With a shake of my head, I reassure her. “I’m not judging her. Go on.”
She swallows hard. “I was sleeping one night and he broke in.” Closing her eyes, her entire body shudders under the weight of the obviously painful memory. “He tried to cajole me into splitting the money, and when that didn’t work, he got angry. So angry.”
I listen, knowing I’m not going to like what comes next. Knowing, too, I can’t go back and prevent whatever it was she lived through.
She wraps her arms around herself, rocking as she speaks. “He shook me and then his hands were around my neck, squeezing—” She forces her eyes open wide. “When he released me, I screamed. He said he’d be back for what was his and he took off.”
A possessive fury takes hold, that anyone would hurt this sweet woman whose smiles come so easily despite everything she’s been through.
“So what did you do?” I ask, my jaw clenched so my own anger doesn’t spill out and scare her. Because at this point I want to kill her brother.
“I ran. I packed up everything I could take with me overnight and disappeared. I figured New York City was the largest, easiest place to get lost. I started in a hotel, found a lawyer, changed my last name… and here I am.”
I blink, knowing it can’t have been that simple. “A name change is public record.”
“Not when it’s sealed because you can show the judge the fading bruises on your neck,” she says, her hands coming up to clasp herself there.
Yep. I am going to fucking kill her sibling.
“So somehow he found you?” I ask, managing not to clench my fists and scare her away fromme.
She nods. “I’m guessing the slashed tire was a warning, though I have to admit, I’d hoped that was a freak neighborhood kid incident. But the vandalism and the brick? He wants me scared so by the time he comes in person, I’ll give him whatever he wants.” She lowers her hands from her neck, leaving red marks from where she made her point.
I have had enough. I stand up and walk over, pulling her into my arms because I need the connection and feel certain she does, too.
She relaxes into me, her soft curves easing against mine. I breathe in her sweet scent and hold her as the trembling in her body eases. Too quickly, she pulls away.
“You aren’t alone anymore. Got that?” I ask.
She glances up at me. “I appreciate you helping me get things fixed here at the shop, but make no mistake. I’m very much alone.”
I’m not going to argue now. There will be plenty of time for that later, when she balks against what I’m beginning to plan out for her in my mind.
I might not want someone else to find their way into my emotional cocoon, but this woman has done it. There is no way I’m leaving her to fend for herself now that I know what she is up against. And if that means fightingherin order to keep her safe, I’ll do it in a heartbeat.
***
Faith
I watch asSam Fremont, a tall man with hair pulled back in a ponytail, and the workman he brought with him scrub the spray paint from my window. He called in a glass company, who sent a guy to measure my door. He then leaves to cut the glass and willreturn with the right size to fix my entrance. It’s as if Jason Dare spoke, and all my problems are going away.
If only things were that easy.
I already understand he’s more complicated than his surface grin led me to believe. A sister who conquered childhood leukemia, a college friend who died under mysterious circumstances, a nightclub, and a life I know nothing about. I want to know everything, and that is dangerous.
Still, I owe him, and though I don’t think he truly feels that tit for tat is necessary, I do. If it is a date he wants, then I’ll go out with him. At this point, it can no longer hurt. Colton already found me. He’s probably watching my shop as all this activity occurs. Does it really matter if I go out with Jason after this? It’s obvious the man is a part of my life, as my friend, at the very least.
He settled into a chair in the center of the shop, surveying the work going on around him. He already left once, returning with sandwiches and sodas for everyone. As the hours pass and he vacillates between returning messages on his phone and talking to the workmen he obviously knows, I grow more confused.
“Don’t you have somewhere else to be?” I ask him.
He raises an eyebrow as if to say,Really? “Nowhere more important. I want to make sure the work here is done correctly and this place looks exactly the way you want it.”
I appreciate his thoughtfulness, but he has to have better things to do than worry about me. “Okay, but I can handle that. I don’t want to take up more of your day than I already have. I can stick around until the guys are finished, lock up, and head home.”
He folds his strong arms over his chest, his olive-green Henley pulling tight over his muscles. “And do you think I’m going to leave you here alone after what you told me about your brother?”
I’ve been pushing thoughts of Colton aside all day. “I have pepper spray on my keychain.” The words sound ridiculous, even to me.
