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She scowled at me and stuck out her tongue. I laughed and turned my attention back to the TV. My hand absentmindedly went to where Ginger had scratched me last night. My intent wasn’t to hurt her, but unintentionally I was doing just that. She’d said I made her feel safe. Hearing those words helped ease my guilt, but didn’t alleviate it completely.
“She told me she has panic attacks.”
I’d drifted off into my own thoughts, and had almost forgotten Macy was here.
“Yeah.”
I looked over when I heard the sniffle. I could count on one hand how many times I’d seen my sister cry. Growing up with brothers, she got tough real fast. When she would get upset, being pissed was her normal reaction.
I put my arm around her and kissed the top of her head. “Your face is leaking.”
She rested her head on my shoulder. “You’re an asshole.”
“But you love me.”
“Only because Mom and Dad say I have to.”
“Whateva, cupcake.”
She wiped at the tears. “I used to have nightmares. Wake up in the middle of the night scared shitless and bawling my eyes out. Mitch would hold me, reminding me I was home and safe.”
She paused, taking a shaky breath. Macy didn’t talk to me a lot about her ordeal. We knew the basics; that bastard had shown up looking for Ginger after she’d ran. Three weeks that bastard held Macy. She had a broken nose, arm, and jaw, plus three fractured ribs when she’d been found. Not to mention she was dehydrated and malnourished from lack of proper food and water because he only gave her enough to keep her alive.
That motherfucker had beaten my sister to get information about Ginger. He’d beaten my sister. In high school, I’d been ready to kick some boy’s ass for calling her a bitch, and that piece of shit had laid hands on her.
We’d all rallied around her, but she’d clung to Mitch more than anyone. He’d stayed by her side almost constantly, because she’d get upset if he wasn’t in her line of sight. I’d never seen my sister so vulnerable, and I despised that waste of space for what he’d done to her.
“I only had to endure him directly for two days. Two days, Malcolm, and I had nightmares for months.” She sat up and wiped her face.
I got up to get her some tissue. Macy thanked me quietly as she took it from me. “You endured more than two days, Mace. He had you for three weeks. Three very long weeks of you being locked in that hellhole.”
Mitch had said the cellar was something straight out of a horror film. My thoughts turned to Ginger and the night I learned about her rape. I looked at my sister; rage and fear and unease coiled up inside me. Had that bastard violated my sister in the same way?
I stalked over to the kitchen, and yanked open the freezer door, and stuck my head inside. I needed to cool down and get those thoughts out of my head.
“What the hell is wrong with you?”
I closed the freezer door. My hand gripped the cool metal door, squeezing it. “Nothing. Want some water?” I opened the other side to pull out two bottles from the fridge without caring about Macy’s reply.
No. Ginger didn’t want to be touched. She’d shut people out. Macy hadn’t done that. She’d clung to Mitch, wanted him around. That didn’t happen to her. But I couldn’t be sure, not without asking. On top of that being an awkward as hell conversation, she’d want to know why I asked. That was Ginger’s story to tell, not mine.
“Here.” I thrust the bottle of water at her and retook my place on the couch.
“Thanks. I know we’ve not talked about any of this. And I don’t know why I brought it up today. It’s just last night, thinking about what Lee said, it reminded me of everything.” She stopped and took a drink of water. “I’m worried about her, Mal. I know she went through more, but she seemed—she’s having fucking panic attacks. Do you know I encouraged her to go out with him?”
“Mace, you couldn’t have known.”
“But still, I was always trying to push her out of her comfort zone. Trying to get her to be more outgoing. If I’d let her be herself—typical shy, quiet Lee—then…”
“Macy, you can’t blame yourself. No one could have seen that coming.”
“I know, I know. I tell myself that. Lee and I have talked. And Lee being Lee said basically the same thing you did. You know what scares me the most?”
I shook my head. “What?”
“She might have never left him. She only left because she got pregnant. I thought about that a lot last night. She would have sacrificed herself to keep us safe. He used us against her, the same way he used Mitch and the rest of you guys against me.”
I sat up and looked at her. “What are you talking about?”
