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“Now, what the heck are you talking about?”
“I… I bumped into Asher at the grocery store.”
Dustin stiffened. “That son of a bitch.”
“It was an accident, but then he got hostile. Blamed me for getting him fired and he… Luke was in the next aisle and heard everything, and they arrested him, right there in the middle of the store. He looked so awful. He’s thin and I think he might be sick. The way he looked at me… I’ve never had anyone hate me so much.”
He smoothed her hair back from her face and cupped her cheeks, tilting her face until she met his gaze. “Baby, it has nothing to do with you. You did nothing wrong.”
“Are you sure? Because it doesn’t feel that way. I keep thinking if I’d done something different, helped him in some way, this wouldn’t be happening.”
“Some people are just miserable and there is no saving them. And even if you could, it is not your responsibility. You owe it to yourself to be happy, and you were not happy with him. You owed him nothing.”
She sniffled, laying her cheek against his chest. “My mother thought that way too. She got diagnosed with cancer and took off to find herself. Left my dad and me for a tennis instructor in Palm Beach, because she wanted to live her life before she died. We didn’t make her happy.”
“That’s not the same thing,” he said.
“Isn’t it? She found out she was dying and realized she wasn’t happy, so she went off to find it.”
“Did your dad beat your mother?” he asked harshly.
She jerked back, scowling at him. “Of course not. He was wonderful. Kind and supportive—”
“That is one major difference. Your dad was a good man. Asher is an abusive asshole and you can’t tell me he isn’t. I didn’t see much, but I know what it looks like when a man is hurting his woman.”
To his surprise, Rylie cupped his cheek, her brown eyes filled with sympathy. “Or their kids.”
His throat closed and every instinct told him to run, to keep his family’s darkness locked away.
But she was pouring her heart out to him; it only seemed fair to share.
“Yeah, that happens too.” He took a deep shaky breath before he laid it all out for her. “When I was really little, he didn’t. He hardly spoke to me until I was eleven or so. I knew he hit my mother though. She was good at hiding the bruises and he became more careful about where he left them, but I saw them. I felt her wince when I’d hug her.”
She made a sympathetic sound and it should have irritated him, made him pull away and shut up, but it was comforting.
“The first time he took his belt to me, my mom was gone at some charity thing. He always made sure she was out of the house. I never told her about it, but I found out recently that she knew. It was why she’d always tried to find places for me to go when she had to leave the house. She couldn’t leave him, but she tried to protect me.”
Rylie’s arms wrapped around his shoulders and she squeezed him tight. “He must have hit you pretty hard to leave those marks.”
“That and he used the end with the buckle.”
“Oh my God. Why didn’t you tell your mother?”
“I don’t know. We never talked about it. But when I was fifteen, I almost beat him to death. I told him that if he ever touched my mother again, I would finish the job.”
Her lips pressed against the side of his neck and he closed his eyes, leaning into the caress. “He never touched me again after that. Or her, at least, as long as I was there.”
“I am so sorry.”
“It happened. He’s gone now, and there’s nothing much I can do about the past.”
“Why didn’t your mother ever tell anyone?” Rylie asked.
“He had her sign a prenup that pretty much screwed her over no matter what she did. I believe she tried to protect us. At least she’s free now and the happiest I’ve ever seen her.” His lips found her temple, and against her skin he whispered, “But this was supposed to be about you, not me.”
“I’m glad you feel like you can tell me things. When it happened, all I could think about was getting to you. That you’d make everything better.”
Dustin’s chest swelled at her admission. “I feel the same way when I’m with you. The first time I saw you, swishing past my office in a pair of those killer heels, I knew I had to meet you. And when I did, none of my usual game worked.”
