“Austin was never a violent person. But he’d done some stupid things when he was young. Our parents were never home and he’d been arrested for things like vandalism and trespassing. He was a pain in the sheriff’s ass, but he had never hurt anyone.” My lungs ached as I drew in a labored breath.
“I don’t even know how it happened, but suddenly the police had arrested my brother—my brother—for attacking me.” I shook my head without lifting it. Even now, it was so preposterous. “I might not have remembered who had broken into my room that night, but I knew it wasn’t him. The sound of his horror when he found me was real. My brother would’ve never hurt me. He had always taken care of me.”
It was definitely my body that was trembling now. Graham rubbed slow, methodic circles against my lower back. He still didn’t speak. He gave me time to say all that I needed and wanted to.
“After Austin was arrested, everything fell apart. My parents, who had always been on the edge of crumbling themselves, gave up completely. They had both worked my whole life and spent as much time as possible away from the house, and us kids. My mother lost herself to her pills. My father drank until his liver gave out. It didn’t matter that my brother hadn’t even beenconvicted. He was guilty in the public eye. He sat in jail, rotting and waiting for his trial because his public defender was trash.
“Then, one day, I got that call that shattered the last remaining piece of me.” I drew in an unsteady breath, steeling myself. “My brother was killed by another inmate. I always knew it was a possibility. That even among criminals, crimes like that were not tolerated. But nothing could’ve prepared me for it.”
Silent tears slipped from between my eyelids. I was quiet for so long that Graham’s hand stilled. Then he finally spoke.
“It wasn’t your fault, Quinn,” he said, his voice so low it was almost a growl. My bones ached as he pulled me in closer. “That never should’ve happened to you. I’m so, so sorry, sweetheart. You deserved better than what the world has given you.”
More tears dripped from my lashes. For the first time, I dared to believe that might be true.
“I—I tried to vouch for him. I told them it hadn’t been him, but no one believed me. The first time, I had said I didn’t remember and they—wouldn’t believe me when I did.”
His hand started those calming circles on my lower back. “I believe you, Quinn.”
He said it so softly, I wouldn’t have heard it if his mouth wasn’t so close to my ear.
“It wasn’t until I was an adult and long after my brother’s death when I got the opportunity to have the evidence from my case tested again. I was almost done with law school and I couldn’t give up on clearing his name. This time, they found an unknown male DNA profile. They ran it through CODIS and got a hit.”
My jaw clenched, and my nose crinkled at the memory of the first time I saw my true attacker’s face.
“He was a serial predator who had been arrested multiple times. He had been living in the city next to my childhood town. I think—it was just chance. Bad timing. He was knownfor being a Peeping Tom, and I think he happened to be in my neighborhood that night. My window was open and I was…easy prey.”
Graham made a strained noise deep in his chest. “Did he at least pay for what he did to you?”
I lifted my shoulders in a weak shrug. “By the time we connected him to my case, he was already in prison for murdering someone else. And…he was apparently sick. Cancer sick. He died before my case got to trial.”
He growled again. “That’s bullshit.”
I almost laughed. It really was some bullshit that he got to die before I saw justice. The only consolation was that he was in hell.
“At least I never have to think about him again. I officially cleared my brother’s name, even though it didn’t really matter. Everyone only ever remembers the worst thing anyone has ever been accused of.”
Graham’s arms loosened. He shifted his shoulders as his hands roamed up my back, my neck until he had my jaw cupped in his palms. He gently pulled my face from his shoulder and forced me to look at him.
He searched my face, but I wasn’t sure what he was looking for.
“It does matter,” he eventually said, gently shaking me like he was trying to rattle loose the untruths I had long harbored within me. “It isn’t what people remember that’s important. What matters is you fought for him. You fought for him when no one would. You did everything you could, and it was enough, even if it seems like it wasn’t.”
I went utterly still, something deep in me jolting as I gazed into his face and saw nothing but sincerity. I hadn’t realized that I’d needed to hear words like that until he spoke them, and it was as if a lock had been sprung open inside my heart.
A place I had long shut down ignited with heat.
Without thinking, I shoved my fingers into his thick, dark hair. The strands were impossibly soft against my palms. I leaned closer until the tips of our noses were touching. “Thank you,” I breathed, shoving every ounce of gratitude, of relief, of pure desperation into those two words.
I didn’t give him time to say anything in return before I crushed my lips against his.
22
Graham
Shekissedmelikeshe was claiming me.
I expected her to taste like winter—like ice or snow—but she was none of those things. Not anymore.
