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But instead, without looking, I raised both my legs and pushed outward, kicking.
He flew across the room.
I opened my eyes in time to see him land with an oof.
I got up and ran for the door, but again he caught me, turning me.
Scrunching my eyes shut again, I kneed him between his legs, hoping I had the strength I needed to incapacitate him.
“Auugh!” This time he yelled and crumpled to the floor. “Bitch. You fucking little slut!”
Thank God my purse was where I’d left it in the living room. I grabbed it and headed out the door in my bra and jeans, my own vomit coating one side of my body.
I ran as hard as I could with no idea where I was going.
Only that I was never going back to my father, no matter what I had to do.
* * *
I woke up, perspiration sliding over me.
Next to me, Ryan slept soundly.
My breathing was rapid, couldn’t get enough air.
I was hyperventilating. It had happened before, though not for quite a while.
Why now? Why tonight?
I rubbed my shivering arms, trying desperately to calm my body and my mind.
Ryan stirred and opened his eyes. “Ruby? Is everything okay?”
No, everything was not okay, but I couldn’t saddle him with this. He’d go hightailing it away from me if I told him I’d just had a nightmare of my father attempting to rape me.
“Fine,” I said quickly.
“You’re not fine.” He leaned over to his nightstand and turned on his lamp. “You’re shivering. What’s going on?”
I opened my mouth to say “I’m fine,” but the words never made it to my lips.
Instead, I burst into tears.
Chapter Twenty–Four
Ryan
All I could do was hold her and let her cry into my shoulder.
She shook as she sobbed, her nose running. Every time I tried to reach the nightstand to grab a tissue for her nose and eyes, she held onto me for dear life, and I couldn’t move.
So I let her cry.
And I hoped, when she finally stopped, I would be able to soothe her.
She was so strong, and this burst of crying didn’t sway my opinion of that. Something had gotten to her, and I prayed it hadn’t been me.
No, it hadn’t.
