Chapter Thirty-Six
Aiden
Seeing my wife break in front of me, knowing there is nothing I can do to fix it, wrecks me.
Lyndsey heaves, gripping the pictures hard against her chest. Her shoulders are curled in on herself and her hair falls over her shoulders.
I would do anything to take this pain from her.
Anger rises in my chest, hating to see her pain.
I want to rage. To demand that her brother is arrested.
I want to yell at Lewis for showing her these pictures, as irrational as that is.
I knew when Cassie called this morning that it would be the reckoning but I never imagined it would be her own flesh and blood.
I was so certain that it was Kayla that I didn’t really think of another possibility.
I love my sisters so much that I can’t imagine causing them harm.
Of course we argue and have had our fair few fallouts but to hurt them this deeply?
I don’t know what kind of person could do this just because of who she loves.
Lyndsey is an amazing woman, smart and kind and still, just because she doesn’t fit with their religion, her family have written her off.
Treating her so badly that her brother felt confident enough that he won’t face any consequences.
But he has never met me. I’ll make sure he pays for hurting her this way.
“Why does he hate me?” Her voice is filled with anguish and I wish I had an answer. “What did I ever do to him?”
“Can we have a moment alone?” I ask Cassie. Her eyes are filled with tears, her hand covering her mouth to repress her own sadness. Giving me a stiff nod she stands and leaves the room, Lewis following behind her with pity in his eyes.
As soon as the door closes behind them, I fall to the floor in front of Lyndsey, kneeling between her legs, and pull her to me. Holding the back of her head to my neck I whisper reassurance into her ear.
“We can fix this,” I tell her, but I’m also comforting myself. “You don’t deserve this, darlin’, you deserve to be happy.” I mean it. Nobody should be treated like this, especially by their own family.
It takes everything in me to stay calm. She needs my gentleness right now but there is so much anger pulsing through my veins that it is making me shake.
I hold her with soft hands, the hands I know have seen so much violence.
As a hockey player I know how to work out my frustrations on the ice, if someone is playing dirty, I push them into the boards.
If someone hurts my teammates, I take off my gloves and start swinging.
I have never been this deeply mad on the ice though.
I have only been this angry once before and that was when someone was bullying Cece when she was younger.
Someone pushed her down the stairs in school because they were angry she got the highest grade.
Pops had to hold me back from driving to the school and yelling at a kid.
But now I don’t have a wise person here telling me how to focus these emotions.
There is no one to hold me back from the blinding anger.
I have to do it myself. I have to rein my rage in so I can be what Lyndsey needs.
My wife needs my heart not my fists. Still, it makes me sick to do nothing. But I would do anything to keep her safe, even if that means keeping her safe from me. Not that I would ever hurt her. I would walk to hell and back barefoot if it meant she would be happy and protected.
By the time we have made it back into the car, Lyndsey has stopped crying but I’m not much calmer.
My hands are sweaty on the leather steering wheel and I can feel Lyndsey’s eyes on me from the passenger seat.
I don’t dare look over at her though, knowing I’m still on the edge.
I know she won’t think less of me for being emotional but right now is her time to lean on me, not the other way around.
I need to be the strong one. Hell, she just found out her damn brother has been the evil following her for the past few months, she shouldn’t have to be walking on eggshells because of me.
I need to pull it together.
“You need to calm down, the police will deal with it,” she tells me.
Lewis informed us that the police have been sent all of the evidence he has collected and a restraining order is in the works.
The Spears lawyers have already drafted a cease-and-desist that is being delivered this afternoon, informing Peter that if he continues with this, we will come down on him with the force of a thousand suns. And for now that is all I can do.
“I’ll be calm when I know he can’t contact you any more.
” It probably won’t actually fix my anger but it will take a weight off my shoulders, that’s for sure.
There is also the bonus that if he does decide to go to the press in some last-ditch attempt at a money grab, we have a paper trail showing how erratic he is.
“I know you’re angry but if you go and do something stupid, he will get you arrested to make you look like the bad guy.” She sighs, and I know she is right in theory. Still, I think the satisfaction of breaking his nose might be worth a night in a cell.
“I just want you to be safe.” And as long as the police do everything they can to keep her that way then I won’t take matters into my own hands.
But the police aren’t always the most helpful with things like this.
I don’t like using my name for preferential treatment but if I have to sign a few pucks to hand out I’ll do what I have to, to get her the protection she deserves.
“I know, cowboy.” She pauses, clearly weighing up if she wants to say what is on her mind. “Do you think they know? My parents, I mean.” Her hands wring in her lap, too anxious to stay still.
“Honestly, I don’t know.” I want to yell at her parents for treating her the way they have, it seems unbelievable to me to love your child under so many conditions. “I’d like to think they don’t but I can’t imagine kicking my kid out either so who knows?”
“I know they don’t agree with my sexuality but they are still my family.
” She nibbles at her bottom lip, pushing her fingers through her ginger locks.
“I wish I could say I don’t care about them but a part of me still does.
If they do know and didn’t try to stop him, what kind of parents can do that to their own family? ”
“Either way, I’m your family now. You don’t need them, you have so many people that love you for exactly who you are.
” I hope she hears what I’m saying. That I love her.
I don’t want to give her those words when they are being overshadowed by all of the bad of the day.
Still, it doesn’t make it any less true.
I love Lyndsey. And I’m going to give her the family she deserves.