Olivia was then pulled back against his chest and spun sideways so she was facing her living room. With a hard push, she felt herself flying forward.
Unable to stop the motion, she cried out again when she landed hard, her injured hand making it nearly impossible to break her fall.
The side of her face throbbed from where he’d punched her, and her left arm was sticky and wet from the deep cut there. The pain in her wrist was the worst.
It felt like someone was poking it with a hot branding iron, and Olivia had to fight against the urge to vomit.
Unable to stop him, Cetro flipped her over onto her back. She did her best to fight him off. Swinging at him with her good fist. Kicking as hard as she could.
Even as she fought, Olivia knew it was useless. She was going to die today.I’m so sorry, Jake.
Tears fell across her temples as she looked into the eyes of a monster.
“You may as well stop fighting, puta. I am not going to kill you. Not here, anyway. No, I have big plans for you. It’s finally time you pay for what you’ve done.”
Olivia opened her mouth to tell him to go to hell but was stopped by a second blow to her face. Then, there was only blessed darkness.
****
Normally, riding hishorse took Jake’s stress away. Today, however, as Champ slowly trotted him back toward the barn, his heart remained heavy.
From the moment Olivia left, everything had felt empty. His house. His bedroom. His heart.
He’d fucked up, and it may very well have cost him the most important person in his life. He should have told her. Should have told Mike to go fuck himself when he asked him to keep his secret all those years ago.
Mike had used Jake’s feelings for Olivia against him. Had convinced Jake that, by keeping his secret, he was protecting her.
Sure, he understood Mike’s position, but goddammit.There was more than one way a person could get hurt.
Good intentions or not, he still should have had the balls to refuse Mike’s request. Jake should have trusted Olivia enough to tell her the truth sooner. Hell, he should have told her a million times before now, but he’d been too fucking scared.
She’d been through so much. He didn’t think she could handle learning her dead brother wasn’t really dead, on top of everything else.
And that right there was the problem.
Jake had always underestimated Liv. So had Mike. They’d spent their lives trying to protect her the best way they knew how, but she’d been right all along.
Olivia didn’t always need his protection. She needed a partner. An equal.
She needed someone to stand by her side, not in front of her while barking orders. Jake hadn’t seen it that way ten years ago, so he’d gone along with Mike’s plea for silence, to keep Olivia from getting hurt.
“Yeah, and how did that work out for you, asshole?” Jake chastised himself. Champ sneezed then shook his head as if he were agreeing.
“I know, buddy.”
Leaning down, Jake patted the right side of his horse’s neck with a gloved hand. “I really screwed up, didn’t I?”
This time, Champ remained silent, and he figured that was about as good an answer as any.
He wondered if Trevor had made any progress today. Desperate, he wanted to call his friend and ask him what Liv had said. But, hell. He wasn’t some junior-high kid asking his friend to pass notes to the girl he likes during study hall.
Jake had to keepsomepart of his man card, even if it was just a tiny, torn off corner. Damn, if his curiosity wasn’t eating him up inside, though.
Back at the barn, he’d just finished brushing down Champ and was latching his stable’s gate when Coop walked in.
Jake glanced up at the other man’s face. Coop’s expression had the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end.
“What’s wrong?”
