“I’ve never told anyone about this.”
“You can trust me.”
Trust. His heart kicked up speed. The scar left by trusting someone who’d failed him would never fade.
It required letting his guard down, allowing another person to see inside his dark soul. Her encouraging smile propelled him forward. But he shifted to stare at the ceiling.
“A few months after my dad died, my mom got fired from her job. It was about that time that she started doing drugs. She was getting high all the time and it was hard watching her fall apart. No matter what I said, she wouldn’t listen.
“One of the guys from her new group of friends came by a lot. He told me he thought I could use a friend, someone to talk to about my dad. At first, things were okay. He took me to a ball game. Took my mom and me to a nice restaurant a few times.”
“Uh-huh.”
“One night, he sent my mom to run an errand. Looking back, I think he had her delivering drugs for him. He sat beside me on the sofa and asked me if I knew about sex. I didn’t answer him. He told me that he wanted to help me sort through my feelings.”
“How old were you?”
“Eleven.” A shiver ran through him.
“Okay.”
“He didn’t bring it up again for about two weeks,” Sin continued. “He waited long enough for me to start feeling comfortable around him again. Then, one night, we were watching a ball game on the sofa. He told me he liked me and wanted to get to know me better. I wouldn’t have thought anything of it, but he touched my thigh. That made me very uncomfortable.”
“I can imagine. Did you tell your mom?”
“No.” Sin’s heart started pounding harder and he pushed out of bed. Feeling exposed and vulnerable, he threw on his robe and stared out the picture window.
“Again, another week or so went by. He bought me a new bike, a nice one, too. That night, I awoke to him standing by my bed. It scared the fuck out of me. He told me he liked me and wanted to show me how much.”
“God, no.” Evangeline appeared by his side, covered in his spare robe.
His blood ran cold. “I told him to get out and he did. Going forward, I locked my bedroom door at night.”
“I want to touch you,” Evangeline said, “but I don’t know if I should.” Her loving voice brought him back to the present.
“I’m okay,” he replied. “You can touch me.”
As she rubbed his back with soft, gentle strokes, he inhaled a cleansing breath. He’d never shared what happened to him with another soul, not even Maverick. His heart was pounding out of his chest and his guts were in a knot. The urge to run made him want to jump on his bike and fly.
“Like the other times, things went back to normal. A couple of weeks later, he bought me something else. This time a skateboard, but I refused it. That night, I woke up to him jerking me off.”
“Oh, my God.”
“I thought I was having a wet dream, but his groans woke me. He was sitting on the edge of my bed, naked, his hand beneath the blanket. I jumped out of bed and shouted for him to get out.” Again, Sin sucked down a breath, trying to calm his palpitating heart. “He grabbed me and tried to mount me. He almost…” His voice trembled and he ground his teeth together.
“He was a monster,” she whispered.
Several seconds passed. Evangeline’s slow, steady breathing helped regulate his. He pushed on, but he couldn’t stop the tremors.
“I was big for my age, so I was able to fend him off. But I was fucking terrified. That’s when my mom came into the room.”
“What did she do?”
He gritted his teeth, clenched his hands into fists. “Not a damn thing, not a word. After they left my bedroom, I heard them fucking. That’s when I threw a few things in a duffel and I ran.” He stared out at the upscale homes across the street. He’d come so far since those terrifying times.
Again, they grew silent. Her gentle caresses helped extinguish the fury, and the pain, and the utter fear that shook him to his core.
“I took a bus to Virginia and lived on the streets. It was tough, but there was no way I could ever go home.”
