Reckless Regrets
Chapter 40

Marisol

I’d always loved life. Even when I was fighting with my dad or Nathan, I always knew that there was something out there that I could be happy about. For the past four years, that something had been Cameron. A hug or k**s from him would make any gray sky blue.

But at that point in time, I didn’t think there was anything or anybody who could help me. Breaking a person’s body was easy; it’s easy to do and easy to fix. But breaking their spirit and will to go on was different. Once a person’s spirit was broken, they don’t care anymore. Eating, drinking, bathing, nothing mattered.

Why should it? Why should I wash myself up after the seventh “customer” of the day hosed me down with his foul-smelling spunk? So I could be presentable for the next one? Some of these beasts had been locked in this hell for years, never being close to a woman in all that time.

They’d f**k a beehive if it would release some s****l frustrations, so the cleanliness of my body didn’t matter to them. Or to me. My hair had been yanked and pulled and snatched. My scalp was tender to the touch and seemed to continually burn from all the abuse it had taken the last few days.

My entire body was covered with bruises, bite marks, including vampire bites, b***d, sweat, and tears. I was a mess, and I knew it. I also had no idea how long this would go on or how long I could last. I wanted to give up. I knew that it would hurt Cameron to lose me, but he had Nathan, and one day he’d be Alpha of our pack. He would survive.

I hoped that even though he wasn’t his father, Kade would help teach Cameron how to be a strong leader. We didn’t need any more people like my father, ruining the lives of many just to satisfy his own. Every time I looked at the shard of the mirror I’d found under my pitiful excuse for a bed, I imagined running it up the length of my arms and ending it all.

I’d planned it all out. I’d need to cause a scene, one so ugly that it would force Matilda to inject me with her wolfsbane and silver cocktail to silence me. The poison would work its way through my system and weaken my wolf. She wouldn’t be able to heal me, so I’d be free to open my veins and drift away.

But what would happen to Gabby if I did that? The constant flow of men coming to my room every day told me that Matilda was dead serious about making every penny my father owed her. If I were no longer in the equation, no big deal, she’d just pull in Gabby and keep the money train rolling.

The thought of that made me sicker than the disgusting smell radiating from my body.

Was this the plan all along? Why Matilda so readily agreed to let Gabby off the hook?

If it would have been the both of us being used daily, I’m sure that sooner rather than later, we would have both decided that it wasn’t worth it and taken our lives, leaving Matilda with nothing.

But by me trying to “save” Gabby, I put myself in an unwinnable situation. I loved her and wanted to do whatever it took to keep her safe, so I’d never be so selfish as to end my life just to leave her here to deal with the consequences. I was f****d. Literally and figuratively.

So when the door to my room creaked open, I didn’t even move. I wouldn’t fight this; whoever it was didn’t need me to participate anyway. I just had to lay here and take whatever it was this customer had to give.

The soft, delicate hand that touched my arm startled me. It seems like forever since I’d felt anything remotely close to kindness, and already the feeling was foreign to me.

“Mari? How are you holding up?” Gabby gently asked.

“I’m fine, sweetie. Get out of here before Matilda finds you. We don’t want her getting mad because we’re not keeping to the schedule,” I replied, still curled on my side and staring at the wall.

“She knows I’m here already. I suggested that she let me come clean you up, convinced her that it would make her more money.”

I just shook my head and wrapped my arms around myself.

“No, Gabby. These people are filthy disgusting animals; why should I be any different? I’m not going to make myself pretty for them. s**t covered me is what they get, nothing more.”

She was never one to go along with my nonsense when we were home, so why would now be any different? I felt her bring a warm fresh smelling rag to my face and begin to wash away all the grime. I wanted to fight her and tell her not to waste her time, but in all honesty, it felt nice to have at least one part of my body not be tainted by someone else’s bodily fluids.

She gently cleaned my face and neck then, with little assistance from me, repositioned my body, so my head was hanging slightly off the bed. She then poured warm soapy water on my hair and softly massaged away all the knots, tangles, and dirt.

Marisol

I’d always loved life. Even when I was fighting with my dad or Nathan, I always knew that there was something out there that I could be happy about. For the past four years, that something had been Cameron. A hug or k**s from him would make any gray sky blue.

Tears ran from my eyes out of gratitude for the care she was taking with me. I was suffering so severely, physically, mentally, and emotionally, and she was doing whatever she could to make up for it. We shared a fiercely strong love for one another.

“I won’t say that I know how hard this has been because I have no idea. But I will say thank you, Marisol. I don’t know if I deserve a friend like you, but I’m so thankful that I have you,” she said with a small sniffle.

“Cut it out, Gabs. Now’s not the time for the fluffy girly crap. We need to be badass bitches, got it?” I weakly joked.

She gave a small laugh and wiped her face.

“Badass b***h; got it.”

She took her time, but eventually, she’d washed every inch of my body, and it felt like ten pounds of filth had been removed from my skin. She gave me a new gown to put on, and for the first time in a while, I felt like the old me.

“Don’t you ever let them get you down. These people mean absolutely nothing to you. They don’t matter. You lived with years of mental and emotional abuse from that bastard father of yours, and you survived, so you’ll survive this.

Every time someone walks through that door, don’t see it as them taking a part of you. You’re taking a piece of them. Each one is paying money that’s almost impossible to come by in here to spend time with you. That money will grant your freedom, our freedom Mari. They aren’t using you; you’re using them. Do you understand?”

I nodded my head; I was too choked up to form a verbal response.

“Good. I’ll be back later with your lunch, and you’re going to eat it, Marisol, every single crumb. We can’t find a way out if you’re too weak to stand and fight.”

She pulled me into a tight hug, but when we heard the loud clomping of boots coming down the hall, she pulled away and collected the buckets and supplies she’d brought in with her. Matilda opened the door and stepped into the room, looking just as stern and poisonous as always.

“Ahh, Marisol. You no longer look or smell like roadkill; I’m so happy to see that. My customers were beginning to complain. Come along, Gabriella, there is plenty of work to be done,” she coldly said before she turned and walked out.

Gabby gave me a reassuring nod and smile, then left the room to continue with her day. I had a renewed sense of energy after her visit. I was the one using these people, not the other way around. So, when the pocked faced warlock walked in and flashed his crooked toothed smile at me, I smiled back.

Two could play this game, and I was about to drain every last one of these fuckers for everything they had.

***

Kade

Morgan and I talked for hours before exhaustion finally pulled her into dreamland. I was a creep and watched her sleep, for I don’t even know how long. She was so beautiful, and the look of pure happiness on her face when she drifted off was everything to me.

So at 5:00 AM, when I headed out to the training grounds, I was drained, but that wouldn’t stop me. I was about to reconnect with my guys. As I approached the four of them in the middle of the group, I got smiled and nods from the warriors I passed; it looked like they were as happy as I was that I was home.

“Try not to cry, I know you guys have missed seeing this pretty face every morning,” I said when I reached the group.

“I thought Matt was the pretty one,” Alexi said with a comical look of confusion on his face.

“Right, and you’re the young one,” Tyson replied, pointing to Lex.

“I guess that makes you the dangerous one then?” Matt asked Tyson.

“Then, who am I?” Xander asked.

“The boss,” Matt, Lex, and Tyson stated in unison.

“Sounds like all the positions are filled, Alpha Thomas. Maybe you’ll have better luck next time,” Xander turned to me and said.

“f**k all of you! I know you missed me,” I argued.

“It doesn’t matter if we did or not, because you’re here instead of Oregon where you’re supposed to be. We’re not to the finish line yet, Kade. Why’d you come back?” Xander asked.

“I came back to my family. None of you could stand here and tell me that you wouldn’t have done the same if you were in my situation. There was no reason to let Morgan continue to suffer over all of this, and she needed me.”

“That might be true, but maybe next time you’ll think to call and let somebody know you’re coming. Morgan did a number on your face,” he laughed.

I looked at Matt, who didn’t even have the decency to hide the smile.

“You told them?” I asked.

“Oh, yeah. How often does a guy get so easily taken down by his pregnant fiancé? And the way you were curled up on the floor was epic.”

They all broke into laughter, making my mutter “idiots” under my breath. A few minutes later, Henry showed up to start training, and he had his beautiful assistant with him. Aires smiled as she walked over to me.

“Good morning, Wolfie. We’re so happy you could join us this morning, but I might be the happiest. You get to train with me today,” she said, flashing me a glimpse of her elongated canines.

“You wouldn’t have any intention of hurting me, would you, darling?”

“You’ll just have to wait and see. Vamanos! We’re up first!”

She walked away without another word, and I looked over to Henry, who just shrugged a shoulder. I rolled my neck and shoulders and tried to shake off the tiredness, but I could see the determination in her jet black eyes.

“I’m really going to need Alaia when this is all done, this woman is about to destroy me,” I told the guys as I accepted my fate and followed Aires to the center circle.

“No warm-up this morning?” I asked her.

“Mi Amor will warm everyone up; Alpha Wolfie would be upset if a poor training session caused a warrior to pull a muscle. But you’re a special case, and this is personal.”

She got into a fighting stance, and I followed her lead. I was never a fan of sparring with women, but when it came to Aires, she did not stand for the feminist bullshit. When she was out here with the pack, if she hit you, you’d damn well do everything in your power to hit her back. And a real hit, pulling punches was the last thing you wanted to do with her.

If she felt someone was going easy on her because she was a “girl,” she’d make them pay without fail. It took some time for Henry to be comfortable seeing his mate get punched and flipped through the air, but he knew the woman he had. If anyone could take it, she could.

“You ready? You’re looking a little stiff, Alpha Thomas,” she said with a smirk.

“Gorgeous, I’m ready, but I have a feeling that this is just a way for us to get close again. If you wanted a hug and k**s, you could have just said so,” I teased.

Before I could get the smile set adequately on my face, she shimmered. Not once, not twice, but six times.

I saw the puff of purple smoke, and she disappeared, then quickly reappeared behind me a split second later, putting me in a vice grip like headlock. After holding for a few seconds, she had mercy and released my throat. I saw another puff, and she was then standing in front of me before she took out my right knee with a sidekick and followed it up with a punch to the mouth when I fell to the ground.

Another puff and I was somehow being lifted, flung, then slammed into the dirt. Puff, punch. Puff, kick to the balls. Puff, dislocated shoulder. When it was over, it had been less than thirty seconds, and I was finished. I laid on the ground dry heaving and in more pain than any one person deserved after a fight lasting less than a minute.

“What the f**k?! When did you start doing that?!” I yelled.

I was sure I’d be carried off the field on a stretcher, but damn if I wasn’t impressed. That s**t was incredible. She crouched down and moved my hair from my face so she could look me in my eyes.

“Anger has always fueled me, Wolfie, so you have yourself to thank for my new and improved techniques. I’m happy both you and my Morgan are back home where you belong, though; I truly missed you. But if you ever pull any s**t like this again, I won’t be so nice.”

She then stood up and joined Henry, who was standing close by. He passed her her signature insulated cup, then returned his attention to the fighters. It was then that I realized everyone had seen me get my a*s kicked. They hadn’t even left for their run yet, and it was already over.

“Well, you did say that your warriors were terrible at Canyon Woods, so why should their Alpha be any different? Peel your a*s off the ground and get cleaned up. I’ve let Alaia know how badly you need her this morning, so she’ll meet you in the kitchen in thirty minutes,” Xander walked over and told me.

“Has she done that to any of you?” I asked the guys.

“f**k, no! I didn’t even know that she could be honest, but it was something to see. I’m happy she’s on my team and not fighting for the other side; that’s for sure,” Xander replied.

He then walked off with everyone else while speculating if little Isabella would inherit her mom’s ability to shimmer. He was planning the future strength of the pack while I laid in a crumpled heap on the ground—no f*****g loyalty.