Home.
His.
Theabilitytobevulnerable was difficult, especially when all you've ever known was abandonment, self-sabotage, and damage.
Allowing someone to see your softer side and give them something so many others took for granted was a challenge.
But I did it…
Rhylan had somehow convinced me that he was worth the risk…
And what did he do after I gave in and let him take the last piece of me that I’d been saving for Mr. Right?
He left a note.
Chapter 20
Rhylan
Fouryears…
Where the fuck was I four goddamn years ago?
Why didn’t I catch this?
Why did it take until now for me to know that someone had hurtmy fucking girl?
Simply holding her in my arms was barely enough to suppress the rage that had begun to surge through my veins, raw anger consuming me from the inside out long after Dakota had fallen asleep.
She didn’t mention the name of her abuser; she just vaguely stated what he’d done.And over the course of a whole fucking year?
I could’ve stopped him—saved her—but where the hell was I when she needed me the most?
While Dakota continued to sleep peacefully in my embrace, I worked through what she’d said, thinking long and hard as Iattempted to put the pieces of our past together, and eventually remembered when I’d stopped chasing; the reason why I left her alone.
Fuck… it was the year after my initiation…
A mix of back-to-back MUR assignments that required my undivided attention and a sad attempt at walking away from the girl I figured I’d never have a chance at getting. But in the end, I was always drawn back to her. Unable to resist—my heart refusing to give up.
This was my fault;all of it, and now I had to set things right. Starting with hunting down and killing the sick bastard that dared to put his hands on my Wildcat.
I wanted him to bleed; a slow and agonizing death. To physically feel the pain that he’d inflicted on Dakota.
Although I wish I could make him suffer for the same length of time that she’d already endured.Three-hundred-and-sixty-five days. He’d make the perfect guinea pig for the rest of the cowboys. Practice makes perfect after all.
The motivation to find this mysterious piece of shit was easy; however, figuring out his identity without raising any alarms would prove to be difficult. I couldn’t ask Dakota outright, but with the MUR’s resources at my disposal, it shouldn’t take more than a couple of days to get everything I need:
A name, an address, and Louie.
I wouldn’t rest until he was found. Eager to beat the shit out of him with my bat. Regardless of whoever the fuck he was, he’d better hope to be dead or close enough to it, because ifhe’s alive when I show up on his front doorstep, it won’t be for much longer.
The image of redeeming my girl fueled my excitement for revenge. But the one thing it couldn’t do was prevent me from spiraling into a deep pit of regret, because again,this shouldn’t have happened.
If I’d just continued to watch over Dakota, even a brief visit between jobs, I would’ve known what was happening and could’ve intervened sooner, instead of picking up the broken pieces of her now, long after they’d scarred over.
I thought I was doing the right thing when I attempted to move on from the chase. But it seems that all I’d done was let her experience a trauma that no woman should ever have to bear.
I fucked up, and that’s entirely on me.
