Twisted Chapter 20

Today was the last day of school for the kids. They were excited to get their summer vacation started. I knew Zahirah was excited and relieved that they were off. Not just because they'd be home more but because they wouldn't have to deal with Billy and his buddies. I was on standby, waiting for the little bastard to turn eighteen in two days. I had an "adult" conversation planned with him. Zahirah had stopped trying to talk me out of it. Bullies like him and his friends would continue unless they were corrected. If our "talk" didn't fix their behavior, harsher treatment would be in order. My brothers agreed and were ready to back me if needed. I didn't need them for the talk, but if it went nowhere, we'd move on to other corrective measures.

The school was having an after-school carnival-like event today, and it was supposed to be fun for the kids. Aliya had asked if she could stay for it. Of course, we said yes. We arranged to go pick her up when she was ready. Arif had already made it home from school about half an hour ago. He was enjoying video game time.

Hmm, while he was doing that, maybe I should see what my woman was doing. I turned and headed for the office. She was working, but I might be able to entice her away. I was almost there when my phone rang. Fishing it out of my cut, I saw it was Aliya. She hadn't stayed long. It must've been boring.

"Hi, sweet girl, done already?" I asked as I answered.

"Tw-Twisted, I-I need you," she brokenly said as she cried. Instantly, I was on alert and flipped into warrior mode.

"What happened? Where are you?" I barked as I turned and headed for the front door. I'd explain to Zahirah later, but right now, I had to get our girl. Her crying increased.

"Just come, please. I'm in the girls' bathroom on the main floor. Hurry. I'm scared," she whispered.

"I'm coming. You hang on, and if you can, lock yourself in there. Do you have a weapon?"

"No. Oh God, I'm scared," she cried nonstop. There was no way I could hang up on her. As I got to my bike, I saw Agony in his yard. He lived the closest to my house. I waved him over. He came at a fast trot, frowning.

"What's wrong?"

"Aliya is on the phone. She's bawling and begging me to come get her at school. She's in a girl's bathroom. She won't say what happened, but she's terrified."

"Go. I'll round up whoever is here and send them along in case you need them. Does Zari know?"

"I didn't tell her. I need to get to Aliya," I said impatiently.

"I'll take care of her. Go."

Taking him at his word, I made sure she was locked in, then I hung up, and I brought my bike to life before I roared my way to the gate. Waiting for it to open enough to squeeze out was torture. When I cleared it, I took off like the devil was after me. As I rode, all I did was imagine what might've happened and what still could occur before I got there. I swore if she was harmed in any way, whoever did it would fucking pay.

I sped into the school parking lot minutes later. There were cars and people all over. They seemed to be oblivious to anything bad happening. I parked at the curb and headed for the front door. As I reached it, I saw a scrawny guy who was dressed in a way that told me he was the school's supposed security or resource officer, whatever the fuck his title. Zahirah had told me what a joke he was. He was standing in the open doorway.

"I can't let you in unless you have official business, and since it's after school, that's not possible. If you're here to pick someone up, you'll have to either find them outside or wait for them to come out," he said rather snidely, in my opinion.

Not bothering to explain, I grabbed him by the front of his shirt and lifted him off the ground, then slammed him into the door frame. His eyes almost popped out of his head in shock.

"Listen, I don't have time for your fucking nonsense. My niece called me. She's in the bathroom on the first floor, she said. She needs me. Now, nothing and no one is standing between me and her, especially not you. Don't make me knock your goddamn ass out," I snarled.

As I shook him for good measure to emphasize my point, I heard the roar of motorcycle engines. Glancing over my shoulder, I smiled when I saw four brothers pull in behind my bike. In less than a minute, Mace, Hulk, Pope, and Cyclone joined me.

"I'll take care of him. You go get Aliya," Hulk growled. The resource officer whimpered.

I let go and glared at him. "Where's the girls' bathroom on this floor?"

He raised his arm and pointed, then rasped out. "End of hall on the left."

I shoved him toward Hulk and took off running. The thunder of boots behind me told me the others were coming, just in case. The hallway was deserted. It seemed to take forever for me to reach the bathroom. When I did, I tore the door open and ran inside. Hopefully, no one was using it.

"Aliya, it's Twisted," I called out.

That's when I heard the whimpers and sobs. "I'm here," she said so softly I almost didn't hear her.

I followed the sobs to the last stall. I tried the door, and it wouldn't open. These doors weren't typical, with a big gap at the bottom. They actually went clear to the floor, and above was a solid piece. You'd have to work to scale it, and I would if I had to.

"Honey, I need you to unlock the door so I can get in. I promise you're safe."

There was silence for a few seconds, and then I heard rustling sounds before a click. The door slowly opened, and when it was ajar far enough for me to see her, I let a growl of fury slip out. She was shaking, and tears poured down her face. Those were distressing but not the sole cause of my fury. It was also because her clothing was torn in several places, and a bruise was forming on one cheek.

Moving slowly toward her, I held open my arms. I knew better than to touch her. Oh God, please don't let her have been raped , I prayed. She threw herself into my arms and then collapsed. I picked her up. Turning to the others, they caught sight of her clothes and face. Their worried expressions changed to furious ones. I wanted to demand to know who did this, but now wasn't the time. I needed to get her out of here and home to Zahirah. There would be time for retribution later.

Holding her securely, I marched out of there with my brothers encircling us. As we got to the main lobby, we ran into a few students. They gave us wide-eyed looks and backed away. When we got to the door, the resource officer was seated in a chair with his head hanging down. Hulk was looming over him. When Hulk saw us, he growled.

"Who the fuck do we get to kill?" he asked out of hearing of the officer.

"I don't know yet. I have to get her home and have Bones look at her. She might need to go to the hospital," I explained as we made our way to our bikes. People were everywhere, and many were staring at us.

If I'd been thinking clearly, I would've brought a cage to get her. It was too late for that, and I wasn't about to wait for one. She'd taken a ride with me not long ago and had loved it, just like Arif had. I hoped she was capable of holding on long enough to get home.

I sat her on her feet. "Aliya, sweet girl, can you hold on and ride?"

She nodded her head. I got out the extra helmet I now carried in my bag and put it on her. She stood there dazed. When I was done and had mine on, I got on. Mace came forward and helped her to get situated behind me and made sure she was holding tightly to me.

"We're right behind you," he informed me.

Giving him a chin lift. I waited for them to get on their bikes and to start them before I took off. The ride back was a slower one. I didn't want to frighten her or cause her to fall off my bike. Damn, I needed to get a backrest. When we finally reached the compound, the gate was open, and Rune was manning it. Riding past him, I saw his concern. My intention was to go straight to our house, but I didn't when I saw Zahirah and Agony standing outside the clubhouse. She was pale and had such a look of fear on her face. Shit, this would tear her up. Stopping there, I quickly got the bike parked. Agony came over to help Aliya off. Zahirah was right behind him.

"Twisted, what happened? Aliya, what—" Zahirah stopped. She'd finally seen the state her niece was in. She cried out and then cried as she pulled Aliya into a hug. She was muttering things in Arabic, so I had no idea what she was saying, but it had our girl sobbing even more.

"Is Bones here?" I asked Agony.

"He's on his way. He should be here any minute. I called him after I spoke to Zari. Let's get them inside. Has she said anything?"

"No. She's been too upset, and I didn't want to talk about it there."

I put a hand on each of my girls' backs and gently pushed them toward the clubhouse door. They took the hint and moved in that direction. Pope opened it. Inside was an anxious Eliana. She rushed over to us. I'd totally forgotten she was a nurse and might be able to check Aliya out, at least partially. No disrespect to her and her skills, but Bones was an actual doctor, so I automatically thought of him.

"Why don't you come with me? There's a room we can have some privacy in," Eliana told my girls.

Zahirah nodded while Aliya said nothing, but she did follow Agony's woman. I trailed behind with the guys who were home right in front of me. When we got to the room we'd set up for Bones and Eliana as a medical treatment room, we were stopped by Eliana. She opened the door, urged them inside, and then blocked us.

"I know you're worried about her. I understand, but we need to ask her questions and do an exam. She won't be comfortable talking in front of you. I'm sorry. It's not personal, but in cases where a woman is assaulted, they usually fear men afterward, even those they know."

"Fuck, I know. I hate this. Please take care of her and let me know when I can come in. I need to know what you find out, Eliana. You know that."

"I do, and as soon as I can, we'll let you know. Someone needs to pay," Eliana hissed. As she scowled, the thump of footsteps had me glancing back toward the common room. Coming down the hall was Bones. I sighed. When he reached us, he squeezed my shoulder without saying a word and went into the exam room. Eliana was right behind him. The door closed.

There was no way I was going back to the common room to wait. I stood across the hall from the door and leaned against it. I trained my eyes on it. I noted my brothers found spots on either side of the hallway and either leaned on the wall, squatted or sat on the floor. As time slowly crawled by, more joined us. From time to time, I heard murmuring from inside or a loud muffled cry. It tore out my heart to listen to it and not be able to comfort her.

"Was it those goddamn boys?" Nitro asked.

"I don't know yet. She was too shaken up to ask. I wanted her home and checked out. I assume it was, but until she can confirm it, I can't do anything. But if it was, those bastards are looking at hell on earth. And I'll be teaching their worthless parents lessons, too. It's their responsibility to raise them not to be rotten humans."

"Just tell us where and when. I want to see whoever did this suffer," Knight snarled. It seemed Agony had called all our brothers to come home. It was admittedly no more than an hour and some change early, but they dropped everything to be here. As I scanned them, a question popped into my head.

"Where's Arif?" I asked Agony. He seemed the most likely to know.

"He's home playing video games. Atticus went to hang out with him, and we treated it like Zari had something to do. Atticus had free time, so he came to challenge him. He won't let him come here," he assured me.

I was relieved. It was no use getting him all worked up, or at least not right now. We'd have to decide how much to let him know. He was mature for his age, but I had to remember he was only eleven. Seeing the door remained closed, I paced the hall. The guys stayed out of my way.

"What the hell is taking so long?" I snapped after about five minutes of that.

I was striding up to the exam door to knock and find out what the fuck was taking so long when it opened, and out came Bones. He shut the door swiftly and then motioned for us to follow him. We ended up in the common room. I was about to explode.

"What the fuck, Bones! Tell me what was done to my girl and who did it?" I snarled.

"You gotta calm down. She needs you to be her rock. If you're upset on top of her and Zari's emotional states, it'll be a shitshow."

I fought to take deep breaths and bring myself back under control. It wasn't like me to get so out of control. After a minute of deep breathing, I nodded to indicate that I was good to go.

"The good news is she wasn't raped." He paused as we all sighed in relief, then he continued, "The bad news is, it was damn close. If she hadn't escaped and locked herself in that bathroom, it would've happened. That was his intention."

"His? So there was only one? Who? Was it one of those three bastards targeting her and Arif all year?" I demanded.

"It was only one. He caught her alone in the school. She stayed behind to talk to one of her teachers, and when she came to join the fun outside, he grabbed her. He dragged her into the drama department in a back room and began to say a bunch of stuff to her. She screamed for help, but nobody came. They were all outside or gone. He hit her and knocked her to the floor. That's when he tore her clothes."

I interrupted him. "Which one? How did she get away from him?"

"Let me finish, and then I'll tell you who. He was tearing her clothes. She spotted a heavy vase used as a prop for the drama plays, and it was just an arm's length away. When he was focused on trying to undo her pants, she got a hold of it and hit him in the head. It knocked him good, but not out. He was dazed. She took her chance and ran. She didn't want him to catch her, and being outside in her mind didn't mean she'd be safe. What if his friends grabbed her? So she locked herself in the bathroom and called you. She's very shaken and scared. Even though he didn't rape her, she'll have trauma from it, and we'll have to deal with it. I gave her something to calm her. She'll probably sleep. Zari said she wants you to come in when you can. As for who, it was Billy Waters. He said it was time to teach her a lesson she'd never forget. He called her a foreign whore."

"Son of a bitch!" I yelled before driving my fist into the wall. The drywall cracked, and my fist sank partially into the wall. I was too pissed off to care. I'll fix it later. Before I could punch again, I was yanked back. I whirled around to face whoever did it, only to find Mace was standing there.

"Brother, save that for the cocksucker who deserves it. Go see your woman and girl. When you're ready, we'll sit down and talk out our strategy. We've got to do this smart. Don't worry. He'll pay." He smiled, but it wasn't a pleasant one. It hinted at the darkness he could bring. I grabbed his hand and fisted ours together as I gave him a man hug.

"You're right. We do. Bones, can I go see her now?"

"Yes, you can."

I didn't need to hear more. I rushed down the hall. I knocked and waited to hear someone tell me to enter. Then I was inside. I found only Zahirah and Aliya. Eliana must've slipped out while we were in the common room. Aliya was curled up on the bed we had in there. Zahirah was sitting on the edge of it, holding her hand. I crept to her bedside. Her face was red and swollen from crying. Her bruised cheek was darker. She was no longer in her torn clothing; instead, she was in a hospital gown, and a blanket was pulled up over most of her. I halted. I was unsure if I should get closer or not. What if she was afraid of me?

She answered that question when she opened her arms toward me. Zahirah moved, and I found myself sitting on the bed with Aliya in my arms. I rocked her and murmured what I hoped were sounds and words of comfort as she cried. Eventually, she spoke.

"Thank you so much for coming to get me."

I pulled away so I could see her face. "Sweet girl, I will always come for you, no matter what. You're mine now, just like Zari and Arif are. You're my family, and I'll do anything for my family. I love you."

She relaxed in my arms, then put her head on my chest and whispered, "I love you too, Brody."

I didn't mind her calling me that here. No one was around to hear it. At home, they use it occasionally because they have heard Zari do it. Extending one arm, I motioned Zahirah to come to me. When she did, I squeezed her close and gave her a tender kiss. This was how we stayed for a long time—just comforting each other. As we did, and as she told her story to me, I was plotting retribution in the back of my mind.