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Cole grits his teeth. “But sometimes it still doesn’t feel like enough. It never feels over.” His hands find my hips, pulling me in for comfort. “I’ve blamed myself every damn day for the last twenty years, Delilah. It’s not that simple to turn off. Even when you save someone.”
“I understand, Cole. More than you know.” My hand goes to the locket around my neck. My voice wavers, and I fight to continue. “I lost someone too.”
“Who?”
“My little sister. Lucy.” I gasp out her name, like the unlocking of a thousand years of darkness.
Cole’s blue eyes widen.
“Tell me.” His command is soothing, and it steadies the hammer of my pulse, the shake of my hands.
“I told you we moved all over when I was a kid.” He nods. I go on. “Well, that stopped after my mother met Tom. Tom was an asshole. Weird. Creepy. Never wanted me to dance. Always tried to tell me what to do.” Panic rises in my throat at the memory. “One night, when I was sixteen, he came to my room and sat on the edge of my bed. All I remember is his hand…moving toward me. It was like slow motion…”
“Delilah,” Cole grits out. It looks like his molars, his fists, might crack together from the pressure.
“He tried to touch me,” I whisper, my eyes starting to well up. “But I snapped out of it. I ran out of the room and told my mother everything, but she didn’t believe me. That was the worst thing, really. That the person who should have protected me didn’t.” I let out a ragged breath. Go on.
“I knew it was up to me. I couldn’t stay there, and I couldn’t keep my sister there. So, that night I left. I didn’t know where to go, who to trust, so I went to the police. But they wouldn’t listen. They thought I was a runaway, they brought me home…and…”
I press a hand to my mouth to stifle a sob.
“The last thing I told Lucy was, ‘I’ll come back for you.’ But she didn’t wait for me.” The tears start to roll down my cheeks in earnest. “She snuck out of the house after I left. It was late. She was trying to find me. And—and she got hit by a car on our street.” Memory floods my mind. “There were so many lights, so many cops, and she was in the street covered by a white sheet. She was only eight.”
A swallow jogs Cole’s throat. “Christ.”
My voice drops to a hollow whisper. “Lucy died thinking I left her there with that man. That I wasn’t coming back for her.”
“Fuck, Delilah, I’m sorry.” Cole gathers me in his arms. I rest my head against his broad chest, listening to the beat of his heart. He holds me for a long few minutes, letting me gather myself, letting me know he’s here.
“I never went back. I slept in my car. Flipped burgers until I turned eighteen.” I grip the hem of his shirt and hold on tight. “It sounds stupid, but dancing saved me. From men. From my mother. From my sister’s death. It gave me power, gave me a purpose. It kept me safe for so long, until…”
“Until…?”
Sammy.
His name is a whisper of a ghost inside my head.
I pull back to look at Cole. I touch my lips. Still burning from the white dog. “I’ve said too much.”
More than I should. But the heady mix of whiskey and Cole’s grief loosened my tongue. That urge to connect with this man, to be as honest as he’s been with me.
Cole drops his forehead to mine, those big hands gripping my hips. “Nah, darlin’. You said everything right.”
“Really?”
“Really. I’m glad I know more about you.” He pulls my hand up to his mouth and kisses it softly, keeping his eyes on me. “And you’re safe here. Know that.”
My heart sings. His words mean everything. My insides are a jumbled mess from what this man does to me. He makes me feel at peace, makes me want to open up my heart and let it all out.
I reach up to cup his strong jaw. “All the bad men in my life… But you, I don’t think you’re bad, Cole.”
His stern gaze sweeps over me. “I won’t lie. I’ve done bad things, darlin’.”
“But are you bad for me?”
A muscle tics in his jaw. “Yes. I’m bad. This town is bad. And if you know what’s good for you, you’ll leave at the end of summer.”
“I plan to.” I tilt my shoulders back. I wonder which of us can bluff the best.
