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He remained silent. His mind reeled with a thousand things he wanted to say to her, but none of them were set free.
She lifted a trembling hand to her chest as she staggered back, putting herself between him and TJ. She was looking at him like he was a monster, like he had done this on purpose. He was paralyzed with regret. A lifetime of paying penance, of punishing himself for not being enough weighed on him. Say something!
“Why?” she croaked.
“I busted up his truck,” TJ confessed.
Belle’s head snapped to her brother. Her shoulders rose as her eyes narrowed. “You did what?”
TJ looked down ashamedly.
“I raised you better than this, Thomas Nigel Jones! You . . .” She staggered back, her words stuck as she crumpled to the floor.
Bently stepped forward, reaching towards her, his instincts overriding his fear. The need to comfort, to take some of her burden, drawing his lead feet towards her. His fingers grazed her shoulder as she flinched away from him. Her eyes were a mixture of betrayal, confusion, and fury.
“Don’t touch me,” she growled like a wounded animal.
He held up his hands and backed away. He’d thought the pain when he told her to leave had been the worst thing he’d ever seen, but he was wrong. Belle looked, destroyed now.
I’ve done this.
You destroy everything you touch. You’re good for nothing. You’re weak!
Belle stood on shaky legs, straightening her back and crossing her arms over her chest. She spoke to TJ. “Everything I did. All the sacrifices I made so you could have a life, so you wouldn’t end up in jail or dead. And you just throw it all away? All for what?” Belle’s voice was unnaturally calm. All emotion drained from her face except the tears that dripped down her beautiful face.
TJ’s shoulders slumped. “I was just trying to protect you. To stand up for you.”
She shook her head. “That is not your job, TJ.”
“No one else will!” TJ snapped, his eyes narrowing on Bently.
The accusation hit its intended mark. Shame and guilt swept over Bently like a rogue wave, pulling him under. He was drowning in it.
Belle turned towards him, wiping the tears from her face. “Can I speak with you, privately?”
“Of course.” Anything to take even a fraction from the riot in her eyes.
Belle walked briskly past him, the scent of cocoa butter drifting over him. Another violent twist of longing for her creaked and splintered inside him. He followed her into the hallway on shaky legs and over to an empty room with only a few chairs and a coffee table with pamphlets on grief and loss sitting on it. Fitting. There was most definitely a part of him that had died after Belle left. He was hollow without her.
She turned to face him, staring straight ahead at his chest. She seemed so broken and vulnerable. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and promise everything was going to be okay. But he knew better. He’d lost that privilege the moment he’d let her walk out the door.
“I know I have no right to ask anything of you.” Her voice was shaky and empty, as if she was hanging on by a thread. As if she had nothing left.
Because of me.
She looked the kind of tired that reached the marrow of your bones, not from lack of sleep but the exhaustion from a lifetime of having to struggle to survive. She’d done everything in her power so that both she and her brother would not have to end up like their parents and repeat the cycle.
How can I fix this?
“But is there any chance you’ll let me pay the damages and not press charges? I’ll keep him away from you—”
“Belle?” Bently clenched his fists at his side so he wouldn’t reach out to her.
She blinked and turned her eyes towards his, steady and unwavering. Her strength was one of the things he loved most about her. She’d challenged him in so many ways. A woman he could count on through thick and thin. A woman who’d been through the fires of hell and come out stronger. His angel. He wanted to be the lucky bastard who got to live life by her side. He’d get her back. Bently would make this right, or die trying.
“I’m not pressing charges. I brought him here to get stitched up. I had no idea it was him. I thought—I thought he was the one who’d been harassing me. I never would have laid a hand on him if I’d have known it was TJ.” He hoped she would see his honesty.
She swallowed and nodded. “Thank you. Just send me the bill.”
