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“Never mind,” I told him because if he didn’t understand how messed up our current topic of discussion was, then I had a feeling I couldn’t explain it to him in terms that he actually comprehended. “Just…be gone by the time I get back, huh?” Grabbing a handful of clothes from my overnight bag, I started for the door, calling over my shoulder, “And don’t masturbate on my bed.”
“No promises,” he sang after me, causing me to pull up short and lean back to glare into my room at him.
He laughed and lifted his hands. “Kidding!”
I narrowed my eyes. “You better be.”
Still chuckling over his off-brand humor, he waved me away. “Go. Change. I’ll behave. I promise.”
Huffing out a breath, I shook my head and hurried to the closest bathroom, where I exhaled deeply as soon as I shut the door behind me, finally alone and away from his magnetic pull.
But then the mirror over the vanity caught my attention, and my lips parted in shock. Bruises and cuts dotted my face, and my eye was so bloodshot it was hard to even look at.
“Oh God,” I breathed, pressing a hand to my abdomen as the horrors from the night before came rushing back to me.
I’d forgotten for a minute there while I was in my room with Luke.
I mean, I knew why he was there, and I definitely felt the soreness. But I’d actually forgotten about all the traumatic parts when we’d been bickering as if nothing bad had happened at all. And suddenly, I wanted to blow back into that room with him and berate him some more for daring to get a hard-on in my bed. That had been real and normal and…and safe. This…
Air puffed at my lungs as I stared at my own reflection. A dull, surreal numbness spread through my limbs.
This didn’t even seem real.
But every inch of my body told a different story. I swear, I was just one big, sore bruise. Wincing as I lifted my arms to take off my nightshirt, I kept watching my reflection as I revealed more cuts, scrapes, and abrasions.
Survivor princess, Ten’s new name for me echoed through my head. He’d said it like it was a badge of honor. But I didn’t feel very honored at the moment. I felt pummeled and stiff, beaten down and barely able to move.
I debated on whether to take another shower, even though a shower was the last thing I’d done last night before climbing into bed. I bet steaming warm water could help loosen my knotted muscles more than anything. But knowing people were out there, waiting on me—people who loved and cared about me—I shook my head and just slipped into some fresh clothes instead.
By the time I was done and stepping into the hall again, Luke seemed to have recovered enough to leave my room. He was in the hall and had already passed the bathroom door when I opened it. I stared after him, focusing briefly on the wide cut of his shoulders as he walked before a little toddler appeared in the opening of the hallway at the other end, catching his attention.
“Hey there,” he greeted, his voice full of smiles. “I know you.”
Bending down, he snagged the girl and lifted her until their faces were even. When the child seemed to realize who’d just picked her up, she grinned and reached for his face, blowing raspberries at him.
Luke chuckled. “Yeah. You remember Uncle Fart Sounds, don’t you?” And he started blowing raspberries back at her before he lifted her higher so he could blow some on her belly and make her scream with laughter.
Drawn toward the sound, I moved that way, needing to be in on this kind of joy.
“There’s one of my god-babies,” I crooned, reaching out and attempting to steal Harper right out of Luke’s arms. “Come to Chloe, my little precious.”
Luke lowered his niece to his shoulder and turned to face me, already beginning to hold her out for me to take the toddler. But Harper took one look at my fucked-up eye, and her face contorted with terror before she shrieked out her fear and turned back to Luke for protection.
“Oh my God, I’m sorry,” I gushed, slapping my hand over my eye. “I didn’t even think.”
“It’s fine,” he assured, even as he kissed his niece’s hair before lifting her up and blowing raspberries at her some more. “The kid’s tough. She’ll be okay.”
And just like that, Harper stopped crying so she could grab his lips and start imitating him again.
“What’s wrong…?” her mother said as she blew around the corner, looking worried, only to stall to a stop and set her hands on her hips, glowering at Luke.
“Luke,” she scolded. “What did I tell you about teaching my daughter to makefartsounds?”
“Hey, it’s my lot in life to teach her all the naughty shit her parents won’t,” he argued. Then, he tickled Harper’s belly. “Isn’t that right, stinker? Pretty soon, we’ll be putting Kool-Aid in the toilet together and figuring out how to fake a fever so you can stay home from school, won’t we?”
As Harper grinned and patted his face with both hands, Teagan groaned and mumbled, “Do any of that, and I’m siccing your brother on you.”
“Harsh.” Luke settled Harper firmly on his hip and glanced at his sister-in-law, asking, “Is he here, by the way?”
