CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR: LEO

After arriving at Rudy's, Athena went to greet the guys at the counter, and Austin, Shane, and I went to sit in the booth at the far end of the diner, where Athena joined us a few minutes later with a smile.

"How was your visit to New York, Athena?" Austin asked, and her smile faded. Austin turned to me, and we immediately knew something was wrong; she doesn't know how to hide her emotions or control her facial expressions, making her quite easy to read.

"I've been racking my brain trying to figure out if telling you guys was a good idea," Athena said, a frustrated sigh leaving her lips as she stared at the three of us, okay with what she just said now, she was starting to scare me, what could've happened?

"Athena, you know you can tell us anything, we're here for you, so please tell us what happened in New York?" I said, and her gaze shifted to Shane.

"It's not a good story, and some parts of it aren't kid-friendly," Athena said as she turned to face Shane, who looked just as concerned as we did.

"I'm not a kid, Athena, and I don't like it when you're sad, so please tell us." Shane signed, and my heart ached as I wondered what had happened to her that she couldn't even bring herself to say in front of Shane.

"Well, here I go, don't say I didn't warn you," Athena said, letting out another frustrated sigh and fidgeting with her fingers like she typically did when she was nervous or uncomfortable.

"Please Red talk to us," Austin begged, taking her hands in his and drawing circles on top of her hand to help her relax.

"Well, when we got there, it was nice, and Vera, my uncle's girlfriend and the birthday girl, was super cool and nice, so she was easy to get along with." Athena said with a sad smile before continuing, "But the next day was as good as the first day,"

"What happened the next day?" I asked, urging her to continue the story.

"Vera, Sophia, and I went to the mall to get dresses for Vera's birthday party the next day because we didn't have anything appropriate to wear, and my uncle begged us to use his card because he didn't want us to use our own money."

"Okay" we all said

"The store we went to had really nice dresses, but the manager was an asshole," she said, a slight frown on her face.

"I'm not sure I like where this is going," Austin commented.

"After we picked out our dresses and went to pay, the Manager said we stole the card without any proof," Athena said, "and do you know what reason he gave when he made that accusation?"

"What did he say?" Austin questioned

"He said the card obviously didn't belong to us because of how we were dressed," Athena responded.

"Damn, that wrong on so many levels. Austin said with obvious disgust in his tone.

"We tried explaining that the card belonged to my uncle and that he could call him to confirm our story, but the guy wouldn't listen and called mall security on us."

"Son of a bitch," Austin said.

"Then security arrived and began questioning us, and the worst part was that one of them tried to tase me because I was very scared and tried to walk over to Sophia." Athena explained, and her face turned pale. I was absolutely livid; why would they threaten her with a taser when she was obviously no threat to them? They must have been so terrified.

But I wasn't surprised because law enforcement in New York was shitty, and bad cops did whatever they wanted, making the good cops look bad.

"Seriously! Why would he do something like that? That's a major blunder." Shane signed a shocked expression on his face; it must have surprised him that something like that happened because I did everything in my power to keep him out of situations like that.

"Yeah, little man, that was a really shitty move on his part, but thankfully, my uncle's guard, whom he had told to secretly follow us, called him, and Uncle Jerry put the manger in his place and got us out of there."

"My anger issues could never let him go, I would have punched him in the face." Austin commented.

"You and me both, Austin," I added

"Thankfully, we were able to get dresses for the party at another store," Athena said with a small smile, "then later that night after dinner we found out on the news that they were being charged with tax evasion because uncle Jerry aired the store's dirty laundry."

"That's great, but why do I have the feeling that's not the end of this story and it could get worse?" Austin asked as Athena's smile faded and was replaced by a nervous expression.

"I think we should order first, before I continue with the story," Athena said, motioning for the waitress to come over; after a few minutes, the waitress took our orders and walked away to give the cook our orders.

After a few minutes, the waitress returned and served each of us what we had ordered.

"Thank you, Jackie," Athena said, and the waitress Jackie smiled and said, "No need to thank me, Athena, Enjoy your meal kids it on the house" before walking away to attend to other customers.

Athena took a deep breath and continued speaking, "At the party, I got to meet one of my uncle's fighters, his name was Adam, and he was a cocky son of a bitch."

"I'm not going to like this," Austin said, and he wasn't wrong; I knew this wasn't going to end well, but a part of me hoped, no, prayed that it wasn't what I was thinking.

"He was nice at first, but I knew it was all an act, so I avoided him to the best of my ability, but I got overwhelmed at one point in time because Uncle Jerry had to introduce me to a lot of people, so I went to get some air, and he followed me."

"That sounds really shady," Shane said, frowning slightly.

"He came up to me and started saying a lot of rubbish about how he knew I wanted him and I was sending mixed signals, I told him I wasn't interested a couple of times" Athena explained, her face pale "Even after I said no, he still tried to force himself on me; somewhere along the line during our struggle, I managed to push him away, and that's when he became angry and began acting crazy,"

"I really want to kill this Adam guy, how the fuck will he try that in your uncle's house?" Austin asked, his tone confused, as if he was trying to figure out why he would do such a thing to Athena.

"Austin, get in line! What the Fuck!" I said, trying not to scare Shane or Athena, but it was so fucking hard to remain calm after hearing what she had just said, that asshole tried to assault her while she was vulnerable, what kind of man does that?

"Luckily, my uncle's friend Jackson walked in before he could try anything else, and I even had to stop him from beating the shit out of him."

"You should've let the Jackson guy hit Adam; he deserves it, and even more so for trying to hurt you." Shane signed, and I was pretty shocked to see such an angry expression on his face; Shane was a gentle soul who rarely got angry, so seeing such emotion was surprising.

"Jackson hitting Adam wouldn't have solved anything, it would've only gotten Jackson in trouble and I'm very sure that's what Adam would have wanted because at one point he was purposely aggravating him," Athena explained

"Honestly, that Jackson guy has more self-control than me; I would've beaten him to a pulp," Austin said angrily.

"So, instead of hitting him, what did he do?" I questioned.

"He threatened to tell my uncle Jerry, and it would seem that Adam was scared of him, so he ran away."

"You didn't tell your Uncle?" I asked confused as to why she didn't tell him that one of his wards had harassed her.

"No, I didn't want to ruin the party, so I made Jackson wait until I was ready to tell him myself."

"Is that all, Red, because it looks like there is more to this story?" Austin asked, his worried gaze fixed on her.

"Yeah, there's more," Athena said, avoiding our gaze as she fiddled with her fingers.

"We understand if you don't want to continue." I said this because she looked uneasy, and I didn't want her to push herself more than she already was.

"No, I need to finish because I'll regret it if I don't tell you guys; you're my friends, and you tell friends when you're hurting."

"All right, whenever you're ready," I said, giving her a small smile of encouragement.

"It's okay, Athena." Shane signed as he placed his hands on hers to comfort her.

"Thank you, Shane," Athena said as she raised her hands and kissed them, "I guess he was mad at me because he thought I told Jackson to file a doping charge against him to get back at him, so he sneaked me into my room and held me hostage."

"That motherfucker" Austin cursed,

"He started babbling and talking about how it was all my fault and how he was going to make me pay for ruining his career."

"Was he really taking drugs?" I asked because if he wasn't, that Jackson guy would have put her in danger for nothing.

"Yeah he was" she replied

"So what happened next? I hope he didn't hurt you" Shane signed his face worried

"No, Shane, he didn't; I was able to contact Sophia through my phone without him noticing."

"That's my girl," Austin said, his voice slightly raised, his previous angry expression replaced by a huge grin.

"So Jackson barged in trying to defuse the situation, but it didn't work, so my furious uncle followed and they both knocked Adam out, he was arrested and charged with sexual assault and drug abuse, and he's going to spend a long time in prison."

"That motherfucker deserves everything and more for even considering hurting you," Austin said as she drew Athena in for a hug and kissed her on the cheek, "good job Red, I'm so proud of you."

"Thank you Austin, I appreciate it," Athena said, tightening her hold around him, seeing her like this broke my heart, but I'm glad he won't be able to hurt her again, and that she trusted us enough to tell us about what happened to her,

"Good, he won't hurt you again." Shane signed with a smile on his face

"Yeah little man, he can't hurt her again, don't worry," I said, returning Shane's warm smile.

"Enough of the sad stories, let's eat and celebrate Shane getting justice," Athena said, pulling away from Austin with the biggest smile on her face.

I knew she was trying to be strong so we wouldn't worry, but she needs to know she has shoulders to cry on whenever she needs help or someone to talk to.

"Athena, you don't have to act like everything is fine all the time; anyone can be vulnerable, but just remember you have us and we're not going anywhere."

"I know guys, that's why I love you guys so freaking much," Athena said as she kissed Shane on the cheek, causing him to blush and all of us to laugh our butts off.

"That's embarrassing," Shane signed, causing Austin to lunge for him to try and give him another kiss on the cheek.

I couldn't help but smile as Shane signed "Don't even think about it, Austin." Trying to break free from Austin's bear hug, while Athena was also trying to get Austin off of him. We're not blood relatives, but these guys are the closest thing to family I've ever had, and I'd kill to keep them safe or die trying no one will ever hurt them.