Terror gripped Jessica.
“Funky chicken no sauce.” Jessica said urgently into her phone. She repeated it a few times before shoving her phone back in her pocket and pulling her gun from her purse.
“Get in the car and run Jessica.” Mark ordered, “Go!”
“You too. Get in the car.” Jessica said, “We can both go … Mark!” she screamed not seeing the man with the stick until it was too late. He came up behind Mark and hit him across the back. Jessica shot the man with the stick. A head shot. She wasn’t planning on leaving any of these people alive. She killed two more before the world went dark.
“Where are they?” the growl was accompanied by a foul odor and a stinging slap.
Jessica opened her eyes to find the most terrifying face shoved into hers. She had no doubt that it was Earl. Blinking she realized that they were still in the driveway. Someone was holding her up. Panic grew as she realized that she couldn’t move. Her muscles couldn’t move.
She heard Mark growl, “Get away from her!” His voice didn’t sound right. From the corner of her eye she saw Mark, face bloodied, held between two men. A third man hit him with his gun.
“We looked everywhere! Where are the fuckers?” Earl demanded and when he waved is hand before her she realized why she couldn’t move. He’d stunned her. He had a Taser just like hers.
Jessica had to concentrate really hard to get her lips to work but she finally managed to say, “Gone. For good.”
“Really.” Earl said pressing his face closer, after sniffing her he slowly and deliberately ran his tongue up her cheek. “And why would they leave something as delicious as you behind?”
“He said she was married to five of them.” Another man said.
“He did …” Earl agreed, “So, why did your husbands leave you behind?”
Jessica’s heart raced, almost as fast as her brain. She had to get Earl and his men away from the house. Her men would be there any moment, who knew when the others would return from the pond. Nothing good would come from that. While Earl and his men were around, no one was safe. She had to convince them that she and Mark were alone. Suddenly a thought occurred to her. If this didn’t get Earl out of here, she didn’t know what would.
“Not married yet.” Jessica managed to mutter, “Called wedding off.”
“What are you doing Jess?” Mark demanded earning him another bash from the gun.
“Really?” Earl asked. “And why would five men call off a wedding with a sweet innocent thing like you?”
Jessica flinched. Try as she did she couldn’t help but be terrified of Earl. As the Taser wore off and she could see more clearly she became fully convinced that she was eye to eye with the devil. His skin was pasty colored, his lips were overly wet, like he was perpetually drooling, and blue. His tongue kept flicking out from between the slimy lips and yellow teeth. And his eyes were a dull grey. They made her shiver as they roamed her face, and lower. Returning to her face, his eyes suddenly showed signs of life.
“But of course. You can’t be more than eighteen …” Earl muttered. Jessica’s skin crawled. “Never used before … were you too scared?” Earl asked grasping her tit.
“She’s no virgin.” Mark said through a jaw that was likely dislocated. “She’s married to five men, she’s twenty-one years old. She’s not what you’re looking for.”
Earl’s eyes intensified as he slid his hands behind the waistband of Jessica’s pants and stroked the fine hair left on her pussy lips from the bikini wax.
“Smooth.” Earl breathed.
Jessica forced herself to nod. “Not married. Men left, everyone left.”
“What’s he to you?” Earl asked tilting his head at Mark.
“Friend.” Jessica said.
“He said she can’t lie.” Another man said.
“Get the cars. We’ll get the truth one way or another.”
“What have you done?” Mark demanded when he and she were forced into a car.
“I’m sorry.” Jessica said.
“Don’t touch her!” Mark yelled and threw himself at Earl when Earl reached over the back seat and ripped her shirt open. Earl punched Mark until he was unconscious.
“A friend … really?” Earl said to Jessica. “We’ll see … oh.” He added after opening Jessica’s bra, “Nice tits.” Jessica shuddered when he laughed.
The car ride didn’t take long which surprised Jessica. She and Mark were dragged into a room with a mattress on the floor, a chair, and an assortment of items that Jessica’s mind tried not to consider. Knives, hooks, handcuffs, sticks, were spread out on a table. In the middle of the room, not on the mattress, but on the hard cement floor, was a person. Naked, bloodied, hogtied. On elbows and knees, butt in the air. And despite the metal bar lodged in the person’s mouth the person was emitting a low, continuous moan.
Earl moved over to the person and yanked their head up by the hair.
“Is that her?” he demanded.
“Stan?” Jessica gasped when the person opened their eyes and stared at her.
“Is that her?” Earl repeated and when Stan still didn’t reply Earl reached between Stan’s legs and started turning something. It took Jessica a moment to realize that Stan’s cock and scrotum were almost black. A rope was tied around them and whatever Earl was doing seemed to tighten the rope. Mark must have noticed it too because he suddenly groaned. Tears came to Jessica’s eyes when Stan started screaming. He screamed for a long time before nodding his head.
“She says she’s not married. And a virgin.” Earl said. Stan’s eyes flew open and stared at Jessica, shaking his head as fast as he could.
“I guess there’s only one way to find out.” Earl said standing, “But we’ll try a few other ways first, just for fun.” He nodded at someone behind Jessica. Several hands grabbed her and as hard as she fought she still ended up naked on a chair, legs spread and tied to the chair handles.
“No! No!” Mark yelled.
“Oh yes, you may want to watch this.” Earl said and nodded to someone else who brought Mark over to kneel right in front of Jessica, eye level to her crotch. Mark rolled his eyes, doing his best to look anywhere but directly at her pussy.
Earl knelt beside Mark, in front of Jessica. He shook a cigarette out of a package.
“I quit smoking a while ago.” Earl said, and he lit the cigarette. “So lucky you, these are all for you.” He said to Jessica.
“Don’t …” Mark begged.
“Are you married?” Earl asked.
“No.” Jessica said and watched in horror as Earl moved the cigarette to the inside of her leg, almost at her crotch. She tried to pull back but couldn’t and when the cigarette touched her flesh she tried not to scream but failed almost instantly. When Earl finally removed the cigarette Jessica heard Mark sobbing. Through a steady stream of tears she could see Mark watching her, tears soaking his face.
“Are you a virgin?” Earl asked. He repeated the question several times before Jessica nodded her head. This time Jessica couldn’t control her scream at all.
This went on for fifteen minutes. Jessica had a trail of cigarette burns on both inner thighs. There were a few minutes of peace when someone called Earl out.
“Bring it in here.” Earl said, and then he was back lighting another cigarette. “Get a good angle. Let’s try this again. Are you married?”
Jessica and Mark locked eyes for a second. Then Jessica closed her eyes and said, “No.” And despite the fact that her throat was already raw from screaming she let out a blood curdling scream as the lit cigarette pressed into her flesh.
“Maybe we should move to a more sensitive area.” Earl said shoving his fingers into Jessica’s pussy. Jessica bucked.
“You coward!” Mark yelled and tried to knock him over, “You fucking coward. Why don’t you pick on someone your own fucking size!”
“Interesting suggestion.” Earl said, nodded at someone and before Jessica had time to register what was happening Mark was stripped naked, held down on his stomach and Earl was busy ramming a large steel rod in Mark’s asshole. The only noise that came close to rivaling Mark’s screams were Jessica’s.
“No! No!” she screamed, “Take me, take me! I’m a virgin. I’m eighteen, honest … stop!” she screamed but when Earl pulled the rod out covered in blood and two men forced Mark onto his knees, holding him while Earl rammed the rod in again, Jessica threw up. And she didn’t stop. She couldn’t turn her head properly so she began choking on the vomit.
“Clear her mouth.” Earl yelled and one of the men who’d been holding Mark came and yanked her head to the side, tilting the chair so Jessica was able to expel the bile.
“Stop it!” Earl yelled when Jessica kept vomiting, “I said stop it!” he grabbed her by the chin and righting the chair he shook her face. But Jessica couldn’t stop. The vomit kept coming. Earl back handed her, knocking the chair over. Jessica dry heaved, cried and spat blood out of her mouth all at the same time. Earl’s henchmen righted her chair.
“Let’s stop the bullshit. That sack of shit,” Earl said pointing at Stan, “showed up here a few days ago with a story about a bitch that fucked him over and that bitch is you! I know you have five husbands who fuck you five ways to Sunday. I know you have a clan full of people who would bend ass over backwards to help you, and I know you have what belongs to me … Daryl’s boys. So let’s have their location and then get on with the real fun. You may be no virgin but you scream like one. That’ll do just fine!”
Earl lit another cigarette. “Where are they?”
It was the screaming. It dawned on her that Earl really liked that. Maybe if she didn’t scream he’d lose interest.
“Bring that over here.” He said to a third man, “That’s right, where the view’s real good.” The man moved closer to Earl and held a cell phone over Earl’s shoulder, pointed down at her. More videos. They were posting more videos.
“Where are they cunt?” he demanded.
Fear welled up inside her. Fear of the pain but mostly the fear that she’d break under it and endanger those she loved. The only way she could be sure she wouldn’t break was to not admit anything. The further she stayed from the truth, the safer her men, the others, and the boys were.
“Playing dumb are you?” Earl demanded and pressed the cigarette into her outer pussy lip. Jessica clamped her lips shut and tried not to scream but it only lasted a moment.
“Let’s try again, where are they?”
Despite the pain and the fear Jessica suddenly felt a jolt of anger. This sicko hurt so many people. He ruined people’s lives on a whim. If he wanted to hurt her, kill her, she’d make him do it on her terms. Jessica tried to look him in the eye with an air of defiance but she couldn’t maintain the contact. Instead she looked at the ceiling above his head and said, “Who?”.
Earl pressed the cigarette on an existing burn and Jessica bucked and screamed. For a moment Jessica saw stars. The room went black for a second, but then she was back. Screaming.
“What the fuck?” Earl said looking behind him. “Well, well.” He said turning back to Jessica, “Seems your friend can’t stand your screaming much. He’s trying to make his way over here to stop me. What do you say we give him a little motivation. I’ll have a real treat for him when he finally gets here.”
Earl pressed the cigarette into the outer pussy lip on the other side. Again Jessica tried not to scream but couldn’t hold out for more than a second or two.
“You still want to play smart with me?” Earl demanded. “Where is your clan? Your husbands, your family, Daryl’s kin? Where can we find them?”
“I’m alone.” Jessica said, “I have no one. No husbands, no family, no friends. There’s no one to find.”
Jessica screamed. Over and over as Earl pressed the cigarette into places all over her pussy, her legs.
“He’s made it, finally.” Earl said standing. “It seems you have one friend. He’s come to your rescue with the very rod he had shoved up his ass. Nothing turns me on more than a man with a rod in hand. Get him up.” He said to a man who had been walking beside Mark as he’d dragged himself toward Jessica and Earl. Another man came around and the two lifted Mark up, bent him over. Earl opened his pants pulled his cock out, went behind Mark, pried his butt cheeks open, and rammed into his asshole.
Mark screamed, Jessica screamed, Earl thrust. “Oh yeah.” Earl moaned, “Oh yeah. Now this is a nice virgin asshole. Even after that rod he’s nice and tight.” With a sigh Earl pulled out. The men dropped Mark.
Zipping his pants Earl said, “Now we can talk.”
Jessica thought he was talking to her but he walked past her. As far as she could tell he walked out of the room. Looking around Jessica found the room empty except for her, Mark and Stan.
“Mark, I’m so sorry. So, so sorry …” Jessica cried.
Mark moaned on the ground.
Suddenly the door opened. She heard footsteps and steeled herself for more pain. Instead there were a few sharp tugs on her restraints and her legs dropped off the arm rests. A tug on the handcuffs and her hands were free.
“Boss said to leave it up there.” One of the men said. Another man walked over to a shelf Jessica hadn’t noticed earlier, fidgeted with something and then left. As soon as Jessica heard the door close she inched herself forward on the chair until she slid off the chair and dropped hard on her butt on the floor.
Pain from the burns brought added tears to her eyes. Despite that she crawled over to Mark.
“Mark … Mark …” she repeated, stroking his head. Mark opened his eyes and looked at her. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t …” Mark groaned as he tried to turn over.
“Are you okay?”
Mark tried again but it hurt so much he froze, crying.
She cradled his head and cried too. All she wanted to do was stop his pain. And suddenly she realized that she could.
“Hold on, just a minute…” Jessica said laying his head down onto the floor gently.
“Where are you going?” Mark asked, worry distracting him from his pain.
“I’ll be right back …” Jessica crawled over to where her clothing had been thrown. Rifling through her pant pockets the first thing she found was her cell phone. Opening the phone she found that the battery was almost dead, but she had service. It didn’t matter though … she had no one to call. No one she wanted coming to this horrible place. She closed it, put it back in her pocket and while her fingers dipped into the next pocket she wondered absent mindedly about why Earl and his men couldn’t have left her gun or Taser in her pants. Something useful. But then her fingers found what they were looking for. It wasn’t as satisfying as a gun or Taser but at least it was useful.
Grasping the pill she crawled to where Mark’s clothing had been thrown and rifled through it also, finding his pill.
She returned to find Mark holding his head up, watching her.
“Do … Do you want this?” Jessica asked holding the pill up for Mark to see. She started crying again while Mark looked at the pill. She didn’t want him to suffer but she didn’t want him to die. As he raised his eyes and locked them with hers she wondered if she could possibly be any more selfish.
“Are you going to take yours?” he asked.
Jessica looked down at her pill. She wondered if Mark would refuse his pill if he thought she wasn’t going to take hers. Would that be a good thing or a bad thing? Maybe he had some misguided belief that he had to protect her and would stay alive, suffering, just to fulfill it.
“And don’t try to lie.” He added. With a half laugh, half groan he rolled onto his back. “You’re so bad at lying that I can tell when you’re just thinking about it.”
Jessica reached out and wiped beads of sweat from his forehead.
“I can’t Mark. I’m just too chicken.”
“Good.” Mark said, “Then I’m not taking mine either. I don’t go, till you go because in case you can’t tell by the fantastic job I’ve done so far, I’m here to protect you.”
They laughed at the same time. The beginnings of hysteria made the laughter sound contrived.
“And for the record,” Mark said when Jessica nodded and closed the pills in her hand, “it’s harder to stay alive and suffer.” Mark said.
Stan sobbed reminding Mark and Jessica that they weren’t alone.
Jessica looked down at her hand.
Mark nodded when she looked back at him. Jessica crawled over to Stan who looked half dead.
“Stan. Do you want a cyanide pill?” Jessica asked. Stan’s eyes popped open and he nodded short, quick, desperate nods. Jessica placed the pill in Stan’s mouth. It took a lot of effort for him to swallow it but when he did his eyes rolled and he began to convulse. Moments later his mouth foamed and after several violent shakes, he stopped moving, his eyes frozen open wide. Jessica closed his eyes and crawled back to Mark.
“That didn’t look like a pleasant way to go.” Jessica said.
“I’m glad we didn’t take them.” Mark agreed prompting another round of laughter, this time far more hysterical than the last.
A sound in the hallway startled both of them. “Knives …” Jessica said, “There was a table with knives on it.” She crawled to the table and slowly, painfully, made herself stand. But they were gone. Everything on the table was gone. Being in the standing position made her nudity more apparent to her. She went back to her clothes and with a great deal of pain, pulled them on.
“They took the knives away.” Jessica said returning to Mark. She lifted his shirt. “Do you think you can get your clothes on?”
“Sure.” Mark said and after managing to sit he started pulling his shirt on. But the pants were a different story. Jessica had to help him by pulling, tugging and shimming his pants up his legs and up to his waist.
Suddenly the door opened and one of Earl’s men came in. Jessica reached for the rod that still lay on the floor nearby and clutching it positioned herself between Mark and the man.
“I’m supposed to be protecting you remember?” Mark hissed as the man drew nearer. When he saw Jessica holding the rod he chuckled pulled out a Taser and shot Jessica with it.
Jessica fell to the ground, shaking. She wondered vaguely whether it was possible to become immune to Tasers because she didn’t feel nearly as out of it this time. Mark scrambled to pick up the pipe that Jessica had dropped, and the man Tasered him too.
The man found the whole thing very funny until he noticed Stan.
“Son of a bitch …” he muttered as he went to look Stan over.
Jessica was getting sensation back much more quickly than before and was just sitting up when the man came back grabbed Mark by the hair, lifted his head and pointed a gun at it.
“Don’t need this one neither I guess.” He muttered.
“No!” Jessica yelled and shoved her way between the gun and Mark, shielding him with her body. “You have to kill me to kill him.”
“Get the fuck out of the way.” The man growled and pushed Jessica to the floor, lifting the gun to Mark’s head again.
“Wait!” Jessica said, “I’ll do anything you want if you don’t kill him.”
“Okay.” The man said, “Suck my dick.” Jessica crawled over to the man, got on her knees and started undoing his pants but by then Mark had gotten over the Tasering and pushed Jessica out of the way.
“I’ll do it.” He said and continued opening the man’s pants.
“Naw.” The man said shoving Mark away, “I want her to do it. Get over here cunt before I kill your little girlfriend …”
Jessica had just pulled the man’s cock out of his pants when the door opened.
“Clay you dumb shit.” Another one of Earl’s men said, “We need them both alive.”
“I’m just getting my dick sucked Jory, give me a minute.”
“That ain’t the deal Clay. Put your dick in your pants and get out here.”
Clay grasped Jessica’s chin in his hand and squeezed, “Don’t worry baby doll, you’ll get your chance later. Count on it.”
When Clay left the room Mark looked at Jessica and said “Thanks.” Before collapsing in relief.
Jessica crawled to Mark. He rolled toward her, onto his side. Jessica sat next to him, flopped against him and draped her arms around him protectively. Fatigue over took them both and they fell to sleep.
They were both jarred awake when they were pulled apart. Darkness enveloped Jessica and she realized a bag had been placed over her head.
When two pairs of hands lifted her she fought as hard as she could she. She could hear Mark yelling, scuffling and then flesh hitting flesh.
“Leave him alone!” she yelled, struggling until she was slammed into a chair, the wind knocked out of her.
“She’s a hell cat alright.” Earl muttered and then he was in her face. Jessica could tell by the horrid smell. Jessica slammed her head forward as hard as she could and was rewarded with the satisfying crunch of a nose breaking. A blow hit her on the right side of her face causing stars to pop and twinkle before her eyes.
“You fucking bitch!” Earl swore and hit her again.
Around her she heard shuffling and some grunting.
“Alright, alright, hold your horses pretty boy.” Earl said and suddenly the bag was gone and Jessica was blinking in the light. Something moved in front of her, close to her but it took a moment for her eyes to focus and when they did Jessica couldn’t fathom what she was seeing. Right in front of her, close enough to kiss, was Angus. His eyes bore into hers. At first desperate, then searching, then relieved. Resolve settled into his expression. It wasn’t until Jessica heard the sound of peeling tape that she realized that Angus’ mouth had been taped. Someone had ripped it off.
“I love you Jess, always remember that.” Angus said.
“I love you …” she replied as terror threatened to explode into a scream.
“Over the bench!” Earl ordered. To Jessica’s horror, when Angus stepped away from her he was naked. Completely naked. As if in some sort of living nightmare he walked over to a bench that had been brought into the room and lay over it, his butt pushed up into the air toward Earl.
“Your hands.” Earl said and Angus spread his arms in front of him planting his hands firmly on the floor. Jessica looked from Angus’ prone body to Earl, to Mark still lying on the ground. She was speechless, terrified, numb. When Earl went up to Angus and parted his butt cheeks Angus didn’t move. Jessica’s eyes finally made it back to Angus’ face and found him watching her. His eyes looked sad but he tried to smile. Jessica’s mouth kept opening and closing but nothing was coming out. Worry readjusted Angus’ expression, “Don’t worry Jess. What goes around comes around. I guess it’s about time for me.” Then over his shoulder to Earl he said, “You’re not supposed to hurt her anymore.”
“I’m not.” Earl replied.
“That includes not making her watch this.” Angus growled.
“Take her away.” Earl ordered.
As she was hoisted off the chair Jessica finally found her voice.
“No!” she screamed. “No! No! No! Not him, please, not him. Take me! Take me!” she shrieked even when she was lugged out of the room, down the hall, thrown into another room and Tasered.
It took a few minutes for Jessica to move again. And then it took her several more minutes to realize that Angus had been real, not a dream or hallucination. A bone chilling scream filled the room and looking around Jessica saw a TV on the wall and on the TV was Angus. Horrible things were happening to him, but he wasn’t fighting. Jessica couldn’t understand. Earl was ramming into Angus’ ass and Angus screamed in agony, his hands flailed around aimlessly, but he didn’t fight.
When the thrusting ended Earl pulled out of Angus. Circling him, Earl looked Angus over. “Do you know how I chose you as the one?” Earl asked. “How I picked you over the other four?” Angus didn’t answer, unable to. Sobs stealing his voice. Whoever was running the video camera was making sure to shoot from all angles. The camera zoomed in on Angus’ face. It was red, a vein standing out on his forehead, all veins in his neck straining as he fought to control his urge to run away. His urge to fight.
“I picked you …” Earl said moving back toward Angus’ butt. Suddenly there was more than one camera. One stayed focussed on Angus’ face, the other followed Earl to Angus’ butt. “Because you’re so obviously heterosexual. You, least of all, would want to get fucked up the ass by a man.” Earl continued while bringing his hands to Angus’ butt cheeks and caressing them. In the other camera Angus’ face went rigid. All the muscles in his body contracted, battling to not react. “Only one thing would make you submit to something like this.” Earl continued, sliding his finger between Angus’ butt cheeks, “Let’s see how much you love her.” Earl said and shoved his finger in Angus’ asshole.
“No …” Jessica whispered, crawling closer to the TV. The camera on Angus’ face zoomed in, he turned red, face strained and shaking as he fought to stay still. The other camera zoomed in on his asshole and Earl’s finger ramming into it hard.
“Time for fun of a different kind.” Earl said. He stepped back said, “Suck my dick.”
Angus slowly got up. He was bleeding from his rectum and it was clear that he was in severe pain, tears were streaming down his face. And then inexplicably he looked straight at the camera. Sniffling he asked the camera,
“How is she?”
There was a pause and then Riley’s equally broken voice choked out, “Okay. Jess is okay.”
“You heard him. The bitch is fine. Now get over here and suck my dick.”
“No!” Jessica yelled, getting to her feet too quickly. Stars flashed before her eyes. “I’m not okay!” Jessica shouted. When her vision cleared she looked around the room, “Stop!” she yelled in high pitched shriek as Angus crawled over to Earl, steadied himself and took Earl’s cock in his mouth.
“Son of a bitch!” Earl screamed when Angus gagged, pulled his mouth back quickly and vomited.
Jessica watched in mute horror, another scream building within her.
“That’ll cost you your front teeth.” Earl said. “And if you scrape my dick again you’ll lose the rest.”
Earl picked up a hammer and moved to Angus. Two of Earl’s men each took one of Angus’ arms.
“No, the deal was you don’t fight. No matter what I do over the course of the next twelve hours you don’t fight and the bitch goes.”
Angus nodded. Earl’s men let go of Angus. Angus inclined his face up to Earl, hands hanging at his sides. When Earl brought down the hammer Jessica shrieked. Angus made a sound Jessica had never heard before. It was so pain filled, so desperate. Angus’ hands came up automatically in self defense and Jessica could see him battle to keep the down, away from Earl.
“Again.” Earl said. Angus hesitated a moment but then he turned his face up to Earl again. This time when the hammer came down Jessica lost control. She pulled her hair, clawed her face, screamed, cried, threw herself at the wall, tried pulling the door open, tried kicking it down. And as much as she wanted to look away, she couldn’t. She watched Angus give Earl and all his friends blow jobs. Each time confirming with Riley first that she was okay. Then they all took turns mounting him. Then he had to give blow jobs while being mounted. Electrodes were used on his genitals, items were shoved into him. It seemed to go on forever. And the whole time he never fought.
Just when Jessica thought it couldn’t get any worse, it did. She had slid against the wall, lifeless, only able to manage moans rather than shrieks when Earl pulled Mark over to the bench. He ordered Angus to lay over the bench again. When he did, Earl ordered Mark to rape him. And then they switched, and then they had to suck each other off, give each other hand jobs, service Earl and his men together.
Through it all Jessica shrieked and pounded the floor with her fists. She tried the door over and over. Tried kicking it in. Everything to no avail.
Just as Jessica contemplated taking the cyanide pill, unable to watch Angus and Mark suffer any more, gunshots rang out. Jessica automatically looked at the TV terrified that Angus or Mark were dead. Or, terrified that they weren’t dead. Whatever they wanted, dead or alive, she wished it for them. But Angus and Mark were definitely alive. Still staring at the TV Jessica jumped when the door opened, Riley, Sean and Caleb walked in and Tasered Earl and his men. Jessica rubbed her eyes. Riley, Sean and Caleb went to Angus and Mark and Caleb started looking them over.
The door in her room suddenly swung open, pieces of wood flying around. Scott, Josh and Jim came in, gun nozzles scanning the room.
Jessica started crying, growing hysterical when the three of them converged on her, talking to her gently, petting her head, arms, back.
“Shhh Jess, shhh,” Jim kept saying, “It’s okay now … you’re safe.”
“Hurry Doc.” Josh said and Jessica saw Doc coming toward her, Leah at his side.
“Lass.” Doc said and crouched beside her.
“Oh my God.” Leah said and slowly lowered herself into a crouch beside the Doctor.
“Jess …” was all she could say.
“What is it Jess?” Scott asked when Jessica suddenly bolted up and grabbed his arm.
“Angus and Mark.” Jessica said, her voice nothing but a whisper, robbed of all volume by her screams, “Doc, you have to help Angus and Mark.”
“I will Lass, I will.” Doc reassured her.
“No, now Doc, you have to help them now!”
“Jess …” Scott tried to sooth her but she didn’t’ want to be soothed. She wanted Angus and Mark fixed. A prick like a mosquito bite distracted her and she saw Doc take a needle out of her arm.
“Just relax Lass, everything will be just fine.”
From the door Jessica saw Riley, Sean, Caleb and Chris come in.
“Motherfucker …” Riley swore and moved to Jessica. Sean, Caleb and Chris stared at her as they walked closer.
Sean lifted a cell phone to his ear, said a few things and then lowered it. “We’re secure.” He said to the room, never once taking his eyes off of Jessica. “They’re dead Jess.” Sean said, bending to get closer, “Most of Earl’s men, and after we spend some quality time with Earl and the three bastards who did this to you, none of those fuckers will be left. We took a vote in your absence and decided to pass on the bacon. I think you’ll approve.”
Jessica nodded as a warm tingly feeling started at her toes and ran up her body.
“I thought so.” Sean said.
Quinn ran in the room, sliding to a halt, Corey, Don, Rick and Abe joining him.
“Hey Jess.” Quinn said but his voice seemed far away. The room seemed to tilt and Jessica suddenly felt very tired.
“Christ Jessica,” Abe said.
“Call me when you’re ready.” Rick said and left the room.
“It’s too bad Jess can’t help. I think she’d appreciate the chance.” Don said his voice sounded distant as sleep started to creep up on Jessica.
“I think Jessica’s done enough, don’t you?” Corey asked.
“With all that’s happened, I don’t think it’d be something she could stomach.” Scott said.
“We’re ready.” Sean said.
“It’s okay.” Doc said, “I’ll take care of Jessica, Angus and Mark. You go make them suffer. And here, use this. It intensifies the pain. Give them each a syringe full every hour.”
“’K Doc.” Riley said.
“No wait. That might kill them too soon. Give them each half a syringe full every hour. And lad, I’ve given you a way to make every second count so make them.”
“Love you Jess. See you when you wake up.” Josh whispered.
“Wait …” Jessica said, barely able to keep her eyes open, “the boys …”
“We left them with Justine, Amanda, Sara and a couple of Paul’s men who Rick and Abe trust.” Leah said, “I just called to tell them you’re okay. They can’t wait to have you home Jess. Get some rest now, okay?”
Jessica nodded and felt Riley, Jim, Josh and Scott kiss her forehead before she drifted off to sleep.

“Please Angus.” Jessica said in a desperate voice.
The men, Sean and the others shuffled into the room and stopped, surprised to see Jessica awake. Not only was she awake but she was curled around Angus’ head as he lay on his side on the floor. Mark lay next to Angus and Jessica clutched his hand. She rocked back and forth, brushing her free hand through the hair on Angus’ head over and over again.
“You need some medication … for the pain. Please …” she said beginning to cry, “you don’t need to suffer like this.”
Doc stood watching them, syringe in hand. He threw a worried look at the men.
“Jess.” Angus said sliding his arm up to cup the back of her head, “Don’t cry. This isn’t unbearable, I’ll survive.” His voice was slurred. A lack of front teeth and a sore jaw made it difficult for him to speak.
“Why are you doing this?” Jessica demanded, crying harder.
Angus grimaced as he rolled onto his back.
“Jessica.” He said grasping her head between his hands. “Look at me … look,” he said in a gentle but firm voice. Jessica looked in his eyes, her eyes blurring as they filled with tears. “If you could live through this with no medication so can I.”
Jessica did a double take and then shook her head.
“It’s not the same thing.” Jessica protested.
“No, you’re right, it’s not. I raped you repeatedly Jessica. Over and over, for a long time. I didn’t give you any medication, not even an aspirin. What goes around comes around. I finally got what I deserved and now I have to live with the consequences without an easy way out.”
“This is insane.” Jessica cried.
“It’s justice. And you won’t change my mind so please stop trying.”
“You can’t do this!” Jessica wailed.
“Leave him alone Jess.” Mark said squeezing her hand. He had medication but the expression on his face made it hard to tell. “You set the bar pretty high, give him a chance to try and meet it.”
Jessica stared at Mark.
“You have no idea what I’m talking about, do you?” Mark asked, “Of course not.” He added when Jessica looked completely clueless.
“Doc …” Jessica said, looking up in desperation but when her eyes landed on the group of silent figures standing next to the doctor she almost screamed. She instinctively moved to shield Angus and Mark but when one of the figures crouched down, hands held out and said her name, she realized that the strangers where actually her men and the others which she now simply considered to be her family. The figure crouching next to her was Jim. Covered head to toe in blood.
“You’re bleeding!” Jessica gasped, reaching for Jim.
“No, we’re fine.” Jim said leaning slightly away from her, “We’ll clean up … you don’t want it on you Jess, trust me.”
“What happened?” she asked looking them over.
“We took care of a little business.” Riley said. There was something in his tone that made Jessica look more closely at him. Despite the blood covering it, there was an expression on his face that Jessica had seen before. Years ago, during the attack on her family. It was tempered because when he looked at her it was clear that he loved her and the violence that it promised was not directed at her.
Looking at the others Jessica realized that though she knew the fun loving, easy going side of her family, they were men of violence. Men and woman of violence, because Leah was there and looked just as dangerous as the men. Even the battle with Anthony hadn’t brought this out in them. She was beginning to understand why Doc looked so worried.
“This is all that’s left of Earl and his … assistants.” Sean said raising his hand and looking at the blood covering it, “And a shitload of tiny pieces. You want to talk about justice,” Sean said, “this is justice.”
“Shit yeah.” Corey said, “Those bastards paid for everything they’ve ever done and then some. There was a lot of pain. The slow, long lasting kind. We made sure of it.” Corey ended, looking at Jessica with meaning.
“But it won’t fix anything.” Scott said. “It won’t make anything better.”
Silence fell. In that silence Jessica had several realizations. The first was that her family had tortured to death Earl and his right hand men. She found her stomach surprising calm about it despite the fact that it must have been a gruesome thing to do. The amount of blood drenching them made it easy to imagine what was done and yet it did not bother her.
The second realization was that the events that happened here changed her family members forever. They’d be forever scarred by it. Angus and Mark, physically violated, the rest of them, morally violated.
The third realization was that she’d done this to them. All of it. They wouldn’t be where they were now had she listened to them and let them kill Stan. That’s what made her stomach heave.
“I’m so sorry.” She said wrapping her arms around herself, doubling over when her stomach spasmed, turning on itself when there was nothing available to expel. “I’m so sorry,” She repeated over and over again.
“Jess, stop.” Josh said kneeling in front of her and grabbing her by her arms, giving up on keeping her blood free. “Look at me Jess, look at me …” Josh said maneuvering himself into her line of sight. “We should have cleaned up before we came here. You shouldn’t have to see all this blood but we thought …we thought you’d be sedated.”
“Stan.” Jessica said looking up at Josh, new tears in her eyes. “Stan led Earl to us.” She glanced around at the others. “If we’d killed him like you said things might have been different.”
“Wait a minute.” Sean said. “Jessica, are you saying that you think all of this is your fault?”
Jessica nodded, unable to look at Sean, unable to look at anyone
“Unfuckingbelievable.” Sean said. “This is seriously fucked up shit.” He added. He sounded angry and exasperated. Jessica kept looking at the floor, nodding slightly. Sean looked at Riley, “How do you stand this? You said she’d fall on a sword Riley but you didn’t mention it would be bigger than the Empire fucking State building. You have to fix it. Now.”
“Jess, Earl would have found us no matter what.” Riley began. “That was expected, a given. What wasn’t a given, what should not have happened, was how badly we fucked up.”
Jessica looked at Riley in surprise. His voice was full of pain, his face the epitome of despair.
“We had a flat,” Jim said. “A motherfucking flat. If we’d insisted that you switch cars and come with us … If we’d changed the tire faster, or kept hitting redial and getting through to you or Mark so you would’ve waited … we should have been there Jess. None of this would have happened to you or Angus or Mark.”
“And do you know what I was doing when you called?” Leah asked, her voice cracking.
“What we were doing …” Corey said.
“We were fucking. That’s right. You’d just gone to meet a questionable stranger, called me, and I chose to finish getting off before checking my voicemail.” Leah said, “Jesus Christ Jess, I’m so sorry. Angus, Mark … I’m so sorry!” and she crumbled into a heap on the floor, sobbing.
“And when we finally heard the message … we couldn’t get back fast enough.” Corey added.
“Not even with the motorcycles. We got home and you were gone, and that bastard was torturing you.” Caleb said.
“You weren’t supposed to come back.” Jessica said. She looked around in a panic as everyone seemed to crumble. Everyone sank to their knees. They hung their heads, most were silently vibrating and to Jessica’s horror she realized they were crying. “I said no sauce.” She added trying to crawl forward but her legs wouldn’t work. She didn’t know where to crawl first. She reached out and took Jim and Josh’s hands. The sounds escaping the crumpled forms was unbearable, their expressions heartbreaking. She had to make it stop.
“If you’d come while Earl was there it would have been bad. There would have been a fight. You could have died. This was better. Much better. It only looks bad, really. It barely hurt. It was a walk in the park, comparatively speaking.”
At first Jessica thought her slant on things was working. People stopped crying. But then she realized that they stopped moving too. They were frozen, staring at her, Mark and Angus included. Even Doc.
“I know it was bad for Mark and Angus … and Stan.” She added suddenly realizing that she wasn’t the only one who suffered and kicking herself for undermining their pain. “It’s true, that was bad.” She nodded. But the silence continued and after a while Jessica noticed a shift in facial expressions. They looked angry.
“Jessica.” Riley said through clenched teeth, “we saw everything.”
“What?” Jessica gasped.
“We persuaded Paul to put us in touch with Earl. Before he negotiated with us he sent a video feed and we saw what he did to you. To Mark. He had to keep streaming video to us as part of the deal even after Angus got here.” Riley said.
“Especially after I got here.” Angus mumbled, “I had to know you were okay or I wouldn’t co-operate.”
“We know what you did for us.” Chris said.
“And it was no walk in the park.” Scott added.
“Why would you lie about that?” Josh demanded.
“She’s still protecting us.” Jim said quietly.
“Well, stop it Jessica. Please.” Rick said. “I want to know that you’re telling me the truth because I can count on it, not because you can’t lie worth shit. Okay?”
Jessica nodded.
“We’d better get cleaned up.” Riley said. “We still have some work to do before we go home.”
Jim squeezed Jessica’s hand, got up, kissed her on the top of the head and left. Everyone else followed Jim’s lead.
When they were gone Jessica turned back to Angus and Mark. Angus was as pale as a ghost, clearly suffering.
“Doc, please give him some medication.” Jessica begged.
“I can’t.” Doc said obviously not happy about it. “I promised him I wouldn’t. Angus has assured me that everything I saw done to him tonight, he did to you and worse. I guess we’re in agreement that this is a small step toward making amends.”
“So, everyone saw it? The video?” Jessica asked quietly. She didn’t know why but it embarrassed her. And when Angus and Mark groaned she realized that she wasn’t the only one featured in the video. Her heart broke for Angus. Not only had his worst nightmares come true, but they came true in front of everyone he knew.
Doc nodded, “Except the kids. They heard it I’m sure, leaving the room wouldn’t have prevented that, but they didn’t see it.”
“And if you saw it …” Jessica said to Doc, “then Paul …”
“Paul and many of his clan saw it. But it’s probably a good thing.” Doc said, “The video, probably more than any of the other tactics employed,” Doc continued while giving Angus an accusatory look, “got Paul’s co-operation.”
“Tactics?” Jessica asked.
“We did some things we’re not too proud of.” Angus said, “But desperate times call for desperate measures.”
“Yes, I’m sure that will comfort Stasia as she nurses her bruised neck.” Doc said.
“Stasia?” Jessica gasped, “Angus you didn’t …”
“No they didn’t, but it was pretty close.” Doc said. “Given what was at stake, I don’t think I can blame them.” He added and forced a smile at Jessica.
“Are you cold?” Angus asked when Jessica shivered against him.
“No.” Jessica said, “It’s this place. It’s gross.”
“Sorry Jess.” Riley said, returning. “You were supposed to be four sheets to the wind for this. Doc, why isn’t she sedated?” When Jessica turned to look at him and did a double take, Riley couldn’t help but smile. “We didn’t bring a change of clothes.”
“So you’re going home in your underwear?” Doc asked.
“I’m sure as hell not wearing those assholes’ clothes.” Riley said.
“Same here.” Don said coming in the room. Jessica couldn’t help but laugh when she looked at him and Riley standing together, freshly scrubbed and with nothing on but underwear.
The others started drifting into the room in the same attire as Riley and Don.
“We still have some clean-up to do Jess.” Riley said, “And then we’ve gotta burn this place to the ground. You don’t have to see anything if you let Doc put you to sleep.”
“I’m okay Riley, honest.” Jessica said.
“Same thing she told me earlier.” Doc said.
“Jess …” Riley said.
“I don’t really like being sedated.” Jessica added, “It makes me feel weird. I’ll just focus on something else that’s all. Really.” She said when Riley narrowed his eyes at her.
“Why don’t you keep Jess, Angus and Mark company Leah.” Corey suggested, “I think you’ve done your fair share tonight too.”
“Okay.” Leah said crouching down in front of Jessica. She was studying Jessica’s face while she spoke. “Jess, how’d you get those scratches on your face?” Leah raised her hand to gently touch her Jessica’s face. “I don’t remember seeing Earl or his men do that.”
“They must have.” Jessica said with a shrug, “But I don’t remember.”
“Those were self-inflicted.” Doc said, “She has skin under her nail.” He added when people looked at him with doubt. Jessica looked down at her nails and blanched.
“We must have missed it.” Angus mumbled, “They didn’t touch her after I got here. You saw that, right?” he asked Riley.
“Right.” Riley agreed tilting Jessica’s head up for a closer look.
“But Riley, didn’t you hear me yelling at you? I didn’t want Angus to let them do those things to him. I was yelling for you to tell him that.” Jessica said, sliding onto her knees so she could lean into Riley’s arms. She wanted so badly to bury her face in his chest, but Riley cradled her face, still studying the scratches. She wanted him to hold her, instead Riley’s face froze.
“No you weren’t. You were passed out on the floor. They’d Tasered you.”
“No …” Jessica said confused by the fury suddenly evident on Riley’s face.
“Those bastards looped the video.” Don growled.
“You mean …” Riley began.
“Did they hurt you?” Scott demanded having moved next to Riley and grasping Jessica’s arm.
“I never saw them again except on the TV.” Jessica said nodding her head at the television that still displayed the empty room where Angus and Mark had been tortured.
“You saw everything …” Angus said in horror.
Jessica nodded and started crying. She sank back down between Angus and Mark.
“When they streamed the video to us they must have streamed it to this TV too.” Quinn said.
“If you didn’t see them again, who did that to your face?” Jim asked.
Jessica was sobbing, rocking back and forth while running her fingers through both Angus and Mark’s hair, “You shouldn’t have done that Angus. I said no sauce, no sauce. You were supposed to run.” Jessica wailed and lowered her head against Angus’, who was now crying too.
“I told you, self-inflicted.” Doc said moving toward Jessica with a syringe. “It’s okay Jess.” He added when she saw him coming with the syringe, “This won’t put you to sleep, it’ll just calm you down.”
Jessica let him inject her and in a moment Jessica felt herself relax.
The injection relaxed her but it also gave her some clarity. As she looked around at Doc and the family she felt like she was watching them from a distance. Seeing them for the first time as an uninvolved observer. And what she saw brought the involved observer back in a flash. They were broken. They looked at her like they just wanted to curl up and die. She decided that she wouldn’t let them. That was her mission and to accomplish it she had to keep herself together.
Jessica closed her eyes and forced the tears from coming. Wiping her eyes and nose on her arm, finding it useless, she opted for her shirt. Satisfied that she was semi presentable she cleared her throat and looked up.
“Um. We should finish up here so we can go home. What can I help with?” Jessica asked trying to stand but grimacing when the burns on her legs and pussy protested the movement.
“Let me help you.” Josh said coming behind Jessica and taking her by her arms lifting her to her feet.
“Isn’t there something you can give her for that?” Scott asked Doc, “Pain killers?”
“Sure, but she won’t take them.”
“What?” Angus demanded.
“I tried to give her an injection just like I tried to give you one but she wouldn’t take it.”
“No Jessica!” her men said at practically the same time.
“You have no choice, you take the medication!” Angus growled.
“Doc …” Scott said motioning him toward Jessica who was now firmly in Josh’s embrace.
“Wait …” Jessica said limited to lifting her hands in a stop motion, unable to move anything or anywhere else. “I don’t need the medication. I’m fine, just sore that’s all. Honestly!” she said pressing back as far against Josh as she could get in an attempt to get away from Doc as he moved nearer with another syringe. “Besides it actually makes me feel worse. Doc, please, it makes me feel weird.”
Doc hesitated and looked to Josh who shrugged. “Can you give her something else?”
“Your standard pain killer, sure, but I doubt it’ll do anything for her.”
“You have to take that at least.” Jim said.
“Okay.”
“And I have some cream I can put on her face and her burns, that might help a little.”
“Jess?” Scott asked.
Jessica nodded agreement.
“You’re sure Jess?” Riley asked, “It’s not going to make you feel weird or anything?”
Jessica looked at him, not sure if he was as angry as he sounded. But after a moment a slight smile slid on to his face. Jessica giggled, “Maybe a little.” She said, “But not as weird as the medication.”
Riley shook his head in disbelief but he didn’t argue.
“Thank you.” Jessica said when Josh loosened his grip and Doc lowered the syringe. And she suddenly realized that this was the first time those words had left her mouth since her family had saved her and Mark. Stunned by the realization she fell back against Josh.
“Jess!” Josh said, catching her.
“Doc the medication!” Scott ordered.
“No, no …” Jessica looking up at Doc , “I’m fine. I just realized … I can’t believe …” She looked around at everyone. “I haven’t thanked you yet. Thank you.” She said and made eye contact with each person one by one. “You sacrificed so much … too much.” She added when she looking at Angus, “But I’m so grateful that you came for Mark and me. This should have been the first thing I said to you and I didn’t. I’m sorry.”
The room was quiet. A few looks were exchanged. Finally Riley nodded at Sean. Sean seemed tense as he stalked toward Jessica stopping inches from her.
“You’re welcome Jessica, and we appreciate your thanks but it’s not necessary.” Sean was staring at her with an intensity that scared her. She tried to look behind him, to Riley, Scott or Jim but Sean moved into her line of vision. “Your men can no longer deal with you the way they should … the tough has gone out of their love and quite frankly Jessica that’s a problem. If anyone needs tough love it’s you. Fortunately for them and you, the rest of us aren’t quite that far gone on the tough part, so you’re going to listen to me, and hear me. Really hear me. There was never any option. Not coming after you was not an option. But for some reason you don’t know that. And Jess, ‘No sauce’? Really? ‘No sauce?’” Sean repeated. He seemed at a loss for what to say next.
Finally he shook his head, “We couldn’t understand how you could expect us to just leave you. Especially Riley, Scott, Jim, Josh and Angus, but I’ve figured it out. You think you’re expendable. You think that you mean so little to us that we’ll just accept that you’re gone and move on with life. I can see how you may think that of us,” he said indicating himself with his hand and cocked his head back to indicate the people behind him, “afterall we’ve been lame enough to not do a formal pledge with you. Do you know what a pledge is Jessica?” Sean asked .
His intensity hadn’t wavered so all Jessica could bring herself to do was shake her head. “It’s a promise clan members give one another when they join a clan. Quinn did it when he joined. We’d pledged with Riley, Scott, Josh, Angus and Jim when we came of age in the clan. It’s a lot like the oath you and your husbands took. And that’s where I get confused. You have an oath with your husbands and yet you still consider yourself unimportant to them. Did you not listen to the words they were saying to you? I did. And nothing in the oath made leaving you to be tortured and killed an option. Or did you hear something else? Jessica?”
Jessica shook her head.
“So this is what I propose.” Sean said, “If you’ll have us. All of us, as your family, we want … scratch that, we need to make the pledge with you. We discussed it and we’d like to add some of your marriage oath to the pledge. And we want to go through it with you word for word so that you understand that ‘no sauce’ is not a viable solution. Do you understand what I am saying?”
Jessica nodded.
“Christ Sean.” Corey muttered, “You have a funny way of telling someone you care about them.”
“She’ll be beating down the door to pledge with us alright.” Caleb added.
“Jess, what my oaf of a brother is saying is that we’d love to pledge with you if you’ll have us.” Leah said, “And … you’re welcome.”
“You should consider yourself lucky.” Quinn said, “Their proposal to me wasn’t nearly as passionate.”
“Maybe this is too much right now.” Jim said, “After all that’s happened. Besides which, you’re in your underwear Sean. That just weird.”
Everyone laughed, breaking the tension.
Sean nodded and took a step back, “Sorry, this might’ve been more dignified in clothing.”
“D’you think?” Abe asked.
“I’d love to take the pledge with you.” Jessica said and she reached out and caught Sean’s hand. “I um, I guess I’ve given the impression that I thought you didn’t care or that you’d just abandon me. That’s not at all what I thought. I just wanted you to be safe and that meant as far away from Earl as possible.”
“But Jessica,” Rick said, “What you’re not getting is that you’re not just some spare part to us. Some interchangeable piece that we can replace if you break or disappear. It’s not okay for you to just throw yourself away like that.”
Suddenly things made sense for Jessica. “I wasn’t throwing myself away.” Jessica said, “I guess my feelings for you weren’t very clear.” She added clearly surprised. “I thought you knew … you’re all very special to me, you’re my family and I love you. I would do anything for you because I want to protect you. Not because I think my life is insignificant.” She looked at each of them, even Mark who despite the medication was painfully lucid. “The oath said it, didn’t it?” Jessica asked Angus and then looked at everyone again. “I see what you mean about a pledge.” Jessica said to Sean, “Things weren’t as clear as they should have been between us. But you …” she said looking at Riley, Scott, Josh, Jim and Angus and shaking her head, “Didn’t our oath make it clear? There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to keep you safe. Nothing.”
“Jessica, I don’t think you understand how hard it was.” Riley said, “To watch … to hear you ….”
“Trying to be brave.” Scott finished for Riley. “You were so scared Jess, we could see it. But Jesus Christ Jessica, when you taunted Earl. Pretending to not know who he was asking about?”
“You … protecting Mark. Mark, protecting you …” Angus mumbled. “It was too much.”
Jessica blinked at Riley and Scott, and the others.
“And then we thought you were going to take the cyanide pill …” Jim said so quietly and with so much emotion.
“It was like a living nightmare. Watching you with those pills.” Sean said, “Terrified that you would take the pill, that Mark would. We were coming to get you …”
“I haven’t felt that much horror in a really long time.” Josh said. “First watching you get tortured … then we were afraid you’d die, right before our eyes.”
“And who could blame you?” Caleb said, “All of that suffering. At least you ended Stan’s …”
“You saw all of that?” Jessica gasped.
“Earl brought the video camera in the room. We saw him torture you and Mark. He left it there even when they untied you from the chair. We saw everything.” Corey said.
“Oh.” Jessica said.
“How you stopped them from killing Mark.” Chris said.
“Putting yourself between the gun and Mark.” Scott said.
“And what that asshole wanted in exchange for Mark’s life.” Riley said quietly. Angus groaned.
“I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to be with another man, it seemed like the only option …” Jessica began.
“Don’t Jess.” Riley said, “We’d be complete assholes if we even considered being angry with you about that. You did what you had to in order to save Mark.”
“And he tried to spare you …” Angus mumbled, looking at Mark. “You kept your promise Mark … I’ll never forget that.”
“And what was with the cell phone?” Leah asked, “What was up with that? You could have called us.”
Jessica looked Leah and shook her head, “You were supposed to run. There was no point in calling.”
No one looked happy about that statement.
“The point is. You don’t have to explain what you’d do for us.” Caleb said, “We saw it.”
Silence hung in the air. Sean studied Jessica for a long time. And so did everyone else. Finally Sean glanced around at Riley, Angus, Scott, Jim and Josh, and nodded.
“There’s only one thing left to say.” Sean said looking back at Jessica. “Thank you. To you and Mark for protecting us.” He said looking at Mark and then back at Jessica, “You said all the right things to get Earl to give up on looking for us and concentrating on you …” Sean’s eyes darted to Riley and he cleared his throat. Jessica looked at Riley too and saw a mask of pain. Scott, Jim, Josh and Angus looked equally tortured, “that was really brave of you.”
Angus groaned.
“You were terrified, but you did it anyway.” Josh said pulling Jessica against him. “Thank you.”
“And Mark. Thanks for trying to protect Jessica.” Scott said.
“I didn’t do much.” Mark said quietly.
“Yes you did.” Angus mumbled, “You did everything you could and you paid for it. We’ll always be in your debt.”
Jessica crouched down and kissed Mark’s forehead. “They’re right Mark. Thank you.”
Josh crouched down behind Jessica and clutched her to him. Riley, Scott, Jim and Angus looked like they were going to grab her and never let her go. And she wanted that. More than anything.
“Can we go home?” Jessica asked.
“Doc and I will take care of these three.” Leah said, “You guys hurry up and do whatever you’re going to do and we can get out of here.”
It took a moment but everyone seemed to shake themselves off and one after the other planted a kiss on Jessica’s head before heading for the door.
“Take your pain meds.” Jim said coming over to kiss Jessica, “But don’t drink the water.” He added, “You’ll have to swallow the pills dry.”
“Take two.” Doc said handing her a couple of pills. She had to work at it but finally swallowed them.
“Off with your pants.” Leah said after Doc had finished putting cream on Jessica’s face.
Fifteen minutes later Jessica was sitting on the floor, back against the wall with Mark’s head resting on one leg, Angus’ on the other. Mark was in a medicinally induced sleep and Angus had finally succumbed to fatigue. Jessica stroked both of their heads. She was amazed at how much the cream Doc gave her helped. Her face, thighs, vagina, were only a minor discomfort. Doc insisted she take the tube and use it as needed.
“What happened with Stasia?” Jessica asked Leah. Doc had gone to the bathroom. “Is she okay?”
Leah nodded but she seemed uncertain.
“Is Paul going to be a problem?” Jessica asked.
“I don’t know. But I think he may think twice about crossing your husbands.”
“What do you mean?”
“When they got home and you weren’t there … and they heard your voicemail. Jess, your phone didn’t hang up for a long time. We heard everything that happened including part of the car ride.”
“Oh.”
“They went ballistic. I’ve never seen them like that before. Angus even shot the car. It’s true.” Leah added when Jessica looked disbelieving, “the tires, headlights, windows. I think he would have shot the gas tank too if they hadn’t been in such a hurry to get to Paul’s. Anyway, they threatened to kill Stasia but I don’t think they had to. Paul was pretty freaked out by them. Jess, I think the boys were pretty traumatized too. Your men were pretty scary …”
“They weren’t the only ones.” Doc said returning. “The whole lot of you were out of control. You were snarling Leah. Sean, Corey, Chris, Caleb, Quinn, Don, Abe, Rick, and your men …” he added looking at Jessica, “looked like they’d rip us all apart. And they hadn’t even seen the video yet. Leah’s right about Stasia. Once they saw what was happening to you their anger went to a whole new level. No one was going to get in their way.”
“Jess, the men heard and saw almost everything that happened to you. They saw you getting hurt but there was nothing they could do about it. I don’t think they’ll be the same again. And,” Leah cleared her throat, “when Earl demanded that Angus come and let him rape him, Riley, Scott, Jim and Josh climbed over each other to go instead. And when Earl insisted on Angus the other men looked like they’d had their nuts cut off and handed to them. But Angus, he was happy. Really happy. And then he insisted we wait two hours before coming to help. He said that would lower Earl’s guard. I guess it worked but it was horrible to watch. But, um, I guess you know that.” Leah said.
Jessica felt tears coming but she blinked them away. She had to get them back again. Back to who they were before this because Jessica was afraid that if Leah was right, the expressions that her family wore after they killed Earl were going to be permanent.
“We’re ready to torch the place.” Scott said when everyone returned. “Come on Jess I’ll give you a lift.” He added after Sean and Riley helped Angus sit and Chris and Corey helped Mark up. Scott scooped Jessica up.
“We can carry you too.” Riley said to Angus. Mark was too out of it to walk so Chris was lifting him under his arms, Corey his legs.
“I can walk.” Angus said and began the slow and painful shuffle toward the exit.
“Riley, he has to take a rest or slow down.” Jessica said when Angus had ignored her direct pleas. Angus’ face was red and he was sweating but he kept a steady pace.
“We’re not in a hurry Angus. Take your time … or we can carry you.” Riley said.
“I never gave Jessica that option.” Angus snarled and when he looked up at Jessica his face was twisted by pain, but guilt was the prominent emotion. “I made you walk, I raped you even when you felt like this. I even hung you from the fucking ceiling while you felt like this. The least I can do is walk.”
“You weren’t the only one.” Riley said. “You didn’t do those things by yourself.”
“You weren’t in the bedroom with me Riley. None of you were. In fact, if I recall correctly you all tried to stop me.” Angus looked around at Riley, Jim, Josh and Scott.
“I gave the order Angus.” Riley said.
“And I went above and beyond in following it.” Angus mumbled back. “Just leave me alone okay. It’s about time justice was served and I’m more than willing to serve it.”
Jessica buried her face in Scott’s neck unable to watch Angus suffer. She considered telling him that she forgave him … all the men, for everything. But she suspected that he’d think she only said it because she wanted to stop his self-punishment.
“We’ll wait in the car.” Scott said.
It took close to fifteen minutes for Angus to make it to the car. By then Jessica had been reduced to tears. As hard as she tried, she couldn’t stop crying. Scott and Jim were in the backseat with her and she hid in them. Sliding down between them she pulled them as close to her as they could get.
Riley and Josh shuffled along with Angus. When they finally got to the car and the house was set ablaze Angus refused Scott and Jim’s offers to go in another car so he could lie down in the backseat with Jessica. So Angus sat the whole way back to the house, between Scott and Jim, Jessica on Jim’s lap, hugging Angus. Riley drove and Josh sat like a zombie next to him on the front seat. Luckily Jessica had been right and they weren’t far from their house because Angus’ labored breathing and Herculean attempts at not moaning had Jessica crying again.
At the house Jessica wiped her tears and tried to look as normal as possible for the boys. But shuffling along with Angus didn’t lend itself well to feeling fine and it reflected on her face. She could tell by the looks on Sara, Justine, and Amanda’s faces. The boys were half asleep but one look at Angus and Jessica and they were instantly awake.
“Shit.” Terry hissed. Jessica was glad to see that the physiotherapists, Terry, Jay and Craig were the ones who’d come to watch the boys.
“You’re back!” Nathan yelled before throwing himself on Jessica. Brett followed. The other boys crowded around.
“You did it!” Brett said turning to Angus and burying his face in Angus’ stomach, wrapping his arms around him. “You did like you promised, you brought Jessie home.”
Angus grimaced by pulled Brett closer and patted his head. While locking eyes with Jessica he said, “There was no other option.”
Justine wrapped herself around Mark, and Jessica was glad to see that Chris had an arm on Mark’s back steadying him.
The other boys hugged or shook hands with the other adults, clearly elated, clearly in awe. Jessica and Leah exchanged a look. Leah had misread the boys when she thought they were scared of the men. Jessica was pretty sure that what the boys were afraid of was being left alone again. She shuddered when she realized that things could have easily ended that way.
“Are you cold Jess?” Riley asked when she shuddered again.
“No.”
“Are you shaking because they made you scream?” Nathan asked looking up at Jessica. “They hurt you a lot.” And he looked like he was going to cry.
“They hurt a lot of people Nathan,” Jessica said, hugging him, “but they can’t anymore. And tomorrow we’ll celebrate that. But right now it’s late and you should all be in bed.”
A general protest erupted.
“You heard her.” Caleb said, “It’s two in the morning guys, come on.”
“Say good night boys.” Sara said, “and come to the kitchen for your meds, chop. Chop.” Brett and Nathan gave Jessica another hug and turned to the kitchen. After a couple of steps Nathan turned and hugged Angus before running to the kitchen.
Angus looked surprised. Jessica leaned against him, “Now you’re someone else’s hero too.”
“I’ve gotta ask,” Jay said, “What’s with the underwear?”
“It’s a long and messy story.” Riley said, “You’re better off now knowing the details, trust me.”
“Do you want to get cleaned up?” Scott asked Jessica and Angus.
“In a minute.” Angus said, “Right now I need to sit.”
Soon Angus, Jessica and Mark were on the sofa. Jessica and Mark resting, Angus fidgeting and trying to find a comfortable position. Jessica wrapped herself around Angus and looked at him with ever growing concern.
“I can’t believe Earl and his band of psychos are dead.” Craig said.
“So that means Elsie can get some help now.” Jessica said turning to Mark.
Mark nodded, “The clan can take care of her now.”
“No Mark, I didn’t mean the clan. I meant real help. She needs to go to a hospital.”
“Jess.” Jim said, shaking his head when she looked at him. His eyes shifted to Craig, Jay and Terry.
“Ah, looks like you’re okay now. We’d better go.” Terry said when silence resonated in the living room, Jessica casting glances at the three of them.
“Thanks for your help.” Riley said.
“Not a problem. Take care Jessica, Angus, Mark.”
“I’ll walk you out.” Rick said. As soon as the door was closed Jessica turned back to Mark.
“She needs medical attention, rape crisis counselling, assisted living. She can’t go on the way she has and the clan isn’t equipped for that kind of help.”
Mark stared at Jessica.
“Listen.” Jessica said when it was clear that Mark was not going to say anything. “Hardly anyone from the clan knows Elsie is even alive … oops, did I just ruin that?” she asked looking at the door.
“Terry, Jay and Craig have no idea who Elsie is.” Rick said having returned, standing on the periphery of the living room. “I checked that out before they left. No clue.”
“Good!” Jessica said clapping her hands. “So no one knows she even exists. There are a million private clinics around. They cost a lot. But I bet that the upside of being expensive is discretion. I don’t think anyone would believe a word she said anyway, but even so, if we pay enough no one will say anything.”
Jessica looked around when Mark continued to stare at her and no one said anything.
“I’ll pay for it. I have money.” She added.
“Jess, you’re not going to pay for it.” Riley said quietly, “We’ll take care of it. I take it you’ll want to visit these places yourself and find the suitable one?”
Jessica nodded. Initially happy that Riley seemed to understand what she wanted, his demeanor and tone had her studying him more closely. “I just want to make sure she ends up in the right place. I don’t think there’s any danger to visiting the sites, is there?”
Riley shook his head and forced a smile, “Of course not.”
“Mark? Will you come with me?” Jessica asked.
Mark blinked and looked down at the hand Jessica had taken. Turning to Riley, and then looking at Scott, Jim, Josh and Angus he asked, “Do you ever get used to this?”
“Eventually.” Jim said with a smile and a wink at Jessica.
“But you may want to do that pledge as soon as possible.” Scott added, “So you can at least feel like you’re working within some kind of boundaries.”
“We’ll do it tomorrow.” Sean said.
Jessica looked around, “Are we still talking about Elsie?”
“No, but you don’t need to worry about it.” Mark said, “Yes I will go with you to find a place for Elsie. And I’ll pay for it.”
Jessica beamed at Mark before throwing her arms around him and squeezing.
“We’ll pay for it.” Chris said, “The three of us. You, me and Justine. It’s the right thing to do.” He added when Mark looked at him in surprise.
A huge smile swallowed Jessica’s face as she looked at Justine and Chris. It quickly disappeared when she turned back to Angus. He was pale and clammy, pain etched onto his face. She kissed his cheek and was about to beg him to take medication again when she remembered the names Elsie had given her and Mark.
“I also want to get this information to the police.” Jessica said opening her cell phone she went to her contacts. “These are the names that Elsie gave us. Hopefully they can find the people that Earl sold. What’s wrong?” Jessica asked when all men and Leah exchanged looks.
“Nothing Jess.” Riley said, “In fact I think you’ll like this. We managed to get some very detailed information from Earl about the people he sold. I can guarantee that the police will find them.”
“You did!” Jessica exclaimed.
“Holy shit, really?” Mark asked.
“We can be persuasive when we want to be.” Sean said. The men and other adults exchanged glances that made it clear that any doubt they may have had about that in the past was now forever obliterated. And it was clear to Jessica that they weren’t just thinking about Earl and the information they got out of him. Everything from Abe and Rick turning on Stasia to Angus sacrificing himself for Jessica and Mark’s safety were well relayed in the respect and loyalty held in the looks exchanged. Jessica’s heart melted when she recognized the same qualities in the way her men and family looked at her. “We’ll send the information to the police, first thing tomorrow.”
“Thank you!” Jessica exclaimed.
“We should get you to bed.” Leah said.
“In a few minutes.” Angus mumbled.
“Jess, there’s something you need to know.” Riley said. “It’s about Paul. During our attempt to get you back, when he thought Stasia was in danger …” Riley paused and glanced at Rick and Abe, “Paul offered us release from the clan. He asked us for help with one more job, something big he’s working on. He didn’t say when it would happen but he understood that we wouldn’t wait long. He swore it would be in the next few months. We would have demanded immediate release but he still hadn’t told us where Earl was keeping you and we were running out of time.”
“What?” Jessica gasped.
“And we agreed.” Riley said.
Jessica was speechless. She looked around the room.
“But, we have no intentions of honoring that.” Jim said. “The only reason we agreed is to keep Paul happy. But it gives us an advantage. We’ll know when he and pretty much everyone working for him will be busy. It would be a good time to run.”
Jessica sighed in relief.
“Okay.” She nodded, felt herself starting to gnaw on her lip and looked up, “So we should start looking for homes for the animals.”
“The animals …” Riley said.
Jessica nodded, “We can’t take them with us. We have to find good homes for them. Especially Max, I don’t want anyone to hurt him.”
“That makes sense.” Josh agreed.
“We have to go to bed.” Riley said as Angus started to tilt on the sofa and Jessica suddenly couldn’t keep her eyes open. “It seems we have a lot of work to do tomorrow.” He added with a smile.
“Come on Jess.” Jim said scooping her up, “Angus needs to be cleaned up before he comes to bed.”
“Good night.” She said to everyone. “Will Angus be okay?” she whispered in Jim’s ear, watching Riley and Scott helping Angus to his feet.
“You were Jess so he will be too.”
Jessica was asleep as soon as Jim lay down with her but when Riley, Scott and Josh came in, practically carrying Angus, she woke up.
Jessica pressed up again Angus. When he wrapped his arms around her and squeezed she relaxed into him. But she couldn’t sleep, partially because he couldn’t. Obviously in pain, his body was rigid against her.
“There’s only one thing I want to do right now Jess.” Angus grumbled when she started pleading with him to take medication. “But I don’t know if you’re up for it.”
“Anything. Anything you want Angus, I’m up for it.”
Angus nodded and bringing his hand to Jessica’s tit he gently rolled her against Jim. A low growl escaped Angus as his hand slid from her tit down her stomach and between her legs. “Oh!” Jessica said surprised, and she spread her legs with only a moment of hesitation.
“Should we put more of that cream for the burns on your legs and pussy first?” Angus asked in a low growl.
Jessica shook her head, “What Doc put on is still working, I’m okay.”
“Good.” Angus moaned. “Hold her legs.” Angus said to Jim and Riley. “Wide so I don’t rub against her burns.”
Jessica felt Riley and Jim take her behind her knees and pull her legs as far apart as they could go.
“What I really want to do is eat you out.” Angus said brushing his lips over hers, stroking her meat with his finger, intermittently dipping in into her hole. “but I’m not flexible enough for that right now.”
“I’ll sit on your face.” Jessica whispered bringing her hands up to push on his chest, “Just lie down.”
“You’ll do no such thing.” He said, “You’ll do nothing at all.” He added.
“Not even that.” Scott said catching Jessica’s hand as it moved toward Angus’ cock.
“Your only job.” Angus said brushing her lips again as he increased his strokes on her clitoris, “is to cum. Come on baby, cum.”
“Why won’t you kiss me?” Jessica asked when Angus always looked like he was about to devour her lips but then at the last minute grazed them and moved to her cheek, her neck.
“I have no front teeth Jess.”
“So?” Jessica asked lunging up to try and kiss him.
“Isn’t that … gross?”
“No. You can never be gross Angus. Please kiss me. I need your tongue in my mou …”
Angus devoured her. His tongue invaded her mouth, her throat. Jim pulled on her nipple and whispered, “Be a good girl and cum Jess.” In her ear, “Cause after you do, after Angus is done, I’m going to eat you out. And I can’t wait to taste your pussy … your wet, wet, pussy …”
Jessica came. Several times and then Angus was between her legs, in her, pounding her. Riley and Jim each grasped one of her shoulders and held her in place so that each thrust was deeper, fuller, harder. Scott slid his hand between her legs and rubbed her clit while Angus pumped and Jessica came again, several times.
When he finally came Angus collapsed on top of her kissing her cheek and neck.
“I love you Jess.” He muttered.
He pushed up, looked at her and rolled to the side.
“Angus …” Jessica said worried by how pale he looked, how clammy he felt. But she didn’t have time to do or say any more because Jim was between her legs, eating her, stroking her, prodding her. Angus grasped Jessica behind the knee and pulled her leg up and that was the last time Jessica had time to notice him. For the next hour the men took turns and despite Jessica’s requests to pleasure them, Jessica wasn’t allowed to move from her prone position.
When everyone was spent Jessica lay on Scott, melting against him. He fondled her ass, Jim and Josh stroking each of her legs, lying alongside each one. Riley lay next to her and Scott’s heads and caressed her back. Angus was near their heads also, on the side that Jessica’s face was turned and after a few minutes of just watching Jessica Angus brought his thumb to her cheek and gently caressed the scratch marks. His hand was shaking. Jessica looked up at him with concern.
“You weren’t supposed to get hurt anymore.” Angus said quietly, his eyes filled with emotion.
“It doesn’t hurt Angus, honest. That cream is amazing.”
“Your legs and your pussy …” Angus added.
“All fine Angus …” Jessica replied but Angus shook his head.
“None of it is fine baby.”
“Angus, please take some medication.” Jessica said in desperation. He was so pale, sweating profusely, she pushed up on Scott and looked around at the men for help when Angus shook his head. But none of the men said anything. “Please …” she tried again, sliding off of Scott and as close to Angus as she could get.
“It’s late baby. Time to sleep.” he said pulling her close. Jessica snuggled in to him fully intending to try and persuade him to take some medication. But with the warmth of his body, the feeling of safety that came with being wrapped in his strong arms, and orgasmic bliss, a sudden overwhelming fatigue overtook her. Jessica was asleep in moments, everyone else not long after.
Jessica awoke just before the scream escaped her. She had no idea how long she slept but she was thankful that she woke herself before disturbing anyone else’s sleep. She had nightmares again but these ones were so close to actual events that they were doubly terrifying. Angus being raped over and over, his teeth knocked out. Mark having the rod shoved into him, raped as well. The two of them forced to rape each other. It was too much.
After tossing and turning for a while Jessica decided that she had to get up. The men wouldn’t like it but even Angus was asleep. She couldn’t be the one to disturb them. Slipping some pajamas on she crept to the living room, turned on a light and settled onto the sofa with her calculus book. But her mind was on anything but math. Words kept coming to her. Words about love, commitment, sacrifice. She scratched them down on the same page that she’d put other words for the songs she wanted to write.
A noise from the hallway caught her attention.
Looking up she found Leah, Corey, Sean and Sara coming into the living room. She was surprised to see Caleb and Quinn standing behind the sofa looking over her shoulder.
“You’re just too dedicated to your education.” Caleb said.
Jessica shook her head, “I’m actually working on a song.”
“Really?” Quinn asked. He and Caleb swung their legs over the back of the sofa, slid down on either side of Jessica and looked over her shoulder at her notebook.
“Nice and light I see.” Caleb muttered.
Jessica shrugged and looked up as Leah, Corey, Sean and Sara pulled up chairs around the sofa. Corey took the notebook from Jessica and passed it to Sean.
“It’s the way I feel.” She said when he and Sara read the song, passed it to Corey and Leah, and then looked up at her.
“We feel the same way.” Leah said. “I think I’m going to like this song.”
Sean handed the book back to her, “Having trouble sleeping?”
“So are we.” Sara said when Jessica nodded.
“Oh.” Jessica said, having an idea. She turned to a fresh page and wrote their names down the side of it. “What have you always wanted to do?” she asked looking around at them.
They looked back at her.
“Come on, there has to be something. If you died tomorrow, what would you regret not doing?”
“Having killed Earl sooner.” Sean said, “Before so many people got hurt.”
Jessica nodded. “That’s a good one.” She said, “But I was looking for something more fun … nice fun.” She added when Sean looked at her like killing Earl had been a great hoot. “The kind of fun that makes you laugh and isn’t psychologically scarring.”
“Like eating twenty burgers in a row without puking?” Corey asked.
“Closer.” Jessica said, “But a bit harder to do. Something fun that you would love to do but think you can’t for whatever reason.”
“Like a bucket list?” Leah asked.
“What the hell is a bucket list?” Corey asked when Jessica nodded.
“Things you want to do before you die. Like, climbing Mount Everest, or going down the Nile.” Leah said.
“Why do you need to know that?” Quinn asked, “Do you know something we don’t?”
“Yes.” Jessica said, “I know that at any time now we’re going to run from the clan. From what I’ve heard, that’s not so easy to do. I want us to do all the things we’ve wanted to do before that … just in case.”
“Justine, Amanda and I have always dreamed of being fashion designers.” Sara said. “We have notebooks full of designs.”
“Excellent.” Jessica said suddenly excited and scribbling something next to Sara’s name. “Tomorrow you need to go get those notebooks. And whatever else you need to make your designs into clothing.”
“You’re kidding.” Sara said, “We’d need a ton of equipment, material. Hours of labor. For what?”
Jessica beat the pen against her lips. Thinking.
“Jessica …” Corey said.
“For a fashion show. It’s perfect!” Jessica said nearly jumping off the sofa with excitement. “You can have the show at the bar. I’m sure Stephen and Lilly will let you. You could sell your clothes and maybe some of the proceeds can go to help support their kids.”
“Yeah, right.” Sean said, laughing.
“You’re serious!” Sara said.
“Very. Can I be one of your models?”
“Duh, yeah.” Sara said and laughed. She bounced on her seat, clearly excited.
“What about you?” Jessica asked Leah.
“Mine is silly.” Leah said, “and nearly impossible to do.”
“What is it?” Jessica prompted.
“Yeah, what is it?” Corey said sliding his arm around Leah and rocking her.
“I’ve always wanted to go to Paris. I don’t know why. I can’t even speak French.”
“It’s romantic, that’s why.” Sara said in a dreamy voice.
Sean, Corey, Caleb and Quinn looked at Sara, Leah and Jessica, when all three sighed wistfully, like they were insane.
Jessica scribbled Paris next to Leah’s name.
“Sean?” Jessica asked.
“I don’t have anything.” He said.
“Everyone has something.” Jessica said, “Maybe you just don’t remember right now.”
Corey, Caleb and Quinn shook their heads.
Jessica closed her book. “Just think about it, okay?”
“Maybe you should try to sleep now.” Sean said when Jessica fell back against the sofa and looked really tired.
“I can’t, and I’ll wake up the men if I go back to bed.” Jessica looked at the door. “Do you want to go jam in the studio?”
“Sure.” Corey said. Everyone agreed.
“I’ll leave a note for the men.” Jessica said tearing a page out of her book. She wrote, ‘In studio’ in huge letters and left the paper on the coffee table.

Forty five minutes later Jessica, Corey, Sean, Leah, Sara, Caleb and Quinn finished the last word of a song and fell against each other laughing.
“What the hell are you doing?” Riley demanded making everyone jump. Jessica and the others had arranged themselves on the sofa and chairs and had been so involved with one another and the songs they hadn’t noticed the men come in.
“Angus, why are you here?” Jessica asked, handing her guitar to Leah and running over into Angus’ arms. He looked awful. Beyond awful. “Why aren’t you in bed?” She reached up to feel his forehead but he pulled his head back.
“I could ask you the same thing.” Angus grumbled, “What did we tell you about leaving in the middle of the night?”
“You need your sleep.” Jessica said, “I would have kept you awake.”
Angus looked around at Corey, Sean, Leah, Sara, Caleb and Quinn. He nodded but didn’t look at all happy.
“I left you a note, on the coffee table …” Jessica said but her voice trailed off when Angus glared at her.
“We should go back to bed.” Riley said.
Jessica nodded and leaned in to Angus, pecking him on his lips. “You have a fever!” Jessica gasped when Angus’ lips were hot and dry.
“I’m fine. Let’s go, come on.” Angus snapped and started toward the door dragging Jessica by her arm.
“Angus!” Jim said and moved to block their path.
“Out of the way Jim.”
“So you’re reliving Jessica’s early days are you?” Jim demanded, “And which one of you is supposed to be the one suffering, you or her?”
That brought Angus up short.
“You never would have let Jessica talk to you like you just did to her, much less drag you around like you are doing to her. Eye contact, verbal responses, and most of all obedience. Those were the rules remember? You’re breaking them Angus. If you’re going to relive Jessica’s hell at least do it properly.”
Angus looked at Jessica clearly aghast with himself. “I’m sorry Jess. I’m so …” he shook his head. “It scared me when I woke up and you weren’t there. For a minute I thought that bringing you home had been a dream. I never want to feel that scared again.”
Jessica hugged Angus. “It doesn’t help that you’re delirious.” Jessica said touching his forehead again. “Please let us give you some medicine.”
Angus shook his head.
“We gave Jessica medication when she had a fever.” Scott said, “Remember?”
Angus looked confused of a moment but then nodded.
Everyone went back to the house. They watched in silence as Jessica fussed over Angus.
“You go ahead.” He said when Jessica wanted to help him to the bedroom, “I’ll get there eventually. Go Jess, please.”
Jessica’s face crumpled as she turned and headed down the hallway.
“You do know that you’re hurting her don’t you?” Leah demanded. “You’re suffering on her behalf so she feels guilty, and on top of that, you’re rude to her. If this is your idea of making things up to her you really suck at it.”
“I didn’t mean to hurt her.” Angus said looking down the hallway. “I just need to do this and she keeps trying to make me feel better.”
“Think about what you just said.” Josh said, “And now think about who you’re talking about. She’s never going to let you suffer no matter how much you may deserve it!” Josh regretted the words as soon as he said them but Angus rebuffed any attempts at apology.
“You’re right. The only way this will work is if you distract her for me. Keep her busy.”
“There doesn’t seem to be a shortage of ways to keep her busy.” Sean said, “But I don’t think she’ll leave you.”
“She will if she thinks I’m sleeping.” Angus said, “We’ll tell her I’m taking the medicine Doc left. I’ll stay in the bedroom, she can think I’m recuperating.”
“You want us to lie to her?” Riley asked. “Really? After all the shit we give her about honesty and trust?”
“You have to Riley.” Angus said and sobbed. “You have no idea how much this hurts.” He rambled, “I can’t act like it doesn’t around her and she’ll be upset. Jesus Christ, I don’t know how she stood it. This pain, and more of it heaped on over and over. But she did it so I have to too. It’s justice …”
“Okay. But Angus, she’s going to be mad at us. Really mad.” Jim said.
“Let me tell her.” Caleb said. “She can be mad at me for a while, I don’t mind.”
“Thanks.” Angus said.
In the bedroom Jessica lay curled up on the mattress. The men arranged themselves around her.
Caleb had followed them in.
“Jess, Angus let me give him some medication. He’ll be sleeping a lot for the next few days okay?”
Jessica nodded and wrapped herself around Angus.
“Thanks Caleb.” She said.
It seemed like with that worry removed, Jessica fell into a deep sleep.

It was noon by the time Jessica woke up. Most everyone else was up.
No sooner had Jessica sat down at the dining table then Sean was placing a piece of paper in front of her.
“Read this, out loud.” He said.
Jessica looked at the paper and began to read, “We promise on our lives that we will be loyal, truthful, and devoted to one another for the rest of our lives. We will never leave one another, under any circumstance. We have nothing to fear from one another. Honesty is paramount and can be practiced without fear of violence or harm. We will be bound by blood and our unity can never, ever be broken. There is no one more important to us then this family. We will protect one another at all costs. To this we pledge.”

Jessica looked up when she was done.

“We decided to make a whole new pledge that we would all take.” Sean said. “So it’s clear to everyone that ‘no sauce’ is never an option.”

“That’s Sean’s subtle way of saying that he’s happier than he’s been in a long time.” Leah said.

“A fucking long time.” Corey added.

“A fucking long time.” Leah agreed, “And that he loves this family. And us taking the pledge says that we do too.”

“I do too.” Jessica said.

“We’re not scared anymore,” Tom added, “Because of this family. We love it too.”

“Yeah!” The boys chanted in agreement. Nathan and Brett wrapping their arms around Jessica and hugging her.

“Then let’s do this.” Sean said.

Everyone stood in the living room, in a large circle that extended around the sofa.

Looking around at her family, Jessica’s couldn’t help but get teary eyed.

Jim slid his arm around her shoulder, and Angus had his arm around her other shoulder, Scott, holding him up on his other side. Riley and Josh stood next to Scott. They all looked as moved by the upcoming oath as Jessica felt.

“It is nice to have a family again.” Riley said quietly.

“One that cares more about its members than annihilating the government.” Angus muttered.

Jessica snuggled into Angus’ embrace her heart aching when her other men grunted their agreement.

“Let’s begin.” Sean said and the pledge was read out loud by everyone in unison. They pricked their fingers, even the boys, and mixed their blood by holding their cut fingers together.

“Technically we don’t really need to do this.” Jessica said to Leah and Corey, “I already have all of your blood. You’re just getting yours back.”

“It’s the symbolism that matters.” Leah said and kissed Jessica on both cheeks.

Afterwards there seemed to be a different energy between people. Jessica was suddenly being petted by everyone. Everywhere she went someone had a hand on her. On her back, on her arm, on her head. She realized that she and the twins seemed to have become everyone’s pets. But she didn’t mind.

“Let’s go find that home for Elsie.” Mark said to Jessica after she finally finished her breakfast.

“Mind if I tag along?” Abe asked. “In case Mark needs some meds …” Abe said by way of explanation when Jessica and Mark looked surprised. They agreed because Abe’s explanation made sense, but Jessica sensed that the pledge somehow had a hand in it. She didn’t know how or why exactly but the pledge seemed to have reversed some of the damage that she thought the whole Earl experience had caused her family. Even Rick, who was the most stand-offish person in the family was smiling at everyone, slapping shoulders, wrapping an arm around the shoulders of Jessica and the girls and giving affectionate squeezes.

Jessica saw Angus to bed and then climbed into Mark’s car with Abe and Mark.

“We’ll start looking for homes for the animals.” Riley said through the driver side window where Jessica sat between Mark and Abe on the front seat. “And don’t worry.” Riley added when Jessica looked panicked, “you’ll get to approve all new owners.”

Jessica, Mark and Abe visited over twenty homes in the area. They eventually found one that stood out over all the others. During the course of the day Jessica had explained the bucket list concept and wrote down that Mark wanted to surf in Hawaii and Abe was interested in scuba diving and investigating sunken ships. His dream ship was the Titanic but there was no way anyone would snorkel down that deep.
Mark had seemed fine during the day. A little slower than normal, but otherwise fine. But as they left the second visit to the home they liked, he suddenly seemed in pain.
“Are you okay?” Jessica asked in the car.
“Fine,” he said but pulled a black bag, similar to Doc’s, from the back seat.
“Let me.” Abe said and opened the bag. In it was a syringe and some vials.
Jessica watched Abe inject Mark.
“Is there more of that at home?” Jessica asked.
“What?” Abe asked.
“For Angus, is there more at home?”
“Oh, yeah, yeah.” Abe said exchanging a look with Mark. “Doc gave us two bags. Don’t worry.”
Almost instantly Mark’s face relaxed and he seemed okay again.
“We’d better go.” Abe said “or the nursing staff will get to Elsie’s before we do.”
An hour filled with heart wrenching drama later, Elsie was safely deposited in the home. Jessica had insisted on female staff coming to take Elsie. And despite that, it had still been an ordeal.
“I see why you wanted her in a home.” Abe said as they drove home, “That place was a dive and she’s right out of her tree.”
“What the hell?” Mark asked when they walked in the front door of the house. Folding tables were set up everywhere, coat racks littered the living room, rolls of fabric everywhere. Sara and Justine were using a couple of big sewing machines on the new tables. Amanda was measuring cloth.
“Welcome to bucket list hell.” Rick said. “Kidding.” He added when Jessica pretended to be hurt. Unable to keep it up for long Jessica giggled and stuck her tongue out at him.
“Jessica, come here!” Amanda shouted when she noticed her.
“Just a sec … Angus, are you going to sleep?” Jessica asked catching up with him in the hallway. He’d been on the sofa when they’d come in but he’d looked surprised then worried when Jessica looked at him. He’d gotten up and headed right for the hallway without even saying hello.
Angus nodded his head but he didn’t stop, turn around or say anything.
“Wait,” Jessica said and moved past him and into his path. “Angus!” she gasped. He looked awful. Pale, in pain, and clammy. “Did you have your medicine?” she asked reaching for his forehead but he dodged her hand.
“Yeah. Caleb just gave it to me.”
“Just now?” Jessica asked confused, “I didn’t see Caleb in there.”
“Well, about ten minutes ago. I’m fine, really, I just have to go to the bathroom … if you don’t mind …”
“Oh, okay.” Jessica said, stepped aside and watched Angus shuffle into the bathroom and close the door. Something wasn’t right. Jessica stood staring at the door. Eventually she moved to it and paused. She heard crying. Jessica pressed her ear to the door. In the bathroom Angus was crying. Jessica reached for the door handle but it wouldn’t turn. The door was locked. She was about to call out to Angus when a thought came to her. She froze. The more she thought about it the more likely it seemed. Jessica moved to the bedroom and dialed Doc on her cellphone.
“Hey lass, how are you?” Doc greeted.
“Fine Doc, fine. Um, how many bags of medicine did you leave here?” she asked.
“Just the one. Why, do you need more …”
“Thanks Doc.” Jessica said and hung up.
Angus was lying to her. They all were. Jessica went to the kitchen. When Amanda asked if she needed anything Jessica said she was getting a drink. To make it not a lie, Jessica had a mouthful of juice. Mark had put the bag back in the kitchen. As quickly as she could Jessica filled a syringe with the vial marked as a sedative and wrapped her hand around it.
Jessica went back to the bathroom door and knocked.
A muffled “what” came from inside.
“Angus, I’m going to come sleep with you okay?”
“No.” he managed. It was muffled but Jessica could tell he was still crying. “I’ll come out to the living room. Just go back. I’ll be there soon.”
Jessica contemplated waiting here for him and sticking him with the needle when he came out but he was too heavy. He’d fall and she wouldn’t be able to hold him.
So Jessica went back out to the living room. She watched as Amanda, Justine and Sara’s worked and was getting ready to go back to check on Angus when she noticed him coming down the hallway.
She went to the sofa. By now most everyone was there. The boys were fooling around, Sara, Justine and Amanda were sewing, the other adults were seated around the sofa. Only Riley and Scott were still missing, probably still looking for new owners for the animals.
Jessica feigned interest in the game the twins were playing with some toy cars. She barely acknowledged Angus when he sat down next to her. And with no warning, and a lot of satisfaction Jessica turned and stuck the needle in Angus’ arm, shooting the substance into him.
“Jessica! What did you …” was all Angus got out before slumping against Corey who sat next to him. Silence fell over the room.
“Did you just …” Don asked.
“Yes I did.” Jessica said standing. She looked at Abe and Caleb, “He has a fever, can you bring it down? And for the next few days, until he’s better, Angus is staying sedated. Okay?” She looked around at everyone. Jim and Josh were still gaping at Angus’ motionless form. “Okay?” she prompted.
People started to nod.
“We didn’t want you to worry about him.” Jim said when Jessica couldn’t hide her feeling of betrayal.
“I know.” Jessica said not able to feel the anger that she somehow thought she should.
“He’s going to be pissed when he wakes up.” Josh said.
“Yes, but he’ll be healthy. That’s all I care about.” Jessica said.
“Let’s get him to bed.” Abe said.
Jim and Josh took an arm each, Abe and Rick a leg each and carried him to the bedroom.
When Riley and Scott got home an hour later Abe was making dinner. Jessica and Leah were ooing over the designs that Sara, Justine and Amanda were working on, and the other men were out doing chores with the boys.
Riley and Scott kissed Jessica hello, said they had some possible homes to take her to the next day, and moved to the kitchen for a drink.
“Jessica!” Riley said. Jessica turned to see Riley, Scott and Abe standing together in the kitchen. “Did you drug Angus?”
“Somebody had to.” Jessica said going into the kitchen and into Riley’s arms.
“You should have seen her. It was like watching animal kingdom. Angus was like some poor unsuspecting animal just sitting there, clueless, and the next second bitten by a cobra he never saw coming.” Abe said.
“You might want to be careful about making snake analogies with me …” Jessica said in a disgruntled tone.
“Really?” Abe said looking at her in surprise.
“Jess!” Riley said.
“I’m sorry Abe, I didn’t mean it.” Jessica said giving him a quick hug. “It’s just that it kind of sucks being lied to … by everybody.”
“Technically only one person lied to you Jess.” Caleb said closing the door behind him. “And that was me. Everybody else just kept quiet.”
“Hmph.” Jessica said crossing her arms and stepping away from Riley and Scott, “I see.” She said, “So when everyone else omits the truth it’s ‘keeping quiet’ but when I do it it’s a capital crime.”
Abe, Caleb, Leah, Justine, Sara and Amanda stood looking between Jessica, Riley and Scott.
After a moment Riley nodded. “It seems to be the case.” He said.
“Angus wants to make up for what he did to you.” Scott said, “And he did a lot. Doesn’t part of you want him to suffer a little? Just for a while?”
“Scott!” Jessica said her jaw dropping. She stared at him in complete disbelief. “How could you think such a thing?”
Scott lowered his head. “Maybe that’s how I feel.”
Now everyone was gaping at Scott. “I would never have wished this on him to begin with.” Scott said looking at Jessica again, “But since he finds himself in this situation … I guess this makes me a monster. I’m sorry. I’ll be with the horses.”
“No. Scott, wait.” Jessica said stepping into his arms before he could get out of the kitchen. “You’re not a monster. I’m sorry, I’m just taken by surprise. Are you still mad at Angus? I thought we were done with all of that.”
“I thought so too.” Scott said. “I guess everything that’s happened has kind of brought it back up again.”
“You’re going to talk to him about this right?” Jessica said.
Scott nodded, “When he wakes up.”
Jim and Josh had come in and caught the end of the conversation.
“Is that why you let him lie about the medicine?” Jessica asked looking at Riley, Scott, Josh and Jim. “To let him suffer?”
Jim shrugged when Jessica looked at him. “It was what he wanted, it was what seemed fair. A win-win really.”
“Okay.” Jessica said completely sideswiped by the realization that the men felt that way. “Well, he’s done his suffering. He’s paid his dues by my book. But if he hasn’t by yours then you’d better be talking to him about it when he wakes up. That’s a resentment.”
“What about you Jess?” Josh asked, “Do you resent us for feeling this way?”
Jessica exhaled, took Scott’s hand and dragged him with her over to Josh so she could hug both of them. “No, I don’t. But I do resent that you decided to ‘omit’ the truth from me. Don’t ever do that again. Okay?”
The men nodded. “Sorry Jess.” They each said. There was a solemn atmosphere in the room that Jessica desperately wanted to get rid of.
“I was wondering if we could have a bonfire tonight?” Jessica asked. “I’ve been telling the boys about them. They’re really excited.”
“Sure, sounds like a good idea.” Caleb said.
“What does?” Sean asked when he, Rick, Chris, Don, Quinn, Mark, Corey and the boys came in.
“A bonfire.” Jessica said. The boys cheered with excitement.
“Okay but for a bonfire we need a lot of wood. You boys get back outside and gather as much wood as you can find.” Jessica said. The boys ran out the door.
“Um, have you heard anything from Beth?” Jessica asked looking at her men.
“No.” Jim said. “I can’t get a hold of her.”
“I’m worried.” Jessica said pulling Scott and Josh to the sofa with her and curling up to them once they were all seated. “Quinn and I went back to the house where we last saw her. No one’s there. No one at the bar has heard from her in forever.”
“Do you want me to check with some of Paul’s folks. See if Paul’s done anything with her?” Rick asked.
“Could you? Please?”
“I’ll call them now.” Rick said and headed outside while punching numbers into his cell phone.
Suddenly Sean snapped his fingers and pointed at Jessica and said, “Fly a plane.”
“Excellent.” Jessica said going to find her calculus book.
“Huh?” Riley asked when Jessica came back with her book and pen and looked really excited as she flipped through the pages.
“That’s my bucket list item.” Sean said, “I want to learn to fly a plane.”
“I haven’t had a chance to ask you yet.” She said looking at Riley, Scott, Jim and Josh. “What do you want to do before you die … something fun.”
“Die?” Scott asked.
“Old age death, like when you’re a hundred or something.” Quinn said, “Not violent, unexpected and early death. We clarified that last night.”
“Something you’d regret not doing before you die.” Caleb added.
“Running with the bulls.” Corey suddenly said.
“What? Isn’t that in Spain?” Leah asked.
“Yeah, kind of like Paris is in France.” Corey said and laughed when Leah stuck her tongue out at him.
“Isn’t it also kind of dangerous?” Sara asked.
“And living in a clan isn’t?” Corey countered.
“So?” Jessica prompted looking at Riley, Scott , Josh and Jim expectantly.
“I don’t know.” Jim said. Riley, Scott and Josh shook their heads.
“Think about it, everyone has something.” Jessica said.
“Hey, did you show them your song?” Sean asked.
“Oh no, not yet. Here.” Jessica said passing her book to Jim. He leaned forward so Riley could read it with him.
“That’s … wow.” Riley said, handing the book to Scott so he and Josh could read it.
“Could you write the music to go with it?” Jessica asked Jim.
Jim nodded. “Do you see it as a slow song?”
“A mix.” Jessica said. “I think it should be different, sort of like we are. Oh. Yeah. Corey.” Jessica said eyeing Leah. Sure that she wasn’t paying attention Jessica motioned Corey to follow her to the laptop.
“I know this isn’t actually really Paris.” Jessica said sitting on the chair at the laptop. Corey leaned over her, an arm on either side of her, head down by hers, looking at the screen. “But it’s close enough for now.”
Riley walked over to look at what they were doing.
“What is that?” Riley asked.
“Shhh.” Jessica said looking over at Leah in a panic. But Leah was oblivious so she motioned Riley, and Scott, Jim and Josh closer. “It’s a theme resort. Inside it’s a mini replica of France. You should take Leah.” Jessica said to Corey, looking up at him as he looked down over top of her.
“We should all go.” Corey said, “I don’t think Leah would go to Paris without you.”
Jessica considered that. “The boys would love it too.”
“Then it’s a date. They’re not in their full season for a couple of months so I’ll make reservations for then.”
“Dinner’s ready.” Abe called. Don called the boys in and soon there was laughter and chatter all through the house as everyone ate.
“Jess, you’re not eating.” Josh said when Jessica sat for about ten minutes pushing the food around her plate with her fork.
“I’m not really hungry. Do you mind if I check on Angus?”
“Go ahead but come back for the rest of your food.” Josh said.
Fifteen minutes later Jessica hadn’t returned. Josh went to check on her.
“She fell to sleep with Angus.” Josh said returning.
“Let her sleep.” Jim said.
“But the bonfire!” Reese exclaimed.
“We’ll still have it.” Scott replied.
“But Jessie has to come.” Chad said.
“Not a problem guys.” Abe said, “ I have to give Angus his next injection in an hour. Let her sleep for an hour and then we’ll get her up for the bonfire.”
Crisis averted the boys finished their food and went outside to play.
Hours later, well after the bonfire and the singing and the hot chocolate and marshmallows, everyone was in bed. Angus lay snoring on one side of Jessica, the other men arranged themselves around her.
“Angus will be awake tomorrow.” Jim said his fingers caressing the top of Jessica’s head.
“Mhmm.” Jessica acknowledged after a pausing a moment.
“Are you nervous?” Josh asked. “You seem nervous.”
“A little.” Jessica said, “I think he’s going to be mad at me.”
“Abe said he may be cranky and moody after the anesthetic.” Josh said, “That’s Angus on a good day. But I think he’ll understand why you did it.”
“Look at it this way.” Scott said, “once he’s awake we can go to that drive-in and the fair like you wanted.”
“That’s true.” Jessica said, excitement in her voice. “I can’t believe that none of you have been to a drive in. And the fair … I mean, I knew you hadn’t, but Sean, the others, the boys … you’re all going to have a blast.”
“Yeah, well, I wish he was awake right now.” Riley said. “There are things I want to do to you right now Jess, but I don’t think it’d be fair for Angus … missing out on it.”
Jessica groaned. “It’s going to be a long night.”
“Fuck yes. But Jess, if you get up later take us with you okay?” Jim asked.
Jessica nodded.
“We better get to sleep before I decide to stop being fair to Angus.” Riley said.
“Good night.” Jessica said and soon they were asleep.

Jessica bolted up, clamping her hand over her mouth to stifle a piercing scream.
“It’s okay Jess, shhh, you’re okay.” Scott soothed, pulling her into his arms. She sobbed against his chest very aware of Riley, Jim and Josh sitting up around her.
“I’m sorry.” Jessica whispered when Riley squeezed her knee, Jim her ankle and Josh her hand. Thankfully the sedatives kept Angus completely oblivious to what was happening around him.
“Don’t be baby.” Scott whispered in her ear before standing and scooping her into his arms. He carried her into the living room followed by Riley, Jim and Josh. Settling on the sofa, Jessica on his lap, nestled into his chest, Scott wiped the tears from her eyes.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get their screaming out of my head.” Jessica said between sniffles, “Angus and Mark … It must have been even worse watching those videos Earl made. Seeing and hearing all those kids … I’m so sorry I asked you to.”
“I won’t pretend it was easy.” Jim said rubbing Jessica’s back, sitting next to her and Scott on the sofa, “But it was necessary and to help the boys I would do it again.”
“Sometimes I wake up at night, shaking.” Scott said, “But it’s not because of the videos or what happened to Angus and Mark. There was a time when you were the one screaming. When Angus would hurt you. Jess, I wanted Angus to suffer a little for what he did to you, I admit that. But the truth is we were no better. Standing by, letting it happen. Nothing haunts me more than that.”
Jessica pushed off of Scott’s chest and sat looking at him.
“And I’d given the orders.” Riley added, sitting next to Jessica and Scott on their other side. He took Jessica’s hand in hers and gave a gentle tug, “I masterminded the whole thing. Honestly it should have been me in Angus’ place. No, Jess, please don’t say anything.” He added when Jessica clutched his hand and seemed to be struggling for words. “We’re not telling you this to make you feel bad … just to say that you shouldn’t let Angus’ screams torture you. They really were justice coming around and someday the rest of us will find a way to atone for what we’ve done.”
“No, please …” Jessica said in a panic.
“Jess … don’t worry.” Josh interrupted. He’d pulled the armchair closer to the sofa and leaned forward in it now, grasping her knee, “It won’t be like Angus made up for it, we promise. We’re not going to do anything that will hurt you. Every moment of every day of our lives will be spent making things right with you and somehow we’ll find a way to make right what we did to you and your family. You’ll be proud of us baby, I promise you.”
“Please don’t.” Jessica finally managed fear gripping her. Something about their expressions, their demeanour, their tone, terrified her. “Any suffering that any one of you do will hurt me … it will. I don’t want you to …”
“We know Jess. Don’t worry we won’t suffer. We’ll never hurt you again.” Jim said and Jessica leaned back into him. “Like Josh said, you’ll be proud of us. Just think of this as our bucket list items.”
“Jess look at me.” Riley said when it was evident that Jessica was upset. Worried, scared and completely freaked out. He took her head in his hands and held her still, staring into her eyes. “It’s late and we’re all tired. Things seem a thousand times worse than they really are right now. We love you, we will never hurt you, even to try and make things up to you. I promise you that. The only point of this conversation was to try and make what happened to Angus seem less bad but I think we fucked that up didn’t we? Look, babe, why don’t we make you some warm milk and just cuddle for a while?”
Jessica nodded, “But I want real bucket list items.” She said looking over her shoulder at Jim and then around at the other men. She worked hard to smother the terror that still gripped her. She knew in her heart that Riley was downplaying things for her. They all were. The expressions of devotion that the men wore ever since Daryl had somehow intensified and it haunted her to know that each of them would likely sacrifice like Angus had. Right then, at that moment, Jessica vowed to help them find a way to make things right another way. “Bucket list things should be fun and enriching. Making me proud of you doesn’t count. And aside from the boys, who don’t quite seem to get the concept, you are the only ones left without items on the list. But, um, if you really want to atone for what you did to me in the early years, I know exactly what to do. When we get away from Paul and the clan we have to help the police get them. The entire clan. They can’t keep hurting people and I think if you help bring them in to the authorities it will be easier to get you a pardon.”
“We could do that now.” Josh said, more excited than Jessica had expected him or any of the other men to be. Looking around she was surprised to see that Riley, Scott and Jim were equally enthused.
“Do you think Angus, Sean, Corey and the others would be okay with that?” Jessica asked.
“Angus yes.” Scott said, “We’d have to talk to the others.”
“What are you thinking?” Riley asked, grasping her chin and gently pulling her bottom lip out of Jessica’s mouth with his thumb. He tried to smile but it didn’t quite work.
Jessica turned her face into the palm of his hand and kissed it. “I’m thinking that we have to be smart about this. If we spook Paul or anyone else in the clan they will disappear. Or they will come after us. We have to keep the boys safe … that’s most important.”
Riley nodded. The other men seemed deep in thought.
“The ideal thing,” Riley finally said, “would be to wait for the big job Paul is going to ask us to do. I’m certain he’ll have all of his people involved and most likely call in the other cells. That would be the perfect time for an FBI sweep.”
Jessica nodded, “That makes sense.”
“It could be a while, before he asks for our help.” Jim said.
Jessica nodded.
“He could be hurting people in the meantime.” Josh added.
“I know.” Jessica said quietly. “But I don’t see another way. Stopping just Paul isn’t enough. There will be someone to replace him, and there are all the other clans. I hope no one else gets hurt. I really do. But I think in the long run we will help the most people by being patient and waiting for the right time.”
“You’re right, as usual.” Scott said, squeezing her when she gave him a small smile.
“I wasn’t so right with Stan.” Jessica said.
“Stan didn’t know what was good for him and he paid for it.” Riley said. “Like we’ve always said, your instincts are different from ours Jess. And with the exception of your need to sacrifice yourself in the process, your instincts are good. Don’t doubt yourself. Ever.”
Jessica sat staring at Riley for a minute before she blinked back tears. Sliding off of Scott’s lap onto Riley’s she wrapped her arms around his neck, and buried her face in his chest. Surprised, Riley wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. “What’s wrong babe?”
Jessica shook her head and mumbled “Thank you,” into his chest.
“I’ll get the milk.” Scott said rubbing Jessica’s back before heaving himself off the sofa and heading to the kitchen.
Fifteen minutes later the five of them sat on the sofa, each with a mug of warm milk in hand. Jessica on Jim’s lap, leaning against him.
“I’ve never had warm milk before in my life.” Scott said sipping from his cup. The other men agreed.
“That’s because you prefer warm whiskey.” Jessica said with a giggle, “But warm milk is much much better.”
“We’ll see little girl.” Riley replied, “It sure as hell isn’t helping dull my urge to jump you. Damn Angus.”
Jessica giggled again, “It usually goes along with a bedtime story … I used to fall to sleep before my mom or dad was anywhere near finished telling it.”
“What was your favorite?” Jim asked.
“I loved them all.” Jessica said with a yawn.
“What about Jessica and the five bears?” Jim asked pulling her harder against him.
“Hmmm … sounds intriguing.” Jessica said with another yawn.
“Oh it is.” Jim said. Taking her empty coffee mug he passed it to Scott. “Close your eyes baby… once upon a time there was an incredibly sexy young woman named Jessica.”
“Mmm, and there were five incredibly sexy bears?” Jessica murmured as she began to drift off.
“Get me a pillow and blanket.” Jim said quietly, “I’ll sleep out here with her.”
“You think the others will go along with turning the clan in to the cops?” Jim asked the men as he settled onto the sofa with Jessica.
“I think so.” Riley said, “It sure as hell beats looking over our shoulders for the rest of our lives.”
“Did you ever in your life imagine that one day we’d be willing to turn the clan in?” Scott asked.
The men shook their heads.
“But I never in my life imagined anyone like Jessica.” Josh added.
The men agreed before heading to bed.

The next day was busy for Jessica. It started by taking the older boys to the store for new shoes, dropping them at home, taking Sara, Justine and Amanda to meet Stephen and Lilly and making plans for the upcoming fashion show. Then dropping them off at home, Jessica went with Scott, Riley, and a few of the boys to drop the dogs off at their new homes. They’d managed to get rid of all of them. Jessica couldn’t help crying when she said goodbye to Baby and Max. Max, the boy, kept reminding her that she still had him so eventually she had to smile. And she was happy with the families they’d found. They were all nice people with lots of space and patience for the dogs.
After dropping Riley, Scott and the boys off, she went to visit Elsie. Mark had decided that it wasn’t worth going with her. Elsie was permanently ruined on men. But she was clean, fed, and seemed happy to see Jessica. It was late afternoon when Jessica finally came home. She had to laugh as she walked to the house. The boys were outside running around pretending to shoot one another. Even after all the violence they’d had in their lives, they still found it entertaining to pretend to kill each other. Shaking her head she decided that they needed a more positive way to burn off energy. She decided to talk to Rick and Abe about helping her work with the boys on gymnastics and acrobatics.
Jessica walked in the house, still shaking her head about the boys when she looked up and stopped. All the adults were in the living room, and in the center of them all, on the sofa, Angus slouched. Scott and Jim sat on either side of him, Riley, Josh and everyone else on chairs around the sofa. The room was silent, everyone looked tense. Jessica’s heart thudded. What if Angus couldn’t forgive her?
Angus sat up and looked at her.
Jessica hesitated. She couldn’t tell if Angus was mad or not, but she wished she’d prepped herself before coming in. She had completely forgot that he’d be awake and likely upset with her.
“How’s Elsie?” Angus asked.
“She’s okay.” Jessica said and was relieved to see that Angus looked better. A lot better. “How are you?” she asked going to stand in front of him, running her hand through his hair before sliding onto his lap.
“Better now that you’re here.” Angus said burying his lips in her hair, as he pulled her against him. “It appears that you’re the only one here who didn’t want me to suffer.” He mumbled into her hair. Jessica tried to move back so she could see Angus’ face but he wouldn’t let her.
“I’m sorry Angus but I couldn’t let you do it. I couldn’t tell you this earlier because I don’t think you would have believed me. But I forgive you. You, and Riley, Scott, Josh and Jim. There’s nothing to feel guilty about anymore, no bad feelings, nothing. Angus?” she asked when he went stock still. He held her in place so she couldn’t look around either. In her direct line of sight she could see Justine and Mark and they were watching her, but no one said anything.
“You said you’d never be able to forgive us.” Angus said.
“I know, and I was wrong. I love you. More than anything. I love you and Riley, Scott, Jim and Josh of course, but I also love the family you’ve given me. I have a whole new life now Angus. A life I love.”
Angus loosened his grip and Jessica sat up. “How are you feeling?” she asked cupping his cheek with her hand.
“Like a million dollars.” Angus said kissing the inside of her hand.
Jessica shifted her gaze to Riley, Scott, Josh and Jim. “Did you guys have a conversation about what we talked about yesterday?”
They nodded. “About both things we spoke about yesterday. The resentments and Paul.”
Jessica’s heart thudded. That’s why everyone was so serious. What if turning the clan in was more than the others were willing to do?
“Don’t be mad at them Jess.” Angus said, “We’re on the same page about what I did to you.”
“But can you forgive yourselves now? Can you forgive Angus?” she asked looking at her men.
“We’ve worked things out Jess.” Scott said with a nod. “Everything’s fine.”
“And you’re not mad at me?” Jessica asked Angus.
Angus shook his head, pulling her tighter against him and kissing the top of her head.
“And … and the other thing?” Jessica asked looking around at Sean, Corey and the others. “I know it’s a lot to ask,” Jessica continued in a nervous tone, looking from the face of one family member to the other, “but the clan just keeps on hurting people. That can’t go on … this is the best, non-violent, way I can think of to stop them. And … and … it’ll help get you all a pardon with the government.” Finally she settled her eyes on Angus. It was hard to read his reaction. He had the same devoted expression on his face that the other men wore but there was an edge to it Jessica just couldn’t decipher. “I know it’s a lot to ask …” Jessica repeated, nervous that she may have gone too far in asking it.
“Baby, I’ll do whatever you want. Anything. Just say the word, I’ll do it.” Angus said and while his words were a relief, the severity in his expression intensified. Jessica raised her hand to his face, tracing it with her fingers.
“I promise that your issues with the government will be addressed. Through the courts, through law … I would never ask you to give up your beliefs …” Jessica said, searching Angus’ eyes, then glancing at the others in the room.
“We know Jessica.” Sean finally said and despite how serious he looked his tone was gentle. “We have no doubt that you’ll represent us effectively. I’d be lying if I said any one of us were crazy about turning the clan in. It’s not our first, second or third choice. But Riley has suggested that we don’t actually need to do anything. Your men will turn over the info, we’ll just let them. We’re okay with that, if you are.”
Jessica nodded. In truth that was more than she really thought she could ask of them. Jessica’s momentary elation at Sean’s words was overshadowed by the ever present tension in the room.
“What’s wrong then?” Jessica asked glancing around, at her family, at the men.
“Jess … if Paul and the clan are going to pay for the things they’ve done in prison, how are we going to pay for what we’ve done?” Angus asked. “Especially for what we did to your family.”
“We all had some part to play in that.” Corey added, “Except the girls and Rick and Abe.”
“The best way for us to pay for our crimes is to turn ourselves in too.” Scott added. Jessica gaped at him. Then at the other men, then the family. Her mind raced as every fibre of her being screamed, “No!”.
“Baby, if you didn’t love us like you do, you would want us to go to jail, just like you want Paul and the rest of the clan to.” Riley said, moving to the sofa and squatting in front of Jessica. Jessica shook her head but when she saw Riley’s resolve harden she realized that she had to be careful about how she responded.
“Thinking about it logically, if you didn’t have feelings for us, that’s exactly what you’d want.” Jim added.
Logic … she had to be logical in what she said or they wouldn’t take her seriously. She began to recognize the expressions around her as ones of indulgence. They were humoring her … panic welled up in her. They thought she was blinded by her feelings for them and not thinking straight. The thought of them going to prison, any one of them but especially her men made her want to vomit.
“You’re right.” Jessica finally managed to say. “My love for you is clouding my vision when it comes to the idea of you going to prison. I don’t want you to.” She looked to each of her men, and then around the room. “But when I suggested turning the clan in I based it on the future. I’ve forgotten the past, remember? We all have. But looking into the future the clan will continue hurting people and you won’t. You’ve all stopped, and there’s so much good you can do for society in the future, so much that can help make up for the past. But you can’t do that from behind bars.”
“Like what?” Caleb asked.
“To start with, we have twelve boys who we can raise to be strong, caring men, who contribute to society. Rather than be angry and violent they can be doctors, teachers, lawyers, humanitarians. We have to invest in their education. Teach them to read, do math. When we finally get away from the clan they need tutors. On top of that we can continue to invest money into organizations that help victims deal with violence. We’re already doing that with the comic book,” Jessica said nodding at Josh, “but your fashion sales can help,” she said to Sara, Justine and Amanda, “revenue from everything we do. When we settle down away from the clan we will get the dogs and horses back and we can breed dogs and race horses. That will help. Repairing cars,” Jessica looked to Angus, “Anything else, can all be used for good. Don can use his computer skills to help feed information to the authorities about any terrorist groups out there … not the clan, but other organizations … I haven’t thought of everything yet but can’t you see that you’re all more good to society outside of prison than in it?”
“But Jess, given your career plans, do you really think you’ll make it through school and through the law system without someone realizing who you are?” Abe asked. “How do you think people will react when they know that you’re protecting the killers of your family?”
“I don’t care what they think. The law is the law, it has nothing to do with perceptions about the people practicing it. I know I’m biased so it may be hard to believe me but as a … victim …” Jessica stumbled over the word hoping it wasn’t going to undo her efforts at convincing the men to move forward and not dwell on the past and what they’d done to her, “I appreciate future acts of kindness from all of you over having you sit in prison to pay for past crimes. And honestly,” she added, her voice breaking, “I can’t lose another family. I know it’s selfish, but I need you too much.” Jessica had lowered her eyes to stare at Angus’ chest where she absent mindedly ran her thumb back and forth over his shirt. When the silence in the room stretched for far too long Jessica looked up. Angus was watching her and somehow his look of devotion had intensified. It scared her. Finally he forced a smile.
“We need you too, more than you’ll ever know. Whatever you want, it’s yours. Prison, no prison, it’s all up to you.” Angus said.
“No prison.” Jessica replied. When Angus gave a slight nod Jessica turned to the other men. Jim and Scott beside her and Angus, Riley still squatting in front of her, Josh standing next to him.
“Like Angus said, anything you want.” Riley said. Scott, Jim and Josh nodded.
“I won’t volunteer to go to prison.” Quinn said when her eyes moved to him. “But I will help bring other terrorist organizations down in whatever way I can. And I sure as fuck will do whatever good deeds I can. And for the record Jess, you’re not the only one who needs this family. Being the outcast for most of my life I know what loneliness feels like and I don’t want that again anytime soon.”
There was a general murmur of agreement.
“So, to be sure we’re all on the same page,” Sean said, “when Paul asks us to do his big job, your men will call the authorities. We’ll all run. Settle down somewhere and you’ll finish your education, become a lawyer, and the rest of us will do so many good deeds we’ll make saints look like sinners. Correct?”
Jessica nodded not sure at first if Sean was being sarcastic or not. She felt relieved when Sean smiled and the expressions around her softened.
“Rick and Abe, are you on board with this. You haven’t said much.” Riley said, “And neither of you were involved in the attack on Jessica’s family.