11. Chapter 11
Chapter 11
Finn
I sat on a hard plastic chair in the reception area of the doctor’s office waiting for Tessa to come out.
She was fine. I was sure of it.
Regardless of how many times I told myself this, I wouldn’t believe it without a doctor’s confirmation. While I knew she likely had a concussion from the car accident, some part of me suspected there were other injuries she hadn’t wanted to mention…things he did to her.
I spent most of the weekend reining myself in from demanding to know her ex’s name. Judging from the way she initially reacted to me, the fact she was on the run, and the state she was in when I found her, she’d had enough of demanding men who thought she owed them something.
My fists clenched as I recalled the fear in her eyes that first night when she confessed the true cause of her nose injury. I’d seen more than my fair share of bullies over the years. When it came down to it, most wars started because someone thought they had the right to take what belonged to someone else. But picking on someone who was weaker than you, and who stood little chance of fighting back, was an act of pure cowardice in my book.
Jerking back to the present, I stared at the door leading to the exam rooms. What was taking so long? Something deep in my gut clenched as a thought occurred to me. What if she wasn’t okay? What if there was something I missed and that was why she’d been in with the doctor for so long? I didn’t stop to question why the thought caused me quite as much distress as it did before I strode over to the door. Hellbent on finding out for myself, I reached to open the door at the same time it swung inward, and Dr. Kelly ushered Tessa into the waiting room.
The doctor’s compassionate eyes met mine when she greeted me. “Hello, Finn. I haven’t seen you in a while. How have you been?”
I was too busy scanning Tessa, searching for injuries I may have missed, to respond. When I didn’t find anything obvious, I was finally able to exhale, and relief settled into my bones. I turned my attention to the doctor. “Hey, Doc. I’ve been good, thanks.”
Dr. Kelly smiled knowingly at me. She’d caught my protective perusal of Tessa. I shook my head, letting her know she had the wrong idea.
She said nothing, but her raised eyebrow and narrowed eyes told me she thought I was full of shit.
Dr. Kelly turned her attention back to Tessa before relaying her final instructions. “Make sure to keep that cut clean and covered with some antibiotic ointment to help prevent scarring.” She handed Tessa a small package I assumed contained the necessary supplies. “I put the preventative antibiotics in here. You need to take every pill, even if you feel fine. And swing by any clinic in about a week to have those stitches removed.”
My heart thumped hard in my chest at the reminder that Tessa wouldn’t be here when it was time for the stitches to be taken out.
The doctor moved toward the door before turning back to me. “Those were some spectacular stitches you put in her head, soldier. I don’t think I could have done it better myself,” she commended before disappearing through the doorway.
“Sailor,” I grumbled under my breath.
“What was that?” Tessa asked.
Not wanting to explain this town’s running joke of deliberately calling me ‘solider’ despite my service in the Navy, I shook my head. “Nothing,” I said. Turning toward her, I continued to assess her condition. “So, you got a clean bill of health?”
“Yep. She agreed with your assessment that I sustained a concussion when the airbag didn’t deploy. When I told her about my symptoms, she explained the concussion and the mild altitude sickness she suspected I experienced would account for all of it. According to her, it was a miracle I wasn’t in worse shape, all things considered,” she replied, averting her eyes.
Unable to shake the sense there was something she was leaving out, but taking the hint she didn’t want to discuss it, I changed the topic. “Alright. Well, I told my buddy where to find your car. He said he’d have it out of the ditch sometime today, and he’ll let us know if there’s any damage as soon as he has a chance to look it over.”
Her face drained of color at my words. “D-damage?” she stammered.
“Yeah,” I replied slowly, unsure why the idea it might need repairs seemed so surprising to her. “You hit the ditch pretty hard when you crashed. It might need some repairs before it’s drivable again.”
Tessa absorbed my words and nodded slowly. Her face failed to regain its normal color so I clarified, “Are you okay? Do you need me to get the doctor again?”
Seeming to pull herself out of whatever rabbit hole she disappeared down, she shook her head. “No. No, I’m fine.”
I studied her for a few moments before deciding to let her strange reaction go. “Alright, then. Are you ready to head home?”
“Okay,” she said faintly before we both turned to exit the office.
Tessa remained quiet during the ride home. When we arrived back at my place, she slid out of my truck without a word before making her way to her room.
I watched her disappear through the garage door, confused about the shift in her demeanor. She was fine when she came out of her appointment. Looking at the passenger seat where she sat only moments before, I saw the small white package of supplies the doctor gave her sitting on the leather seat.
Grabbing the package, I headed inside and let Luka out to run around for a while. For some reason, the dog loved to play in the snow, and was known to spend hours outside when the weather permitted.
Walking down the hallway and stopping at her door, I knocked, listening for any sounds from inside. Hearing nothing, I knocked again, pressing my ear close to the door. Worst case scenarios began racing through my mind. Did she trip and hit her head? What if she was passed out on the floor? With that last thought, I opened the door and peeked inside.
“Tessa?” Looking around her room for signs of distress and finding none, I entered the room to look for her. The light from the bathroom caught my attention, and drew me toward the open door.
“Hey, Tessa? You forgot your…” My sentence trailed off when I took in the sight before me.
Tessa stood in front of the bathroom mirror. Having already removed her shirt and pants, she still wore her undergarments. I should have been drawn to the sight of the beautiful woman, but my brain couldn’t look beyond the marks on her body. Bruises. Large welts of varying shades and sizes covered almost every square inch of her torso. My mind raced while I tried to rationalize what I was seeing. As hard as I tried, I kept coming back to the same conclusion.
These marks weren’t from any car accident. They were from him .
My eyes narrowed while I continued to scan her body before moving to her arms. Spotting the finger shaped bruises across her bicep, my fists clenched, the package of supplies I still held crinkling beneath my grip. My teeth ground together when I saw the grip marks scattered across her thighs.
That. Fucking. Bastard.
I had taken a lot of lives during my time in the Navy. Over the years, I’d known several men who liked to claim their kill count was too high to keep track of. I was never one of those guys. I knew exactly how many lives I’d taken over the course of my life, and fully believed one day I would pay for it with my soul. And I was okay with that. I knew I deserved it. But in that moment, I was prepared to do whatever it took to drag the bastard straight to hell with me. To flay the flesh from his bones and teach him what it meant to pick on someone his own size.
Tessa’s startled gasp brought me back to the present. I met her watery gaze in the mirror.
It took three hard swallows before I got the words out. When I did, they sounded as though I swallowed gravel.
“Those marks aren’t from any car accident, Tessa.”
The fear in her eyes was obvious as I pushed. “He did that to you.” It wasn’t a question. I knew the answer, and she didn’t bother denying it.
The overwhelming desire to comfort her nearly stole the breath from my lungs. My feet carried me toward her of their own volition. I moved slowly, ensuring she had ample time to escape if she so desired.
Standing behind her, so close I could feel the heat from her body radiating from her skin, we stared at each other through the mirror. Her fear was gone and its place all I could see was shame. That was unacceptable.
“Don’t,” I grated out. “Don’t you dare be ashamed of what that coward did,” I demanded. “This was not your fault, Tessa. There is nothing you could have done to deserve this. So don’t you dare take on his sin as your own.”
Her eyes searched mine, and I made sure she saw the truth of my words reflected there.
I slowly raised my hand and held it just over the top of her shoulder while studying her face and silently asking for permission.
Her nod was so miniscule I would have missed it had I not been studying her so intently.
I caressed my fingertips along her marked skin. My hand grazed over her shoulder and down her bicep as goosebumps broke out across her flesh. I gently lifted her arm and brought my mouth close to the finger-shaped bruises there.
My eyes never left hers, watching for signs of discomfort or a desire for me to stop. I held my lips above her skin, silently requesting permission once again. She granted it, and my lips feathered over the marks left in anger.
She whimpered, but not from pain. The fear and shame were long gone, and in its place, I saw something resembling desire mixed with confusion. Continuing my exploration of her skin with my lips, I kissed my way back up her arm and across her shoulders before raising her other arm and providing the matching bruises with the same treatment. Labored breathing turned ragged during my perusal, and her breasts heaved within the confines of her bra. Pupils that were blown wide clocked every touch while she gnawed on the lower lip held captive between her teeth. God, she truly was spectacular.
I raised my head and met her gaze once more as I gathered her hair in one hand and draped it across the left side of her graceful neck.
“You are beautiful, Tessa. I don’t say things I don’t mean, so hear me when I say this. You are the most stunning woman I have ever seen in my life. You deserve to be worshipped, and any man who falls short of that doesn’t deserve to breathe the same air as you.”
The breath she held while I spoke escaped at my statement, and I saw the battle raging behind her eyes to believe what I said. She wasn’t there yet. That was okay. One day, she would be.
The reality of what I just did crashed into me, and I drew back. Even if she wanted what I was doing right now, she was on the run from an abusive ex and needed time to process everything she survived. And I sure as hell wasn’t going to be the asshole that preyed upon a vulnerable woman.
I brought my arm around her and set the package of supplies on the counter next to her hand. “You forgot these in the truck. I thought you might need them,” I murmured, frowning at the mangled packaging my grip left behind. “Sorry they’re a bit crushed.”
Her eyebrows furrowed, and I saw her confusion as I slowly backed away before turning and forcing myself to shut the bathroom door behind me.