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Nervousness boiled up inside her and she wanted to keep the conversation flowing. When she’d come home with him after that night at the bar, they’d started talking organically and had fallen asleep the same way. This was different. She wasn’t sure what to say so she went with an old standard. “So, how was your day? Did you take care of the situation that came up?”
Dax’s honey colored stare darkened as his eyebrows pulled tight. “Yeah. We took care of it.”
Sensing the shift in his energy, Ginny heard herself apologizing. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up a bad subject…I was just trying to…I was just…”
Wow. It was hard to talk with a foot in your mouth.
“No. Don’t apologize.” Dax took mercy on her and cut her off. “It’s fine. I try not to take my work home with me, but sometimes you see things and it just sticks with you.”
Ginny nodded but remained silent. As much as she wanted to be there for him, she didn’t feel right about pushing him to talk about something that he didn’t want to.
She was actually a little shocked when he continued on his own. “I was at the shelter in the middle of the self-defense class when they had an intake that needed a safe move.”
“Safe move?” Ginny wasn’t sure what he was talking about.
“Elite Security offers several services to the shelter. In addition to the self-defense classes we also provide safe moves. We escort women that are leaving a domestic violence situation to their houses to collect their things,” Dax explained. “I try to keep my emotions out of it. I can’t think about what has happened to these women and children because if I do…” Dax’s nostrils flared as his jaw tensed.
Ginny’s heart broke seeing the pain that this caused him, but she had to admit that she fell just a little bit more for Dax in that moment.
“Normally, we don’t rush the moves. We take our time and plan out a course of action that will have the least chance of confrontation and contact with the abuser. Today we didn’t have that luxury. The woman’s husband was released on bail this morning unexpectedly after putting his wife in the hospital with some broken bones.
“When we were tipped off that he was on his way home she grabbed her two-year-old son and left moments before he pulled up in the driveway. In her hurry she didn’t grab her son’s insulin and he’s a diabetic. We had to go back and get the medication.”
“Oh my gosh.” Ginny’s hand covered her chest.
“The ex was there. He didn’t put up a fight, but I almost did when I saw how he was staring at her. She did everything we asked. She didn’t look at him or speak to him but I could see the power that he held over her. He was trying to bullshit with us and put on a show like the whole thing was some big misunderstanding.
“She was terrified. Even with Nate, Riley and I there. Three men whose sole purpose was to protect her and she didn’t feel safe. She was shaking like a leaf, so much that she dropped the medication and flinched as I bent down to help her.”
Dax shook his head slowly. “She just looked so young…she is young. She’s barely twenty and when I think about what she’s suffered, the road that she has ahead of her, I just…” His words trailed off and he took a drink of his beer.
That poor girl, and she was still a girl, had a two year old with health issues and was trying to escape an abusive relationship. Her mom was eighteen when she’d had her and Ginny hadn’t had health issues and there’d never been an abusive man in their lives. But growing up with a single mom, she’d seen how much of a struggle that was in itself.
In an instant, Ginny’s entire life was put in perspective. She’d been so scared of staying here, of trying to spread her wings, cram her high school and college years into four weeks, for what? She felt ridiculous that she’d been so hyperfocused on herself when things like this were going on.
“Can you send me the name of the shelter?”
Dax lowered the bottle. “Why?”
“Every year I donate a portion of my earnings to a charity and I know exactly where this year’s donation is going.”
A crease appeared on his forehead. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I know I don’t have to. I want to. I need to. And I want to do more than that. I’d like to volunteer there while I’m in town. Do you have a contact person I can reach out to?”
“Yeah. I do.” Dax smiled at her, a wide-open breath stealing smile that made her heart do that funny skipping-a-beat thing. His phone buzzed and when he looked down he cursed under his breath. “Sorry. I need to take this.”
She watched as he stood and walked into the front room speaking quietly. His back was facing her and she couldn’t deny that she took in the view. Her gaze traveled over the broadness of his strong shoulders and down the planes of his muscular back. She’d seen the area bare this morning and the memory of his lines and curves served as x-ray vision. She had a vivid picture of exactly what was beneath the thermal shirt and it was impressive.
He finished his phone call and returned to the table wearing a hard expression.
“Is everything okay?”
“That was Seth. I need to talk to you about something.”
Oh no.How could she have forgotten to talk to him about her mom? He got home and all rational thought flew out of her head. “Is this about my mom?”
“Did you talk to her?” His brow furrowed.
