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Tilting my head, I let it rest against the side of his. “Lost it how?”
“I beat the living shit out of them.”
I gasped, entire body spasming. “You did what?”
“I coul—” He stopped, clearing his throat. “I couldn’t do it. I saw you lying in that hospital bed, all pale and lifeless, and I couldn’t beat back my rage. For the first and only time in my entire life, I tapped into everything that old man taught me, and I unleashed it all.”
“I thought they did time in juvie for what they did,” I murmured. I never bothered to ask much else about them because the police let me know they were being locked up for what they did.
“They did. This was before that. Ah, before you woke up.”
I had a distinct memory of waking up in the hospital, of looking for Max, but he wasn’t there. I sucked in a breath. “Is that why you weren’t in my room? Were you in jail?”
“No,” he said, curling even closer around me.
Dear God, this conversation was so ugly, but the way he held me was anything but. I would gladly crawl beneath his skin and live there, be wholly part of him instead of solely mine if I could.
“Did they not tell anyone what you did?” I asked.
He grunted. “They didn’t have to. I called the ambulance when I was done.”
My eyes flew up, staring at the wall across the room. “How bad?”
“Bad. I should have done jail time. Especially since they were minors and I was not.”
I sucked in a breath. “Why?” I whimpered. “Why would you do that?”
“Because no one touches you and gets away with it. No one.”
I shuddered under the animosity of that vow.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Hebailed me out.” The hostility in his voice told me immediately who he meant. “I called him from the police station. He came in and lawyered up. That’s the thing with having a rich, powerful asshole for a father. No one wants to be on his bad side. No one.”
I knew that. I did. It was one of the reasons my parents never told the authorities about the abuse Max suffered. They were afraid he would either take it out on Max for telling, no one would believe them, or their worst fear… that Zane Navarro would make it so Max would never see us again. Instead, they struck a deal for Max to live with us.
“What did he do?”
“He paid off the families of the kids I beat. Made them sign NDAs. Then he had the charges dropped.”
“I’m surprised he helped you.”
Max snorted. “Can’t have the only son of Zane Navarro in jail for assault. It would muddy the good family name.”
“Right.”
“Besides, I think he was proud in a fucked-up way. He seemed happy to hear about all the damage I did to those dickwads.”
Empathy filled me near to brimming. The tears were back to pushing against my eyes, threatening to spill over. I could only imagine what a horrible mindfuck it must have been to finally get some sort of approval from a man who withheld it literally his entire life. And the reason for the approval?
Acting like a monster like him.
“Baby,” I whispered, rubbing my palm up and down his arm.
He made a small sound but then shifted. “Don’t get too soft yet. I’m not finished.”
“There’s more?”
