Heavenly Virtues

Part 30

"Ye got ereytin' love?" Murphy asked as he walked around the room with a slight limp, still sore from the accident. "Yes Murph, for the millionth time, yes I have everything." Murphy threw her small bag over his shoulder as Connor wrapped his arm firmly around her waist. "I'm okay Connor, I can walk by myself." She said with a slight giggle.

He nuzzled his face into her hair "maybe I jus' like holdin ya lass." He pulled away and kissed the top of her head. Mary stopped them as they passed the nurses station. "Here! I printed off some at home care instructions for you, and don't forget to come back in two weeks for a check up."

Murphy took the printed sheets from Mary and thanked her "Oh, we'll make sure she's taken care o', don' ye worry." He said with a smirk. Mary rolled her eyes and shook her head with a smile "I'm sure you two will."

With that Murphy stuffed the instructions into the bag and interlocked his fingers with hers on the side Connor wasn't occupying. "Come on love, Roc's waitin down stairs." In the car on the way home it was pretty quiet. Ashley was lost in her jumbled thoughts of the last time she was there, barely taking in the city as she neared the apartment.

When they pulled up out front, Ashley's chest tightened. She looked beside her to see Murph had already left the car and was now opening the door for her on her side of the car. She cleared her throat as she stepped out with the help of Murphy. Her granda was waiting outside the pub and wrapped her in a semi tight embrace, careful not to hurt her.

He led the four inside to the awaiting crowd, the pub erupted with cheers as the air was filled with happy rantings of drunk patrons all telling Ashley how happy they were she was okay. The already tight band around her chest tightened some more as her anxiety grew. She braved through giving smiles and light hugs to the people greeting her, turning down drinks offered to her because of the painkillers she was on.

She quickly made her escape from the crowd, to the stairs to her apartment. The three guys were still downstairs making there way through the crowd as Ashley let herself in. Her eyes scanned the room as soon as the door swung open. Nothing really looked out of place.

The bed remade, no evidence of what happened there. She touched the fresh sheets, standing at the foot of the bed. Flashes of his hands exploring her body, grabbing and groping parts of her that weren't meant for him. Him trying to lay some sort of claim over her body. Her ears were filled with ringing as her eyes slipped down to the stained pool of blood on the hardwood floor.

She gasped and flinched away, turning ready to fight who had touched her when her eyes met Connor's concern filled eyes, she hadnt even heard them come in. Her breathing was heavy as her eyes flitted over his shoulder to see the same look in Rocco and Murphy's eyes. "What?" She asked them as their stares stayed trained on her. "Sweetheart, maybe ye wanna sit down?" He asked, gesturing to the table.

She ran a shaky hand through her hair and shook her head "no I'm fine." She looked between the three feeling a heat in her cheeks, not the cute kind, but the hot, fierce, angry kind. "I mean it I'm fine." She said sternly. "Love-" Murphy dropped her bag by the door and moved to get closer to her before she cut him off. "No! Stop treating me like I'm this fragile thing that's gonna break if you look at me the wrong way, or if you hug me too tight." Her breathing stayed heavy as her gaze grew tense over the three.

"What happened, happened. It's over now and we're fine. We're all fine and alive. That's what matters." She could see the anger in Murphy's eyes as he tried to reign it in, Connor's worried eyes never changing and Rocco looking guilty still hanging in the door way. "What?" She focused in on Murphy, something obviously on his mind.

"Roc told us how he found ye!" Her eyes flicked over to Rocco who was unable to meet her eyes before listening to Murphy finish his tyrant. "All naked, and marked up and shit!" The fury in her voice matched his as she got defensive. "So?! That doesn't mean anything, Murph! God!" Connor spoke up, his voice soft and controlled. "Tha doc told us.. there were signs tha ye had been... violated."