My chest tightens at her words. This is just her trauma speaking.
Before I can respond, she continues, her voice quieter, almost like she’s talking to herself.“I’m scared, Hunter.”
She turns away, wrapping her arms around herself.
She looks so damn small.
“Terrified, actually.” Her voice cracks, and something in me clenches. “Craig is unpredictable. But I know I can find a way to placate him if I go back now. I just know it.”
Placate him.
I grind my teeth so hard my jaw aches. She’s already thinking about how to make herself small again, how to twist herself into something he won’t hurt. As if that will ever be enough.
I place my hand on her shoulder, and she cringes, so I drop it. “He never hit you before the other day, right?”
She nods and turns toward me again.
“Then, how do you know you can control him if you’ve only dealt with it this one time?” I run my hand through my hair. I don’t know why I give a flying fuck.
Except… that’s a lie. I do know.
Because what if she doesn’t survive it this time? What if Charlie doesn’t?
“What if you go back, and he kills you? Or even worse, kills Charlie too?” I can feel the anger coursing through my veins again at the mention of the child’s name. That is why I fucking care so much. Because that child in there, so full of light and joy, looks so much like my Elizabeth that it hurts. I don’t want her harmed in any way.Not another child. Not again
Blake looks at me with wide eyes. “He would never kill us, Hunter. He isn’t a bad man.”
I let out a bitter laugh, but there’s nothing funny about any of this.
She actually believes that.
“He put his fucking hands on you, Blake. That alone makes him a bad guy.” I try to reign in my temper; I feel rising even more. “How does this man have you so brainwashed that you don’t think you are worthy of something better?”
She clenches her fist by her side. “I’m not worthy, Hunter. Don’t you get it? I mean, for Christ sake, look at me.” She points down at herself. “I am disgusting. I’m fat. I’m ugly. Hell, nobody else would want me. I have been told that for so long that I believe it.” Tears begin to seep from her eyes, and my heart breaks in two. “I just don’t want to be alo—”
I crash into her, wrapping my arms around her shoulders and pulling her against my chest. “Stop! Stop.”
I feel her body tremble against me as she sobs into my shirt. I rub her back in a soothing motion to try and calm her. How can she not see it? How does she not see her fucking beauty? Goddamn, what I would do to make her mine.
With a heavy sigh, I release her after she stops trembling and take a step back. “If you were my ol’ lady, I’d show you exactly how wrong you are about yourself. Because you’re breathtaking.”
She stares at me in stunned silence, and I see her nibbling on the inside of her cheek. I brush my thumb along the cheek she is biting, and she makes eye contact with me. “I think you’remaking a horrible mistake going back to your husband, Crash. But if it is what you truly want to do, then I’ll escort you down there.”
Her eyes widen. “What? No! You can’t do that, Hunter. Craig will be furious.”
I scoff and take another step toward the door. “He’ll already be pissed off because you left him in the first place. Besides, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to you when you walk out of my door.”
She nods slowly in contemplation. When she looks toward the woodline, I make my exit.
Chapter 15
Blake
Hours have gone by, and I still haven’t brought myself to leave. My bags are packed and in the trunk of the car and yet I have sat idly by while watching Charlie play with Hunter out in the front yard. Her laughter is intoxicating. But something has been off all day with Hunter. There is a sadness in his eyes each time Charlielaughs, or the way she grabs his hand and pulls him through the yard.
I have a feeling once I leave, I won’t see Hunter ever again. For some reason, the thought of that pains me to no end. It will be like these past two days never happened.
Can I actually go back to my old life and act like nothing happened?
