CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO #2
I held her there, my arms around her, chin on her shoulder, and we waited. Waited for the monster—who knocked on her door last night—to vacate our relaxed, safe little island.
“Thank you for coming with me,” she whispered, leaning into me, her eyes glued to Soloman down on the dock.
Of course, the man was garnering some confused and curious looks from the other passengers waiting to board.
Nobody wanted to be on a boat with someone who sported matching metal bracelets connected by a chain.
“Anything for you,” I said, my chin still on her shoulder. I pressed a kiss to the same spot over her cream-colored fleecy pullover.
“Isn’t it crazy to think that a month ago we couldn’t stand to be in the same room as each other?”
“I never looked forward to it, but I also secretly did,” I admitted, which prompted her to turn around and gaze down at me.
“Me too,” she whispered right before leaning down and dropping a small, sweet kiss to my mouth.
I hugged her tighter, and we just sat there in companionable silence until my brother and Burke guided Soloman onto the boat. They were the last to board, but I didn’t even move to get going until the boat pulled away and was out of the marina, headed for the mainland.
Myla climbed the ramp and approached my side of the truck, the surprise on her face seeing Raina in my lap only noticeable for a second. “He’s gone,” she said, after I rolled down my window.
“Not for forever,” Raina said, sliding off my lap to her own seat again. “The men in his family are relentless. They don’t take no for an answer. If he wants something, thinks he’s entitled to something, he won’t stop until it’s his.”
A hot, spicy bubble of rage filled my guts.
Josiah never took Raina’s no as an answer.
He thought he was entitled to her body whenever he wanted it.
I glanced over at the strong woman sitting in the seat next to me and my heart both shattered for her and swelled at how in awe I was of all that she’d overcome.
Instead of letting the shit she went through suffocate her, she used that shit to help herself grow.
To become an unbreakable, beautiful, strong-as-fuck flower.
Fuck, I was coming up with the most frilly poetics and analogies now that I’d caught feelings for this sexy little porcupine. Ah, hell, I kind of liked it.
“We’re going to do what we can to prevent him from coming back,” Myla said. “Are you willing to press charges against him for assault?”
“What did he say about Jagger hitting him?” she asked.
Myla sighed hard. “He muttered something about pressing charges.”
“Yeah, I figured. If I press charges, he’ll press charges.” She met my gaze. “I can’t do that to you. You were just protecting us.”
I shrugged. “And I’d do it again. Let him come after me with his bogus charges.
Honestly, it’s his word against mine. There were no witnesses.
However, I saw him hit you. And you have a security Ring camera that I’m sure recorded him striking you.
I made sure when I hit him, I did it off the property and out of view of any cameras. ”
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear any of this,” Myla said with an eye roll.
I smirked and faced the cop again. “Raina would like to press charges.”
Myla glanced behind me at Raina. “Would you?”
With a sigh, Raina’s head bobbed. “Yes, please.”
“Come to the station later today when you have a chance and we’ll get things sorted.” She tapped the hood of the truck twice, gave us a reassuring smile, then headed back to her cruiser.
I hit the button for the window to go up again and turned on the engine. “Where to, Elsa?”
Raina checked her watch. “The vineyard, I guess. Marco will be home soon.”
“You got it.”
We didn’t speak the entire way back to the vineyard, and while I didn’t hate the silence between us, I knew she was tense as fuck.
I wracked my brain the whole drive about how I could help ease her stress.
Take away that constant niggling worry that Soloman would return, and this time when I wasn’t around to kick his ass to the curb.
I pulled onto the vineyard property and shut off the engine, facing her. “You want to talk about how you’re feeling right now?”
She shook her head, her eyes glued to her knitted fingers in her lap.
“Mostly because I don’t know how I feel.
I’m a mix of emotions. I’m relieved he’s gone.
I’m angry that part of my life has infiltrated my new life.
I’m sad that Marco is probably really confused right now.
” She glanced up at me. “I’m also really happy you’re here and that I don’t have to deal with all of this alone. ”
Now was not the time to smile as wide as I wanted to.
Nor was it the time for the fist pump my super-ego kept telling me to do.
So I engaged in some serious self-talk and told myself to react appropriately.
I smiled, but not too much. No teeth. Teeth would have been too much.
Then I reached for her hands, untangled her fingers and laced them with mine.
“You definitely don’t have to deal with this alone.
You’ve got your cousins. You’ve got my family.
You’ve got the islanders. And you’ve got me. ”
“Come over for dinner tonight,” she said, the green in her eyes getting more vibrant as the clouds overhead parted and the sun beat in through her window. “We didn’t have dinner last night, and I’d like to cook for you as a thank you for all you’ve done.”
“No need to thank me.”
Her crooked half-smile was cute. “Come over anyway.”
I leaned forward, cupped her chin with my free hand, and pressed a chaste kiss to her mouth. “Wouldn’t miss it.”