Wayward Son (Jensen Family #3) (56 page)

Stepping behind him, Quinn put his knee into Gavin’s right shoulde
r as he reached down and grasped his arm, leaning more of
his weight onto his shoulder, Quinn wrenched Gavin’s arm up behind him,
determined to do as much damage as possible, Quinn jolted his knee into the
shoulder joint while rotating and pulling the arm,
satisfied when Gavin groaned and he felt the joint pop as it left
its
socket, he crouched beside the injured
boy, squeezing the new injury
.
“What’s this?
Nothing to say?” he taunted before turning to his friends
.
“Are you sure she isn’t here?” he
asked.

“
She was, her bag and clothes are here, she
must have done a runner
,
” one of them
replied.

“Ok, chuck him down the stairs
,
” he nudged Gavin with his foot, smiling smugly at the
semi-conscious
boy at his feet
.
“Then we can have some fun with the
house, I’ll catch up with Angel later
.
”

Lifting Gavin to his feet, three of the five boys prepared to throw him
down the marble staircase
.

“I found his phone
.
” Toby said
moments before the other boys launched him into t
he
air.

“Good, I’ll use it to call Angel, she’ll answer it to him
.
” Quinn replied, watching as Gavin’s
head hit the hard stone
.
“Can you hear
that?” Quinn asked, he could hear a ringing phone
.
“Where’s her bag?”

One of the other boys jogged down the stairs
only to return a few moments later with Angel’s bag, complete with phone.

“Shit
.
” Quinn cursed
.
“Ok boys, let’s trash the place
.
”

They started upstairs, ripping curtains and bed linen, smashing
computers, televisions and anything else of value they could
find before moving to the lower floor of the house, aiming
kicks at the defeated boy halfway down the stairs on their way.

Several times, Angel nearly came out of her hiding place in order to stop
Quinn from beating Gavin, every time she plucked up the cou
rage to do so, Gavin would scream, she finally realised
that even if she did reveal herself, Quinn would continue Gavin’s punishment
and she knew she couldn’t bear to watch. If she faced Quinn, he would without
doubt rape her and Gavin would never forgive
her for
letting him do that, she buried her head in her hands, fresh sobs racking her
at each of her boyfriends’ agonised screams
,
guilt flooding her, knowing that he
wouldn’t be going through this if it wasn’t for her.

She listened as the boys ransacked t
he house,
the noise growing fainter as they went downstairs. When she couldn’t hear any
further noises, she made her way to the attic window, carefully peering out,
she could just see Quinn’s car highlighted against the stunning backdrop of the
sunset. An
eternity later, Quinn and his friends came
out of the house, threw their bats in the back of the car and she counted all
five of them get in the vehicle and drive away. Once they had rounded the bend
in the driveway, she made her way out of the secret room
, through the wardrobe and bedroom and began to search for Gavin,
straining her ears for Quinn’s possible return.

She found him on the stairs, he wasn’t moving, she wasn’t even sure if he
was breathing. Crouching beside him, she placed her face close to hi
s, listening for his breath,
fresh tears spilling from her eyes as they
flick
ed
over his damaged body, seeing blood, lots of blood on the bottom right
leg of his jeans.
She felt the sobs welling up inside her
but swallowed them when Gavin spoke.

“Angel
,
” h
is voice just a whisper.

“Oh, Gavin, I thought you’d stopped breathing
,
” she began to try to make him more
comfortable making him let out a groan.

“Angel
,
” he repeated
.
“Study, desk, panic button
,
” he gasped
.
“I need help
.
”

“Panic button in the study?” she
asked, tugging
blood soaked pieces of hair from his face and swollen eyes.

“Yes. Go
,
” he answered.

She scampered down the remaining stairs and ran to Paul’s study,
searching under the desk and finally locating the panic button, she jabbed it
hard, then ja
bbed it again, not entirely certa
in it had worked the first time then
she hurried
back to his side
.
“Help is coming
,
” she told him, watching his face for a
reaction
but
getting none. She scooted down to his legs, gently feeling his right leg
through his bl
ood soaked jeans, the lump she felt had
bile rising in her throat, she slid her fingers under his jeans from the hem,
pressing them to his leg a little harder, making him moan, feeling bone outside
of the skin, removing her hand she went to sit by his head
again, softly talking to him, relieved to hear sirens.

“They are almost here
,
” she told him
.
“Stay with me Gavin
,
” she leaned closer to him, checking his
breathing
.
“I love you
,
” she whispered.

Gavin could hear the sirens through the mist of pain, he coul
d feel her hands, hear her voice but couldn’t bring himself
to respond, he tried to smile when she told him she loved him but his face felt
like it was on fire.

“Hello?” a voice called
.
“Police
.
”

“We’re here
,
” Angel shouted
desperately,
jumping to her feet
.
“Please, help him
.
”

The End