“How many times would you say you had been to the junk yard if you had to quantify it?”
He glances at Sienna quickly but away again, delaying his response.
“How many times did you go to the junk yard if you had to put a number on it?” Sienna clarifies the question softly as if she knew exactly why Curtis was hesitating.
“I don’t know. Once or twice a week for close to a year.”
Liv nods in approval because that’s exactly what she needed to hear. You don’t see someone that many times and not recognize them. That’s a solid identification.
“The next thing I’ll do is explain your injuries to the court. I will give them all the gritty details and pull at their heartstrings because I want them to know how badly Jeremiah hurt you. I want them to feel how he changed your life. This might be difficult to hear, so I would understand if you tried to tune it out in the moment. Focus on a dot on the wall or something to distract you. Whatever helps you get through it.”
He nods, swallowing thickly.
“It would also be helpful to have people there to support you. Friends and family. Anyone you can lean on.”
He glances back out the window and sets his jaw.
“I’ll be there. Lochlan and the guys, too,” I tell him. A freshwave of sadness hits me. If I could take his pain away, I would. “And when you’re up for it, you always have a place at the sanctuary.”
“I’ll come, too,” Sienna says. “If you want me there.”
Curtis turns to look at her, nodding subtly, choked with emotion. He’s been through a lot, and this won’t be an easy feat for him.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Liv
“You’re being quiet again,” I say after we’re nearly back to my house. He hasn’t spoken since we left the rehab center.
He scrubs a hand over his chin and sighs. “I wish it had been me. Hearing all the pain he is in… I don’t know. Just feeling a lot of regret right now.”
“You can’t protect everyone, Hayes. You can’t be everywhere at all times.”
“Still, if I could take his place, I would.”
My head jostles lightly against the headrest as I watch him stare stonily out the windshield as he drives. His left hand rests atop the wheel, but his right elbow leans against the center console as he fidgets with his fingers.
He looks cool on the outside, but his warring emotions are on the edge of bursting out of him. He’s always had such a big heart, even though he refused to let people see it.
“The man you are today blows me away, too, Jensen,” I admit softly.
His fingers still, turning to look at me as if he imagined the words he heard. My palm covers his hand, and I squeeze.
He merely blinks before turning his attention back to the road in front of him, but his thumb dances in circles on the inside of my wrist, sending tingles up my arm.
Things are different between us now. We always had friendship as the foundation of our relationship, but after years of living different lives, we’re relearning each other… And the depth of what’s building doesn’t feel like friendship at all.
It’s raw and simmering to the surface every time he looks at me. Especially when he touches me, giving me a glimpse of what’s underneath.
As a girl, I desperately needed a friend, and Jensen filled that role. But as a woman, I have enough friends. What I want from him is beyond that.
I want to know how it feels to be at his mercy.
I want to feel everything he has to give.
My thighs rub together as I uncross my legs and recross them, and my pencil skirt rides higher, but when I move to fix it, his gaze falls to my legs…
I shouldn’t play games with him, not when I don’t know where things between us will lead… Or if it’s even a good idea.
