Twisted Epilogue- Three Months Later

The past three months had been much quieter for the whole club than the previous few. No more bunny drama, for one thing. Fiona had finally taken the hint and left. The last we heard, she'd left town. Maybe she'd change her life and find someone to be with. Both of the kids were doing better. They were seeing Dr. O'Herron via video, and they were going well. He didn't give us specifics of what they talked about, but he gave us progress reports, and he was pleased with how they were doing. We saw the difference, too. We would continue to do them until all of us felt they were no longer necessary.

Two weeks ago, I came home to the news that Zahirah and the old ladies heard while they were having coffee in town. Apparently, they overheard a couple of women talking about the high school. Although it was the end of summer break, the school board met, and Principal Pecardi was terminated. The rumor was there had been other students being harassed at the high school, and he'd done nothing about it, even though, in their cases, it was on school property. One of the ones who was targeted told his father, who was a lawyer. When the board investigated his allegations in secret, they discovered there were more, and in each case, the students being harassed were all minority students. They had enough to fire him. It was good news. Our hopes were high that when school resumed, they'd have a great principal taking over. Time will tell.

Zahirah had been busy not only working on getting her business off the ground but also planning our wedding. While neither of us wanted a big fancy one, we did want to have a great reception, and we agreed not to wait for months to do it. We decided by next month that she'd be Mrs. Brody Granger. I offered the idea of hyphenating her name, but she refused. Secretly, I was glad. Aliya was enjoying helping her aunt and the other ladies plan it. The kids were now calling all of the club either al-am or ima. Tana, though, was called jadda , which meant grandmother. She loved it.

I was at the Depot working today. I'd talked Zahirah into coming with me and working from here. The reason was I simply hated being away from her. We got a bunch done, I thought, despite there being a couple of kissing sessions, and then there was this one time I had to lock the office door and take her on my desk, but it was her fault for being so sexy. I was merely a mortal man, after all.

We'd made it to the end of the day and were about to head home. The kids would be back soon from their day out. Arif had gone to our garage in town, Pagan Repair, to see what Dare, Mace, and their people did there. Aliya went to Pagan Promises with Eliana to see what she did at her clinic slash resource center. Zahirah was putting away her laptop, and I was shutting down my computer when there was a loud pounding on the door.

"Come in," I shouted.

It opened, and an agitated Wade came in. "Twisted, we need you out here right now."

"Okay, what seems to be wrong?" I asked as I came around my desk.

"There's a woman in the bathroom, and we can't get her out. She's locked herself in a stall, and she's crying. Every time we try to get her to open the door, she screams."

"What the hell?" Don't tell me we had someone tripping on drugs again. We get one from time to time. They hallucinated and would go off. Usually, I was able to calm them down until we got them help. Figuring it was another one of those, I went out the door. Zahirah was on my heels.

"Zari, I want you to stay back. She's probably having a bad trip. I don't want you to get hurt."

"Okay, but maybe she's hurt, and that's why she's freaking out. Maybe if I talk to her, she'll calm down. Having only men asking you to open the bathroom door could be scary for her."

She had a point. It was all guys working right now, but I was still not taking chances. "Stay back unless I say it's alright."

"I will."

I found Hector outside the ladies' room door. He was frowning. "Stay out here," I told him. He moved back to let me go inside. Zahirah was behind me.

Once inside, I tried to determine what I was dealing with. "Miss, are you alright?"

I heard a soft whimper. I tried again. "Miss, my name is Twisted. I run this place. Are you hurt?" Another whimper.

"Miss, I need you to unlock the door and come out."

This got a reaction. "No!"

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you stay in there. Either you come out, or I'll have to come in."

"God, no, please. Why don't you leave? I won't tell anyone," she bawled.

Tell them what? I went to the door and tried it. It was still latched, but the rattling made her freak. She began to scream loudly for help. I was about to kick in the stall door and get her out when Zahirah pushed me aside.

"Miss, my name is Zari. If I send the men away, will you talk to me and tell me what is wrong? I promise they're here only to help, but I can understand being afraid."

I was shaking my head, no. Zahirah ignored me. After several seconds, the woman said softly, "Yes, we can talk. Just make them leave, please."

This caused a different flurry as my woman pressed me to leave. We argued for a minute until she swore if the woman acted even a tad off, she'd call me back in. I reluctantly left them alone and took up a position right outside the main bathroom door—time crawled by. I strained to hear even a peep. It felt like an eternity, but it was no more than ten minutes before the door opened. Zahirah stood there with a horrified expression.

"Twisted, I need you to get Bones to meet us at the clubhouse. We need to bring her there."

"Why? Is she hurt? We can take her to the hospital."

"No, that's the last place she needs to go. Please, trust me. This is something you and the club need to hear. She is hurt and needs medical attention, but Bones and Eliana should be able to help her. I've convinced her to come with us so that she can trust us. Aziz , what she just told me, oh God. Believe me, the club needs to hear this."

The tears in her eyes convinced me. Nodding, I pulled out my phone and got to calling. As I did, she went back inside. I wondered what new drama or danger this woman was bringing to our club and what it would mean for us all.

The End Until Pagan Souls of Cherokee Book 5- Mace's Madonna