An uncertain emotion flashes through her eyes, giving her a faraway look. She takes her time before she speaks.
“Three years ago, I got the internship I had lost all hope for after that coffee debacle. I was living my happiest life and working hard at my job. I had to do good, Stacy had stuck her neck out for me. But Mullens always found some problems with my work, reprimanding me. I pushed myself to do better, missing my meals and messing up my sleep schedule.”
Her features reflect regret as she loses herself in her past. I take her hands in mine and caress them softly, quietly trying to lend her my strength.
Kaeli takes a deep breath before continuing. “Initially, I thought my work wasn’t up to themark. But then I noticed how he would always find a way to get me into his office alone and not only ridicule my work but also comment on the way I dressed.‘Your skirt is too short,’or‘Your blouse is too tight,’or‘Your dresses distract the men here,’he’d say.”
My hold tightens on her hands, barely restraining the bubbling rage at the fuckwad. “Why didn’t you tell anybody?” I attempt to ask as gently as possible.
Kaeli scoffs. “Who would’ve believed me?”
I want to say I would have, but I know what she’ll say. Then, I remember the times I made comments about her distracting the players, and the guilt and embarrassment threaten to swallow me whole. “Fuck, Kaeli. All those times I provoked you by spouting shit—” My words break on a gulp. I can’t even say it.
“I know you didn’t mean it, darling,” she caresses my jaw. “It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not!” I claim. “I have been downright cruel and mean to you.”
“I won’t lie and say that you haven’t,” she sighs.
She shouldn’t forgive me.Idon’t even forgive myself.
She continues, “That’s what women mean when they say that men don’t even realize how privileged they are. They say and do things without a care in the world, with no accountability whatsoever.”
I swallow a gulp, shame drowning me. “And I fed into it when I talked like a grade A asshole to you.” She peers at me with a sad smile, making me feel ten times worse, because how this remarkable woman agreed to be with me is beyond my comprehension.
I steel my shoulders. “But I’ll do my penance by showering you with love and apologies, and working on myself and using the platform I’ve been blessed with to make the world realize how they still hurt people without even meaning to.” I turn my head and plant a soft kiss in the palm of her hand.
She nods, “You should. Because evenIchanged how I dressed up, instead of standing up to that fucker.” Kaeli takes a deep breathbefore resuming, “Then one day, when there was barely anyone else left in the arena, I finished up late and went to show him my analysis.”
My breath ceases, and my heart pounds, afraid of what she might say next.
“Like always, he criticized my work, and then he…he cornered me.” Her breath trembles as it comes out in shallow puffs. “He said…said that he needs to punish me to teach me a lesson and then groped my breasts.” She chokes on a sob, holding in to complete the incident.
While the only thoughts in my brain are of how to get away with his murder. I will kill that son of a bitch for putting her through something like this.
“I kicked him in the nuts as he keeled over and grabbed the pen stand from his table, and threw it at his head. He bled, but I ran like hell, while he chased me down the corridor. But thankfully, there were still a couple of people left, so he couldn’t go any further. The next day, I filed a complaint against him with the HR department, and they investigated it and found the recording of him running after me in the corridor. I also had emails and some phone call recordings as evidence against him. So, the team fired him andasked me to keep it on the down low. There were some leaks and speculations, which were the reason why the company had to work on its image. But no one really knows the truth, not even Stacy.”
When she’s done telling me everything, I open my arms for her. “Come here, Feather.”
She breaks down as tears spill down her face and buries herself in my embrace. I calm and soothe her as I promise to protect her or die trying.
Her body convulses as she lets go of the past she had been holding onto for so long, while I hold her through it.
Now, everything makes sense: her flinching, her looking petrified at the game, her subtle alertness. It hurts that I didn’t see it all before.
A few minutes later, she pulls back and wipes her tears. “Since then, he randomly pops up at places where I can’t do a damn thing to him. Last night was the first time he followed me like that, though. He’s why I was apprehensive about being interviewed with you.”
My hands curl into fists around her hand, my body vibrating with anger. Just thinking of what could’ve happened then and now chills me to mybones.
I go to stand, when she halts me, her voice panicked. “Ezra, no. You promised.”
I cast her an incredulous look. “How can you expect me to stay put after what that sick motherfucker made you suffer through? And why isn’t he in jail?”
Kaeli’s gaze flick to her lap, her teeth chewing on her lower lip. “I didn’t file a report,” she admits.
“Why?”
“I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, and the seniors would not have taken the bad PR favorably.” She shrugs as if it wasn’t already a big fucking deal.
