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Jami tried to calculate how long it had been since she’d last seen him, lying bloody on the ground in the alley. Weeks had turned into months, and Celia had just made it to thirty-two weeks in her pregnancy, which was the mark her doctor had been hoping for. Malcolm was even an uncle now, and he’d been so calm during the more than full day of labor Katie had gone through, even when his parents had panicked in the waiting room. He hadn’t lost his temper once while he’d eased their worries.
She stared at the man before her, so familiar but somehow not what she remembered, and knew Malcolm wouldn’t be as calm had he been with her. She still wished he was there, especially when Andrew stepped toward her.
Jami held up a hand, taking a step back. “Why are you here?” she asked the man who had been a part of her life for nearly as long as her father had. Nerves danced along her arms, raising the hairs there. The familiarity of the sensation had her brows drawing together. She’d always been nervous around him, she realized.
“Why are you backing away?” Andrew laughed as he paced her. “You know I’d never hurt you, not on purpose.” The words were so similar to the ones he’d said the first time she’d gone to his house. She closed her eyes and tried to breathe.
Taking her eyes off of him had been a mistake. His hand closed around her arm, gripping it too tightly.
Her jerky tug was an instinct, and it didn’t do her any good. “Let me go.” Her hand tightened on her keys, but the mace seemed too extreme, especially when Andrew looked so sad.
“Why are you so scared?” he asked. His hand went to her hair. She hated the feel of it, so different from Malcolm’s, even if Andrew didn’t grip her scalp as painfully as he once had. “This is because of him, isn’t it? You’re worried about what he’ll do.”
“No.” Jami stepped back again. Andrew’s hand dropped from her hair, but he still gripped her arm. “You’re not letting me go like I asked.Youscare me,” she snapped.
Andrew let go.
She sucked in a breath, relieved but not enough to slow the rapid beat of her heart. “What do you want, Andrew? It’s been a while since we broke up.”
“You changed your phone number,” he said.
Jami blinked at him. “I did that a while ago.” Malcolm had suggested it after he realized Andrew had known where she was through her GPS. She’d gotten a new phone and a new number, though she hadn’t deleted Andrew’s when the information had ported over. She hadn’t been ready.
“Well, you changed something. I can’t track you anymore.” He stepped closer, grabbing her hand this time. “I thought maybe that meant you weren’t with him.”
The automatic tug to get away did nothing. “You were still tracking me?” she asked. A dizziness filled her head. “How?”
“I only saw where you went after the fact. I’m not some stalker.” Andrew squeezed her hand even as he frowned. “But I had your account access, remember?”
Jami wished she hadn’t fought Malcolm for so long about joining a family plan together. She’d finally agreed if she could pay the bill. It was one she could afford, and Malcolm wouldn’t ever take her money, even when the insurance settlement had come.
“Your account showed where you had been, and it was always with him.” Andrew’s frown deepened, and his hand tightened around hers even more.
“You’re hurting me, Andrew,” Jami warned, trying to pull free again. Her other hand curled around the mace.
“How could you be with him?” he cried. “The man is an animal. He put me in the hospital just for talking to you.”
“No, you grabbed me,” Jami reminded him. Her hand shook where it gripped the mace.
“To talk!” Andrew yelled, his breath speeding up, nauseously hot on her cheek. “And he’d already broken my arm. I wasn’t touching you when he beat me unconscious.”
“No, you weren’t.” Jami stilled as she stared at the man who had once convinced her he had loved her. “Instead, you bragged about raping me.”
He released her. “I never—”
“For years you hurt me!” Jami stepped closer to him, staring him down when he shook his head. “I let you, but you knew how painful it was, and you kept doing it.”
“No.” Andrew swallowed, backing away. “I loved you.”
“That’s what you always said.” He used to chant it while he was inside her. Every painful moment had seemed like proof of his love; now it was proof she had been too broken to see it was just the opposite. “I’m with Malcolm now. I love him, and he really loves me, and I enjoy every minute of it.”
Andrew’s eyes widened. “You…”
She wrapped her arms around herself as she stepped free from Andrew. “So stay away from me. I never loved you.” She moved past him, done with the conversation.
One of Andrew’s arms wrapped around her neck, choking her as he pulled her hard against his body. “No. You’re not talking like my sweet Jami.” His other wrapped around her torso, but it was the grip on her neck that was making her panic. Her father had squeezed the air out of her once, and her breath stuttered as she tried to draw it in.
“I tried so hard to be gentle,” he whispered in her ear as his fingers dug into her stomach. “Every time, I held back. But he’s rough, I bet, a man like him.” His hand scraped up her torso, squeezing her breast painfully. “Is this what you want?”
