Ruined (Devil’s Handmaidens MC Alaska Chapter #3)

Chapter 8

EIGHT

DYLAN

A fter Minuet comes out of surgery and the doctors assure us that she will be okay, I lean over her still sedated body and kiss her softly on the forehead.

“I’ll always love you,” I whisper so only she can hear me if she were awake.

“What’s going on?” Terry asks as he steps into the room. He and Vixen went for coffee.

“It’s time for me to go. I know that Minuet was questioning our relationship months ago, and I’m going to finally be strong enough to give her the chance to heal. She knows where to find me if she wants me.”

“You can’t leave.” Vixen starts to come at me but stops and looks between me and the bed.

“I overheard what she was asking her professor the day of the press conference. I know she questions if our relationship can survive. This is the only way. I have to set her free. If she comes back to me, then it’s meant to be. If not, I wish her all the best. I’ll always love her. She’ll always be the love of my life.”

I head toward the door and stop as soon as my hand touches the handle.

“Do me a favor.” I turn back to Vixen. She nods. “Tell her it’s for the best. I don’t want her to worry about me ever. This is for her. She deserves all the happiness that life can give her, and if that’s without me, I get it.”

“I will.” Vixen chokes on the two words, and I lift my chin as I walk out of the room.

Maybe someday I’ll see her again, and she’ll be healed and want more. Maybe someday she’ll find a man she completely loves more than me. She told me to always remember, and I do. But I also remember what I heard that day. It needs to end. Her pain has to end.

“Is that Minuet Gagnon’s room?” a woman with a heavy French accent asks, pointing at the door.

I look at the tall dark-haired woman and then at the even taller blond man beside her. The man looks vaguely familiar, and I pause before I answer them.

“Why do you want to know?”

“We were told she was here. Is that her room?” the woman asks again.

“She isn’t supposed to be listed on the patient listings.”

“We were told by her friend River that we could find her here. I’m Renée Gagnon, and this is my husband, Henri Gagnon. He’s Minuet’s brother.”

I look at the man and then at her again. “She’s in there. Don’t hurt her,” I say before I walk away from them.

I head out of the hospital and lift my chin to Zero when he and Aftershock walk through the doors to head up. I met them when we landed earlier. They wanted to help escort us to the hospital. I thanked them for helping us find Minuet. Without them, we would have had no idea where to start.

While I wait for my ride, I call my lieutenant and get the process of transferring back to Palmer started. He tells me they won’t be able to accommodate me for several month. But if I want to do an almost four-month rotation in Sitka at the academy to train new cadets, I’d have to be ready to leave in a couple of days. I tell him I’ll be ready. I hang up as my parents pull in to pick me up.

They came by the hospital and saw Minuet before she went into surgery, but she was unconscious at the time. My mother doesn’t understand why I’m walking away, but I explain what I heard the professor and Minuet talking about. She thinks I should have waited until Minuet was awake and discussed it with her. I told my mom this was for the best. I don’t want Minuet to ever feel pressured.

I need to close up the house in Ptarmigan Falls and then get my dogs and head to Sitka. You can only fly into Sitka. It’s an island down in the Panhandle near Juneau, the capital. I like Sitka and will be staying in a rental they’ve lined up for me for the seventeen weeks that I’ll be there for the academy.

It will give me time to be away from her and hopefully for her to heal. If I can handle being in the same town with her when I come back, I might not have to transfer, and I won’t have to sell the beautiful house I bought.

The thought of living there without her hurts. My heart aches the further we get from the hospital and the further I get from her. I thought she was my end game. That I would spend the rest of my life with her. I never expected to walk away from her or to contemplate living my life without her. But here we are.

Frenchie

I come awake to the sound of voices around me, and my eyes flicker open. My body aches everywhere. I recognize some of the voices, but others are unfamiliar. Then a deeper voice speaks, carrying a familiar accent. I turn my head and see my brother Henri.

“Henri.” My voice cracks as I say his name. His wife, Renée, is standing there too, and she turns to look at me.

She rushes to the bed and takes my hand gingerly in hers.

“Oh, sweet Minuet, are you okay?”

I feel like I’m in some alternate universe. My family all disowned me. My mother said they didn’t want to be a part of my life now that I was a dirty whore.

“Why are you here?” I ask after Vixen gives me a sip of water from a cup on the sideboard table.

“We wanted to check on you. We didn’t know where you were until we saw that news report and saw you on it.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense. You disowned me.” I shake my head, causing pain to spike through my body. I groan, and Vixen places a hand on my shoulder.

“Take it easy, sweet girl,” she says softly, and I look up at her and smile.

“Thank you.” I look around the room and don’t see Dylan. He must have gone to get food or something.

“We never disowned you. Mother did, and we don’t care what she thinks. All of us want to be a part of your life.” My brother moves to the side of the bed and takes my hand.

The door opens again, and in walks Zero and Aftershock. I look beyond them but don’t see Dylan.

I visit with my brother and his wife. They tell me they are staying in a hotel and will head up to Fairbanks when we do. They tell me that my other brothers and their wives will fly in over the next few days to see me too.

I’m shocked and overwhelmed. This is more than I ever expected. My mother lied about how they felt, and they’ve been looking for me this whole time.

After everyone leaves and I’m finally lying back to relax, I look around the room and realize Dylan has never shown up.

“Where is Dylan?”

Vixen gets up from where she was sitting next to Terry and approaches the bed. When she takes my hand, I know she’s going to say something bad. My body starts shaking, and the monitor next to the bed starts beeping as my heart rate increases.

“Darling, please calm down.” She tries to soothe me, but it doesn’t work. “He left. He made sure you were going to live and were safe, and then said that you needed to be set free and heal.”

Her words hit me, and a conversation from last month plays back in my mind.

“H-He thinks I’m using him as a re-rebound?” I stutter. I’m so angry and upset.

“He didn’t say that, but he said he overheard a lecture where your professor said something about people traumatized need to heal before they can have a relationship. He said he will always love you.”

“H-He forgot what I told him.” I yank my hand from hers and try to roll away, but I can’t with my hip all bandaged up. I turn my head and silently cry. That jerk didn’t even give me the chance to explain. That conversation had nothing to do with us. I wasn’t asking those questions because of us.

When the nurse comes in, I’m glad for the medication to help me go to sleep so I can forget that he walked away from me. So I can wallow in self-pity without him or the memories.