Chapter 5 #2
“They used to watch me. I loved when I was away at boarding school. It meant I could take a shower or dress without their prying eyes.” I hear the catch in her voice before her head drops again.
I’m in motion and ripping the door open. I pull her into my body.
“Who watched you, Marnie?”
I feel her tears against my chest, and it breaks something inside of me.
Lifting her chin up, I see the pain and the reality of what I don’t want to know, but it’s there. I’m about to ask the awful question, but she raises her hand to cover my lips.
“They never touched me. Not when I was younger. But it doesn’t matter. What matters is us. They’re not here.” She doesn’t say anything else, but I know she’s going to use them to push me away again.
I move her hand and lean down to take her lips in a soft kiss. I make love to her on the bench in the shower. When she cries out my name, it rings off the walls, fixing whatever was broken inside me before.
I want forever with her. Even if she keeps pushing me away. I’m never letting her go.
Icome awake and start to panic when I realize the space next to me is empty. Until I hear them.
“We need to be quiet, beauté. Rylan is still asleep.”
“But, Momma, Ry said he’d make me booberry pantakes.” Oly’s little voice warms me, and I love that both of them call me Ry.
Rolling out of bed, I slip on a pair of sweatpants over the boxers I put on before we crawled into bed early this morning. I rush through my morning rituals and head to the great room, where Marnie is at the stovetop, assembling what looks like Monte Cristo sandwiches on the griddle.
“No pancakes?”
Marnie jumps, and Oly squeals before hopping off the stool and rushing toward me. For a split second, I thought she was going to hurt herself, but I need to remember she’s going to push herself to push my buttons and scare the crap out of me. I scoop her up into my arms, and she hugs me close.
“Ry, Momma is making Monny Tristo instead. She said we needed poteen.”
Carrying Oly in one arm, I walk around the island and pull Marnie into me, then lean down for a deep kiss.
“I could have made sausage. I have some caribou breakfast sausage in the freezer.”
“I thought Monte Cristos would be better. I’m using some of the leftover ham from last night.”
I’d smoked a ham along with the brisket just in case someone wanted something else. The brisket was a hit, and there isn’t much left.
I look at Marnie’s assembly line of supplies. She even has a jam boiling in a pan at the back of the stove.
“I used some of your cranberries and raspberries from the freezer to make a fresh jam.”
“Sugar, you’re the best.” I kiss her forehead as a knock sounds at the door.
I hand Oly to Marnie and go to answer it. My brothers all have access to the house, so I’m shocked when I open the door and find Wing standing there, along with Icarus and Romeo.
“Hey, guys.” I step back, and they walk in.
They see Marnie standing at the stove in my T-shirt and a pair of her shorts. I want to bark at them not to look at her, but I don’t. She fidgets and steps away from the stove.
“I’ll be right back.” She rushes down the hall with Oly.
A moment later, she returns wearing a bra and one of her tight T-shirts that accentuates her bust. I realize she was almost bare under my shirt, and the beast inside me is glad she went and finished dressing. She doesn’t miss a beat and starts making the guys each sandwiches too.
I help Oly with her sandwich as Wing updates me.
“Icarus took care of Jerry. Dropped him off at the police station this morning. There are a few other victims Vortex is going to search out and see if they want to help and testify against him.”
“Has Gunny called?”
“No. But I called him. He’s sitting in Prov while Quinn recovers. It’s going to be a long one, not only physically but emotionally too. Jerry did a number on her.”
“Does she need to talk to someone?” Marnie asks, and I look over at her.
She doesn’t know this girl from Adam, but she wants to help. She’s the perfect woman for me.
“Sugar, I’m not sure.”
“Well, if she lives in the Valley and wants a job, she can come by the shop and I’ll interview her. She can work with me. I’ll be flexible while she’s getting help.”
“Why?” Wing asks, and I’m about to smack the fuck out of him when she answers.
“Because I know what it’s like to be broken and lost. I want to help her, just like I was helped. It’s the only way I’ll ever be able to repay those who helped me.”
All the guys stop and stare at her. I’m staring too. That’s the most she’s ever shared.
“Who helped you?” Romeo asks softly.
She pauses, like she realized she shared too much. I watch as she softly shakes her head. Tendrils fall from her messy bun.
“It’s called Sparrow House,” she says.
I file that information away, ready to find them and learn what they know.
“You don’t know what this girl went through,” Wing says.
He’s such a pessimist. He’s trying to figure out Marnie’s angle. Thinking she’s doing it for reasons other than the fact she’s just a good person.
“You’re right. I don’t know her, but I know from what I heard yesterday that Jerry hurt her—”
Wing interrupts her. “He raped and beat her up while she was drugged up.”
“Wing,” I bark.
He bows his head, but Marnie doesn’t stop there.
“I’m not all cookies and French pastries. I watched a man die in my arms. I was raised by a devil who I pray never finds me or Oly. I’ve never been drugged, but I know what it’s like to have to fix yourself after a man hurts you.”
I know she’s telling us some of her past and how she got her scars.
“You think I’m just a sweet rich girl who doesn’t know about evil and men who are demons. I do. I bear the scars across my body from jealousy and breaking the rules.”
I move toward her, but she holds up a hand.
“No. You don’t get to coddle me after that.
I’m strong. I fought and got my daughter away from them.
Every day I breathe, I live to keep her safe from them.
” She swings back to Wing. “I don’t need a man like you questioning my motives.
You don’t know me. But I’ll tell you this.
” She holds out her arm, and I’ve felt the small scars along her skin.
She shows it to Wing. Under her tattoos, they are a beacon in the dark.
A moment in time I can’t change. “This is what happens when you defy a man. He punishes you. I know what she’s going through as far as the pain of a beating.
I’ve had broken ribs. I was lucky I didn’t lose Oly when they found me. ”
She flips her wrist, slips up the cuff bracelets I’ve seen her wear, and that’s when I see them.
The jagged scars. I move, and I don’t care as she smacks at me to back up.
I pull her into my chest and hold her, thinking of how close I was to never knowing her.
She softly starts to cry, and Icarus takes Oly and moves off to the living room, where Frozen is playing on the television.
Wing moves closer, and I want to deck him. I want to make him hurt as much as he hurt her.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
Marnie lifts her head, and I bury my hand in her thick hair, forcing the messy bun loose. Thick, long wavy locks fall down her back.
“I didn’t want you to know,” she says. “I tried not to get upset, but when you questioned me, I couldn’t stop myself.”
“Who?” he asks, and it’s like it’s just the two of them.
She takes my energy from me and calms herself. Her fingers flex against my skin as she buries her hands in deeper. Her body shakes.
“My father and his head of security. They’ve been together since before I was born.
I used to overhear the staff saying that Silas had a thing for my mother too.
I only know that after she died, he became a darker man.
He wouldn’t let me out of his sight. I felt violated from the lack of privacy.
He would do the beatings while my father watched.
My father would sit there, in his three-piece suit, and watch with those black eyes.
I never saw emotion cross his face. Not when my skin would tear apart from my back.
Not when the whip would splatter my blood across the room with each flick. ”
I tremble, thinking of the pain she had to have been in.
“I was so glad the day I went to Paris for culinary arts school. I was so wrong. Silas would show up and be there. I know they had cameras on me at times. It wasn’t until Jean-Louis and I married that Silas really became angry.”
She stops as she comes out of the memories, and I hold her closer, thinking that with my arms, I can hold her together. She pushes away from me and shakes her head.
“I have to go. I can’t be here.”
My men disperse, taking Oly outside.
“I’m not letting you go again. Tell me their names. I can protect you.”
She softly shakes her head, and my heart starts to break.
“I don’t want you dead too. I must go.” She turns away and walks outside.
I stand there and watch her, knowing deep inside I have to let her go. I don’t want to, but I can’t force her to stay here. I’d be as bad as them.
Icarus drives her home in my truck because she asks him and begs me not to come. I know it’s because of the creepy neighbor.