Page 63

chance he got for no fucking reason? Did your mother make excuses for his behaviour, lie about the
true extent of the abuse, even though it was plain to see?’ I didn’t blame my mother for her inability to end the cycle of abuse before I took matters into my own hands, but it sure as fuck made trusting her an issue.
Her mouth dropped open, eyes filling with raw pain. ‘No,’ she whispered. ‘Not to my knowledge,
anyway.’
‘Did he lay his hands on you or your brothers?’
She paled. ‘He did that to you?’
I nodded, memory scraping over wounds still raw despite the passing years. ‘Until I was tall and
strong enough to stop him. But I didn’t know why then and I sure as hell don’t know why now. Some
people are wired that way, I guess.’
‘Jesus, Jensen, I’m so sorry.’
I laughed, the bitter sound grating my throat. ‘How the hell do you do that?’
‘Do what?’
‘Slide so easily beneath my skin?’
She looked startled for the moment and then she shifted her gaze to the wine glass, examining its
contents before she took a sip. ‘It’s a unique talent not everyone appreciates.’
‘By everyone you mean...?’
She lifted her gaze. ‘It’s got me into more trouble than it’s worth.’
‘What kind?’
Her nostrils flared, more with pain than the discomfort of laying her secrets bare. ‘I drove a wedge between myself and my brothers, for one.’
‘How?’
She averted her gaze again, staring long and deep into the fire.
I recaptured her foot, massaging her instep as she tapped a finger restlessly against the glass. ‘My parents didn’t abuse us physically, but they didn’t think twice about abandoning us when we were
young. I was too stubborn to accept that. Hell, I believed I could single-handedly fix our dysfunctional family. So I pushed and I pushed until it broke us.’
I opened my mouth to ask, but she sent me a look that drove the words back down my throat. ‘Tell
me another story,’ she commanded.
My mistress was fully back in residence and I wasn’t allowed to deny her.
I didn’t want to.
I raised her other foot, kissed her in exactly the same spot. This time she didn’t pull away.
And it scared me shitless how pleased that made me.
My euphoric state lasted for another mind-melting twenty-four hours.