“Easy now. I’ve got you.”
She looked up, her watery gaze catching mine, her face a mess of tears and torment. And still, she was the most breathtaking creature I’d ever fucking seen.
“Jamie.” My chest tightened. “What happened?”
Whatever was holding her together snapped.
The sound she made gutted me. Raw and unfiltered, like something torn loose that had been under pressure for too long. She folded in on herself, knees buckling, and I moved without thinking.
My arms came around her, pulling her against me, but Christ, watching her fall apart was destroying what little control I had left.
Normally, my shit was buried deep—the anger, the fear, and the hollow ache that grew with every bad test result and each brave look my brother gave me. But today had left me exposed. The hard truths about what Caleb and my family were facing had landed all at once.
Still, she was falling apart in my arms, and somehow that steadied something in me. Gave me something to focus on that wasn’t the slow-motion disaster of watching my little brother fight for his life.
I didn’t get to break. That wasn’t my job. My job was to be the rock everyone else could lean on.
So I held her tighter, letting her forehead press against my chest, her breath hitching, and shoved everything else down where it belonged.
A dark, possessive urge took hold. Someone had pushed her to this point, and my body reacted before my brain caught up. The need to find whoever had done this and make them pay burned hot and immediate.
The man she’d mentioned flashed through my head. The one who might not be missing her. If he was the cause of her breakdown, so fucking help me…
I wouldn’t go looking for him. But if he came around to hurt her again, I wouldn’t hesitate to put him on the ground.
Right or wrong wasn’t part of the equation. It felt necessary.
Which was insane, considering I’d only met her yesterday. I didn’t even know her. Hell, I could count the facts on one hand.
Her name was Jamison. Jamie for short.
She had a sharp sense of humor that cut through the bullshit.
Chocolate was her favorite.
And she was wasting time on some asshole who didn’t deserve her.
There were too many things I didn’t know, and a hell of a lot more I wanted to find out.
Finally, her sobs eased into smaller, broken sounds. Half-swallowed sniffles that made my jaw ache. The moment she came back to herself, her body went rigid, like she’d suddenly remembered where she was. Who was holding her.
“I’m sorry.” Her voice was muffled against my chest. “I didn’t mean to…”
She tried to pull away.
I gave her room to breathe but kept her close enough that retreat wasn’t an option.
Eyes down, she dragged a sleeve across her face, staring at my soaked shirt like it held all her secrets. “I’m sorry, I’m not normally a crier.”
She was retreating now. Folding everything back up, shoving the emotions somewhere she could pretend they didn’t exist. I recognized the move. Hell, I’d done it more times than I could count.
A dry, embarrassed laugh followed. It was thin, defensive, and not fooling anyone. “I don’t even know what that was about.”
“Bullshit.”
Her head snapped up. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. I call bullshit.” I studied her red-rimmed eyes and blotchy cheeks, memorizing every detail. “I’m sure you don’t cry much. You seem like a tough girl. But tough girls don’t cry without knowing the reason. Something upset you, and I bet you know exactly what—or who—it was.”
