Page 118 of Her Ex-Husband's Brother

Jesus, why didn’t she tell me it was this bad?

I would have broken the door down to get to her.

“Cops first,” she keeps saying, “or he’ll figure out a way to twist it. I have proof.”

I take her backpack, then scoop her up and do a half-turn to grab my keys, then I’m jogging with her out to the truck, parked in the garage where I drove it the night I moved in and haven’t moved it since.

Poison. I never thought he’d go that far. Clearly neither of us did, in spite of everything we already knew about him.

He snowed us both. We actually believed there was a hurt little boy somewhere under all of it, lashing out because it was really Mom who twisted him crooked. And fuck. Maybe she did. But whatever happened to him as a kid, he’s the one who let himself become a man who hurts people without a shred of conscience.

And now he can burn in hell as far as I’m concerned.

Protecting Lennon is the only thing that matters right now.

Even though I’ve already failed her.

I should never have let her go back into that house.

She feels so lifeless already in my arms.

“Lennon.” My heart jumps into my throat and I give her a little shake.

“Here,” she says, nuzzling tiredly against my chest. “Safe now.”

Which nearly breaks something in me, because she thinks reaching me is the safe part. Hasn’t she been paying attention?

She might have actually escaped my brother the first time if she hadn’t let herself be dragged back on my account.

And she almost died for it. Fuck.

I’ll deal with that later,I tell myself, the way I’ve trained myself to do with anything that isn’t useful in the next five minutes.

Right now, she needs a driver who isn’t falling apart.

So that’s what I’m going to be.

I yank open the truck door, settle her onto the bench seat, and toss her bag in the rear. She curls up sideways, knees drawn toward the middle, and when I climb in on the driver’s side, her head finds my lap like it’s already decided that’s where it lives.

God, she’s killing me.

“We’re going to the hospital first,” I declare, tracing some hair back from her face. Is it just me, or is her hair thinner than it used to be?

“Don’t you dare.” Her tired eyes flash up at me. “I will murder you myself, August. Don’t you dare take advantage of my weakness to take me anywhere but the sheriff’s office.”

I glare down at her. “We did it your way last time, and you ended up poisoned.” I yank the gearshift into reverse. “I’m in the driver’s seat now.”

Lennon lurches upright and reaches for the door handle like she’s actually going to open it.

“Dammit, woman!”

Her head whips my way. “I’m finding a second wind. And don’t you dare think I’m gonna let any man imprison me again or tell me what to do.”

Dammit. Now I feel like garbage all over again.

“Fine, you stubborn goat. The sheriff’s station first. But then straight to the hospital.”

“Fine.”