Chapter XII Working Dog （Brady） #2
I raise her hand softly to my lips and kiss her knuckles. It’s all I can do to keep my yap shut.
I’m dreading the rest of this, but I have to know.
This isn’t the kind of story that ends well. I just need her to know I’m with her as she walks me through it.
“We were just kids, even if he was a couple years older. I always thought he was brash. One of the popular boys who liked to party. At first, he had a little depth. But he was always hanging out around my mom’s ice cream shop in the summer with his friends.
Right when I’d take the night shift.” She takes a deep breath.
“Easy,” I murmur. “Take your time.”
“It just happened, I guess. He seemed bright, and he made me laugh. He always tipped ludicrously well. Plus, he had a sweet tooth—what bad guy has a sweet tooth?”
“The real sickos,” I growl.
She almost smiles.
“Anyway, yeah, when he finally asked me out, of course I said yes. It was just . . . so much. Our first few days, he spent so much money on me. I was shocked because I didn’t have much growing up. My parents didn’t either. We were always on thin ice, just trying to get by.”
I can’t relate.
But I don’t need to in order to understand that life is hard without money, and we never choose how much we start with.
“It was a whirlwind. The first few months were magical, as cheesy as that sounds,” she whispers. “Like a movie, almost. I didn’t know how I got so lucky. He made me feel small with his money, his mind, and all the folks who knew him.”
Jealousy stabs my heart.
I pull her closer, into my arms.
“When did it go bad? I’ve heard of this before, and the guys who go hard from the start always turn.”
She nods. “Yeah. I mean, it was overwhelming for the first year or so. Coffee dates, museums, fancy dinners. His parents even had a—a large boat.”
The way she says the words immediately put me on edge.
It also clears some things up for me.
Like why my assets make her leery. Knowing she’s been ruined by one rich cock who tore her up and tossed her away like nothing.
“Clueless girl that I was, I fell so hard,” she says.
“Faster than I’ve ever fallen in my life.
When he started turning, like you say, it was easy to lie to myself.
It’s hard to spot the asshole if you think there’s just sunshine up his butt.
” Her smile slips. “I was a kid, really. I didn’t know any better.
So, when he started to show his temper, when he’d yell at me, I just . . .”
I jerk her closer, pinning her to my chest. I’ll hold her all damn night if that’s what she needs to collect her thoughts.
But a minute later, she looks at me again, her smile so broken now.
“I folded. I never should’ve done it, I know that now.
But I’d let him throw tantrums, telling myself he was just stressed.
Nothing a little therapy couldn’t cure, someday.
And when he’d throw my stuff around and break my dishes, he’d apologize later, and I thought his cooler side would win out. God, I was stupid.”
“We all make mistakes.”
“My biggest weakness was the way I would’ve done anything for him. And he knew that. He took advantage of it, he—” She chokes off.
“Hey, hey.” I rub her arms, slowly and gently, feeling the way the tension drains from her. “It’s okay, take your time.”
“Everyone should know what a scumbag he is.”
“Then I’ll broadcast it nationwide.” When she doesn’t smile, I kiss the top of her head. “Kidding. I won’t say a word unless you want me to. How long were you with him?”
“Too long. Between him sweeping me off my feet and me believing every lie, he had me wrapped around his finger even when things started to suck. I thought we’d get married one day and find a place of our own.
All the fairy tales a young girl wants to believe.
When you only have that growing up, you don’t know you’re with an abuser until he’s crushing you. Silly, I know.”
“It’s really not. You think the only people who believe in smoke and mirrors come from—what did you call it?
Folks just getting by?” It’s an effort not to brush my knuckles across her cheek.
“It’s what we all want, Lena, rich or poor.
A universal fantasy we’ll pay a seriously fucked-up price to have. ”
The older I get, the more I see it, because that’s what I want.
Not to be trapped in a never-ending media circus I have to fight and claw my way out of.
“The next part is the worst.” She clears her throat. “Please don’t say anything until I’m done?”
“Sure,” I promise.
“It happened on his boat, and it was the final straw.” Her voice is distant. “Harry was kinda depraved. He always wanted me to let him film us while we were—you know.”
I hate that I do.
And the knot of fury in my chest snowballs when I hear it.
Tearing that asshole’s suit jacket wasn’t nearly far enough. I should have busted his head open.
“At the time, I didn’t think much of it, not at first.” Her eyes are glassy, staring at the floor like she can’t bear to face me.
Like I’ll judge her for what happened.
I have to bite my lip to avoid interrupting.
“I just wanted to make him happy. But then he went cold. He took a trip to Florida, and he was barely answering my texts. Then the boys on campus started staring at me. Laughing behind my back. Deep down, I knew, even though I didn’t.”
Oh.
Oh shit.
I clench my fists so hard my knuckles pop.
“About a week passed with radio silence from him. They started calling me ‘boat brat’ when they’d whisper, and—it wasn’t hard to go home and type it in.” Her voice hitches, head dipping as she struggles to breathe through it.
I wrap my arms around her, choking back everything I want to say.
Not right now.
She needs space to speak and feel like she can tell her story.
“Turns out, he had a porn account. Photos and videos of me. And other girls too. Always Harry with a new woman, all recent. New ones I guess he moved on with, if he wasn’t with them behind my back.” She presses a hand to her cheek. “It was vile.”
My next breath feels so fucking hot it scares me.
Touching her. That’s the only reason I don’t erupt.
I close my eyes, pressing a kiss to her temple. She’s sitting with her back to my chest now, and I think it’s better this way, even if I want to see her face, to caress her and kiss her so hard she forgets that backstabbing fuck.
But right now, Lena doesn’t want me to see, and I can respect that.
She idly brushes my thigh, and I force myself to relax.
“I’m okay now,” she whispers.
“Go on.” I sound like I’ve been gargling nails. “What did you do?”
“Cried, obviously. Felt like I’d never stop. Finally, I confronted him when he got back, and I told him to take it down, and he just . . . he refused. For months. I threatened to get a lawyer, but I didn’t have the money or the time. He called me on my bluff.”
I tighten my hold on her waist. She touches her hand against mine, linking our fingers.
“He took them down eventually, just in time for his graduation. I suppose he wanted to clean up his image for future employers. God knows he never cared about mine.”
I’m frozen in my seat, knowing there’s a good chance I’m going to wind up a murderer.
“But then these assholes kept calling, and then a few of them showed up in person. Stalker porn freaks from the internet who somehow put my name and face to the videos. Wanting to know if I’d treat them the same as Harry.
They wanted to pay me like a high-class escort.
Called me ‘boat brat’ in front of my mom.
It got so bad—the drama, the visits, all of it—that she closed her ice cream stand and moved away. ”
“Holy shit. It cost your mom her business?” My nostrils flare.
“That was the worst. Raven Swirl was a seasonal thing for extra cash, but she poured her heart and soul into it. She’d built up a nice local following, too, and we were getting more tourists every summer from word of mouth.
” She sighs. “Mom never asked for much—just a happy place to churn fresh flavors in the morning and smiling kids with sticky faces at sunset. Her Rainier cherry ripple flavor made people cry, Brady. She was living the dream, and I’m the idiot who went and blew it up. ”
I’m breathing raw fury down her neck.
“I hope you know,” I whisper against her skin. “I hope you know that what those bastards did to you and your mom is scum-of-the-earth, snake shit. And there’s no way—no fucking way—I’ll let that man hurt you again.”
She twists around in my arms until her nose almost brushes mine. Her eyes sparkle, wet with tears she tries to hold back.
“How many times have I told you? This isn’t your fight. Don’t defend me.”
“Sass, I don’t care if I have to plunk down ten times your check to keep that damn clinic out of his hands.”
The corner of a smile touches her mouth, brightening the pain shadowing her eyes.
“It won’t come to that,” she insists.
“I don’t care if it does. If it does, I’m game. Whatever it takes. What he did is revenge porn. That’s inhuman, and it’s also fucking illegal. A goddamn invasion.”
“Believe me, I know.” She touches my face, a line between her brows forming. “I know.”
“Good.”
“But you know what’s weird?”
I stare at her, waiting.
“I feel safe with you. Even with the growly threats you can’t act on.” Her fingers trace my jaw. The contact feels like being branded. The sweetest agony. “Which is pretty ironic, knowing this is fake.”
“Fake?” I huff a breath and adjust her so she’s straddling my lap. “Trust me, woman, this is as real as it can get.”
And then I prove it, bringing her mouth to mine with bedlam in my lips.