He wasn’t at all surprised when her body started to shake and she began to cry. He held the back of her head in one huge hand, pressing her face against his warmth and strength.
“I’ve got you, baby. It’s all over now. It’s OK.”
Weeping and clutching his upper body, Katie closed her eyes. It wasn’t over, she knew. It wouldn’t be over until the bastard was dead – and maybe not even then.
**
Katie was quiet and still now. Her body wasn’t shaking anymore, her breathing had calmed. She was held tight in Adam’s arms, her face hidden in his chest. She didn’t feel ready to come out yet and face all his questions.
But you’re going to have to tell him now. No way out of this conversation.
Adam stroked her back, giving her more time to recover. He sensed that she was gathering up her courage and strength to talk to him and he didn’t want to force anything.
She looks like she’s been forced in too many ways in her life already.
Finally, Katie pulled back and looked at Adam. He gazed down at her, his face open and surprisingly sweet. He didn’t say anything.
“I… I don’t know where to start.”
He searched her eyes. “You don’t have to tell me anything, Katie.”
“I want to, though. I… I need to talk.”
“OK.”
She ran her fingers over his bicep, tracing the tattoo there, over and over again. “When I was five, my Dad died. In a plane crash. I was with him.”
Adam touched her face. “You poor thing.”
“My Mom didn’t – didn’t do so well on her own. She remarried fast, within a year of Dad dying. The guy she married, my stepfather, was a… a monster.”
Adam sucked in his breath, already knowing her whole story. The burns on her thighs were screaming witnesses to what had happened to her.
“He hurt my mother, badly. He controlled her with violence and no matter how angry I still am at her for what she let happen under her roof, I do know that. She – she should have done things differently, but I understand why she didn’t.”
“I’m sorry, Katie.”
It was as if she didn’t hear him. “The abuse started almost immediately – he beat me and my brother. Locked us in the closet for days on end. Starved us. It went on like this until I was eleven and Ryan was thirteen, I guess, and then it… changed for me. It became more… sexual.”
Adam closed his eyes, dreading what she was going to say next. He tightened his arms around her, as if somehow he could stop what was coming.
“The first time he – he…” She fell silent.
“Baby, you don’t have to talk about this. I know what he did to you.”
Her eyes were unfocused. “I was twelve when he first raped me in my own bed. That was also the first time he burned me.” She gestured down at her thighs. “He told me it was because I was a dirty whore and every time I looked at that burn, I was to remember that. He said… he said that he wanted that knowledge literally burned in to me.”
Adam shook with the effort of not getting to his feet and running in to the night to find this guy. How are these people created? Where the fuck do they come from?
“I could never figure out why he’d burn me afterwards sometimes and not at other times. I began to think that… the burns were extra punishment. Like, I’d done something really bad that day, something that meant that I deserved extra pain.”
Adam was horrified. “Oh, God, Katie. Do you still think that?”
She looked up at him. “Sometimes. Sometimes I do.”
“No. You did nothing – nothing – to deserve any of what he did to you.” He ran his fingers over her cheek, noticing how cold she was. He wrapped a blanket around her and pulled her back in to his arms.
“Better?”
“Yes.” She smiled at him, a real smile that reached her eyes. “Thanks, Adam.”
“Did you hear what I said? About you doing nothing to deserve what happened?”
“I did.”
“You do know that it’s not your fault, right?”
“Sometimes I know that. Sometimes I forget.”
They sat quietly for a few minutes, both lost in thought.
“Katie? Can I ask you something?”
“Yes.”
“Where we’re going… to the man who’s so sick. The man who’s going to die…”
She looked at him and the steel and hatred in her eyes took him aback. “It’s him. That bastard is finally dying, Adam, and I want to be there to watch him take his last breath. I have to be sure he’s really gone. Then maybe I’ll be free to start again.”
**
They were lying down together on top of the sleeping bag, tucked under the blankets. Katie’s head was on Adam’s shoulder and she was relaxed. Her fingers were lightly tracing the muscles on his huge chest, liking how it felt to touch him. That surprised her.
It surprised Adam, too. Her body fit perfectly with his, somehow. Her slim curves and length of limb were smooth and streamlined and slipped in to his bulk like she belonged there. He held her gently and was taken aback that he actually liked to be close to her.
He touched her hand and she looked up at him.
“OK?” he said quietly.
“Yeah. I am now.”
He stared at her, astounded at how soft her eyes were in the half-light of the flashlight. Ten minutes earlier he had convinced Katie to lie down again and without even thinking about it, he’d laid down beside her, leaving some space between them. He wondered if she might recoil or tense up, but instead she’d just curled right up against him like she’d been there many times before. Like she totally knew his body, and trusted him with hers. Like she found comfort by being close to him.
“I’m sorry, Adam.”
“What for?”
“When you offered to help me, you had no idea what you were walking in to. As you can see, it’s messy.”
He shook his head. “Don’t even worry about it.” He paused. “Can I ask you something else?”
“Sure,” she said.
“What you said, about not even your friends knowing about your scars… why didn’t you tell them?”
She looked away. “I don’t know.”
“Katie?” He used one finger to gently lift and turn her chin. “Mia knows about your stepfather, right? What he did to you?”
“Yes. Mia and Reena and Maggie all know. They know about the physical abuse and the – the – what he did to me from the time I was twelve. But I couldn’t talk about the burns. They’re so… I don’t know.”
“Brutal?”
She looked at him. “Yes. I just couldn’t say it out loud.”
“But when you were growing up, how did you explain the scars to people around you?”
“You mean like at school?”
“Yeah.”
She shrugged. “Well, nobody at school looked all that closely, really. I always wore long shorts in the summer and track pants in gym class and I always changed in a stall.”
“But what about at the doctor? I mean, I imagine you and your Mom and brother were always in and out of the E.R., right? Nobody asked? Followed up with Child Protective Services?”
“My Mom was a nurse before she married my stepfather, so she took care of most things at home after the beatings. Stitches and stuff. The times we had to go to the hospital – when he broke Ryan’s arm, for example, and when he broke my wrist – Mom took us. She used to work there before my stepfather forced her to quit, so they believed what she told them. And she covered for him with our breaks and bruises. Nobody looked any farther.”
“So she said that you fell down the stairs?”
“And fell off the jungle gym and got hurt playing basketball. You know. Kid stuff.”
“OK, but what about boyfriends? I mean…” He stroked her cheek. “You know. Guys you slept with. They’d see you naked. No way they couldn’t see that these are cigarette burns. I knew right away.”
“To tel
l you the truth, Adam, the guys that I’ve been involved with weren’t all that interested in me.”
He pulled back to see her face better. “So, why be involved with them?”
“Because I knew they wouldn’t care enough to ask about my scars. And if they did, I just told them they were from the plane crash and that shut them up pretty fast.”
Something moved in his chest. “You don’t have a very high opinion of men, do you?”
“No.” She gave him a sad smile. “No, I really don’t. Especially physically strong men – in my experience, they just use all that size and strength to hurt people smaller and weaker than them.”
He nodded. “I can understand why you’d think that.”
She peered up at him, suddenly aware of what she just said. “Wait, Adam. I don’t mean you or Nick. I’m not implying that you guys would ever hurt me or Mia or anyone who wasn’t standing there in the ring, fighting you by choice.”
He touched her hand again. “Hey, it’s OK. I know what you meant.”
Katie laid her head down on his chest, wanting to avoid his eyes for a minute. “Can I ask you something now?”
“Of course.”
“Will you still take me to Nevada? After the accident and everything you know now?” She held her breath.
“Katie, I am absolutely taking you there.”
Something in his voice made her stare at him. “Why do you sound like that?”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know.” She tensed up a bit. “Angry.”
He slowly reached out and when she didn’t flinch, he brushed her hair out of her eyes. “I am angry. Not at you, OK? At your stepfather.”
“You are?”
“Fucking furious.”
“Oh.”
He smiled grimly. “Look, I’m not going to lay a finger on the guy, even though I’d love to beat him to death. But I am going to get you to Nevada in time for you to look him in the eye. I want you to stand over him on his deathbed and say and do whatever you need to say and do to move on with your life.”
She blinked at the tears in her eyes. “Really?”
“Yes, really. You can trust me, OK, sweetheart? I’ll get you there.” He gently wiped her tears with his thumb. “I promise.”
**
Officer Deborah Keene stared down at the blood in the car. Not as much as she’d expect from a car accident, so that was a good sign. Whoever was in this car got up and walked away.
“OK,” she said to her partner Kevin Edwards. “They must in the Play Barn.”
“For sure,” Kevin said. “That’s what I’d do.”
“Me too,” Deborah said. “You call it in and I’ll go to the Barn, check it out.”
“Ambulance?”
“Oh, yeah.”
Deborah walked to the barn and saw that the padlock was gone.
Yep. They busted in here. Fred Murray is going to lose his mind that someone broke in. Again. Well, it’s his own damn fault for having such a piss-poor security system. Though I imagine whoever’s in there right now is grateful he’s such a cheap bastard and won’t lock the place up properly.
Deborah reached the door and pushed against it. Nothing. She shoved again and heard the wood make contact with something inside. She pushed with her shoulder and felt whatever it was start to give. There was a loud bang and a crash as something fell over.
Adam heard the sound behind him and he jolted awake. Katie was sleeping soundly, her head on his bicep and his arm curled around her waist, holding her against his chest. In one movement, he gently eased her off him and leapt to his feet. Only half-awake, Katie sat up on the sleeping bag, her face scared and confused in the morning sun.
“Adam? What –”
“Stay down,” he said, shielding her from the person standing in the door holding a gun.
“Police!” Deborah said, badly shaken at the size of the man in front of her. He had very short dark hair and blazing blue eyes and his arms were covered in tattoos.
Adam held up his massive hands. “Hey, we’re glad to see you. We were hoping someone would show up when they saw our car by the road.”
Deborah saw the woman now. She looked frightened half to death. Deborah lowered her gun. “You two OK?”
“Not bad,” Adam said. “Some scrapes and bruises.”
“An ambulance is on its way.” She walked closer. “You were damn lucky… that was one bad storm last night. You’d have been OK in here, though.” She looked in approval at the blankets and water and bandages. “You certainly travel well-prepared, huh?”
“Yeah,” Adam said. “Some people complain about all the space it takes in the trunk and say that always having my camping stuff in the car is idiotic.” He grinned down a Katie. “Maybe now those some people will back off a bit, huh?”
Katie fluttered her eyelashes up at him. “I have no idea of what you speak.”
They both burst out laughing; they felt an odd combination of relief and giddiness.
Deborah shook her head.
Young love.
Chapter Five
Mia woke up slowly. She was warm and comfortable and her first thought was to wonder why her pillow was moving. She opened her eyes and she saw a muscled chest right in front of her.
“Good morning.”
Startled, she raised her head and saw Nick looking down at her.
“Good morning.”
He stroked her back. “Did you sleep OK?”
She nodded.
Nick had spent the past twenty minutes watching her sleep, almost bursting with happiness to have her back in his arms. For the first time since he’d made love to her and then run out of her apartment six weeks earlier, they had shared a bed, and he didn’t even care that they were both in t-shirts and underwear. All he wanted was to hold her again while she slept.
OK, that wasn’t strictly true. He wanted far more than that, but everything else could wait. What he wanted more than sex was her trust. Her love. Once he had regained those things, the sex would follow.
He lifted her chin and kissed her lightly. She closed her eyes, remembering how intense the kissing had gotten the night before. She had loved every second of lying in his arms, fully clothed, just kissing him and talking. It was the most intimate, passionate thing she’d ever done with Nick and she knew he felt the same way.
Nick gently rolled over and pulled her up and against him. She clung to his shoulders and pressed her breasts against his chest. Their tongues and legs intertwined as their kisses deepened and lengthened.
Mia’s breath came faster now and she felt her centre moisten and open. She stirred on the bed.
“Nick?”
Nick opened his eyes. She was gazing up at him, her eyes ablaze with desire and his whole body responded to her unspoken request.
“Are you sure, babe?” he said.
She arched. “Yes. Oh, yes.”
He hesitated. “Maybe you want to take it slow?”
She raised her hips to his, rubbed herself against his cock. “It’s been six weeks. I think that’s slow enough.”
“I can make you feel good in other ways. I can touch you… kiss you. We don’t have to do everything.”
She smiled and it was that pure, perfect smile that he had seen at the bar when they first met. His heart flipped in his chest to see it again.
“But I want to do everything, Nick.”
She lifted his t-shirt up, over his chest, over his head. He ran his hands under her pj top, stroked her naked breasts. She gasped as he took it off and lowered his dark head to her nipples. His tongue flicked them gently and her hands clenched in his hair, pushing his mouth closer.
He lifted his head. “I’ve missed you, Mia. I’ve missed us.”
“Me too,” she whispered. “Make love to me, Nick. Please.”
He kissed her again and she ran her hands across his back, loving his strength. He trailed his fingers down her stomach, down the material of her underwear. He rubbed her lips throug
h the cotton and she opened her mouth against his and gasped.
God, she was just so wet, so open. So ready. Nick groaned and slid his fingers under her panties, stroking lightly. Mia shuddered as his finger moved closer to her vulnerable bud, an inch at a time, slowly. When he finally touched her clit, she gave a low cry.
Nick circled her hard knot, loving how she moved against his fingers. She was soaked and he spread her sweetness around and around, feeling how slick she was.
My God. How could I have been so fucking stupid as to risk losing this? Losing her?
He lowered her underwear down her thighs, past her knees. She kicked them off and reached for his boxer shorts. She pulled them down and sucked in her breath when she saw him – hard and long and perfect. She wanted it. She wanted him.
“The condoms are in the bedside table,” she said.
“Not yet,” he said. “Not yet…”
His fingers went back to her pussy and she opened her legs to them. He stroked her up and down before sliding a finger inside. They both groaned as her muscles pulled on him, pulling his finger in farther, closer. Mia tensed as her pussy started to flicker in small, pre-orgasm waves.
“Nick,” she breathed. “Oh, God… it feels so good.”
“I want to kiss you, babe. I want to taste you again.”
She flushed and almost came just at the thought. “Please…”
Nick moved down her body, giving her small kisses the whole way. He was fighting to stay in control, but it was getting more challenging by the second. She was just so hot, so wet, so beautiful. He wanted to be inside her so much.
Mia was so turned on, she couldn’t believe it. His tongue touched her clit and his finger pushed deeper inside of her, and she felt the flickering burst in to a wildfire. She gasped and her back arched helplessly. His tongue stroked her once, twice; his fingers plunged once, twice. And she came immediately.
Nick felt her explode against his mouth and hand and almost came himself. Her body was quivering all around him and he licked the length of her pussy, sucking up every last drop of her release. She cried out again and her head dropped back. She clenched and released, her orgasm going on and on, barely catching her breath between cries.
Fighting Strong Page 4
