He nodded. “But what really set my parents off was when I dropped out senior year to pursue music.”
“You’re a high school dropout?”
He laughed. “Yeah. Think less of me now?”
He wasn’t rich, not with his decade-old car. She loved that about him. There was a humbleness to him that made him endearing.
“I eventually got my GED to make peace with Mom, but I never went to college. I think my parents still hope I’ll get a degree. College is an expectation in my house.”
She considered his beat-up guitar case in the backseat. “Are you a street performer then? Or club player? Ever produce a record?” She poked him in the ribs, teasing. “Do you have any fans?”
He squeezed her hand. “Yeah, one or two.” He gave a low chuckle. “My parents worried for years, but I think they’ve found peace because they know I’m doing what I love. And I’m not starving. That eases my mother’s mind. They worry about other things now and pray for me regularly.
“But I’m more interested in you and your job. When did you know you wanted to be a doctor?”
After her foster father had sodomized Forest and left him bleeding in the basement, locked in there with her for three days while he went on a drunken spree…
But she couldn’t tell Ash the truth. She didn’t want his pity, and she wouldn’t share her brother’s secrets.
“I was twelve.”
Forest was only a few weeks older, but he’d come into the home after she had. Small and innocent, something had broken inside him.
“Someone I cared about needed help. I was the only one around, and I didn’t know what to do. I’d never felt so helpless.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I swore, I’d learn how to help. I studied my ass off and made sure I got good grades.”
The memory of Forest lying bruised and bleeding on that floor never left her mind. In between her own beatings and rapes, she’d found her motivation in Forest, discovered strength, and carved out a future.
Still, the scars remained. She could take or leave sex, except sex was an expected piece of any relationship. And a relationship would lead to her dream of having a family, everything that had been stolen when her parents died.
She’d moved past most of the bad memories, but, shame and trust issues remained. As did the triggers that would resurface during sex. She could please a man, had been trained extensively, but the thought of letting a man do the same to her would make her body shut down.
“You were a nerd then?” he asked.
Calling her a nerd would have made her younger self angry, but she’d gotten used to the term and no longer considered it derogatory. Besides, he had a smirk lifting the corners of his lips again, and he had curled his long fingers around her hand.How could she beupsetwhen he was freaking adorable?
“Yeah, while you were busy being too cool for school with your tattoo and your music, I was busy being too school for cool.”
Their foster father had had no choice but to send her to school or risk intervention by the agency. The walls of her high school had become a refuge. No one would touch her there. No one would beat her. Some of the boys had wanted to touch, but cold stares would warn them off.
But, every day, school would end, and she’d have to head home. She would have a few hours of freedom and time to study before her foster father returned home from work. Then, his evening entertainment would begin.
Pushing those memories back into the vault where they belonged, she turned away to stare out the window. Her eyes closed as she tookin a breath. That man couldn’t hurt her anymore. She and Forest had taken care of that.
“I can’t believe you were a nerd.” Ash brushed the back of her hand. “A girl with your looks? You were probably swamped by drooling boys.”
Her cheeks pricked at his compliment. “I never dated. And the girls didn’t like me.”
“Probably afraid a pretty girl like you would steal their boyfriends.”
“Nah, I was a total nerd.” Long ago, she’d come to accept the label, which had once empowered her young self. Good grades had been her ticket to freedom. She’d embraced the label and worn it with pride.
“I tested out of senior year. Actually, we share something in common. I’m a GED-er, too. I found a university that fast-tracked me into their medical school under a six-year degree program. I completed my emergency residency last year, and the program director at Forest Skye hired me. Now, I’m doing what I love.”
“Wow. Did you take any time to have fun?”
