Chapter 28
THEO
“Bailey?” I jump off the bed, watching as he lies still, chest rising and falling rapidly. He stares up at the ceiling, jaw clenched tight, with tears streaming down his face.
Fuck, what have I done? He said no twice, and I took too long to stop.
“Bailey, I didn’t mean to …” I say, fighting my instincts to go to him and hold him, not sure if that would make things worse.
Guilt eats away at me as I watch him for a few minutes.
His hands eventually come up to cover his face, and he rolls onto his side away from me, letting out a choked sob.
I can’t hold back any longer, climbing onto the bed and curling myself around his back.
He doesn’t flinch as I wrap my arms around his waist—he leans back into me as his body shudders.
“You’re safe with me, you know that, right? You’ve always been safe with me,” I say, kissing his head. He holds onto my arms so tight that his nails dig into my skin. I lose track of time, listening to his breathing slow down until I follow him into sleep.
I’m startled awake as Bailey pushes me off him and climbs out of the bed.
“What are you doing?” I ask, getting up.
“We should get back to the wedding,” he says, picking up his shirt.
I put my hand on his to stop him. “We’re not going back to the wedding. Why the hell would we do that?”
“Noah will wonder where I went,” he says stiffly, jerking out of my hold.
“Fuck Noah. What happened earlier? Was it something I did?”
“I’m fine, I just want to … I want to go back to the wedding.” His voice cracks, and I know he’s lying to me.
“Bailey, please, I just want to help.”
He whirls around, face furious. “You want to help?” he scoffs. “There’s nothing you can do now. I needed you twelve years ago. Where were you then? When my brother held me down and tortured me, over and over, telling me no one will ever care about me as much as he did—that I’m safe with him.”
I open my mouth to speak, but he cuts me off immediately.
“Where were you when my stepdad waited for an empty house to tie me to the bed and rape me?”
I wince as his words hit me like daggers. He jabs a finger into my chest as he continues to feed the guilt that consumes me. “Where were you when I went to your house in the middle of the night, begging you to take me with you? You fucking left me behind, Teddy.”
My tears are so hot they leave a blazing trail down my cheeks.
“I don’t need your help now. I did it all myself. I worked through my shit alone, and I shouldn’t have had to. I needed my best friend,” he chokes out. “I needed my boyfriend.”
It’s as though he’s shoved his hand into my chest and ripped my heart out.
I know I fucked up not realising how bad things were for him, but he also hid it from me.
I get that he was too scared to tell me what was happening, but I was just a kid; I didn’t know …
I swallow, reminding myself that he wasn’t Shane’s only victim, and a flare of anger rises in me, unbidden.
“You know where I was for at least part of that, Bay.”
He flinches away, and it douses the fire within me in an instant.
I grab his wrist, pulling him against me before tucking a loose curl behind his ear and cupping his face so I can see he’s paying attention.
“I had to live twelve years thinking you tried to kill me. That my boyfriend—that the boy I loved—wanted to hurt me. Shane messed with my head after just one night, and it hasn’t gone away in all this time.
So for him to have been fucking with your head for years, Bay …
I can’t even imagine how you’re feeling right now.
” I hold his chin, tilting his head up a little.
“But I’m not going anywhere.” I kiss his hot forehead.
“You have to believe me, mo leannan—I’m not leaving you again. ”