He rocked her there, letting her cry for who knows how long. Her head pounded, her sinuses clogged; her eyes burned and swelled, leaving her annihilated from the neck up. She reached for the toilet paper, pulled off a long section and blew her nose noisily, not caring how it made her look.
The whole time Maddox continued to stroke her hair and whisper to her that it would be okay, they would come up with a plan. He promised to keep her and her entire family safe from harm.
“Oh, God. Where’s Skyler? Did he hear me?”
He wiped the tears from her cheeks and framed her face with his callused hands. Her body began a slow shift from revolting against her to a sizzling awareness of all the places they touched, the way his warm breath washed over her. His low, melodic voice first soothed her, and then set her ablaze in a whole new way.
“He’s in the living room. I turned on the PlayStation. You would have thought I bought him a car by how excited he was.”
“He didn’t hear me, then?”
“I couldn’t tell you. I’m not sure he would show us if he did. Kids like that? They’re good at hiding that they notice the bad things happening around them. It keeps them safer.”
She turned to him. “It kept you safer.”
He glanced away. “We’re not talking about me.”
She cupped his cheek and turned his face back to her. “We might as well be.”
“I’m not part of your story,” he ground out.
“This isn’t about the story.”
“What do you want from me?” he asked.
She cupped his face. So many things showed there. The hard line of his jaw as he clenched his teeth and his muscle ticked told her that he hated being under the microscope.
The way he continued to hold her despite her questioning was a testament to the protector in him. It didn’t matter how uncomfortable he was… he’d do what it took to get the job done.
Then there were those eyes. Those haunted eyes. Most of the time, they stared at her in stubborn defiance. At the moment, though, old hurts had climbed in and shrouded them in pain.
“I want you to be honest. You just saw me at my lowest, and you can’t even talk about what you told us earlier.”
“What I told Skyler,” he corrected.
“See, that’s what I mean. You told Skyler, but I was sitting there. And now you want to pretend it’s not a big deal.”
“It isn’t. It was a long time ago and I’m over it.”
“Yeah, I don’t think you are. I think that’s what this whole place is about. It’s about offering the protection you couldn’t get when you were a kid,” she said.
He lifted her off his lap and stood. “So what if it is? Are you going to psychoanalyze me now? Because you can save it.”
“I was going to thank you,” she said quietly.
He froze and whipped around to her. “What?”
She stood, and then pushed up onto her toes and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. “Thank you.”
“I don’t understand.”
“No, I don’t suppose you do. Not everyone is trying to dissect you. I understand you a little bit better now, and I appreciate that you’re the man you are. Otherwise, I don’t know where I would be right now.”
His phone buzzed in his pocket before he could say anything. “Reaper.”
She took a step back.
“Connie, hey, what did you find out?”
