“Okay. I mean, is it safe?”
“For now.”
She walks woodenly beside me, twisting her fingers together in knots. “There’s something I want to tell you, too.”
I nod. “Let me go first.”
“Sure.”
I grab her wrist, pressing my thumb there. “I just had a run-in with Phillip. Your husband.”
Her eyes widen. “Shit.”
“He told me everything. That you do this a lot and I want to understand.”
She pulls away from me. “He told you what?”
“About the other men.”
“There aren’t any other men. He’s trying to kill me so he can be with his mistress. I remembered everything after you left this morning. I’ve been waiting for you to get back so I could tell you.”
“So, you don’t have amnesia.”
“I just told you. I didn’t remember anything until today. We had a fight. He knocked me around, and I hit my head. I ran. I hated my life so much that I wanted to end it.”
“He said you’d do this.”
“Do what?”
“Make up a story. Said you need your medication.”
“Medication?” Her mouth hangs open. “I’m not sick.” She shakes her head and takes a few steps away from me. “You don’t believe me?”
“I don’t know what to believe.” I want to believe in her. “Two things can be true at the same time.”
“You know what…I don’t need this shit. Not from you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I thought there was something between us and that you of all people would have my back.”
“I do have your back.” I take a step toward her, and she takes one back.
“That man may be my husband, but he hates me.” Tears stream down her beautiful, tortured face, and I feel like a total asshole. “He broke me down. Beat me and raped me and you want to stand here…and take his side.”
“He did what?” I growl, seeing nothing but a red haze filling my vision.
Lacey shakes her head. A broken sob escapes her mouth. “It doesn’t matter. He always wins.”
She looks at me as if I’ve just kicked her in the ribs.
Shame eats me, fueling my rage.
“I’m sorry. I should have known. I should have fucking believed you,” I say, and I mean it. I feel like a piece of shit. The lowest form of life. The kind that lets a woman down right when she needs to know she’s not alone in this world. I swore to protect her, and I’ve ripped out her heart and stomped on it by doubting her for a second.
She swallows, blinking away tears. I do the only thing that makes sense. I close the gap between us and pull her to me, tight. Pressing her cheek to my chest so she can feel my heartbeat. It’s pounding so loud I’m sure she’s got to hear it, and feel how off balance I am. How much I need her.
How deeply I crave her.
