Page 27 of Shatter

After a beat of contemplation, she bites her lower lip.

"Why?"

I squeeze her thighs.

"Why what?"

"Why are you doing this? Why are you helping me?"

I think about it for a beat but struggle to come up with an answer.

"Why wouldn't I?"

She's quiet for a long time, searching my face for some answer, but I don't know what she's expecting to find. Is kindness such a foreign concept to her? I'd like to think she'd do the same for me if I were in trouble.

"What do you want to do while we wait for Parker?" I ask. It seems simple enough, but she doesn't answer, and I worry that she's shutting down again. Instead of pushing her for an answer, I simply stand, hands on her thighs, giving her the time and space to process everything. She's gone through a lot today - public scandal, being hunted down by paparazzi. I want to know why she came here instead of to her house, but I want to give her peace first. I don't want to be just another person demanding something from her. Not tonight.

My thumbs rub small circles on her soft skin as I wait. I'll wait here all night if I have to.

She looks down at her hands, turning them so that her palms are up.

I notice the bird necklace I gifted her, sitting in the center of her chest, and pride surges through me. I know it's wrong to want to stake any sort of claim or possessiveness, but I couldn't help it. When I thought about what to get her for Christmas, everything seemed so mundane. Until I found this little bird necklace that just screamed that it belonged to her. She chose to wear a representation of me, even if no one else knows it. And that satisfies me way more than it should.

"No one has ever asked me what I want."

My knee-jerk reaction is to argue with her that that can't be true, but I know that's not the answer she needs.

Beautiful blue eyes find mine. "You asked me what I wanted to do... and I don't have an answer... I don't know what I want, because no one's ever asked me that before."

A flashback of Aspen in the shower when I asked her what she needed. She knew then. The answer was me. But what does she want now? Is it still me?

I shove that train of thought aside. Tonight's not about me. It's about her and what she wants.

I think about all the times I've seen her before I turned her away that first night at The Envelope. Industry dinners at her parents' house, Christmases, even in Aspen.

"Is that why you've been cutting?" I ask, finally putting the puzzle pieces together.

She nods.

I let out a heavy breath. This is so much deeper than I thought. When I played with her at The Envelope, I'd assumed she was bored, spoiled, looking to rebel a little, but I couldn't have been more wrong. It was a desperate cry for help. Her suicidal ideation from tonight was her breaking. She's not bored; she's trapped. I can't begin to understand everything she's going through, but I know right now I don't have to.

I step forward, bracing my hips against my island, and wrap my arms around her, holding her head to my chest. I can't fix everything in one night, but I can hold her, let her know she's safe and that no one is going to demand anything from her while she's with me.

We'll sit down tomorrow, once the trauma of tonight wears off, and figure things out. I can't let the world hurt her anymore. I can't let her hurt herself anymore. And if I need to be her shield against the entire damn world, I will.

My shirt pulls, and she balls it in her tiny fists on my back, and she sobs, openly, into my chest for I don't know how long. Eventually, her sobs slow, her grip loosens, and she sags against me.

I just stand there and hold her, taking it all for her.

Chapter fourteen

Melody

Istartle to my feet from the couch when the doorbell rings. Adrenaline courses through me with the fear that it might be my parents. I can't help the helpless look I give Harrison.

Cool, calm, and collected, he merely walks to the door, checks the peephole, then unlocks it and throws it open.

"Parker!" I cry out, running to him and wrapping him in a fierce hug.