Page 21 of It Was Always You

"No. It's a little tight out there on space is all. I needed to stretch, and I couldn't sleep." I walked into her room and propped her extra pillow up against the headboard and sat on the edge of thebed.

Her cheeks turning pink, she stood up out of bed as if I had burned her. "Oh my, I never thought about that. We can switch if you want? I didn’t think about how tall youwere."

I shook my head. "No, don’t be silly, I've slept in worse spots. It’s all good. You need a good night’s sleep. I wanted to make sure you were okay." I patted the bed, gesturing for her to crawl backin.

Sitting back down, she covered up those beautiful legs of hers and looked down at herhands.

"Are you okay?" I hated to press her, but I was following my gut—she needed to talk. Watching, I was pretty sure I noticed a tear fall down her cheek. "Tatum, look atme."

She wouldn't lift her head. She just kept looking at herhands.

I leaned over and placed my hand under her chin. Her skin was so soft. I lifted her face up to mine, and what I saw nearly broke me. Her eyes were filled with tears. I moved toward her and pulled her into my lap with ease and let her cry. The longer I held her, the calmer she became, until finally, she wasquiet.

"My God, Parker, I'm so embarrassed. I really am fine," she said, sitting up and wiping the last of the stray tearsaway.

There was no way she was going to pull that shit with me again. She wasn't fine, and it was about time I found out exactly what had happened. "What happened,Tatum?"

She climbed out of my lap, laid down, and rolled onto her side, her back facing me. She was quiet for a while. "You have to promise not to tell Elliott. I'm not sure what he would do if he foundout."

I wasn't sure I wanted to hear this, and she was putting me in a bad position: lie to my brother in blue and my bestfriend.

"Promise me, Parker." Her voice wassoft.

I knew the only way I would ever find out was to promise. "I promise." I waited for her to roll over to face me, but she didn't. She took a deep breath, her shoulders shaking. She was crying again. I longed to reach out and hold her, but Iwaited.

"It has to do with those bruises that you asked me about." Her voice waslow.

I could feel every muscle in my body clench. There was nothing I hated more than shitty guys who put their hands on a woman, but this one took the cake. He had put his hands on her. "I'mlistening."

"It was after the night he spent at my place and I caught on to the fact he was still cheating on me. I hired a company to pack up my stuff, and I stayed with Jen up until the day the movers came. I felt I had imposed enough on her. I decided I was going to stay in a hotel at the airport until my flight left on Saturday. Well, Thursday night after the movers left, I headed to the hotel. I was exhausted. I fell asleep, and I woke to someone knocking on the door. I figured it was Jen coming to hang out, so I got up and opened the door. It was him. He forced his way in and assaulted me." Her body continued to shake from crying. "Please don't hate me, Parker, but Dean has hit me from day one. I'm sorry I lied to you and Elliott. I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to leave, I'll understand," shesobbed.

How could she think that? I hated to see her feeling this low and beat down. The guy had done a number on her; he had reduced her to a point where she felt completely worthless. I wasn't going to leave her or desert her. Instead, I moved closer to her, placing one arm under her head, and wrapped my other arm around her waist, pulling her tightly against mybody.

"I'm not going anywhere, baby. I'm here now. You’re safe with me. I am so sorry you’ve gone through allthis."

She cried in my arms until she either felt safe or had become exhausted enough to fall asleep. Anger boiled inside me as I held her sleeping form. I was angry at the ass who treated her as if she didn't matter. But more so, I was angry at myself. If only I had tried harder to get her to stay with me all those years ago. For not showing her how important she was to me and putting my job ahead of her. Also, I was angry at the fact that I knew if I ever set my eyes on the guy, he'd be dead. Elliott wasn't the only one she had to worryabout.

Iopened my eyes andlooked around the room. The sun was just peeking through the curtains when I saw a hand sticking out from under my pillow. I could feel the slow and steady puff of his breath against my neck just before I was pulled back against Parker’s chest, and I could feel his hardness pressing into me. I was so warm and comfortable lying in his arms. It had been the best night’s sleep I’d had since moving to Emerald Bay. I waited a few more minutes before I moved, to be sure he was still asleep. Then I gently lifted his arm from around my waist and climbed out of bed, being careful not to wakehim.

I stood on the back deck looking out over the bay. The morning sunlight bounced off the colored leaves, making them even brighter. I couldn't help but wonder what Parker thought of me. Years ago, I never would have stood to be treated the way I had been treated by Dean, but somehow, I grew to accept it. I was disappointed with myself, and I was glad I couldn’t see the look on his face last night when I told him. I didn't want to see the disappointment or disgust in his eyes. I had already seen enough the night I told Elliott. Those thoughts kept playing over and over in my head, driving me crazy and making me uneasy. I remembered how Elliott had urged me to call Parker after we broke up. He had the same look of disgust and pity on his face then as he did the othernight.

I walked into the apartment I shared with my brother and went straight to my bedroom. It had been a long day at work. I was tired, and I missed Parker something terrible. I wanted so badly to call him. I closed my bedroom door and flopped down on my bed. I lay with my arm over my eyes, listening to silence. My bedroom door creaked open, and Elliott stood inside the doorway staring atme.

"What are youdoing?"

"Trying to relax and calm my mind. What’s up, Elliott?" Truth was, I was just plain miserable. It had been six months since Parker left, and I missed him more thanever.

"I talked to Parker today. Why don't you pick up that phone and callhim?"

"He doesn't want to hear from me,Elliott."

"Really? How would you know? You haven't spoken to him in months,Tatum."

I could tell he was getting impatient with me. After all, I had been driving him crazy. Should I call? Shouldn't Icall?

"Why would he want to hear from me? I was horrible to him. I didn't trusthim."

"I don't think that’s the case, Tatum. With everything that happened, you couldn't take another major change. Even though he didn't want to go without you, he understood. I think you owe it to yourself to callhim."

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