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CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Kegger stared at the woman lying in the bed. Her face was wrapped tighter than a drum, a few incisions and bandages in other places he didn’t even know they were touching. Lucinda and Gabi had explained everything that happened, while Riley finished the dressings in the operating room.
The brutality she’d suffered was unimaginable. Her jaw was broken several times, and the orbital bone and cheekbone were broken. There were multiple teeth missing, old fractures in her legs, hands, and arms. At least three concussions and a long, painful scar across her back where Ramos had laid a hot iron rod. All because he could.
Kegger jerked, hearing the soft knock at the door.
“Hi,” whispered Casey. “I thought I could give you a little break. Maybe you can go shower and get something to eat.”
“I can’t leave you here alone, Casey,” he said with a sad smile.
“She’s not here alone, dickhead,” smirked Jax. “We wouldn’t leave her here alone. Cruz and Doc will be sticking around until we move her. We got this, brother. Go get yourself right.” Kegger nodded, standing to leave the room. He looked back at the woman, shaking his head.
“Such fucking brutality on a tiny little thing like her.” He left the room, and Casey took his seat, reaching for the woman’s hand.
“Do you think he’ll be alright?” she asked.
“We’ve all seen this or been through it with our own wives,” said Jax. Casey stared at him. “Not Ellie. She wasn’t beaten, thank fuck. Others have had similar experiences, though. When you see it on someone that means something to you, it becomes even more difficult. Cruz experienced it with Camille. She’d been verbally abused by her ex-husband. He wanted to step in, but at the time, she was married.”
“God, that’s just awful. I can’t picture Rett ever doing anything like that with me. He’s always so patient and kind,” she said softly.
“He’d better be,” grinned Jax. “His father and grandfathers would beat the shit out of him if he weren’t.”
“Jax? Why do men do this? Why do they beat women like this? Rape them? Is it to make themselves feel better?”
Jax took the other chair and pulled it closer. Taking in a deep breath, he shook his head, unsure of how to answer her question.
“I was a DEA agent before I came here,” he said. “In fact, I worked in El Paso.”
“Oh, no,” she said, staring at Morgan.
“It was long before her father was there,” he said. “But I saw a lot of abused women, drug users and non-drug users. We’ve all worked hundreds of cases where women were abused, beaten, sometimes killed by their spouses or boyfriends.
“I wish I could tell you I know why. But I don’t. I do know that it’s not the woman’s fault. Not ever. In cases of rape, no means no.”
“What if, I mean, I went to college with a girl who was raped. The courts said that she enticed the guy. She wore revealing clothing and shook her body in front of him. He got off by raping her, and she left, never to be seen from again. I learned later that she had Tourette’s, but her lawyers never brought it up.”
“Fucking piss-poor lawyers,” growled Jax. “Nothing, not clothing, or dancing, or any actions justify rape, Casey. Never. As for men who beat women, it’s not about the woman. It’s about the man needing to feel good about himself. He needs to feel like a man, big, strong, and in control. He wants the woman to be afraid. So afraid that she won’t dare leave him.
“He is pathetic and weak, scared like a little boy inside, but on the outside is trying to show that he’s fearless. Ramos is no different. My guess is that he beats and rapes women often, but you won’t find him personally beating a man. He has other men do that for him. He’s a bully at heart, but when you confront a bully with one bigger and more dangerous, they don’t know what to do. They make mistakes.”
Casey nodded, thinking about that statement. Is that what they were doing here? Were they about to show Ramos that they had a bigger, more aggressive bully?
“Are we going to be the bigger, more dangerous bullies?” she asked. Jax smiled at her.
“Not you, but yes. The rest of us will be the bigger, more aggressive bullies. That’s what we do here, Casey. We protect those that can’t protect themselves.”
“Like her,” she said, staring at Morgan’s swollen, bruised face. “She’s so small, she looks like a child.”
“Ramos probably liked that. He was able to control her if she was smaller than him.”
They heard a soft moan and then stirring in the sheets. Casey gripped her hand, leaning forward to speak softly to her.
“It’s alright, Morgan. I’m Casey. I live here, and I’m just sitting with you while Kegger gets some food and a shower.” She nodded, struggling to open her eyes. Jax lowered the lights, hoping that it helped her. When she finally opened them, she stared at him.
“It’s okay,” he said. “My name is Jax, and I’m part of the team here.” She blinked, letting him know that she understood.
“P-pain,” she said.
