“I’ll let you relax,” Ryker said as he leaned down. He pressed a kiss to my lips, then grinned and stepped around me and out of the bathroom.
The bath was exactly what I had needed, and I felt so much better after getting out. My muscles felt relaxed and most of the negativity still plaguing me had washed down the drain with the bathwater.
Wrapping my towel around me, I walked into my bedroom, ready to thank Ryker again for being so considerate. As I opened my mouth to speak, I immediately closed it when my gaze landed on him. He was sleeping on top of the comforter of my bed.
My heart warmed at the sight of him sleeping so peacefully. He had said earlier that I deserved more than him, but he was wrong. He was perfect for me; if anything, I didn’t deserve him.
Not wanting to wake him, I quietly grabbed clothes to change into for bed and went back in the bathroom. He was still asleep when I came out, and I gnawed on my bottom lip as my thoughts attempted to ruin everything. I’ve never had a guy spend the night in my bed before. I don’t know if I can do this. Sleeping over at his house was one thing, but at mine is another. This is more personal, more intimate.
Sitting cautiously on my bed, careful not to wake Ryker, I studied him as my mind warred. Ryker won’t hurt you. Look at everything he’s done for you. You already broke your rule anyway.
My decision made, I slipped under the covers. The movement caused Ryker’s eyes to open. He blinked several times before his gaze met mine. “I didn’t realize how tired I was,” he yawned. “I better get going.”
“You wanna stay?” My tone was hopeful, yet nervous.
“Isn’t that against the rules?” he asked with a teasing grin.
Rolling my eyes, I smiled. “You’re right. I guess you should go, then.” I started pushing him off the bed for emphasis.
Grabbing my arms, he pulled me into him. “You know I like breaking rules, especially yours. I’ll stay.”
Letting go of me, he stood and kicked off his shoes. I was entranced by the rippling of his muscles as he removed his shirt and stripped his shorts off, leaving him in only his boxer-briefs. Dear lord, thank you for this man.
Joining me under the covers, he wrapped me in his embrace, spooning me. I felt his hot breath on my neck right before he placed a kiss there and whispered, “Night, Warrior.”
Laying my arms over his, I snuggled back into him. The smile was still on my face as I drifted into sleep.
Kaiya’s screams woke me in the middle of the night. Gasping for air, she sat up and clutched her throat as tears ran down her face. I tried to rub her back once I sat up, but she jerked away as soon as I touched her.
“Hey, it’s just me, Warrior. You’re safe,” I murmured softly, trying to soothe her.
Her eyes were wide with fear as she looked at me, examining every inch of my face, making sure it was really me. Finally, she leaned into my body and sighed before starting to sob again. Fuck, I hate when she cries. Pulling her into my lap, I attempted to comfort her, just like earlier that day. “Shh, baby. Don’t cry. I’m not going to let him hurt you ever again.”
Heavy footsteps pounded outside the door, getting louder with every step. Bursting into the room, Kamden flipped on the light, and his eyes darted from Kaiya in my arms to my face. “What did you do to her?” he seethed, his teeth gritted and fists clenched as he approached the bed.
“Nothing—she had a nightmare,” I defended. Kaiya had her face buried in my chest. Her tears dripped down my skin as she continued to cry uncontrollably.
“Let me have her,” he demanded, motioning with his hands for me to hand her to him.
I felt like I was having deja vu from the night she was attacked. I shook my head. “Nah, I’m good. I’ve got her.”
Kamden’s nostrils flared as we stared each other. “You and me,” he gestured stiffly, the anger evident in his tone and body. “We need to have a talk.”
“Not right now we don’t,” I countered, not backing down.
He stuck his jaw out defiantly. “In the morning.”
“Fine,” I clipped. Leave already.
He angrily stalked out of the room without another word, leaving me alone with Kaiya. Finally. Softly stroking her hair, I whispered words of comfort and rocked her gently. I didn’t know how long we sat there like that, but I didn’t care. She needed me, and I was going to do everything I could to be there for her.
Once she finally pulled away, her face was splotchy and her eyes were red. Moisture streaked her cheeks as she gazed up at me, still loosely holding her throat.
“Wanna talk about it, baby?”
She scanned over my face again as she bit her bottom lip, deciding whether or not to tell me. I expected her to say no, but she shocked me by nodding and letting out a heavy breath.
“We were seventeen. Kaleb had been more aggressive than normal for a few weeks, so I’d been avoiding him as much as possible, staying late at school, hanging out at Nori’s, partying, going anywhere but home. That really pissed him off, and…” She paused as a sob broke through. I rubbed her back while she took some deep breaths to calm herself. Her voice was still shaky when she spoke again. “He… he took it out on me one afternoon when no one else was home. He took off my clothes, and started touching me, which I was used to already, but then… then he started taking off his clothes, too,” she softly cried, choking back another sob.
My body was a volcano ready to erupt with rage. How could her brother, her twin no less, do that to her?
“He’d never done that before, and I put two and two together, knowing what he planned to do. Usually he just took my clothes off, but he’d caught me having sex with a guy from our school, found out that I’d given something away that was supposedly his, so he wanted to take it back. I mean, it wasn’t the first time that I’d had sex, but it was the first time Kaleb had found out about it.”
One hand squeezed mine as the other fingered the scar on her throat. “I fought against him, but then he pulled a knife to my throat. He touched me more before stopping to take off his shirt. I tried to get away then, but he caught me before I got to the door. He pinned me and pressed the knife into my neck.” She took a deep breath, and her lip quivered as a few more tears trickled down her face. She composed herself some before continuing, barely above a whisper, “Kamden came home early and busted through my door. He pulled Kaleb off me, but I ended up getting cut in the process. Kamden beat Kaleb unconscious, and then called 911.”
Wow. “What happened after that?”
“I had to tell the police everything, which was so much. Things had been going on for as long as I could remember, even when we were really young. I didn’t know it at the time, but he was overly affectionate and touched me inappropriately. It progressed over time, and he started becoming aggressive and possessive, touching me regularly when we started middle school. Everyone questioned me, asking me why I didn’t say anything sooner, but it was all I ever knew. I thought it was normal until high school, but even then, I was too scared of him. He always said he’d kill me if I told anyone, and I believed him. I didn’t think anyone would believe me anyway. I mean, Kaleb was my twin. Who would think that my own—” she sobbed, unable to speak anymore.
“I’m so sorry, Warrior,” I murmured as I placed a soft kiss on her forehead.
Tilting her head, she looked up at me as I cradled her in my arms, her hand covering her throat. Gazing down at the beautiful, broken woman in my arms, all I could think about was how I could save her from her darkness, the darkness created by someone who should have never been the cause of it.
Reaching my hand up, I lay it on top of hers. I wanted her to feel less self-conscious about her scar, to let go of the fear and negativity associated with it. Slowly pulling her hand away, I kept our eyes locked. She slightly stiffened but didn’t pull away or object to my actions.
I ran my fingers through her hair as I gently tipped her head back. Bringing her closer to me, I leaned down to her neck and pressed light kisses alon
g the scar on her throat. Her body trembled as she cried beneath my lips before she grasped my face in her hands.
Moving my head away from her neck, she brought my mouth up to meet hers. Connecting our lips, she wrapped her arms around my neck and molded against me. I felt her tears on my face before she pulled away and brought our foreheads together. “Thank you,” she whispered.
I wiped the tears from her cheeks before laying us back down. Positioning our bodies together, I enveloped her in my arms as my body fit to hers. Kissing the back of her neck, I murmured, “Go back to sleep, baby. I got you.”
Moving closer to me, she relaxed in my embrace. A short while later, her breathing deepened as sleep found her again, and I hoped that I could keep her nightmares away.
The blaring of Kaiya’s alarm clock woke us. She withdrew from my arms and slid to the edge of the bed to turn the stupid thing off.
“Come back to bed. It’s still dark out,” I grumbled as I reached for her.
“I have to go to work,” she replied as she rubbed her face, her voice heavy with sleep.
“Call in sick or something. We can play doctor,” I said as I raised my eyebrows suggestively with my eyes barely open. She laughed, but still rose up off the bed.
“I’d like that, but Mondays are busy for me at the office. There’s no way I could miss.”
Throwing the sheets off me, I sat up before stretching and yawning. “I’ll drive you.”
“It’s okay, you can sleep. I’ll take the T,” she called from her closet.
I scoffed. Like I’d really let her take the transit. “You’re not taking the T. I’ll drop you off.”
We went back and forth a few times before she finally conceded. I got dressed before Kaiya made Kamden and me breakfast. Then, she went back to her room to finish getting ready, leaving us alone.
“So, about that talk,” Kamden started as he stirred his coffee.
It’s too early for this shit.
“Yeah?” My voice was gruff and irritated. I was so not in the mood to talk to him.
He turned in his seat to face me, crossing his arms over his chest. “What are your intentions with my sister?”
I laughed dryly, “None of your business.”
“Kaiya is my business!” he roared as he slammed a fist on the counter. He craned his neck to look down the hall toward Kaiya’s room before directing his attention back to me. He lowered his voice, but the anger in it was still obvious, “If you hurt her, I swear to God, I will-”
“Look, I lo-” I paused for a split second, catching myself, “care about Kaiya. I’m not going to hurt her.”
We glared daggers at each other until Kaiya walked back into the room. Tension radiated from both of us as she looked from Kamden to me. “Everything okay?” she asked.
“Everything’s fine, sorella,” Kamden answered with a forced smile, his voice still strained with lingering anger.
Kaiya met my eyes, seeking my agreement with her brother’s statement. “Yeah, everything’s great, baby.”
I could tell by the wary look on her face that she didn’t completely believe us, but she didn’t press the issue further. “Ready to go?” she asked as she came up to me.
Nodding, I followed her to the front door. She said goodbye to Kamden before we walked out. As we went down the stairs, she questioned, “What was that all about?”
“Just Kamden being protective, that’s all. Don’t worry about it.” I shrugged nonchalantly.
Rolling her eyes, she responded in irritation, “He acts like I’m a child.”
Chuckling, I replied, “He’s just worried about you—he loves you.”
“I know,” she sighed as a small smile took over her face. “He can be a little much sometimes, but he really is a great big brother.”
“Great for you; me, not so much,” I joked.
“Yeah, I’d hate to be in your shoes. He doesn’t like you very much,” she admitted with a light laugh.
“His opinion doesn’t matter to me—only yours does.”
We reached my truck, and I walked Kaiya to the passenger side. She turned to face me, placing her back against the door. “I guess you’re lucky that I like you,” she teased with a playful grin.
Tugging on one of her curls, I twisted it around my finger and leaned in to kiss her. As I pulled away, I looked into her eyes, letting go of her hair as I ran my knuckles down her cheek. “Yeah, I’m pretty lucky.”
Kaiya’s cheeks flushed as I opened the door. I helped her step into the raised cab before getting in on my side and starting the engine.
Kaiya rested her hand on my knee the whole drive to her work. She leaned over to kiss me when we reached her office and groaned when we broke apart. “I really don’t want to go to work.”
Pulling her back to me, I gave her another kiss. “I told you to call in sick, but you insisted that you had to come.”
She glanced up at the tall building before looking back at me. “Fine,” she moaned. Gripping the handle of the door, she cracked the door open. “See you later?”
“Yeah, baby. Have a good day.”
She smiled as she hopped out of my truck and shut the door. Blowing me a kiss goodbye, she waved and walked toward the building.
After I dropped her off, I went back to my house to sleep before I had to go to work. I had a busy schedule filled with training sessions and classes to look forward to, so I needed to have as much energy as possible to get me through the day. I couldn’t imagine having to get up early every morning like Kaiya did to go to work.
I woke up a little before lunch time, and I didn’t have to go in until a couple hours later. I decided to see if Kaiya had gone on her lunch break yet.
Me: Have you had lunch yet
Warrior: No
Me: Can I pick you up
Warrior: Sure :) my break is in twenty
Me: See you soon
Kaiya met me outside her office building twenty minutes later, and we decided to go to a deli around the corner to save time. After we were seated, I asked, “How’s your day been?”
She groaned unhappily, “Grueling. Mondays are the worst. We have so many meetings. How about you?”
“Good. I went home and slept for a couple of hours.”
“Must be nice,” she replied sarcastically.
“Eh, it was okay.” I shrugged. “I’d much rather have stayed in bed with you.” I wiggled my eyebrows suggestively.
“Me too, but I don’t have the luxury of working after lunch time like some people.” She gave me a playful glare.
The waitress, a cute blonde with a heavy Boston accent, came to take our drink order. Once she left, we talked about one of Kaiya’s meetings until the server brought us our waters and wrote down our meals.
When she walked away, Kaiya asked, “Do you have a busy day today?”
“I have a few classes and personal training sessions. They should keep me busy.”
Kaiya swallowed nervously before saying, “Speaking of classes, I don’t know if I should go to self-defense anymore.”
“What? Why?” My face scrunched in confusion.
Sighing, she looked away at the wall. “I totally embarrassed myself last night. How am I going to be able to look those people in the eye after they saw me freak out like that?”
“Hey, look at me.” I grabbed her hand across the table and rubbed it until she met my eyes. “No one will judge you. Hell, some of them have been in abusive relationships, and probably can relate to feeling out of control. Don’t worry about what everyone else will think.”
She exhaled a breath. “Can’t you just give me private lessons?”
“Although I would love to,” I paused, smirking as I thought about all the things we could do if I gave her private lessons. I put the thoughts to the side, saving them to act out later. “I’m not going to. I know you can do this, Ky.”
Pouting, she reluctantly gave in. “Fine. I’ll keep going.”
“That’s my girl,” I stated prou
dly as I squeezed her hand. She was used to running when things made her scared or uncomfortable, but she had become much stronger than she was when we first met, even if she didn’t believe it. I knew she could do anything she set her mind to as long as she fought her fear.
After we finished our lunch, I took Kaiya back to her office, then went back to my apartment to get ready for work.
As I drove to the gym, I thought about the conversation Kaiya and I had at lunch, about how much Kaiya and I had changed since that first day we met. I was glad I had decided to go after her, even though she fought me and made me work to finally have her. She was so worth it, and I couldn’t imagine my life without her now. Things would be so different.
I headed straight for my office when I entered the gym, needing to look over my schedule one more time to make sure I was prepared for all my sessions and classes.
The day went by pretty quickly, and it seemed like only a couple of hours had passed when Kaiya and Kamden arrived at their usual time. Both of their faces were lit up in smiles when they walked in. I wonder what’s going on.
I had to wait until I finished with a client before I was able to talk to Kaiya. Dragging me into my office, she shut the door, threw herself into my arms, and kissed me.
“Well, hello to you, too,” I mumbled against her lips.
“I have great news. Kaleb’s release was denied!” she exclaimed excitedly after pulling back from me.
“That’s amazing, baby!” I hugged her and gave her another kiss.
“I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off me. I still can’t believe it.” Her eyes were bright with happiness and a huge smile spread from ear to ear.
I loved seeing her so happy. Maybe she would be able to get rid of all the negativity dragging her down since Kaleb wasn’t getting out now.
“We need to celebrate. Anything you want to do this weekend, consider it done.”
Squealing giddily, she bounced up and down. “I can’t wait. Thank you for being so wonderful throughout this whole mess. Most guys would have turned and run once they got a glimpse at my issues.”
The Scars of Us Page 21
