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I love you.
Impossible.But…
I love you.
He’d fucking fallen the first time he saw her in the fountain.Love at first sight?What a crock of BS.
Except…
I knew it was real when she was on the couch, her body jerking and twitching and I would have traded my soul if her pain could stop.
“I stabbed him.”
He didn’t let his expression change at that stark admission from her.
“I was shaking and jerking, and he wanted me to beg.He was a monster.Telling me that he held all the power.That he could do anything he wanted.That I could die and no one would ever question him.That others had died and nothing happened to him.Nothing.He wanted me to hurt.He…he switched out my medicine.”
Now he couldn’t control his expression.“What?”
“I found out later—after Hudson had already been buried—that my medicine had been changed.Hemust have done it.Maybe he wanted to see me helpless.On our wedding night,Iwas helpless.Because of the medicine change or the terror or just horrible luck, I washelpless.When the seizure hit me, Hudson smiled, and he watched.That was, after, of course, he played around with his knife and thought it would make for extra fun to drive his fist into my stomach.All of that was true, by the way.The story I told you before?It happened.My wedding night was a true nightmare.NomaybeBS about it.A real nightmare.”
He’d called Hudson a friend.A partner.He’d fought right beside him.
And…
If Hudson had been there right then…
I’d be the one killing you, you bastard.
“I have no idea how long I’d been taking the fake medicine.I didn’t even notice the change until I got a new bottle after the burial.I’d taken the medicine so long and…” Her breath shuddered out.“I reached for the knife.He’d put that knife to my throat.Did I tell you that part?I did, didn’t I?That he’d put the knife to my throat.Then pulled it down my body.I could feel the blade skimming over my skin.”
Now he understood exactly why she’d called Hudson twisted.Why did you do this to her?What in the hell was wrong with you?And why hadn’t Eb seen the monster hiding behind his friend’s smile?
“Hudson told me that I should never have questioned him about Mary.That the past would stay dead and he—” A shuddering breath.“I was jerking.He was laughing.I-I begged.Cried.He watched, and he smiled.I married him.He promised to love me forever, and he smiled as I begged.”
His hands curled into fists.Everything he’d believed about Hudson had been dead wrong.He’d seen the truth in the interrogation with Madeline.The faint sweat on her forehead.The brief flicker of her lashes.Small tells, but because he’d worked with her for so long, Eb had spotted them.She’d been holding back about Hudson.She knew he was a killer.
Now Eb did, too.
And he wished, hewishedthat he’d been there for Naomi when she needed him.
But I will be with her from here on out.He’d protect her.Fight for her.Make damn sure that she was never hurt again.
“I grabbed the knife he’d dropped, and I plunged it into his side.I did it twice, and he got off me, and I managed to make it outside with Henry.I fell.The last thing I remember was Henry trying to drag me away and when I woke up…”
The front door slammed.“Well, he’s gone.”Hunter strode back into the den.“Not exactly sunshine and rainbows, is he?But at least we got intel we can use.”He strolled forward, only stopping when he was right in front of Eb and Naomi.His gaze swung back and forth between them.A faint line cut between his brows.“Everything all right in here?Because I swear, I was only gone for like, two minutes, three, max.But you two seem, ah, extra intense.”
Eb’s hands remained clenched into powerful fists.“I need to talk with Naomi alone.”He had to get the rest of the story from her.
“Like…as in now?Because we should really all talk—this whole little group we have going, cute dog included,” he waved toward a watchful Henry, “and come up with a game plan.Because, clearly, someone in this town wants Naomi to suffer.First the house fire, then the frame-up job.You’ve got a very serious enemy,” he told Naomi.
“I know,” she said, and her stare was locked right on Eb.
Dammit.He advanced toward her.Their bodies brushed.“I am not your enemy.”
She stared straight into his eyes.“Bullshit.”
She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.And he’d shattered her growing trust in him.