Chapter Thirty-Four
I see her pale. She doesn’t want to tell us, and I get why she wouldn't. And the truth is we don't really need to know all of the details, but we would like to understand things from her point of view.
"Dragonfly." I gently grip her chin and turn her face up to mine. "I understand that you might not want to tell us anything, but we’re asking you to open up to us. We're asking for you to be honest with us."
"What exactly do you want to know?" she asks, turning from me and looking over to Nitro who’s still sat next to her.
I glare at him as he places his hand over hers.
It fucking pisses me off how close he gets to her.
He sees the look on my face and raises an eyebrow at me and then smirks. Fucking arsehole.
"Sweetheart, have you ever told anyone what you’ve been through?" he asks her.
She sucks in a breath and then shakes her head. "No," she whispers. "I mean, Riley at work knows, but she guessed most of it and I don't really tell her details."
He squeezes her hand a little and I feel my fucking blood begin to boil. I hate that he's touching her, but I don't want to be a total dick and say anything, so I bite my tongue. "You know that you have nothing to be ashamed of, don't you? That this isn't on you?" he says to her.
She looks at him like she's confused. "But..."
"No, sweetheart. The only people that should be ashamed are your aunt and uncle. Not you, and not Mason," he reassures her. "We'd like you to tell us what happened with Andrea. How come you left hers?"
She nods at him and then turns to look at me and bites the inside of her cheek. I cup her face then pull her toward me and place a peck on her forehead, before whispering into her ear, "You're safe here. You've got this. Just be honest."
She takes a deep breath and moves away from me.
"We were with Andrea for about three weeks or so.
She was great. I always thought that Mum and Dad wanted her to look after us if anything ever happened to them, which is why she took us in and then took us to Scotland.
But when they died, the lawyer brought the will out that said Roger and June were our guardians. "
She swallows before continuing. "We were in Scotland for only a couple of days when the cottage was broken into and two men in balaclavas trashed the place and beat Andera so badly, I thought they had killed her.
I tried to stop them, but they turned on me, beating me and breaking a few bones, and then Mason tried to protect me, and he got hurt.
They pushed him and he banged his head, knocking him out. "
She stands and walks away toward the climbing frame, leaning her head on the side of the ladders before turning back to face us.
"When she woke up, my aunt and uncle had come to the hospital, and when we were allowed in her room, she told us that we had to go live with them.
That our parents had stipulated they were to take care of us. "
She watches the three of us, her eyes flicking back and forth, waiting for us to say something. Nitro stands and walks toward her and then gently places his hands on her arms. I tip my head back, taking a deep breath, trying to calm my rage. I think I’m going to fucking kill my own damn President.
"Nova, Andrea is on her way here now. She'll be here in two days." He dips his head to look into her eyes, and I'm done. Getting up and moving toward them, I'm by her side in a second. She glances at me and smiles then turns back to Nitro.
"We also have proof that the will stating your aunt and uncle were to be your guardians was superseded by a new will that they had suppressed.
You were never meant to be with them; you were always meant to be with her.
Now, we don't really know everything, we're hoping between you and Andrea, you can fill in the blanks. "
She nods at him, then takes a small step closer to me. Deciding to take a risk, I reach down and take hold of her hand, and I'm relieved when she grips it back. Prez looks down and then back up to me and smiles, while Wrath clears his throat, hiding his laugh. Fuckers.
"Nova, I think you should talk to someone about the things you have been through," Wrath tells her.
"I'm not saying you have to tell us everything, we'll ask you what we need to know, but for your benefit, you need to talk to someone.
I know that you don't want to, and I know that you feel ashamed. You probably think that talking is a waste of time, but I promise you it’s not.
" She looks up at him, and I've never seen him make himself look small before, but as he steps closer to her, he seems to shrink in size, and I'm grateful he's making an effort not to intimidate her.
"I won't tell you my woman’s story, because it’s not mine to share. But talk to Marissa and ask about her therapist. I'm sure she could help you work through things, I know she's been great for my woman." He smiles at her then takes a small step back.
Nova blinks up at him then looks to me. "I don't want to talk to anyone," she says, barely above a whisper. "Please don't make me."
"We're not making you, sweetheart," Nitro tells her.
"We expect you to give us answers to some things, but we'll never ask you to go into detail about anything you've been through, not unless you wanted to talk to us about it.
We're just suggesting that it might help. Bottling this shit up, in here"—he taps the side of her head—"ain’t good for anyone. The pain has to go somewhere. Just think about it, that’s all we’re saying. "
"Okay. I'll think about it," she says, giving the guys a smile. "I'm guessing you guys have some questions now?"
"We have a few if you're okay to answer them for us?" Nitro asks.
"Okay. Could I maybe get some water first, please, and maybe a painkiller?"
"What’s wrong, baby?" I ask her, worried.
She smiles, shaking her head. "I'm okay, just getting a little bit of a headache," she tells me.
"Why don't we leave it until later?" Nitro says to her. But my girl shakes her head at him.
"No, that’s okay. Let's do it now. Because if we wait until later then I'm going to get stressed, and the longer we wait, the less I'm going to want to talk." She stares at Nitro, waiting for him to respond.
"If you're sure, let’s take this inside. Ice, take your girl into Church; I'll get her some water," he says, then walks away. Wrath winks at her and follows Prez back toward the building.
I step up in front of her, letting go of her hand and placing both my hands on the sides of her face. "Are you okay?" I ask her, a little worried.
She nods and gives me a smile. I follow the movement of her tongue as she licks her lips, then steps forward and reaches up. She places a small kiss on my lips.
"What was that for?" I ask.
"For caring," she says. "I've never really had anyone care for me, other than Mason and Riley." She goes quiet, biting the inside of her cheek. "Come on, let’s go, the guys will be waiting for us," she states before grabbing hold of my hand and pulling me toward the building.