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“They were human traffickers. They planned to sell you.”
A deep shudder ran through him.
“We caught the guy as he was trying to get you out the door. His friend was running diversion at the back of the club to distract the bouncers.”
“You stopped him.”
“Me and the bachelorette party. He eventually dropped you and took off, but both men have been caught. They already had other people locked in their basement, waiting to be transported. Two were teenagers.”
Loïc sat silently, digesting this information. “The others are safe?”
“They are. They’re with their families.”
He closed his eyes. “I don’t feel like I was used.”
“No,” Valor assured him.
His nod was grim. Final.
“Part of me wants to curl up and hide at the thought of being sold back into that life, but fuck that. Fuck them.”
Gently, I kissed his cheek. He gave me a sad smile and stretched out again, putting his head in Valor’s lap, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. He took our hands and put them in his hair, silently demanding attention. We were only too happy to oblige.
Jack excused themself, saying they would go order some food, so we didn’t all faint from hunger.
We lavished attention on Loïc, eventually coaxing him back up to the bedroom and settling him in bed.
“You really do love me,” he mused, looking tired.
He clung to our hands, as though letting go might send him back into that dark place. We sat with him, grateful he was safe for now. He had much more healing to do, but first we needed to find him the right help.
Chapter Twenty-Six: Loïc
My head is filled with color and music.
I could expire from the joy bubbling in my veins.
Loïc Leduc, Journal 16
“This seems like a bad idea,” Tarryn said hesitantly. “I’m no artist.”
We’d just finished running lines, with Valor as our audience, giving us feedback. There was a tricky part that I’d decided to say my own way, despite the fact that my adlibbing always made the director squirrelly.
As soon as I’d taken out the supplies for my new project, both of them had looked aghast.
Maybe I should have saved this plan for a special day, but any day I spent with them was marvelous to me, even if we spent our time cleaning.
“That’s the fun of it. Justsign your name.”
“It would be a shame to ruin your skin,” Valor said, of course taking Tarryn’s side where my well-being was concerned. “Maybe you should talk to your new therapist about this first.”
“Why should my therapist have any say in my tattoo choices? I marked both of you as mine. All I’m asking is for you to do the same with me—unless you don’t want to claim me as yours?”
“That’s not fair!” Tarryn objected. “You’re perfect. Why on earth would you want amateur artwork permanently tattooed on your skin?”
“For the same reason I marked both of you. Even if it’s imperfect, it’s beautiful. Meaningful and permanent. You can take off a ring, but you can’t take off a tattoo or a scar.”
Valor looked up from the instructions he was reading. “It doesn’t seem very complicated, but there’s still a lot of room for error. Just because the marks you left on us look good, doesn’t mean that the tattoos we give you will.”
