12. Chapter 12
Chapter 12
Stepping from the shower, I rubbed my body roughly with a towel to dry off before slinging on some black basketball shorts and a matching tank top.
All the while cursing my dirty fucking mind. When Mallori had been on her knees, tending to the scrapes on my legs, my mind wandered to the most forbidden of places, and I didn’t even know why. She wasn’t the typical type of woman I was attracted to. Not even remotely.
She was tenderhearted and kind, as evidenced by the extreme care she took not to hurt me. And so goddamn sweet my teeth ached. That’s what made my errant thoughts even worse. I’d wanted to pull out my cock and stuff it in that sweet mouth of hers.
Nope, not gonna happen, man. Never.
Cam had said she could move in with them after a week, which was only two days away. I could keep my filthy paws off her for that long, right? Of course I could. I was a master of control when it came to my body .
Heading down the hallway, I found Mal carrying plates to the table in the breakfast nook. “Want me to get the food?” I offered, and she nodded.
“Sure. Don’t forget the salad.”
Smartass.
Once seated, I dug into my salad first since she’d gone to the trouble to make it. “This is pretty good,” I said, munching on a slice of cucumber. “What kind of dressing did you use?”
Mal beamed. “It’s homemade Italian. I’ve never made it before, but I found the recipe on TikTok. You really like it?”
“Yeah, Little Bee. I like it,” I told her honestly.
Her teeth bit into her full bottom lip as she tried to hide her smile. “I’m glad.”
“What did you do today?”
The change in her posture was evident immediately, her shoulders managing to tighten and droop at the same time. “I talked to my mother.”
“And that’s a bad thing?”
“It’s an exhausting thing.” She poked at her lasagna a few times, absently, as if trying to determine how much she wanted to share.
“You don’t have to talk about it,” I told her quietly.
Her head lifted and tilted to the side, aqua eyes meeting mine. “How much do you know about enmeshed families?”
The remark surprised me, and I paused with a hunk of lettuce halfway to my mouth. “I’ve heard of it, but I don’t know any details.”
Mallori’s lips rolled in, and then she puffed out a sigh. “If I tell you something, will you promise not to tell Cam? Or anyone?”
Those pretty eyes pleaded with me, and I placed my fork down and rested my forearms on the table, leaning toward her. “I won’t say anything.”
She blinked rapidly a few times before speaking. “Simply put, enmeshed families lack boundaries. It’s emotionally dysfunctional and unhealthy.”
“And you have that kind of relationship with your parents?”
“Just with my mom. My dad worked overseas a lot and only came home a few times a year for a couple weeks at a time.”
“So it was just you and your mother?”
Mal nodded. “She homeschooled me so I would have time for more intensive dance training. That limited my social interactions and only made the enmeshment deeper. I depended on her for everything.”
I was genuinely curious about what she’d gone through. “How is it different from a normal mother and daughter who are close?”
“The guilt,” she whispered, pinching her lips together. Remaining silent, I allowed her time to tell her story. “My mother was a ballerina, but her career was cut short when she got pregnant with me. She enrolled me in dance when I was very young, and I loved it. I wanted to dance all the time.”
She jabbed a tomato and popped it in her mouth, chewing slowly before continuing. “Not to brag, but I was good. Really good. I was deemed a ballet prodigy.”
“Did you get burned out or something?”
Her blonde head shook back and forth. “No, I enjoyed dancing, until…” She swallowed hard. “Something happened last year that spoiled it all. My mother didn’t take my side, and it pissed me off.”
“What happened? ”
Her eyes shifted to a spot over my shoulder. “I don’t want to get into that, but it broke something inside me.” Her voice went raspy, and I hoped to hell she wouldn’t cry. “When she punished me, I started to see things more clearly. It’s like the walls that were blinding me finally came down, and I saw what she was doing was wrong.”
One word flashed like a neon sign in my brain. “Punished you, how?”
Mallori nibbled on the corner of her lip, staring speculatively at me. “You’re not going to tell Cam?”
“Bee, whatever you tell me is just between you and me.”
The gentle force of my tone must have convinced her because she blurted out, “She locked me in my home dance studio until my dad got home.”
“For an entire day?” I questioned, feeling my blood begin to boil.
“For five weeks,” she replied, lifting an eyebrow.
The boiling turned into molten lava, and my voice strained with the urge to yell. Instead, it was deceptively quiet. “She locked you in a fucking room for five weeks?”
“Yep.”
“What did your dad say about that?”
Her eyes dropped to her plate. “I didn’t tell him. He would go thermonuclear, and that’s not good for his heart.” She raised her gaze back to mine. “My dad is a sweetheart and one of my favorite people in the world. I’d never want to hurt him.”
“So you allowed yourself to be hurt instead?” That came out snappier than I’d intended, and Mal lifted one shoulder .
“I know it sounds stupid, but she just… I don’t know how to explain it. I was in too deep. But I had a lot of time to think, and I started to see that our relationship was flawed.”
Flawed? It was completely fucked up. “So how did you start pulling away? I mean, you moved here. I have to assume she wasn’t happy about that.”
“She’s not happy at all about it, but my father stood up for me when I told him my plans.” Mal picked up a sliver of carrot with her fingers and nibbled on it. “After everything that happened that night and then her getting mad at me about it, I felt like my studio was a prison for the first time in my life.”
I still wanted to know what had happened to her that had started this conflict, but I didn’t want to push her. Jesus, she must have felt so trapped inside her own home with her own mother.
Reading between the lines, I said, “So you decided not to dance as a fuck you to your mother?”
A subtle smile crested her lips, and she bobbed her head up and down. “Exactly. That was the best way I knew how to punish her back. Plus, dancing was kind of spoiled for me at that point.”
“I’m sorry, Bee. No one should be treated like that.”
“You’re right. I started looking up stuff on the internet—she let me keep my phone because my dad would be suspicious if he didn’t hear from me for more than a few days—and I found a bunch of stuff on enmeshed families. One of the sites had a link to a counseling center where you could message or talk to someone for free.”
“Did that help?”
Her smile was wide and genuine. “So much. My counselor is Merrit, and she’s a tough-as-nails sweetheart. ”
“You’re pretty tough yourself, Mallori,” I told her. I’m not sure I’d ever spoken words as true as those. “That couldn’t have been easy… breaking those bonds and standing up for yourself.”
“It wasn’t,” she said with a sigh. “I still get hit with guilt sometimes, but I’m learning to get over it.”
“Good.” A thought hit me. “I don’t want you to think I’m judging you for your choices because I’m not, but I have a question.”
“Shoot.”
“If you had your phone, why didn’t you call the police and turn your mother in for holding you against your will?”
Her lips twisted to the side. “A couple of reasons. First of all, I knew my dad would find out. Also, I had a lot of time to myself, and I used that time to think about what I really wanted and to plan.”
“Understandable.”
“I didn’t even tell Merrit the whole story until much later. I felt a sense of… contentment those five weeks, I guess, because I was finally doing something for myself.”
“I’m glad, Bee. Now eat,” I demanded, picking up my fork and pointing at her plate.
“Sorry I unloaded all that on you,” she remarked before taking a large bite of her lasagna.
“Not a problem. Anytime.”
She chewed and tilted her head again, her blonde braided ponytail falling over one shoulder. “You can tell me something, if you like.”
Picking up my glass of tea, I took a sip and eyed her over the rim. “I almost went to juvie when I was seventeen.”
“Ah, I had you pegged as a troublemaker,” she teased. “What happened? Joyriding? ”
My right hand clenched my fork so hard, it left dents in the sides of my fingers as I told her something I’d never told another person. “Assault.”
Mallori swallowed hard, but I saw no judgment in her eyes. “Did they deserve it?”
A little in awe at her response, I answered, “They did. And for the record, my mother didn’t stand up for me either.”
The sides of her lips turned down. “I’m sorry. I guess we have that in common, huh?”
“I guess we do,” I murmured.
After dinner, I helped Mallori clean the dishes and then dipped out for a few minutes.
“Where did you go?” Mallori asked when I entered the kitchen through the garage.
“I ran to Walmart for dessert.”
Her eyes sparkled with excitement as she reached for the bags, but I held them over my head.
“Ah, ah! Get your grubby hands off the merch. I didn’t say you could have any.”
She slugged me in the arm. “That’s mean, Tater.”
“Don’t call me that,” I insisted, placing the groceries on the counter, “or you’re not getting any for real.”
Crossing her arms over her chest, she rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “Fine, Hawk . What did you get? ”
“Well, you’ve had an ice cream sundae now, but I thought I would introduce you to the granddaddy of sundaes.” I paused dramatically as I unloaded a bunch of bananas and several jars from the white plastic bags. “How would you like to make banana splits?”
Her mouth dropped open, and she hopped up and down a couple times. “For real?”
“I even got these,” I told her, pulling out two long glass dishes I’d found in the kitchen department.
“Ohh, those are fancy!” she exclaimed, and my chest swelled at her excitement. At the fact that I’d brought some joy to her complicated life.
Ten minutes later, we were seated on barstools, eating our treats. “I can’t believe you used chocolate ice cream,” Mal informed me. “You’re supposed to use vanilla in a banana split.”
“Shut your ice cream hole, rookie. You have no idea what you’re talking about. Here, taste.” I scooped up a big bite and held it out for her. She rolled the ice cream topped with caramel, whipped cream, and a slice of banana around in her mouth, letting out a soft moan.
“Mmm, okay. That’s pretty damn good.” She dipped her head in deference. “I bow to your superior sundae-making skills, sir.”
Not wanting to dwell too much on that last word, I brushed it away like a pesky fly and grinned. “Don’t fuck with the master.”
“I might have both next time. I need some vanilla because this pineapple topping would be gross on chocolate ice cream.” She held up a bite to my lips, and I ate it from her spoon. Feeding each other seemed weirdly intimate, but I didn’t hate it.
“Good observation. You’re learning, grasshopper. ”
She giggled before her face turned serious. “I wanted to dance today.” Her eyes searched mine for a reaction.
“Did you want to dance for yourself or for someone else?”
“For me.” She closed her eyes, her face turning dreamy. “I wanted to turn on some music and just move. I’ve missed it.”
“Then do it, Little Bee. As long as it’s what you want. I’ve already told you that you can use the workout room.”
When she opened her eyes, her smile was radiant. “I think I will. Thank you. I need to get back in shape because I was thinking of trying to find some studio space to rent so I could teach a few private lessons a week. You know, get some money for food and stuff.”
“Sounds like a good plan,” I commented.
We finished our desserts, and as we were standing side by side at the sink, my doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it,” I said, drying my hands and heading for the front door. Who the hell could be here at almost nine o’clock at night? I unlocked and swung open the door to find Cam standing on my doorstep.
“Hey, Hawk.”
“Wassup, man?” I asked standing back to let him in.
He huffed out a sigh as he entered. “Need to talk to Mal.”
As if summoned, she appeared in the living room, her face lighting up when she saw who our visitor was. She skipped across the room and straight into his arms. Cam kissed her cheek and squeezed her. It was obvious they adored each other.
Stepping back and holding her shoulders, he said, “Come sit down. I wanted to talk to you about something.”
“Sounds serious,” she said as they sat on the couch. I took the recliner and relaxed back into the smooth leather .
“It is. My dad found mold in the walls of our house.”
“Oh shit,” she muttered.
“Yeah. We’re having to move into the pool house till they can get it all cleaned up. It’s a fucking mess.” He paused. “The pool house is pretty small. Bella is going to have to sleep with us for a while. Shiloh and I talked, and we can have another bed put in for you, or we can put you up in a hotel so you won’t feel cramped. We’ll pay for it, of course.”
I could see the sag of her shoulders and the droop of her face. “No, I couldn’t let you do that.” She gnawed on her thumbnail, processing what her cousin had told her. “I can move back home. School doesn’t start until August. I just came early to get acclimated.”
And to get away from her mother. She hadn’t specifically told me that, but from our conversation earlier, I knew it for a fact.
Cam took her hand. “Mal, I really want you to stay here in Texas. You’ll be so busy once school starts, and we all want to spend time with you. Let us get you a hotel room.”
The smile she forced onto her face was the bravest gesture I’d ever seen in my life. “No, it’s fine. No big deal.”
But I knew it was. A huge fucking deal. It pissed me off that her goddamn mother would probably gloat, filling Mallori’s head with I told you so s and a bunch of other bullshit.
She continued, that forced smile still on her lips. “I mean, it’s fine. I haven’t even looked for a job yet, so it’s not like I’ll be letting anyone down.”
Except for yourself, Little Bee.
Without thinking, I blurted out, “Stay here.” Two heads swiveled in my direction, equal looks of shock on their faces. “I have plenty of room, and this way you can be closer to this asshole,” I said, pointing at Cam.
He grinned at the slight, though he flipped me off before turning back to his cousin.
“That’s a good idea. You’ll have your own room and be more comfortable than being crammed in with us. Plus, I think I have a job for you. Journey, our assistant at the office, is expecting a baby with her wife, Lynn. She’ll be going on maternity leave next week, and we need someone to do administrative duties for a couple months.”
“I-I don’t know. I’ve never worked in security.” Mal dragged a finger over her lips. “I did work a couple days a week at the construction office with Dad one summer. Then I had to quit because—” She cut herself off, but when my eyes met Cam’s, I could tell we had the same thought.
Her mother made her quit. Fuck.
“You can do it,” I encouraged. “Journey will be there for another week and can show you the ropes. It’s not hard. And anything you don’t know, just ask one of us.”
I really didn’t want her to leave, which was strange because a few hours ago, I couldn’t wait to get her out of my house. And now she’d be staying here for god knows how long.
But she would be safe, and she wouldn’t be abused in any way. I’d make damn sure of that.