Her eyes are soft when she glances at me this time. There’s a hint of humor in her tone when she says, "Noted. I’ll try not to do any of those things."
"Wouldn’t really matter if you did. Well, maybe the shooting them in the foot. That’s a pain to heal from."
"You know this firsthand?" She glances at my boots.
"Something like that." I’m not going to tell her about the knife I took through the foot on a deployment.
When her finger brushes her face, almost absentmindedly, she winces and all the humor I felt a second ago is ash.
"Tender?"
"They’ll go away," she makes a dismissive motion with her hand. "I heal fast."
I’m out of the chair, closing the distance between us before it registers to all my cells we’re moving out.
"That guy won’t get another chance to hurt you. I’ll make sure of it."
A fracture appears in the bravado, before she quickly goes into lockdown mode.
"Men don’t talk like that. Especially where I’m from. There, women are objects to be ordered around. A lot of men think differently than you, Ryker."
"I’m not them."
After staring at me for a beat, her lips part, but she doesn’t reply, just shakes her head. When she pushes the blanket down, my focus locks onto the bruises.
Color rides one side of her face, the inside of her upper arm, around her wrist.
My fist closes, but my job right now isn’t violence. It’s to stay in control, to show her there are better men.
I lower to a knee, putting us eye to eye.
Jade doesn’t pull back, but she asks almost nervously, "What are you doing?"
"Coming closer."
The flare in her eyes makes it harder to think. It’s not fear, it’s that curious longing she’s shown me in flashes before.
It fits inside me like a puzzle piece, locking into place. I reach for her. Slowly. Careful not to startle her.
"Don’t accept that from any man." I look her in the eyes when I tell her this. "Ever again."
She nods and the entire safe house feels like it holds its breath.
My chest is in a steel band. Hers seems to be too. Because nothing breaks the silence as I stroke my thumb over the unbruised skin.
What I feel is insane.
This can’t be love.
No fucking way. Not in hours.
I give myself a mental shake, and lower my hand to her shoulder. "If anyone even looks at you wrong, you call me."
Jade drags her teeth across her bottom lip, watching me, and I wonder just how much she can read.
Does she see how fucked up I am?
"Too bad I didn’t have someone like you before," she whispers in a tone that doesn’t help the tide of feeling building inside of me.
