Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Raine
Hours passed by, so many of them I was beginning to worry. Lake ended up showing me to Dane’s room so I could sleep. Not that I could, or I thought I wouldn’t be able to. All I kept thinking about was the way Dane’s brothers acted when I told them about dreaming of him.
Then I started to question if that was normal. Could mates do that? Could they visit dreams? I never thought to ask my parents about it.
Finally, I settle down, my arms going around one of Dane’s pillows, and hold it to my front while I stare blankly into the dark, doing my best to find sleep. Only it doesn’t come to me. Not right away, at least. My mind wouldn’t allow me the pleasantry of sleeping. It’s why I knew when the door opened and he walked in. The door closes behind him just as softly. Dane doesn’t say anything. And I don’t move. I simply listen to him come closer to me.
There’s a shuffle of clothes. A boot thud, then another as he takes them off his feet. The bed sinks beneath his weight, and suddenly, I find myself drawn into his arms, his much larger body conforming to my smaller one.
“I know you’re not asleep, Raine,” he mutters, his breath tickling my neck.
“Can’t sleep,” I tell him. No reason to lie or hide it.
“Wanna talk about what’s spinning around in your head?”
No really.
I don’t bother answering him. I sigh and settle deeper into his arms, liking the warmth of him at my back. It’s nice. I’ve never felt it before.
“Sorry it took me so long to get back to you.”
“You don’t have to apologize.”
“Yeah, I do. I didn’t handle things right with you, and I told myself that I would make sure to be gentle with you. That I wouldn’t go off and be an ass toward you in any way, shape or form.”
That’s sweet, but it’s not him. I can tell. I’m sure he could be sweet and gentle if he wants to be, though if he can’t be the real him with me then how can the two of us truly go from here.
Rolling in his arms, I twist to face him, curling my fingers into fists against his bare chest. I tilt my head slightly back to see his face in the dark and murmur quietly, “That’s not you.”
“What’s not me?”
Even in the darkness of the room, I could see the outline of his face, the way his brows crease slightly. I also could hear the edge of confusion.
“You.”
“What about me?”
“You aren’t the type to be sweet and gentle constantly. If you were, you wouldn’t be who you are.”
“And who’s that?”
“A shifter who’s also a biker. If you were sweet and gentle all the time, you’d be out in the fields dancing around picking daisies, not losing your mind over something you heard or saw.”
Dane tosses his head back and bursts out laughing. “Dancing around picking daisies. Oh shit, dolcezza , that shit’s funny.”
“I’m only telling the truth.”
“Yeah, well, that shit’s still funny.”
“Whatever. ”
“Not whatever,” Dane says soberly, a hand sliding up my spine into my hair tangling itself in the strands. “You’ve been through hell, baby. I won’t try to run you off right away.”
“I’m not a delicate flower that needs to be watched closely. I need to be able to take care of myself. But you also have to understand that as well. I can handle myself.”
“You might be able to handle yourself, baby, but that don’t mean I’m not going to protect you, so you don’t have to do anything other than be who you are.”
Sighing, I unfist my hands and plant them against his chest, eyes going to little slits. I’m sure he can see this as he’s a freaking shifter, and they have excellent vision. Me, not really. It was typical, though, I’m technically supposed to be wearing glasses. I just don’t unless I’m reading.
“Whatever.”
“I want you to tell me about what happened with your ex. Why you ran from him.”
“Who says I ran?” I ask, my heart nearly leaping in my chest. I hadn’t said anything about running from him. I said I’d left him. There was nothing about running involved, which is a total lie.
“Raine, I’m good at reading between the lines. What happened?” His soothing voice gets to me .
Damnit.
Of course, he could read between the lines.
Thankfully, neither my parents nor brother questioned me about my ending things with Brady when I moved back home. They left it alone.
“I don’t want to talk about this.”
“Gonna have to know what you went through.”
“Why?”
“So, I know whether or not I kill him slowly or quickly,” he states.
I thought for a split second he was joking, but a part of me knows he’s not, which freaks me out in a whole lot of ways.
“You can’t just kill my ex because you want to, Dane.” I shift up onto an elbow, then into a sitting position, ready to argue my point if I have to. He could get in trouble if . . .
“Baby, one of the reasons it took me so long to come find you is my brothers and me were going over information we’ve got on Contreras. He’s not a good dude. Not in any way. So, let me rephrase my statement. I need to know whether or not I’m killing him slow and painful or painfully slow.”
“There’s a difference?” I blurt as Dane shifts up, twists, and turns on a light.
“Yeah, there’s a difference,” he grunts. A grin tugging at his lips as I blink my eyes, adjusting to the brightness, even if it was a dim light. I’d been lying in the dark room for a while, so it took me a moment.
“And that would be?” There shouldn’t be a difference, but then again, what do I know? It seems there’s not much of this world I really know anything about.
“That’s something you don’t need to worry about knowing, Raine. Just know that Contreras won’t be getting away with what he did. Just depends on the extent of what you tell me. And you might as well tell me the truth and not hide anything. I’ll know if you do.”
“What if I don’t want to share with you?” It’s not like what happened with Brady was any of his business.
Dane’s eyes flash, and his arm shoots out, hand curling around my neck. Not in a harmful way, but still, it gets my attention. “Raine, you don’t tell me, then when I get my hands on Contreras, I’ll still find out, and when I do, I can’t be responsible for what I do because I might just end up losing my goddamn mind on him.”
My lips part, and Dane’s eyes watch as they do so. I could see in his eyes his wolf was close to the surface. I realize it’s best if I give him the answers he wants me to give him.
“In the beginning, it had been great. He was sweet, charming. He worked at getting me to go on a date with him. After a while, he started changing things up. At first, I didn’t think anything of it. He would make snide comments about my friends. He preferred me to stay away from them, spend more time with him. In the end, I didn’t have any friends, and I was with him anytime I wasn’t working. He knew my whereabouts and who all I talked to. The only times he would speak sweetly was whenever my parents or Bandit were around.”
“Did he know they were shifters?”
“No. I never told him. I figured he’d think I was crazy. Maybe I should have so he’d end things with me, but I didn’t.”
“Right,” Dane grunts, letting my neck go.
I take a breath and finish giving him what he wants to know, but I do this without looking at him. “It got to the point he’d start hurting me. He’d slap me and ridicule my every move. I couldn’t wear something without him putting his opinion in on it. Or him telling me to go change. It was to the point I was scared to wear whatever I picked out because I knew he’d hit me.” It was all I could do to ignore Dane’s growling at my admission to being hit. “A couple months ago, it got worse, though.” My voice trails off slightly as an animalistic snarl fills the air. “He decided one night that I was to have sex with him while his friends watched. I refused, and he forced me to do this. After that, I knew I had to get out of there. So, one morning after he left to see to business, I packed all of my things and got out of there.”
“He forced you to have sex with him while his friends watched?”
I nod my answer because there was no way I was verbally doing so. I’d already said enough, as it were. I didn’t think I needed to say more.
Dane curves a hand back around my neck and gently pulls me to him without saying a word. He wraps his arms firmly around me and holds me close. After a while, silent tears start swelling in my eyes and down my cheeks. Still, he doesn’t say anything or react to this. He simply lets me do so while holding me in his warm arms. Only when I drift to sleep, do the tears stop, but still, the warmth of Dane never leaves me.