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“I’m not going to get in trouble. But even if I did, I would do it again in a heartbeat to protect you.” I wrapped my hand around the back of her head. “Please stop apologizing.” I let my fingers linger by her neck, toying with a few strands of her hair. “Are you okay? How bad did he hurt you?”
She absently touched her wrist, and I dropped my attention to the reddening skin, the pieces clicking into place. When we’d talked about Jordan previously, it was in vague terms of him hurting her. But he hadphysicallyhurt her before.
“This isn’t the first time he’s laid his hands on you,” I said. Not a question but a statement, and she nodded. I moved my chair closer to hers, gently nudging her legs so they were between mine. With one hand on the back of her chair, I cupped my other around her face. “What happened?”
“He’d always been sort of…possessive, and I thought,wow, he must really like me, and blew it off. Because it made me feel good.” She laughed at herself, though it cracked, her voice watery. “It was nice to have someone so into me when I spent such a long time angry at myself and the world, you know?”
I dragged the pad of my thumb across her cheek, and she continued.
“Of course, it only got worse, so I told him I needed a break. I moved back here with Taylor for a few weeks but eventually got back with him. I loved him, and I wanted to give him another chance when he said he was going to be better. I moved in with him…and then one night, we got into an argument.” She dropped her chin toward her chest, obviously the story difficult for her to relay.
I dragged my hand over the back of her head. “He won’t ever touch you again. I swear it.”
After a few moments, she lifted her face, her teeth sawing into her lower lip.
“What happened when you got into an argument?”
She knotted her fingers together. “I was in the bathroom, taking my pills, giving him the silent treatment, and he kept getting angrier and angrier, louder and louder. I continued to ignore him, so he grabbed me, and I had my hands up…” She held her fists up in front of her, demonstrating. “I had my medication bottle, and he slapped my wrist, yelling at me to listen to him. My pills went everywhere, and he wouldn’t let me pick them up. Wouldn’t let me do anything, really, except listen to him. Eventually, I pushed him out of the bathroom and locked the door. I called my sister, and she and Dean came to get me.”
I swallowed, my blood rushing in my ears, my temper needing release.
I should have killed him.
I might have been exaggerating a bit, but I could make Jordan disappear. Collin was a chef and was obsessive about his knives, and Brian worked construction, so he could get his hands on cement. I wasn’t lying about Seamus. He was the one who’d taught me to fight, and he did spend time in prison. Though I was sure he wasn’t looking to go back, I knew if I needed help, he’d be there, no questions asked.
The idea of anyone physically hurting Kennedy made me fucking ill, and I slid my hands over her shoulders and neck to her jaw. She wrapped her fingers around my wrists, holding me in place, and that tiny signal exploded the last of my resolve.
It had been gradually disappearing when it came to my growing feelings for her, but now it was gone.
Evaporated.
Because she wanted me here. Wanted my comfort. Wanted my hands on her.
And while I would never take advantage of her trauma, there was no way I was letting her go now.
“Why did you go out with him tonight?” I asked, and she offered me a sad little shrug.
“He said he’d changed. Told me he was working on himself, and I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, but I guess… I should have known.”
With my palms bracketing her face, I stroked my thumbs under her eyes. “You are sweet and good and far too fucking trusting, but that’s what I love about you. You’re kind and honest, willing to see the best in everyone.” I grimaced, trying to rid the image of Kennedy at Jordan’s mercy from my memory, with his hands on her, as he yelled in her face. “I would…” I opened my eyes to her, promising, “I will do whatever it takes to protect you, always. I’d do anything for you.”
Her eyes glistened with unshed tears, and she tilted her head, pressing a featherlight kiss to my palm. “I don’t deserve that.”
“You’re right. You deserve a lot more.”
Our gazes locked, and tension coiled between us. My senses heightened and with my adrenaline still soaring, it would have been so easy to give in. To pull her into my lap and make us both forget about tonight, but I knew we couldn’t. We had so much more to say to each other, yet neither one of us was in the right state of mind to get into it.
“Liam, I?—”
The sound of Finn’s whining split the air, and we shifted apart, saving me from coming up with an excuse not to kiss her.
“I’ll get him,” I said, but she stood.
“Let me. I need… I think it would help if I could cuddle with him for a little bit.”
I stood up too. “Okay.”
She gripped the bottom of my shirt, a wry smile passing over her features.
