Victor’s hand holds my chin gently in place and he leans in. His lips only brush mine, but the heat that pulses through me burns the connection between my brain and body, and I press my lips firmly against his and I open for him. The moment his tongue touches mine, I taste mint. Victor groans into my mouth and the sound intensifies the sensations racing through my body. My breasts tighten, and I push my chest closer to his. My tongue explores his and Victor tilts his head to deepen the kiss. His hand slides to my waist and pulls me closer to his rock-hard chest. His heart is thrashing against my own.
Victor slowly pulls his head away and places small kisses on my lips and cheeks, leaving me hungry for more. I open my eyes, and only then do I even realize I had closed them.
“I haven’t even told your brother. On Thursdays I cook at Cortez Hill, a shelter for battered women, and then I visit my mom.”
My blood drains from my head, leaving me light-headed.
“I feel so stupid, Victor.”
“It’s okay. First you needed time to trust me, and you didn’t ask me. You needed to start talking to me, rather than run away. Share with me, rather than keep secrets. I know you have been attacked, hit, and marked. I know it’s difficult to open up to me, so I waited and I hoped you’d come to me.”
Victor leans in and kisses my forehead. I wrap my arms around his neck and rest my head on his solid shoulder.
“I’ll volunteer with you. I can’t cook, but I’m sure there’s something I can help with.”
He kisses the top of my nose. “I’d love that. Mom always cooked for me, then she taught me how to do it. The time I spent with her made up for all the shit I had to take from my father. So I connected food with love.”
He cooked the night I first arrived. He’s been expressing his feelings in his own way since we met. He cares about me. And the dinners he cooks every night for the four of us… We are his family now.
“But why haven’t you told Alek? He cares about you a lot.”
“I know. My mom wasn’t able to talk to anyone about the abuse she was receiving from my dad. It was her secret for a long time. She was just silently taking it, enduring, and I was silently dying on the inside.”
A few tears escape and drop down my cheeks. Victor leans in and kisses the wetness.
I imagine how his mom felt—a prisoner in her own home, with her own family—a familiar feeling to me.
“I fought my father one time after he hit Mom. He beat me so badly that a tooth came out, and that’s when my mom left him. She first talked to me and promised she’d come back. She told me she was going to a shelter and ran away. My dad beat me one more time when he realized she was missing and asked me where she went. I never told him.”
Now my tears turn into a river. Victor kisses my other cheek.
“Mom got help at the shelter. Free legal advice. They involved the police, and she was finally able to get a divorce. I told your brother and everyone else that I fight at the fight club on campus, which I only did my freshman year, to establish a certain reputation. But then I started to visit Mom. I don’t want Dad to know I visit her. He’ll give me hell and harass her again.”
“You’re truly a protector,” I say between sobs.
“You too.”
He’s right. Everything I’ve done was to protect my mom and Alek, and now Abi and Victor.
“Victor, that’s exactly why I need you to steer clear of me. I don’t know what will happen with Charlie.”
“I need you like I need oxygen, water, and food, so no way can I stay away, Tia. And I’ll win the fight, you’ll win the bet, andwe’llget rid of Charlie. End of story.”
I wrap my hands around his neck and kiss his lips softly.
“Tell me you didn’t feel that. You need me too.” Victor blows out a heavy breath.
His kisses are demanding, but tender.
“You’re so gentle with me.”
“You bring out the side of me I buried long ago, but as soon as you walked into my apartment, I felt a ping in my heart, and I knew everything was about to change. With you, I want to be different, and I am different.”
Victor lets me squeeze his neck and embrace him and hug him for a long moment before he fidgets in my arms.
“Come, I want to show you a secret hideout on campus.” He jumps off the bed as if he’s not bruised and exhausted after practice, and pulls my hand gently.
“Where are we going?”
