Chapter 32 Dave #2
“My stepfather had left on a business trip without her. She was really upset. I’m sure deep down she suspected he had other women.
I mean, how can you be that paranoid and unsteady and not allow those thoughts to enter your mind?
So, she took it out on the one person who was always at her disposal. ” She grows quiet.
My pulse is thrumming in my ears so loudly I’m praying I don’t miss something.
“My mother had taken all of the nice clothes my stepfather had bought for me and thrown them in her room. She’d accused me of trying to seduce him before I left for school that morning. That was the only thing I remembered initially.”
The pregnant pause hangs in the air like a turbulent summer sky about to erupt with thunder and lightning. I brace myself for the torrent about to come.
“He must’ve come home to find them and thought I discarded them.
I still don’t have a lot of the details.
But while I was in the hospital, the memory of Geoffrey storming into my room awoke me from my sleep.
He’d been yelling about what an ungrateful little bitch I was.
At first, I thought it was just a nightmare.
It wasn’t necessarily the truth, just my mind’s way of distorting the facts. ”
A small sniffle escapes. “Until the very clear image of him throwing me on the bed and forcing himself on top of me made me bolt upright.”
What the fuck!
“I know you want this. You’ve been begging for it for years. I’ve tried to hold back, but throwing a temper tantrum because you aren’t getting what you want is the last straw.” She spits out every line as if she’s replayed them for years.
My rage is building to a fevered pitch. But I try to focus on my breathing.
“Such a greedy girl, too beautiful for your own good,” she sneers. Her words come out wobbly as tears tumble down her cheeks. “I must’ve started screaming or crying, because I can remember him saying, ‘Shhh. Just this once. It will be our little secret’.”
I have to adjust myself beneath her, my fury is making it nearly impossible to sit still.
“Somehow, I managed to thrash around, hurting him just enough to get free. But I must’ve made a threat of some sort.
Calling the police or telling someone… this is where the details get muddled.
I only remember the blind rage on his face.
Before he started slamming my head into the wall and things went black. ”
As much as I want her to share the entire story with me, I can’t handle this anymore.
Her entire body is wracked with sobs. “Baby, baby. I’m so fucking sorry.
” Holding her face in my hands, my tears mixing with hers, I kiss and hold her until the shaking subsides.
Well, hers anyway. I’m not sure that my internal earthquake will ever cease.
It seems like an eternity that we stay wrapped up together.
Once the fire has dwindled, I ease her sleeping form into the corner of the couch and stoke the logs.
I try to put on a pot of tea, in case she wakes, but it’s really an excuse to pace while remaining close enough to go to her if she wakes.
She’s told me everything. Well, almost. There are a few more details I hope she’ll share. But it’s already the kind of story that makes my blood turn to fire. What she went through, what she survived. I’m already calculating how I can get Max to find out who this bastard is and end him.
After what seems like hours, she stirs.
I pull her back into my lap, trying to remain calm. “You okay?”
“I think so. I’m sorry.” She adjusts herself in my grasp. What the hell is she apologizing for? “I finally broke down and shared everything with Ellie and my friend, Betty. You’d think I wouldn’t still get so emotional about it.”
“First, never apologize for what you’ve been through!
Second, I’d be more concerned if you hadn’t been emotional.
That’s the way my mother has handled her situation.
Her depression has made her lifeless and detached.
You’re still alive. Physically and emotionally.
And I’m so thankful. I’ll take emotional any day! ”
I want to ask if there’s more, but I’m not sure how much more she can handle today.
She snuggles into me.
“Want some English Breakfast tea? I can put on another pot.”
“No, I just want you.” Five words have never meant more to me. She burrows into my side. “I can’t believe you made tea for me. And my favorite blend on top of that. What man does that?”
Nuzzling her neck, I give her a reassuring squeeze. “I’ve been making that tea for my mother for years. She’s always found it soothing. I thought it might help.”
Char reaches up, running the pads of her fingers over my jaw. Her beautiful green eyes hold mine. What is she thinking?
She begins to recount more details about her past, and while I’m grateful for her trust in me, I make a mental note to brace myself.
“I was in the witness protection program after that. Once the police arrived to interrogate my mother and stepfather, he sent one of his cronies, who threatened to kill me unless I recanted my statement. Luckily, it happened across the street from a store security camera, so the police believed me.”
“Did you ever go to court?”
“No. He has more money than God. I knew the odds of him being convicted were slim to none. And that would only further anger him. My only concern was getting far enough away to feel confident he wouldn’t make good on his threat.
Because I was certain he had the means to finish me off. And no one would be the wiser.”
My arms must’ve tightened to an uncomfortable level, as she shifts slightly before saying my name to get my attention. “Sorry. I can’t help it.”
“It’s okay. I understand.”
“Char,” my voice cracks.
“Yeah?”
I hesitate. Do I really want to know this? Because I’m certain there will be no holding back if the answer is yes.
I’ll kill the motherfucker.
Not that I don’t already want to bury this asshole where no one will ever find him for what he’s done to her.
“Did he?” I struggle to push out the words.
“I know he assaulted you. But, did he…” Try as I might, I can’t say it out loud.
I swallow hard, knowing I need to just ask her already.
The unanswered question will haunt me like a ghost filling the void between us otherwise.
She must sense my turmoil, reading my mind as if we’re on the same wavelength.
“No,” she blurts. “I wasn’t sure…” She grows quiet.
My jaw clenches so tight I’m surprised my molars don’t crack under the strain.
“I wasn’t sure if he might have raped me after I blacked out.
But I was checked thoroughly by a forensic nurse in the emergency room.
And I have absolutely no memory of anything like that happening.
” She pauses for a moment. “Replaying the assault is bad enough. Knowing what could’ve happened… ”
A tear I didn’t know was forming falls from my cheek. This brave woman. The hell she’s endured.
“I’m okay. I’ve tried hard to focus on all of the positives in my life.
Jenna, my guidance counselor, came to my side the moment they called her.
She stayed with me until I could be placed in protective custody, even at risk to herself and her family.
” She pauses. “There have been so many amazing people who have been there for me.
Once I was put in the witness protection program, I was assigned foster parents who moved me with them to Candy Cane Key.
I met lifelong friends there, like Ellie, Matt, and Harrison.
Liz, my foster mother, and her ex-sister-in-law, Margaret, have been like guardian angels.
Sadly, my foster father, Frank, passed away a few years ago.
But for a while, I knew what it felt like to have a real mother and father. ”
“I wish I could’ve met him.”
“Oh, you would’ve loved him. He was New York Italian. From the Bronx. I just loved listening to him talk. The stories he’d tell.” A small, frail tinkle of a laugh falls from her lips. The sound like rain after a long drought.
She grabs my arm, her expression suddenly fierce. All of a sudden, my heart is in my throat. “Please don’t do anything stupid. The very last thing I want is for anyone I care about to suffer at the hands of that asshole. I’ve done enough of that for all of us.”
The chasm in my heart cracks a little wider at that.
I reach for her hand. “No more hiding in the dark,” I tell her quietly. “My goal is to spend as much time as you need, showing you that you can trust me. You deserve to be happy, Char. And you deserve to feel safe. And I’ll do whatever it takes to give you both.”
She smiles through tears, and hope shoots through my veins like adrenaline.
I scoop her into my arms, smothering the side of her neck with kisses as I carry her down the hall to my room. I have no plans to have sex with this woman tonight. Only to hold her close, reassuring her that she’s safe here with me. There will be plenty of time for more once she’s ready.
I decide to change the subject, hoping she realizes I’m only being playful. I’d die if she thought I was being insensitive after all she’s shared with me. “Do you want to go to my playroom?” I waggle my brows a bit cautiously.
She gasps. I stop in my tracks, worried she thinks I’m a heartless prick. “Wait! Did you watch Fifty Shades?”
I belt out a laugh, relief flooding me. “All three movies,” I pronounce. “And I took notes.”
She tosses her head back in a riot of giggles. “You’re ridiculous.”
“Maybe.” I grin. “But you’re back here. Snowed in with me. My diabolical plan to wear you down with cheesy song lyrics worked.” I give a hearty, over-the-top laugh like a cartoon villain.
Her delight spills into the firelight. “You’ve officially lost it.”
“Maybe,” I say again, softer this time. “So… you care about me, huh?”