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“You said he prostituted me.”
“The definition is much broader than just sex.”
“I didn’t have a choice,” she confessed shakily.
I scooted closer. “I know that. You were manipulated. It wasn’t your fault he used his power and his position as your father to exploit you.”
“Is that all?”
“All what?”
“All that you found?”
Making sure she was looking at my eyes, I nodded. “Yes.” Because that was the truth. I maybe knew more details than she thought, but I didn’t know more, only for lack of trying. I hadn’t taken the time to search for what I feared, which was that he had been blackmailing her.
“Okay… okay, good.” She ran her fingers through her hair and held a bunch on the top of her head. “Because that’s all there is.”
“Can we not lie to each other?”
“I’m not lying,” she snapped and began pacing. “I’m not.”
I waited until she stopped moving and was looking at me. “You are, but I understand. You know what my brother did, but what I haven’t told you was that he learned every hateful molecule in his body from our father. You grew up being used, and I grew up being abused.”
“What?” Her arm fell back to her side, and she came back to the couch. “He hurt you?”
“Yes. And my mom, but not physically. He would do things like force her to get on her hands and knees to scrub the floors, throw his food across the room, then stand over her as she cleaned up his mess, piss on his clothes and make her wash them by hand, all while mocking her, laughing when she cried, saying the most degrading things over and over…” I clenched my jaw and rolled my shoulders back. “And if Shane and I didn’t join in, he’d beat us. I couldn’t. I never did, but Shane loved watching her fall apart and not only joined in but he started to torment her when Craig wasn’t even home.”
“That’s just… God, Scotty I’m so sorry, that’s terrible.”
Yeah, it was. “Because I didn’t participate in the breakdown of my mother, I got locked in my room for days at a time with no food or water. No bed, no blanket, but he left me a bucket in the corner.”
Her hands flew to her mouth, and her eyes got wet. “Scotty.”
“My mom somehow made a spare key to my lock, and when we were alone, she would come and sit with me, bring me food, and we’d read books together. She promised to get us away from him as fast as she could, and we would dream up ways to escape, but he was and still is a top defense attorney in the state. She knew she had no chance of winning a legal battle.”
“But she got away?”
“Yeah.” I grinned. “Not only did she get away, but she met the love of her life and the man I consider my father, Sal. Craig lost all his leverage when he came into the picture, and that was when my life began. If it wasn’t for Sal, there’s no telling where I’d be. All that’s to say that I do not judge you, I do not look down on what you were forced to do, and I am in awe of your strength.”
She lowered her head in shame. “I’m not strong.”
I put a finger under her chin and made her hold her head high. “You’re strong, you’re smart, you’re funny, you’re caring, loving, sweet, thoughtful, creative, courageous, passionate, generous, and…” I brushed my thumb across her cheek. “Beautiful.”
“I really want to throw myself at you right now, but I don’t think I could take what I know you’ll make me feel right now… it’s too much.”
“Okay.” I ran the back of my fingers down her jaw, then nudged it closer to give her a quick kiss. “We’ll just watch TV and chill.”
She rolled her eyes. “Sure. We’ll just chill.”
“We will. And then when we get tired, I’ll take you into your room and we’ll climb in bed, then I’ll hold you until we wake up tomorrow morning. You’ll have sweet dreams while one of mine will finally be coming true.”
CHAPTER 11
Paris
True to his word, we did, in fact, just chill all evening. He pulled me next to him, and we eventually ended up lying on the couch together while we watched hours of game shows. I discovered that Scotty was brilliant. I was smart, but he was a genius.
He knew way more questions than I did, except when it came to pop culture… that I schooled him on. He’d run his fingers through my hair and tickle my stomach when we’d fight over who answered first. But that was it.
