AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She giggled, a torn, raw sound, but a laugh, nonetheless.
I relaxed against the wall, massaging her scalp until her eyes dropped shut and she mewled softly. The sound reminded me of our morning together, waking with her for the first time, and my heart swelled.
“How can you want to touch me after– after he did,” she struggled through the sentence but finally managed.
“Fuck, you’re strong. It’s one of the things I love most about you.” I stroked my thumb over her cheeks as they dried. “I care that he hurt you,” I said carefully. “But something another mandid to you that was outside your control is not something I’ll ever not want you for.” My heart pounded at the memory of her fingers tugging at his shirt as she kissed him back.
As if sensing the lie, or maybe the underlying fear behind my words, her breath hitched. “He threatened me. And my father,” she whispered, pulling back a bit. “I understand if you don’t want to...” She stopped and gulped in a breath, but her eyes never left mine. I didn’t dare interrupt her now she finally seemed ready to talk. “When you were there, after Johnny punched you, he said if,” she faltered, and squeezed her eyes shut. “He said to make it look real good and if you didn’t buy my performance, he’d douse Daddy in gasoline and light him and the house on fire.”
I stared at her for a long moment, unable to form words.
Fuck knew what it looked like, but my expression spurred her on, and now she’d started talking, it looked like she couldn’t stop.
“I’m so sorry, Kyle,” she whispered in a raspy voice, like she was screaming inside but her throat was too tight to let the sound out. “The only way I thought it would work was if I closed my eyes and pretended it was–” She broke off, gasping for air.
“Me,” I finished for her, rubbing large, slow circles on her back. Something akin to relief filled me at the admission. “Wild girl you did what you had to do to survive. I’m fucking proud of you for looking after your daddy. He’s so fucking proud of you, too.”
She shook her head. “I’ve never told him,” she murmured brokenly to my chest.
He knows.I swallowed painfully, unable and unwilling to share that truth with her. Hell, even if he tried to help her, he couldn’t.
“So, how do we get your father out of there?” I watched her face. “Trav’s offered you to stay on Red Hart land. He’ll protect you.”
She blinked at me. “And you?”
I nodded. “I’ll be first in line to shoot that son of a bitch.” I tipped her head back, and lowered my mouth to hers, pressing down firmly when she flinched. “Do you really not want me to kiss you, Sienna?’ I asked softly, taking all the edge out of my voice by pure determination alone.
She sniffled and shook her head, sliding her hands behind my neck and pressing her mouth to mine.
I laughed, the unhinged sort, wrapping her up in my arms and kissing her back. Fuck, I wanted to lick every spot he touched on her body and erase every memory she had of the asshole.
“Kyle, wait.” She panted, breaking the kiss with effort. “He took my virginity. And then his– his friend.”
I breathed in through my nose. “I figured he might have.”
“Are you angry with me?” It was her turn to watch my face.
“Did he hurt you?” I kissed her lightly. “Tell me what you need,” I begged.
“I want to be able to go home, in my bed, and not be afraid.” New tears coursed down her cheeks.
The raw truth slammed into me. “That’s why you wanted me to sleep with you. In your room.”
She nodded, silent, and knotted her fists in my shirt. “First, he started giving us money. Daddy didn’t like it. Then he offered...protection.”
My mouth dried. “From who? Himself?” I snapped, pressing my fist into the rock beneath us.
She nodded. “I think so. There was no threat, more than the weather. He cut off our stock. They began to thin out, disappear. Then the power would fail. That never happened before. Maildidn’t come. Daddy couldn't see when his eyes went and without Mom, he didn't care as much. So many small things...but in the end, I had to agree, or he would have starved us out.”
“Agree to him touching you and more?” I eyed her closely.
She nodded, and that was the last thing she said for a long time as her tears restarted in full.
I held my girl, easing her body against mine and weathered her grief for the child she’d once been with her innocence ripped from her by a cruel motherfucker who should never have been on her radar.
“You started on birth control when you were fifteen.” I closed my eyes tight. “Is he the reason why?”
She stilled and slowly nodded against my chest, just once.
