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Bile rose in my throat. The thick acid coated my tongue until my words were covered with it. “She went back to him like so many do. The following day, she ended up in the ER.”
Images flashed through my mind. The blood covering her face. The bones poking through her skin. The wet sound of her voice as she begged me to save her. The machine flatlining after we’d done all we could.
“She didn’t make it.” I straightened, putting away the scissors, staring at the kit so I didn’t have to look at him. “Her husband couldn’t blame himself, so he took it out on us. Tried to sue me. The hospital. When that didn’t work, he started showing up. Threatening me.”
“Did you report him?”
My eyes moved to Nathan, and I realized this might be the reason I trusted him. Because he was a criminal, but still seemed to believe in good. Still thought the innocent could be saved.
But I knew better.
“He was a cop.” I blinked, pushing down the rush of emotions. “Lesson learned.”
Red spread across his face. The anger contorting his features. “He touched you?”
My wrist ached as I zipped the kit closed, reminding me of my lesson. I’d been foolish in more than one way. I’d thought he wouldn’t hurt me. That my authority mattered. That justice would prevail.
“I lived.”
I was lucky. A broken bone and a bruised face can heal. The wounds on my heart were proving harder to scab over.
It wasn’t the attack. It was failing her. Failing myself. Because I ran. At the first test of how tough the job was, I gave up everything I’d worked for.
“He won’t.” The absolute certainty in his words made me chuckle. They probably weren’t a joke. I’d seen him injure other people to protect me. He was a criminal, after all. But I had no faith that anyone could ever touch that man.
“I’m over it.” I shrugged, knowing it was a lie. I’d never be over it. “But you needed to know in case he’s the one trying to hurt me.”
“Give me his name. I’ll look into it.” He typed it into his phone as I told him all I knew.
The guilt pressed down on my chest. It yanked along my lungs until I had to work to breathe. Just as I turned to carry the kit back into the bathroom, Nathan’s hand shot out.
My pulse raced as his fingers wrapped around my chin. He applied pressure, tilting my head until I was looking up at him. My feet moved without my permission, stepping forward until I was standing between his spread thighs. “It wasn’t your fault.”
It wasn’t the first time someone had uttered the words. Other staff at the hospital. Police who’d taken my statement. Buddies of the asshole, I found out later.
But looking into his serene blue eyes, it was the first time they penetrated the shell around my heart.
The weight on my shoulders lifted. I’d told Brad about everything. He’d been there helping me while my bones healed. But it hadn’t felt like this.
He’d added to the burden. Using it as an example of why my job was dangerous. Why I should quit. I think he just wanted a stay-at-home wife to feed his lifestyle and laziness.
“You know that, right?” My throat clogged, but I managed a nod. His thumb swept along my jaw, sending a shiver down my spine. “Do you regret quitting?”
“Yes. But I’m too weak to go back.” It was out of my mouth before I could stop it. When he stared at me like this. With all his focus, I couldn’t lie.
“You’re stronger than you realize.”
I wanted to see myself how he did. Wanted to believe him. And in this moment, I started to.
19
Nathan
My hand was wrapped around Lark’s chin. This tiny touch was setting me on fire. Flames shooting up my arm as her soft skin came into contact with mine.
I stared into her deep brown eyes, looking for the answers to this obsession. Like they lived in her and not me. I wasn’t sure where it came from. Where it lived. Or whether it would go away.
I didn’t want it to. Because when I touched her, there was nothing else. No constant chatter in my head. No worries. No discomfort.
