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I hold her in my lap, my arms wrapped tightly around her as I rock her listless body soothingly. Stryker is driving us back to the cabin. I plan on rehabilitating her myself. I don’t know what the fuck to give her or what the hell she needs, but I will die trying to figure it out. I refuse to leave Jules to the professionals, the ones who don’t understand. Just because they hold a degree, doesn’t mean they are the ones who can always heal. They weren’t there, and they sure as fuck didn’t help Clarissa. They say they can relate as they relentlessly poke and prod into the victims’ psyche, asking inane questions, which only serve to set them back. They would probably condemn Jules to a life of prescription pills and doctors.
I was the one who was there, and I lived with her turmoil every damn day. There is no one better or more qualified to handle her than me. I will not let her leave the confines of the cabin until she faces her demons head on, because dammit, I have a fear I got to her too late, just like Clarissa. Two days of torture is all it took for Clarissa, and I pray to God those few days with Nick didn’t destroy Jules.
I thought I was going to have a fucking heart attack before we got to her father’s house. I remembered going numb on the inside when I heard through the transmitted receiver what her father had confessed to. Thankfully, Quinn had their conversations recording onto his laptop, because I was stunned. I knew something wasn’t right with her father, but holy shit. There are simply no words.
When her father took her medallion, Quinn couldn’t scramble fast enough to get systems in place to sync his software with her hip tracker. Yes, when Stryker removed her GPS tracker, we put one of our own in. Quinn was able to get his hands on one. How the fuck he did that in a matter of a couple hours was a mystery to me. Since he’s the guru of all this shit, it seems as if he has contacts in every corner and facet of the world.
Unfortunately, we didn’t bank on this happening. It’s unusual for us, but yes, we were unprepared. It took hours to get the new software downloaded and installed. Then he had to work through the system bugs to get it working. By the time it was operational, she was gone, off the fucking radar.
Needless to say, when we got to her father’s house and he didn’t know where Nick could’ve taken her, he was worthless to me. Thank God for Chase getting shit lined up ahead of time with the authorities, because if they weren’t there, I would have killed the bastard with my own two hands. As it was, my own men had to hold me back, authorities and legalities be damned.
I could now see Nick’s frustration with the new tracking technology. There were too many false positives, and if they wound up going somewhere out of range like the mountains, we were screwed. Most definitely we wound up being fucked, because that’s exactly where they took off. Every hour that ticked by, all I could think about was history repeating itself. I fucking couldn’t sleep, and I was a hateful son of a bitch to deal with. Once Quinn pinned down her coordinates, we were able to call in for backup. I wanted a fucking army charging in, and thank goodness that’s almost what I got. I feel like I’ve failed the most important mission of all, and that was keeping Jules safe.
“Trav, let me give her a sedative,” Stryker says, glancing at me from the driver’s seat.
“No, she will just feel like I’m betraying her all over again, using drugs on her. I can help her through this.”
“Shit, Travis, she’s shaking like a leaf. That’s not good, dude. She needs something to take the edge off. I don’t want to knock her out either, but maybe a Xanax or something?”
I contemplate Stryker’s words as I cradle her head to my chest. Since my adrenaline rush is now dissipating, I’m starting to notice small details about her, such as her wrists. They’re chafed and red. I clench my jaw, trying to suppress the rising anger. The fucker tied her up again. Maybe she does need something to help her with the initial shock.
“Jules, sweetheart, I don’t want to give you anything unless you want to take it. I’m not gonna drug you,” I softly say while stroking her hair. “Would it make you feel better to have a little something to calm your nerves? Stryker’s probably right, you know. You’re shaking like a leaf.”
I imagine she’s dehydrated too, but she doesn’t answer me. I look into the rearview mirror, and meet Stryker’s gaze. He looks as if he wants to say something, but he keeps silent. She’s probably not in the right mental state to know what she needs. “All right, Stryke.” I let out a sigh. “Why don’t you pull out your bag of tricks? I’ll see if she’ll willingly swallow a pill for me, but if she doesn’t, I’m not gonna force it.”
