Loving Wild: Saviour Series Book Two, page 1
Loving Wild
Saviour Series Book Two
Lesley Jones
The Saviour Series
Book Two: Loving Wild
Lesley Jones
Copyright © 2021 Lesley Jones
All Rights Reserved.
Editing by Lisa Edward @ More Than Words Copyediting and Proofreading.
Cover Design by Tiffany Black @ T.E. Black Designs.
Cover Image by Wander Aguiar.
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to real events, real people, and real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, organisations or places is entirely coincidental.
All rights are reserved. This book is intended for the purchaser of this book ONLY. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system, without the express written permission of the author. All songs, song titles, and lyrics contained in this book are the property of the respective songwriters and copyright holders.
WARNING
This e-book contains scenes of domestic violence and both verbal and physical abuse. It also contains adult language which may be considered offensive to some readers. This e-book is intended for adults ONLY. Please store your files wisely, where under-aged readers cannot access them.
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Contents
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1. Prologue
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Epilogue
The End!
Chasing Blue
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Prologue
Gabe.
Turning off my wipers, I watch the rain trail a path down my windscreen. It’s falling so hard my view is instantly blurred.
Despite the downpour, I climb out of my truck and walk to the edge of the viewing platform. The low cloud hides the usual view of Port Phillip Bay. Up this high, I’m amongst them. Grey and heavy, I feel those clouds right down to my very soul.
The wind whips the cold rain against my face as I tilt it towards the sky. Raising my arms, I lace my fingers and place them on top of my head, opening myself up to the icy lashes. I’m not wearing a jacket, and my long-sleeved T-shirt is instantly soaked.
“What do I do, Mum?” I ask the clouds. “He came to our house, to our home. I was there, but I didn’t protect her.”
Thunder rumbles, the sound echoing across the bay, the rain falling harder as the storm grows closer.
“When she told me what he’d done to her, I ran. Instead of being a fucking man, I ran, and I fucked it all up. It was stupid, it was nothing, but she won’t listen, and I don’t know what to do.”
The driving rain stings my skin as lightning forks across the sky, the crack of thunder sounding instantly now that the storm is right above me . . . but from my mum, nothing.
Silence.
Chapter 2
Gabe.
Holding her trembling body against me, I used Lauren’s phone, which I found on the floor, to call for an ambulance and the police. I repeat the gate code over and over to the operator so I don’t have to leave Lauren to let them in. I thought she was unconscious when I first saw her lying outside the front door, but her eyes were open, focused on me, as tears streamed down her face.
“It’s okay, baby, I’ve got you. Where does it hurt? Tell me what hurts?”
I attempt to hide the tremble in my voice, but I feel like lightning is zigzagging through my brain. My thoughts and anger collide, exploding, making me shake almost as hard as Lauren is.
“Was it him?” I question
I know it was him.
I don’t need her to confirm it, I already know.
Her lip’s bleeding, and she has a small cut on her cheek, but I can’t see any other injuries.
Her clothes are all in place, so it doesn’t look like he touched her any other way. Just the thought of that makes me want to vomit.
I took a shower. While she was being beaten, while he was doing whatever he did to her, I took a fucking shower.
Lauren makes a noise, and it’s a fucking awful noise. Somewhere between a groan and a sob. I pull her tighter against me.
“The ambulance is on its way. The police are coming. I’ve got you now, you’re safe, baby, you’re safe.”
“Don’t leave me,” she whispers.
“I’m going nowhere. I’ve got you and I’m going nowhere.”
“He’s never gonna stop,” she says against my chest. “I didn’t want him locked up, but unless that happens, he’s never gonna stop.” She heaves out her words between choking and sobs, and all I can do is rock us as I hold her.
“He’s gonna stop. I’ll make sure he fucking stops,” I grit out.
As I cup the back of her head, I realise her hair is wet, and I panic that she’s bleeding.
“Where you hurt, Ren? What did he do? Did you hit your head?”
A siren sounds in the distance as Lauren holds on to me but doesn’t answer my question.
The police are the first to arrive, and I give my statement while holding on to Lauren. She refuses to speak to them, to even look at them, and when the ambulance arrives, she refuses to let go of me so they can examine her.
I end up carrying her to the back while a blood pressure cuff is fitted to her arm, little white pads are stuck on her chest, and a peg is clipped to her finger.
I watch and answer the questions that I can because Lauren refuses to respond to anything the paramedic asks.
“I think she’s cut her head,” I tell them. “There’s blood in her hair, but I can’t work out where it’s coming from.”
The female paramedic runs her fingers over Lauren’s head, attempting to put her at ease by explaining aloud what she’s doing.
“Can you tell me where it hurts?” she asks, but Lauren ignores her.
The medic frowns, her eyes slice to me, and she shakes her head before stepping back and pulling off her gloves.
“She’s got some bumps, but I don’t think she’s bleeding,” she tells me.
I open my mouth to explain I felt blood in her hair when a policeman appears at the open doors of the ambulance.
“It looks like he climbed the wall from next door. We’ve knocked, but there’s no one in.”
“It’s a holiday home. They’re only there on the weekend or during summer.”
He nods. “Well, there’s no sign of him now. Are you riding in the ambulance with her?”
I feel Lauren shift beneath me and squeeze her a little tighter as I nod at the cop.
“Yeah, I’m not leaving her.”
“No worries. You want us to lock up for you? We’ll probably stay for a bit, just to make sure he’s not still hanging around or doesn’t come back.”
“Yeah, just close the front door, and it’ll lock. I’ll send one of my brothers over to check on the place, thanks.”
“No worries, I’ll let whoever stays here know. We’ll follow you to the hospital.” Shaking his head as he looks at Lauren, he continues, “You said he’s done this to her before.”
“Yeah, but she’s never reported it. I want it reported this fucking time. I want him charged with every fucking thing he can be charged with.”
Red hot anger boils inside me, and I have no fucking clue what to do with it. I can’t leave, I can’t go out looking for Jason East because I can’t leave Lauren. I’ve let her down once tonight. I’m not going to do it again.
“Can I have a quick word?” the paramedic asks the policeman, and my eyes dart between them.
I’m getting the vibe from the medic that she’s keeping something back, and I feel sick at the thought that he’s done more than physically assault her.
My scalp, my lips, the tips of my fingers, they all tingle for some strange reason as I attempt to keep a lid on my anger.
I didn’t do it last time, I stayed out of it and let Lauren deal with things the way she wanted, but this time
The other paramedic puts a cannula into the back of Lauren’s hand and pushes drugs into her. He says they’re to help with any pain she’s feeling, but they’ll also make her feel a little sleepy. I nod, my eyes still on the other paramedic and policeman talking outside the open ambulance doors.
The seat belt is put around both Lauren and me as I hold her, and we’re driven to the hospital.
A policewoman is waiting in the emergency room bay we’re put in. She asks Lauren to confirm it was Jay who attacked her, and then she leaves us alone.
Lauren clings to me when the doctors examine her. It’s only when they send her for x-rays, I manage to pry her arms from around me.
Despite the bruises to her head and body, her swollen fingers, which the doctor thinks were stamped on, nothing is broken, and we’re allowed to go home.
I used the time Lauren was being x-rayed to call my brother and Ryder.
“Fuck face?” is how Cooper answers the phone. I don’t know why, but the sound of my big brother’s voice causes a lump in my throat, and I’m silent for a beat too long as I try to swallow it down.
“Gabe?”
“Yeah,” I say after finally clearing my throat. “Listen, we’re okay, but can you come to the hospital and pick me and Lauren up?”
“If you’re okay, why are you at the hospital?”
I take another moment, this time to draw in a breath before I talk.
“He came to the fucking house.”
“Who?”
I open my mouth to answer, but Coop works it out for himself. “East? East came to the house? You okay? Lauren?”
“I was in the fucking shower?”
“Gabe. Fuck. Did he touch her?”
“Yeah. He’s punched and kicked her. Stamped on her fingers. They’ve checked her out, but nothing’s broken, so they’re letting her home.”
“You okay?”
“Physically, yeah. Mentally . . . Coop, I want something done.”
“Are the police involved?”
“Yeah, but I want something done, Coop. He came to our fucking home and put his hands on her . . .”
“Yeah, yeah. I get that. I’ll make some calls. Don’t you do anything stupid. Sit tight and I’ll come and get you.”
“Thanks, appreciated. Can you call Freddie, let him know what’s happened? I want an AVO served on that fucker as soon as they pick him up.”
“On it,” Coop replies.
“And Zac, ask him to go to my place and check the cops locked up properly, ask if he’ll stay there till we get back? I don’t want that fucker sneaking . . .”
“Of course. We’ll sort it, don’t stress.”
“Cheers,” is all I add.
“Love you, brother, just sit tight.”
I end that call and make my next.
I get Ryder on his way back from the city, and I almost choke again as I explain what happened, so decide to keep it blunt.
“Your dad came to our place. I was in the shower. I’m not sure if he knocked or caught your mum as she went out to the car . . .”
“Fuck. Is she . . .?”
“No, she’s not. I’m done. I let her handle things her way last time. This time I’m doing it my way. She’s pressing charges, and he better hope the police pick him up before I fucking do.”
“You do what you gotta do, man, but is my mum okay?”
“No, she’s freaked, and she’s hurt.”
“I’ll come straight to yours.”
“I’ll see you then.”
My brother and his wife are both silent as I climb into the back of Jessie’s car with a now sleeping Lauren still in my arms. Cooper's eyes meet mine, his hand moving to my shoulder. “You doing okay?” he asks. I shake my head.
“Not even a little bit,” I tell him honestly. He pauses for a moment, watching me before closing the door. As I settle in for the drive home, I catch Jess looking at us through the rear-view mirror. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she mouths. I nod, then shift my eyes down to where Lauren sits curled against me and try not to lose my shit.
The house is lit up, and a couple of cars are parked on the drive when we get back. Cooper helps me out of the car, and I thank Jess for picking us up. Ryder is waiting in the open doorway but doesn’t speak as I carry a now awake Lauren past him.
“I’ve run a bath,” Jemma says as soon as I reach the top of the stairs. I don’t know who called her, but I’m grateful for her foresight as I give her a nod and keep moving in silence towards our bedroom, then straight through to the bathroom.
My arms and back are on fire, but I don’t want to let her go. I sit on the stool in the corner of the room and undress us both while still holding on to Lauren. When we’re both finally naked, I step into the tub.
With Lauren’s back against my front, I slide us both down into the water.
It’s warm and full of bubbles but does absolutely nothing to soothe or calm me.
The silence makes me feel like I’m coming out of my skin, and just when I feel like I can’t take it anymore, Lauren speaks.
“Will you wash my hair for me, please?” she whispers.
“Of course,” I reply, sitting us both up.
Using the jug I’m sure my interior designer meant to be used only for display, filled with warm bathwater, I pour it gently over her head. Lauren hands me a bottle of shampoo from the edge of the bath before pulling up her knees and wrapping her arms around them. At the same time as she tilts her face towards the ceiling, she lets out a sob.
Reaching my arm around her middle, I slide it between her belly and her raised legs and pull her closer towards me. She has a large purple bruise on her shoulder, and my throat burns as I stare at it.
“He pissed on me . . .”
“What?” I ask in confusion.
“It wasn’t blood in my hair. It was piss.” Her voice trembles as she talks, my own lodged somewhere it can’t escape from.
“He punched me to the ground, and while I was down, he kicked me, he stamped on my fingers, and he pissed on me. It wasn’t blood in my hair, it was piss . . .”
Her words become distorted, the room tilts, and my entire body vibrates with white-hot rage. I don’t know what to do, how to process what she’s telling me, and how it makes me feel. I have no fucking clue what it is I need to do first.
“What—what are you doing? Gabe!”
I ignore her.
I climb out of the bath.
I go to the wardrobe and pull on some clothes.
I hear her sob. I hear her call my name.
I leave through the sliding doors that lead to the deck from my bedroom to look for the man who’s done this to us.
I head straight to Lauren’s old place. There’s a police car sitting on the corner as I turn into her street. The house is in darkness, and I assume, if East was home, he’d have been arrested by now, so I leave. I visit every pub and bar in the area and swing into the car parks of a few hotels and motels. I’ve no idea what car he drives, but I’ll sniff that fucker out.
Pulling over, I leave my engine running and now sit here staring out towards the bay as I contemplate my next move.
I need a drink. I need to stop feeling so fucking useless, so churned up inside, so out of control.
I don’t want to go home to Lauren until I have my head on straight and feel calmer, and if I can’t get my hands on her motherfucker of an ex, the only thing that’s going to calm me down is a drink.
It’s already almost eleven, so I pull my car out onto the esplanade and head to the bar at the racecourse.
