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Tucker growls. “I wish we could do more. We should have done something to stop him while it was happening. If I had known everything, Emma…I swear, I would have—”
“Hey, it’s okay,” I say, laying my hand on his shoulder. “That was part of his control. He made me feel isolated from you guys. I couldn’t even trust myself.”
“Will you ever tell us everything he did to you?” Trey asks.
I shake my head. “No, you guys don’t need to hear all that.”
They both nod in what I assume is understanding. “Yeah, okay.”
“Whelp, we better get back to work if we ever want to get out of here,” Tucker declares, jumping up off the porch, and Trey follows him, smirking at me. We both know that Tucker has never been good with the emotional stuff.
* * * *
“Hey, Chance, how are you?” I call out as he walks through the front door for babysitting duty.
Nix had a client scheduled for a late appointment today so he called Blaze to have someone come hang out with me. A small voice inside my head that tells me this is all ridiculous. We haven’t heard from Ryan in over a month. Sometimes, though, I wonder if that voice in my head is actually Ryan. It seems convenient that it’s always telling me I’m being dramatic.
“Hey there, little mama. I’m good. How are ya’ feelin’?”
I smile at his new nickname for me.
“I take it you heard about our news?”
“Oh, yeah. Blaze is so damn excited he can’t shut up about it.”
My grin grows. “I’m glad everyone is so excited. It really could have gone either way.”
He shakes his head at me. “Naw, not with a cute little thing like you. They were bound to love you.”
“But Nix and I haven’t really known each other for that long.”
He just shrugs his shoulders. “What does that matter in the grand scheme of things? Listen, I’ve known Nix a long time and I’ve never seen him like this. We all knew you were special the moment we saw ya’ll together.”
I blush, growing a little uncomfortable with the conversation. I’ve been getting better but I’m still not as confident as I was before Ryan.
“Do you want somethin’ to eat?” I ask, changing the subject.
“Uh…I was instructed to not let you do anything. I heard there was frozen pizza I could make. Does that sound good?”
I sigh. I wonder if it was Nix or Blaze that told him to not let me do anything. Honestly, it could be either one.
“Yeah, that sounds good.”
He smiles a carefree smile and I sit on one of the barstools while he turns on the oven and gets the pizza out of the freezer.
“Hey, Chance, can I ask you something?” His gaze flicks up from the pizza box in his hand and he nods. “Why do you guys do this?”
His brow furrows and he sets the box down on the counter before walking closer to me. He crosses his arms over his chest. “What do you mean?”
“Why do you guys help women like me?”
Darkness clouds his green eyes almost immediately.
“We all have our reasons,” he answers with a shrug.
“Will you tell me yours?”
He watches me for a moment and I can see the indecision wearing on him. Finally, he sighs.
