s woman. Not to mention the fact that girl is about a hundred pounds soakin’ wet and was getting smaller by the day. No way we could let that shit go—but we couldn’t do anything officially, either.”