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“Please don’t leave. Can you just stay with me for a little while?”
He walked over and sat down in the chair again. With a soft look in his eyes, he said, “I will do whatever you need to make you feel safe enough to fall asleep.”
Exhaling the breath I had been holding as I awaited his answer, I snuggled into the couch. Then something else dawned on me and I felt awful. When we had come home the night before, I never brought up Bridgette or what happened. I wanted to give him some time and wasn’t sure if he would want to talk about it with me. But did he think he couldn’t? That was another question rolling around in my mind.
“Thank you,” I told him. Then I dug deep for the courage to bring up where my thoughts had just taken me and address them out loud. “I’m sorry about your baby and what Bridgette did to you,” I whispered.
He jolted a little at my words, then spoke. “You were amazing today, the way you jumped in.” A small smile tilted his mouth, but it didn’t fully reach his eyes. “It is still hard to think about but I think I needed her to show up here. It put me on the path of acceptance. Maybe that will allow me to truly move on.”
My hand found my stomach and I soaked in the movement I felt. Everything his ex did was awful, but the thought of him losing his baby and finding out the way he did seemed like the worst part of it all. Kace didn’t have to tell me how much he loved and wanted his baby, I could sense that.
As he carried on and bared his soul, telling me the full story, my heart shattered. I’d been doing everything I could to keep my baby safe and there was nothing he could have done. He lost anyway and the bite of betrayal on Bridgette’s behalf just made it that much worse.
I’d begun to understand then why Kace had been the way he was when I first arrived. Looking at me and my belly, knowing I was so close to having my baby, probably was a daily reminder of what he’d lost. I was shocked that he had even helped me at all. But he had and he was also the first person I’d thought to call when I was scared. Not just because he was down the hall.
No, it was more than that.
“I’m so sorry, Kace. I can’t imagine,” I told him as a tear slipped down my cheek at the agony in his voice and all that I’d heard.
I was beyond tired and he must have heard it in my voice. I wanted him to tell me more but I was fading fast.
“Honey, you need to go to sleep,” he said softly.
“Okay,” I said groggily. “But you will stay, right?” I asked him once again.
“I will be right here when you wake up and with you the whole time,” I heard him say.
Then before I drifted all the way off to sleep I found myself mumbling, “If he comes, don’t let him hurt us.”
“Who, honey?” Kace asked softly.
“My husband.”
ChapterSeventeen
KACE
I feltthose two words like a knife to my chest.
When Teal had shown up atNo Surrender, I had a feeling it would be someone close to her that she fled from. But hearing her confirm it was her husband she was afraid of had me wanting to hunt the man down and make sure he couldn’t ever harm her again.
She may not have told me her story, but she didn’t have to. I could see it, feel it, in her actions and the small comments she’d made.
When she had called me tonight, it confirmed to me how real her fears were.
And I would do anything to extinguish them.
ChapterEighteen
TEAL
He kept his word.
My eyes fluttered open and took in the man that lay in the chair just across the room, a peaceful look on his handsome face.I am startled at the thought.I’d have to be blind to not notice that he was good-looking. Any woman alive could see that and he'd pulled me in from the first day. Something just kept me from admitting it to myself.
It was probably the fact I was running from a psychotic husband, as well as a really bad past, and I had no business noticing a man anyway. The only thing I needed to do was take care of my sweet child that was only weeks away from making its debut into the world. But even as that thought entered my head, my eyes took Kace in again. His strong jawline, five o’clock shadow, perfect nose, and long lashes all stood out.
My heart fluttered a little.
