Page 135 of Wicked Brutal

His eyes lift to mine. “Roman?” I nod. Ryan closes his eyes. Just for a second. When he opens them again, he looks back at my arm. “Did he do anything else?” I hesitate. That’s enough. Ryan’s eyes come back to my face. “Ally.”

“He slapped me.”

His entire body goes still. “Where?”

“My face.” His gaze moves over me. “It didn’t leave a mark.”

“That’s not what I fucking asked.” His voice isn’t loud, but the edge in it makes me blink. Ryan catches himself immediately. His eyes close. “Fuck. Sorry.” The apology comes instantly. Not because I’m afraid of him. Because he knows exactly what I’ve spent all afternoon around. He lowers his voice. “Can I see?”

Ryan cups my face so carefully it makes my eyes burn. He turns my head toward the kitchen light. One side. Then the other. His thumb barely touches my cheek. “Here?”

“Yeah. Afterward. He checked my face.” Ryan just stares at me. “He made sure nobody would be able to tell.”

Something in his expression changes. Not loudly. That’s what makes it worse. He looks back at my arm.

Ryan looks away. His tongue presses against the inside of his cheek. “I need approximately thirty seconds to not become a person my father has to bail out of jail.” He doesn’t touch the bruises. His fingertips settle below them, barely there. “This is why you came over.”

“Part of it.”

“What’s the other part?”

“Victor.” His face hardens. “He didn’t hurt me.”

“Okay.”

“He just wouldn’t stop touching me.” Ryan waits. “My hand. My knee. My waist. My back. He kissed me before we left the house. He kissed me again when they put me in the car. He kept touching me during lunch, and I—“ My voice catches. Ryan’s hands leave me immediately. Not because he doesn’t want me. Because he’s giving me the choice again. “I can still smell him.”

“His cologne?”

I nod. “It’s in my hair. I changed my clothes, but I can still fucking smell him.”

“What do you need?”

“A shower.”

“Okay.”

“With you.”

Something shifts in his face. Not hunger. Not yet. Something softer. “Yeah, pretty girl.”

“I want him off me.” His jaw tightens. “And I want you touching me.”

His eyes meet mine. I step closer and catch the front of his shirt.

“I don’t want you to fix anything right now. I don’t want to think about my dad or Victor or the Chairman or anything else. I just need you.”

His forehead lowers to mine. “You’re sure?”

“Yes.”

“You can change your mind whenever you want.”

“I know.”

“I mean it.”

“I know, Ryan.” I close my eyes. “I need to feel like my body is mine again.”