Chapter 14
ETHAN
My first thought this morning when I woke up in Law—Haley’s bed was that, fuck yeah.
It’s where I wanted to be for so long. Touching her last night, holding her, and finally taking us both where we wanted to go was beyond my imagination and I had a good one.
We’d used up almost all the condoms and I was a bit surprised I had it in me. But I couldn’t get enough of her.
My gut clenched thinking that she might still make the decision to go, leave me and Suttontowne for Texas.
I wanted her to stop running, and I needed to hear everything she had to say about her past. It sounded as if that bastard had not only taken advantage of her, but had robbed her of her inheritance and her freedom.
I hated the son of a bitch and wanted to make things right for Haley.
I marveled at what she had done for almost a year. The courage it took to do what she had done humbled me.
She pulled out a wooden tray with fireflies painted on it and put two fresh cups of coffee on it with creamer and sugar along with a plate of the piping hot, aromatic scones.
We headed back to the bed and climbed in.
It took all my willpower to keep my hands off her.
Besides, I needed fuel. I was sorely depleted.
“Before we start, let me throw your clothes in the washer so they’re clean.
” She held out her hand for my jeans. I shucked them and my underwear off, handing them to her.
She left with my shirt still on and came back with a pretty pink robe belted around her slim waist. She settled back on the bed and picked up the coffee she’d placed on the nightstand, taking a sip.
There was a deep hollow look in her eyes, a vulnerable look to her mouth. I wanted to spare her this, but it was important for both of us to hear it and deal with it. She was in limbo now, and I wanted her to be safe and able to make her own decisions without any fear.
“It’s been so awful,” she whispered. “The worst of my life.” Sensing that she was preparing herself for the telling, I waited, my gaze locked on her face.
Finally, she drew a shaky breath and straightened.
She looked at her plate with the scone and pushed it back on the tray, reclining against the headboard as if she needed the support.
I wanted to haul her against me, but we needed this distance to get it all out.
“I was duped by Brad. Plain and simple. He was on his best behavior when we dated. My father thought he was the ideal man for me, and I went along because that’s what I did. I was always the good girl, and I thought he was right. Little did I know both of us were so terribly wrong.”
She turned her head toward the window, her profile stark against the bright light.
“The abuse started after my father died. It began as small things—I forgot something he wanted at the market—something he’d never even asked for but insisted he had.
My clothes weren’t sexy enough, I used too much makeup or not enough.
It was so nitpicking it started to grate on my nerves.
When I told him to stop it, he hit me…I don’t want to go into the details of what he did,” she said giving me another hollow look.
I rubbed her shoulder. “It’s all right, babe. I get the picture.” I tamped back my anger for her treatment, gritting my teeth and using a calming breath like I did in combat to battle the fear.
“My father-in-law supported everything he did and Bradley didn’t bat an eyelash when his dad hit me, too,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Then I noticed large withdrawals from our accounts. I asked him about it, but he put me off. I didn’t know then that he had a serious gambling problem—a very serious gambling problem.
I knew he gambled, but I really thought it was strictly recreational.
” She finally looked at me, her gaze bleak.
“He gambled away hundreds of thousands of dollars. And when I called him on it, the abuse got so much worse. He started to restrict my access to the money, took my car keys during the day, discouraged friends.” She dropped her head into her hands, and I clasped the back of her neck, massaging.
“But it was only the tip of the iceberg. I should have seen the signs, the runny nose, the dilated eyes, the dazed look. He was doing cocaine and using my family’s money to bankroll his disgusting lifestyle.
I was so angry, so horrified that he could have sunk so low.
The pressure of his job, his own weakness, I don’t know what caused it. ”
She started to tremble and I ached to hold her, the urge almost beyond my control.
“He got even more unstable until I finally had enough. I needed to salvage what I could and get out of the marriage. It was my only hope. I borrowed money from a close friend who helped me immensely and hired a lawyer, filing for divorce. When he was served with the papers, he went ballistic. I had no illusions that he was in such a rage he would have killed me.” She stared ahead and the trauma dulled her voice.
“Something in me snapped. I couldn’t take it anymore, and I hit him with a lamp, knocked him out cold. ”
I swore under my breath and just wanted the bastard’s address, but she continued.
“I knew when he woke up it was only going to get worse. He was so lost in his addictions that the threat of me withdrawing my considerable fortune was too much for him. I ran. I left everything behind and took off.”
“Why didn’t you go to the police?”
She made a soft sound in her throat, her eyes welling with tears. She didn’t respond right away, then said, her voice barely audible, devoid of any emotion. “He’s the DA for Atlanta and my father-in-law is a district court judge.”
I jerked at that news. “What about friends?” She lifted her shoulder in a small defeated shrug. “He’d already paid off some dirty cops to harass my good friend. I didn’t want to get anyone else involved and have him do something even worse to them.”
Her face ashen and her hands visibly trembling, she rested her hands in her lap, not a trace of animation in her. She twisted and wrung her hands. Her attempt at a smile failed. “It’s been quite a bitch, Ethan.”
I had forced myself to remain disengaged during her telling—not allowing any kind of feeling to surface.
But now, as she sat there, her animation gone, the vibrancy beat right out of her, I experienced a rush of rage.
She was homeless, penniless, and her privileged life in shambles.
She was a total mess of a disenfranchised princess. I wanted to kill someone.
Fuck ! A DA and a judge…that pissed me off these lowlifes were supposed to uphold the law and he was breaking it in private. He’d terrorized Haley, stole from her, and ran her out of her home. He definitely had to pay.
She tipped her head back and closed her eyes, and I could see tears gathering in her lashes.
Her despair cut me to the quick. And something gave way inside me.
I hauled her across my lap unable to watch her crumbling against the onslaught of these memories that she had most likely buried deep to keep herself going.
My heart aching, my anger boiling, I said in a strong, gruff voice, “I know this is hard and scary, but you’re not alone anymore. He can’t intimidate me, Haley, and has no jurisdiction here.”
“He has a considerable amount of money. People do things they wouldn’t normally do.”
“He can try, but the sheriff, Mike Dalton is as pure as the driven snow. Money doesn’t really mean that much to me. I have plenty to get by.” At her skeptical look, I reassured her. “I mean it. Mike is incorruptible, his wife has money.”
She huffed out a laugh, the tears thick on her lashes. Her voice caught when she whispered, “Oh, Ethan.” And then she grasped the back of my neck and dragged my head down to hers. She kissed me so hard, but so tenderly.
A rush of emotion jammed up in my chest, and I wanted to give into it, but I had to keep my perspective. And I had to do right by her. Because she needed me right now, and I had every intention to be right by her side every step of the way.
“I feel like I’m dumping this in your lap.”
Holding her gaze, I managed a lopsided smile. “Consider it in my lap, sugar.” Her eyes grew wide as if my words set off hope in her. I cuddled her to me.
“My motives are simple.”
“Your motives,” she said, the wariness back.
I grinned. “I only want you for your body and scones.”
She cuffed me, laughing. After that we finished the coffee and unabashedly polished off the scones.
Transferring my clothes to the dryer, we took a shower and I used the last remaining condom with enthusiasm, taking her warm, slick, wet body like a man starving.
Yeah, her problems were now mine, in my lap to stay, just like she was in my heart.
Later as we got dressed, both of us sharing private looks and satisfied smiles, I said, “Let’s go take a look at your car.”
She froze for a moment, then her expression softened. “You trust me that much?”
“Come again?”
“Knowing that I could still run, you’re choosing to fix my car?”
“Yeah, your choices are your own, babe. I don’t want you to go, and I trust you won’t, but ultimately you get to decide.”
I believed every word I said to her, but everything inside me shouted for her not to leave, but as I said, Haley was in charge. I just hoped she would trust me enough to stay and give us a chance at finding the kind of relationship that would last…forever.