Claiming Crusher (Savage Brothers MC #4)(101)

But she didn’t want to die. Not really. She just wanted to escape and be in control of her body. She wanted someone to love her and shield her. Until she got to her daddy, though, responsibility for her well-being fell on her shoulders. She tried to gulp in air but her lungs struggled for oxygen, Thomas’s heavy weight crushing her and placing her well-being in dire jeopardy.

Mama, please, where are you?

Beaten and brutalized and in her bedroom.

Meggie brought her blade to his cheek, furious. Caught off guard, Thomas clutched his cheek and fell to her side. She scrambled over him and off her bed, just managing to evade his grasping hands.

“You little f*cking bitch. I’m going to kill you.”

Blood dripped from a variety of wounds on her body, so she couldn’t hide in the secret cupboard she’d found. A trail of blood would lead him straight to her. Instead, she ran into the bathroom and locked the door.

Meggie rushed to the window over the sink. She kept it unlocked for this reason, learned from almost five years of living with this. Thomas kicked at the door and she shuddered, sorry she hadn’t told her father the truth when Dinah first barred him from visiting anymore. He’d asked her.

“Talk to me, Meggie. Is there anything I should know?”

“No, Daddy. I swear, we’re fine.”

His blue eyes, so like hers, had taken in every last detail of her features, then he’d nodded. He’d seemed old in that instant, tired, and so sad Meggie wanted to cry.

“So your momma just want to cut me out like that? All because the * she married don’t like me.”

“I guess, Daddy,” she whispered. The truth lodged in her throat, right on the edge of her lips. Big Joe looked tall and intimidating, his blond hair reminiscent of a Berserker rather than a modern day motorcycle man. If nothing else, he’d take her with him. But, then, she’d have to leave Dinah behind and she couldn’t bear to think of her mother being alone with Thomas. “They just told me last night.” She mumbled the lie.

Big Joe crouched to her eye level. “You don’t lie good, sweetheart.”

She lowered her eyelids, embarrassed she’d been caught. Her arms throbbed from her cuts. New ones. Old ones. Partially healed ones. Her long-sleeves hid the wounds from her father, but the guilt of the injuries weighed upon her.

Another moment of silence went by before he turned on his heel and headed for his bike. Before climbing on, he shoved money into Meggie’s hands. “Go shopping. Cheer yourself up.”

Shopping sounded good. She nodded and embraced him, her world a train of dominoes collapsing at a reckless speed.

“You need me, call. I’m a phone call away. Remember, you’re my daughter. No matter what that * says to you, don’t believe shit. The problem is his, not yours.”

Thomas’s words weren’t the problem. It was his actions.

“If the f*cker does anything,” Big Joe continued, like he’d seen her thoughts, “that’s when he’s going to have real problems. Understand, Megan?”

That had been the last time she’d seen her father and that conversation haunted her. So much could’ve been different if she’d spoken up.

Meggie climbed onto the counter and wriggled through the window, feet first. Another exercise borne of desperation. Just as the door crashed open, she landed on the ground outside. Grimacing at the pain, Meggie headed to the clearing behind the house.

“Megan! Where the f*ck are you?” The call, through the open window he couldn’t fit through, resounded in the quiet night.

She reached her favorite tree, the smell of the spruce and bark and grassy earth calming her, soothing the exhaustion overtaking her. Thomas would pass out soon enough. Meggie just had to bide her time and wait.