“And what makes you want to spend even an extra minute longer than necessary in my company?” he asked. “I realize there’s no proof that I killed my father, but there’s nothing that exonerates me, either. I also happen to be the son of the man who wanted to molest you as a child.”
My body tensed.
Neither one of us had mentioned the only meeting Cole and I had experienced when I was a kid.
I’d been eight.
Cole had been sixteen.
I’d been playing at Millie’s, close to the property line near Cole’s home.
I’d been lured to the barn by Cole’s father with the promise of seeing the newborn kittens there.
There had been no kittens.
Instead, I’d been backed into the corner of that old barn, unable to escape.
I’d been scared, but Cole had come into the barn before his father could do anything really inappropriate.
Cole had pushed his father away from me and told me in no uncertain terms to go home and to never come near their property again.
I ran all the way back to Millie’s house.
My brother, Keith, had been pulling into Millie’s driveway to pick me up by the time I’d gotten back to Millie’s place.
I’d jumped into my brother’s vehicle like my life depended on it, and I’d never gone anywhere near that property line again.
I’d been at an age when I’d only had very minimal knowledge of what sex was, mostly from the vague information my brother had given me as a warning not to let males touch me in inappropriate places.
Maybe I’d been clueless at that age, but I’dknownsomething bad was about to happen before Cole had entered that barn.
His father had been talking to me in a way that terrified me. He had been telling me what a pretty little girl I was, and he’d been pulling my hand toward his thigh when Cole had stormed into that barn.
It had taken me years to realize that he wasn’t pulling my hand toward his thigh. He’d been aiming for his genitals.
I hadn’t known that at the age of eight, but I knew it was somethingbad.
I looked up and locked eyes with him.
Cole had been myhero, not a person I feared. Things could have been so much worse that day if he hadn’t risked his father’s anger to help me get away.
One heartbeat passed…
And then a few more…
Finally, I answered his question in a shaky voice. “You arenotyour father, Cole. You were my hero that day.”
He put a hand on the door and moved so close to me that I could feel his warm breath against my face when he spoke. “Was I really, Lauren?” he asked harshly. “I never got to ask, but did that bastard touch you before I got to the barn?”
I had to blink back the tears that filled my eyes as I looked at his tormented face.
I wasn’t entirely sure why he’d moved so close to me, but I had a feeling he was trying to comfort me.
Cole might have bad boy vibes, but therewasa heart underneath that bullshit exterior.
Whether or not his father had touched mematteredto him.
I shook my head. “No,” I said honestly. “He was saying some creepy things to me, but you were there before he could touch me.”
