Katherine's Time

Chapter 4

Kate P.O.V

I smiled at him and said, “Is everything alright fratele meu?” (Dear brother) He looked at me in shock at first before my flashed me a brilliant smile and said, “Da, Draga sora. (Yea, dear sister) Everything is fine. How do you know Romanian?” I smiled and said, “Austin made sure I would be able to survive in any part of the world. I know German, Japanese, Spanish, Irish, and Portuguese as well.” Once again, he seemed shocked into silence, at least until he laughed while shaking his head. Once his laughter died down, he said, “So tell me, how do you know Ian?” That name brought up so many memories that I just wanted to go away. I honestly didn’t know what to tell him first. Does he really want to know? I know it will make him and Greyson mad. How do you calm an angry alpha wolf? Is it even possible to do that? I looked him straight in the eyes and said, “He is the living incarnation of my worst nightmares.” He just looked at me for a moment before he said, “I don’t think I'm going to like what you are about to tell me, am I?"

I slowly shook my head as I said, “If you want all the details of what happened to me, then no. You are most definitely not going to like it, and I'm mostly sure that it is going to make you very angry. So, are you sure you want to know?” Part of me hoped that he would say no, but a little voice inside told me that I was about to relive my worst nightmares. I just wasn’t sure how I was going to calm him down afterwards. He looked me in the eyes and said, “I do want to know, but there are two other people that need to know as well. My brother, William, and your brother’s best friend, Chad. Do you mind if I call them here as well?” Chad, the cab driver? Well, if I'm not sure how to deal with one pissed off wolf, I have no idea how I’m going to deal with 3 of them. I said, “As long as none of you wolf out in my room or try to kill me then sure. Is Chad the cab driver that picked me up from the airport?”

He nodded at me before his eyes fogged over for a few minutes. What is he doing? I waited until he looked at me again and said, “They will be here in a moment. Do you like your room?” I looked around and said, “Yes. I love it. It reminds me of my brother. He always loved the forest in winter.” He chuckled and said, “Well that does make sense. This was his room. He had it painted this way hoping you would see it. It still smells like him a little.” My jaw hit the mattress. I’m staying in Austin’s room. Now that he said it smelled like him, I could smell the faintest hint of sandalwood with jasmine undertones. The same thing I always smelled when I was around my brother. Maybe that was why I felt so comfortable in this room from the first moment I set foot in here. I could feel tears prick my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.

Liam cleared his throat to get my attention. I looked at him and waited. He rubbed the back of his neck as he looked away from me and said, “I’m sure you would probably like to get into some more comfortable clothes. I will wait for Will and Chad out in the hall if you would like to shower and change.” I could see the faintest blush appear on his cheeks as he spoke. I giggled a little and sadly said, “I wouldn’t mind getting into some other clothes, but unfortunately, I don’t really have any other clothes with me. I only brought a small rucksack with me, and it was mostly just the stuff I got from Austin and Michael over the years. I didn’t really get the chance to grab any of my clothes. My parents made sure to let me know a long time ago that I wasn’t really their daughter and that I really wasn’t welcome in their house. I mean they never physically hurt me, but I've learned that it’s the words that hurt more than any hit ever could. Bruises will fade and heal. Bones never stay broken. But the words echo around inside your mind and break you from the inside out. Almost to the point that you never want to wake up again. I would rather take 100 lashes to my back with a silver-tipped whip than to hear my parents tell me that I am worthless. To hear one more person tell me that I am not worth fighting for, and that I should give up. I have endured the worst people could ever give me, but I am still standing tall. I have never let anyone see the worst parts of me. The only one that could ever see past my smile was Austin. He made sure that I never felt alone. Sometimes it was never more than a simple 'hang in there’ text. But sometimes that was all I needed.”

I could see the unshed tears in his eyes as he looked away and walked over to the dresser. I watched him curious as to what he was doing. He opened one of the drawers and pulled out a t shirt and a pair of basketball shorts and brought them to me as he said, “Well until I can take you into town or a mall to get you some new clothes, here are some of Austin’s. All his clothes are still there. I’m sure there are still some in the closet as well. I’ll wait outside. Just yell when you are done.” He set the clothes on my lap and turned to leave the room. I couldn’t believe that all my brother’s clothes were still there. I grabbed the clothes and headed into the bathroom to shower and change. I start the shower and slowly get undressed. I avoid looking in the mirror. I still remember the last time I looked at my body.

*Flashback*

I am being released from the hospital I was dropped at. They brought me some scrubs to put on instead of the gown since I didn’t have anything else on me. I know I shouldn’t have told them I was 18 but I didn’t want them to call my parents. I didn’t want to relive my 4-month torture that Ian had put me through with people that really didn’t care about me. As I removed the hospital gown and looked in the mirror at my body all I felt was disgust. I saw all the scars from the knife wounds all over my upper arms, chest, and stomach. I hesitantly looked at my back and instantly wanted to throw up from the mosaic of crisscross lines I saw. My back was scarred from the whip that Ian liked to use. I quickly got dressed in the scrubs and left the hospital, not sure where I was going to go. I got a room at a local motel before I took the 3-hour bus ride to my hometown. After I got there, I went to my house just to see what was happening. But no one missed me or was even looking for me. I looked around my neighborhood and didn’t see one missing flyer or anything.

So, I snuck into my room through the window and changed my clothes. I listened to my family in the other room laughing and having fun. Not one mention of me or a person crying because I was gone. That was when I made the decision to go to Ireland and find the house that Austin left me. No one here will miss me. I grabbed my passport and all the important gifts I had gotten over the years. All together everything fits into a single rucksack. I grabbed my small stash of cash I had saved up over the years and realized that I had enough for a plane ticket and cab fare to get where I needed to go. I snuck back out and wiped away my tears as I made my way to the airport and left my family behind.

*End Flashback*

I showered as quickly as I could and got dressed. I went back into the room and got settled on the bed before I yelled for the men to come back inside. I watched as they all came inside. Liam came in first followed by a man who looked like him except he had red hair with golden honey eyes. Chad came in after him, he was tall with blonde hair and chocolate brown eyes, warm and inviting. They all found places to sit. Will sat in the chair that Liam was in before. Chad sat at the end of the bed facing me and Liam sat next to me. We all looked at each other for a few minutes before Liam said, “Ok Ceann beag, (little one) tell us what happened to you.” I looked at them each in the face before I said, “I will tell you all as much as you want to know, but please just stay as calm as possible. I don’t really want others to know about this. I don’t like talking about it at all. And please just be patient with me. This stuff is not easy. Can we all agree with this?” Liam nodded as did Will, but Chad said, “I will not promise to stay calm. But I will promise that my anger is not directed towards you but towards the filth that hurt you.” I may not know him very well, but I could feel his love radiating from his very core.

I nodded my head at them and began my story, “It happened about a month after Austin died. I was walking home after football ended. This car pulled up next to me and the driver asked if I needed a ride home, but I told him I was fine. I hoped he would get the hint and just leave me alone, but he didn’t. He pulled ahead of me, stopped his car, and got out. I didn’t know who he was at first. I found out later that his name was Ian. He walked up to me and tried to convince me to get in the car with him. When I refused a second time, he punched me. I still remember how much it hurt me. I remember feeling dizzy then I felt another hit, and everything went black.” I stopped here to take a breath and gather my courage. It's this next part that will really upset all three of them.

I continued, “When I woke up, I was chained to a bed in only my underwear and bra. I couldn’t move much. Ian came into the room with two other men. I don’t know who they are so please don’t ask. Ian told me that he had special plans for me, that he had been looking for me for some time now. I still don’t understand why he wanted me, but I guess that doesn’t really matter much now. Anyways, he stood over me just looking down at me with lust in his eyes. He got undressed and got on top of me and proceeded to cut me and r**e me as he saw fit. Once he was finished, he allowed his two friends to have their way as well. Each of them took their time and cut me as much as they could. They did this every few days or so. Sometimes I was on the bed, other times I was chained to a wall. That was when I got the worst of it, against that cold wall.” I looked up to see the rage in each one of their eyes. I knew it wasn’t at me but at what Ian had done but I still shrunk back a little because I knew that look all too well.