Over the years and a lot of therapy, I’d mostly worked through it, but being raped—it wasn’t something I could simply get over. That shit stuck with me, clung to me like an invisible, greasy film I could never clear away no matter how hard I scrubbed, both mentally and physically.
I hadn’t talked about it in a long time—hadn’t wanted or needed to. But now, bringing it up like this when I could’ve suffered a similar fate yet again?
It all came rushing to the surface, choking off my air supply, injecting icy fear into my veins.
Long, thick, inked fingers twisted through mine.
“Sutton,” a deep voice said softly, and I turned toward it, seeking the owner. Blue eyes met mine. Familiar. Clear and bright.Safe. “You’re okay. Nothing can hurt you here.”
All I could do was nod, clinging to his hand, anchoring myself in the here and now.
Though it continued to haunt me, Lane was right: my past couldn’t hurt me anymore.
Or maybe…it could.
A possibility I simply couldn’t entertain at the moment.
“Breathe with me, sunny.”
Nodding, I followed him, inhaling, holding, and exhaling when he did. We worked through the cycle a few times before my heart rate started to come down, bringing a shaking in my limbs along with it.
God, tonight had beena lot.
As if sensing my distress, Boots hopped up on the couch and curled himself in my lap. My free hand found his fur, fingers slipping through the long, soft strands.
“I am so sorry that happened to you, Sutton,” Johns said softly once I’d managed to compose myself.
“Thank you,” I croaked.
Johns rose, slipping his phone and notebook into his pockets. “If you want, I can bring you back to town. You can’t get in your house, but I’m sure?—”
Lane cut him off. “She’s staying here.”
eight
. . .
LANE
“That’s not necessary, Lane,”Sutton protested, pulling her hand free from mine, the other remaining around her cat, some of her fire returning after the minor panic attack she’d just had. “I’ll call my brother and have him come get me.”
I snorted. Like Sean would drive down here in the middle of the night. “Absolutely not. You’re staying here, and that’s final.”
Sutton’s jaw set, her arms coming across her chest, eyes narrowing on me.
Damn, I loved that look. It made my dick hard. That determination, thatfire—I’d recognized it in her long before she ever fully stepped into it. It was one of the many reasons I’d first fallen in love with her.
“Hate to break it to you,Chief, but you’re not the boss of me.”
Johns’ gaze ping-ponged between the two of us, but he ultimately raised his hands and said, “I’ll just, uh, leave you to it.”
“No!” Sutton said, jumping to her feet, Boots cradled against her chest. “I need a ride to town. I’ll hang out at the department until Sean gets here.”
Johns looked at me, and I shook my head.
Like hell was she leaving. Not when there wasn’t a single person in the world I trusted with her safety more than myself—even with a bum arm and still healing gunshot wound.
“Sorry Sutton. No can do.”
