Fuse's Hold by E.C. Land (books for students to read TXT) 📕

“I know you’re having trouble with being back home. I get it. When I’d been in the military, coming home had been hard to re-adapt to. I struggled with it. If it weren’t for my brothers helping me find a focus, I don’t know what I’d have done. I saw a lot of shit when I’d been deployed and still to this day suffer from the night terrors. I may have only done two tours over there, but that had been enough for me.” I don’t know why I brought this up, but I figured it might help her understand she’s not alone in fighting her demons.

“I didn’t know you were in the military,” she murmurs.

“Yeah, Ly, I’d been a part of the Army Aviation Branch,” I mutter and press my lips to the side of her head. Lyrica seems to settle further into me the more I hold her.

“That’s cool. My dad, he’d been a Marine. I thought it was cool. When I was a kid, I wanted to be just like him,” she whispers, bringing up her family for the first time since I met her.

“Did you have any siblings?” I ask her cautiously.

“Yeah, I have a twin who died. I barely remember her, but I feel the part of her that should be with me. We’d been adopted and when she’d died, my parents moved and didn’t say another word about it. They wanted to protect me from the heartache I’m sure they felt,” she says, and I’m glad she can’t see my face at this point. If she did, she’d probably run out of fear.

I need to figure out what the fuck happened to her and Simone before I tell her her sister is alive. They’d been adopted and from some information Angelina brought to my attention the other week after some testing came back. We now know both girls have a rare blood disease called thalassemia.

This explained why she’d get cold so easily due to anemia brought on by this and why she’d ended up getting a blood transfusion Angelina finally told me she’d ended up having. Along with getting a serious round of antibiotics. I still don’t understand the whole ordeal, but I knew she needed to avoid iron-rich foods, do her best not to get an infection, and eat healthy.

“That’s got to suck,” I mutter, clearing my throat.

“I guess.” Lyrica shrugs. “But let’s change the subject, please. I don’t like talking about my parents or my sister that much.”

I can imagine why.

“Alright, baby, I’ll get back to what I was getting at before we got off-topic,” I say, feeling her sink fully into me in gratitude. “I want you to know you don’t have to hide in the house and look out the window. You want to go out and don’t want to do it alone, I’ll be there for you. All you have to do is ask. The ol’ ladies, they’ll be there for you. Every last one of my brothers will be there for you. Need only ask them and they’ll be there.”

“I know, but I’m scared,” she utters the words, and I don’t miss the shiver that runs through her.

“That’s why you have me, Ly. You’re my woman, and I’m not about to lose you again. I’ll admit and I’ll say this once, I fucked up where it comes to you. I never should have let you get away from me the first time around or push you away. Now I’ve got you back, I’m not taking any chances. You’re with me, and I’ll fuckin’ die before allowing something else to happen to you. This being said, baby, you go out, start living, you do it knowing I’m next to you and so is everyone else that is a part of your life.” I finish this by giving her yet another kiss to the side of her head.

She’ll soon realize that it’s time to move forward and when she does, it’ll be beautiful to her. For me, it’s time to release the pent-up energy as well as find out as much as possible about my woman’s past as I can. I also need to find the men who took her, kill them and feed them to Bart. That last needs to happen sooner rather than later. With them fully out of the way, I will feel better knowing she has nothing to fear from anyone.

Chapter Eight

Nora

“I think we need to do something fun in order to get Lyrica out of her funk,” Faith suggests.

Glancing around the room, I notice my friends nodding their heads in agreement. However, I don’t. I get why Lyrica does not want to be around any of us. I get it completely. Ly doesn’t complain when we’re over there spending time with her. But she doesn’t speak much.

Over the past three months, now that she’s been home, Lyrica’s made some progress though not much. She at least comes outside of the house and will sit with Fuse or one of the other guys. Ly’s also not having to wear a cast anymore on her wrist or leg, though she does have a boot that she wears. According to Angelina, the break had been bad and once that heals, she’d be put into a boot until it can fully heal.

This makes me wonder about all the things she’d experienced at the hands of those monsters who held her captive for months on end. After talking with Emerson and her telling me some of the shit going on up there, my mind started racing. Then she reminded me of the bitch who’d stalked Cleo after she’d already been through hell. If not for Rage pulling his head out of his ass and helping her overcome the pain, she’d still be suffering. I’d forgotten about that one. Then again, during the shit with my best friend, I’d nearly