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“Asher,” she cries.
“Shhh…” I soothe her through a scratchy throat. “I’ve got you.”
She continues to cry for several minutes, then pulls back, her breathing coming in soft hiccups.
“I was so scared,” she says, her voice hoarse from crying.
“I know you were, baby. I was too. But it’s over now.”
I run my hands up and down her back until I hear her breathing calm. Just as my eyes land on the dried blood on her neck and my ire ramps up again, a paramedic walks up, carrying a small medical bag.
“I need to check her over, sir,” he says.
As much as I don’t want to let her go, I do so anyway. The cut doesn’t appear to be deep, but it needs to be cleaned and bandaged. I set her down beside me and the paramedic sits on the coffee table across from her. I hold her hand as he starts removing the items he needs to clean up the wound. Looking over, I see another paramedic placing a mask over Eric’s face. He still hasn’t woken up. I hope the fucker never does.
Once Poppy is bandaged, I pull her back into my arms. Several cops come by to ask questions. We answer, my blood pumping double time as I recall what happened. Poppy sobs against my shoulder, I’m sure still living the nightmare. I know I’ll be living it for a long time to come too.
Rex comes to a stop beside the couch. Poppy won’t release my hand, so I stand with it clasped in mine to speak with him.
“How did you know to come?” I ask.
He looks around the room, before bringing his eyes back to me. The look he gives me would give a lesser man the fucking shivers.
“I went to his place to take the fucker out before the cops got to him. He wasn’t home, but I broke in.” He shakes his head and curls his lip up in disgust. “You’d fucking flip your shit again, Asher, if you saw what I found. He had hundreds of pictures plastered on the wall of his closet. All of Poppy, some of you and her. Some of you both while y’all were… having sex. The bastard was sick. Your face was cut out of all of them and replaced with his.”
White hot rage fills my gut, making my stomach cramp. I want to rip that sick fuck’s eyes out and shove them down his throat, right before I slice his puny dick off in small pieces and make him eat those too.
Poppy whimpers. I look down and realize my hand is gripping hers too tight. I immediately relax my hold.
“Sorry, Beautiful.” I lean down to kiss her forehead. She gives me a watery smile and takes a sip of the water one of the officers brought her.
I stand back up and shoot my eyes to Rex, who still looks like he’s ready to do permanent damage to Eric himself. I lift my chin, silently telling him to continue.
“Some of the pictures were within the last few days. It showed you and Poppy walking into your apartment building, so he knew where she was. I knew he was coming here, so I called my buddy with the APD, told him what was going on. I tried calling you, but it went to voicemail.” I remember crushing my phone in my hand. “I hoofed it to your apartment and saw the fucker’s car parked down the road. Called Travis back and headed inside.”
I take in everything he says. From what Eric was spouting earlier, he’s been at this for a while. From the beginning, actually. I just don’t understand how he was able to hide it so well from me. I never knew he was interested in Poppy until he told me of their dinner plans. An image of him sitting across from her, of him taking her home and being alone with her, hurting her, slams through my head and brings back the wraith I want to inflict on him. My best fucking friend. A man I trusted. A man I was going to bring in as my partner. I want to feel remorse for losing someone I considered family, but I just can’t muster any. He almost took away the single most important person in my life. He can rot in hell for all I care. I hope he becomes someone’s bitch boy in prison.
A couple hours later, after they scrape the scum from the floor and cart him off and finish asking hundreds of questions and gathering evidence, we’re finally alone. I scoop Poppy up in my arms and carry her directly to the bathroom. She’s been quiet, except when she’s been forced to talk to the cops. I’m starting to worry. I set her down on the basin and pull the blanket from her shoulders. She watches me with still frightful eyes, her body shaking. I want that look gone. It’s killing me to see it.
I bend down so we’re on the same level, searching her eyes with my own, praying to see the light come back into them.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
She looks down at her hands twisting in her lap. I grab them and lace my fingers with hers. When she looks back up, tears are swimming in her eyes. She tries to smile, but it falls flat.
“Oh, baby, I’m so sorry.” I pull her forward and breathe a sigh of relief when her arms wrap around my waist. I maneuver her legs apart with my hips and step in between them. She takes several deep breaths, trying to gain control. I hate that she feels like she has to. She should never be in a situation where she has to fight for control.
“I can’t…” She stops and takes a deep shuddering breath. “I can’t believe he touched me, Asher.” The look she gives me rips my fucking heart in two. “He touched me, and I never knew. He had his… hands on me, and I never knew. How could I have not known? I feel so dirty.” The hiccupping sob that leaves her lips has the rage coming back full force. I wish I had finished him off. He doesn’t deserve to live. He made her feel this way. He made her feel unclean and contaminated.
I push my anger away and cup her face, forcing her tearful eyes to meet mine. “You didn’t know because he was a sick and twisted son-of-a-bitch that thought he could take whatever he wanted. Don’t let that bastard haunt you. Nothing,” I tell her with conviction. “I swear to you, Beautiful, nothing or no one will ever hurt you again.”
I know I shouldn’t promise her that. There’s no way I can know what the future will hold. I can’t guarantee that I won’t always be around to protect her, whether it be while she’s out by herself or if, God forbid, I were to be taken away from her because of my health issues my, but I swear on everything I hold dear, I will do everything within my power to keep her from harm.
“I know. I trust you to keep me safe.” Her voice may be small, but the impact of her words has my heart swelling bigger than the Grand Canyon. She just gave me the world… no, the universe, with her words.
“I love you, Poppy.” I dip down for a sweet kiss.
“I love you too, Asher,” she whispers against my lips before deepening the kiss by wrapping her le
