Page 3 of Avenging Azalea (California Made Men #2)

Chapter

Three

FAWN

THREE WEEKS LATER

Titus’s sunroom had very quickly become my favorite spot in the entire house.

It was private, doubling as a breakfast area, and looked out over the gardens.

It gave me all the warm, comforting feels of a great hug.

It also happened to be the girl’s favorite room.

Whenever they weren’t out with Titus, they were in here on cushions bigger than my bed back home.

Looking over at the four sleeping dogs, I knew I was going to miss this.

Daisy and Bella were my favorite, but Sheba and Shadow were a close second.

Titus mentioned getting another pair of pups in a year and promised that I’d get to choose their names.

I stupidly sat up all night with excitement and picked out Holly and Hailey.

Titus loved them, and you couldn’t wipe the smile off my face when he said they were perfect.

The dogs had become my best friends, but I had to go.

My heart didn’t want to leave. Titus had immediately enrolled me in a fancy private school, and I loved my classes despite the stuck-up kids.

I could handle the rude comments and dirty looks.

They were nothing for me. I’d even made a friend, Steph, and it was nice never to worry about a meal.

I’d stepped out of hell and into paradise, but my baby brother was still back there.

Staying even one more day might tempt me into never leaving.

That couldn’t happen, not when my stepfather didn’t have anyone other than my little brother to use for his debts.

Just the thought of someone hurting him the way they did me…

I closed my eyes and shook my head to rid it of the disgusting images.

I was going to wait until nighttime, sneak in and steal him away and go on the run to someplace where Neil would never find us.

Titus’s words had played through my mind every day since that first night. He was adamant that I never offer my body again. How damaged would he think I was if he knew the truth of what had already been done to me? Until he’d come along, I’d cringed at a simple touch and felt dead inside.

I’d tried to leave once, but my mother was beaten so badly by the men my stepfather gave her to that she ended up in the hospital.

The guilt ate me alive. She told me quietly that even though she couldn’t leave if I ever got the chance at a new life, I was to take it, run, and never look back.

I thought I could, but every minute that passed in this beautiful home. ..made my heart ache.

Titus took me in out of pity without knowing the horrors I’d faced.

He already saw me as a broken little bird, one that he’d placed in a gilded cage to heal.

There was no fixing the demons that had crawled inside my head and kept me up at night, but Titus had shown me that there was a life outside of the loop of abuse I’d been living.

It was possible to have something different.

“Fawn?”

The dogs jumped up from their beds as I walked to the doorway.

My heart pounded erratically at the sound of Titus’s voice and not out of fear.

Every day, he made a point of spending time with me and caused all sorts of new longings to appear inside my head.

Things I truly never thought I wanted. It was obvious that I was far too comfortable, and if, for some reason, it was all yanked away from me, then it would hurt far more than if I just left now.

“Yes, sir,” I said, staring at the floor. It was a habit I was struggling to break despite Titus telling me to look him in the eyes when he spoke to me.

“We’ve been through this, Fawn. Please call me Titus.”

He laid his hand on my shoulder, and I wanted to sigh and lean into him. My eyes darted up, and just like that, my heart took flight.

“I know, and I’m sorry. It’s just hard. I’ll try harder, though,” I said, my pulse racing as I stammered over my words.

Burying myself in the hoodie, I wanted to wrap my arms around him and disappear at the same time. Titus never raised his voice. He’d been kind and was way too generous. He hadn’t done anything inappropriate, and yet…just a single word from him made me blush.

“I’m not angry. This is your home now, and I want you to consider me a friend. Calling me ‘sir’ feels very formal, like I’m your teacher or some stuffy old guy.”

I smiled as his hand fell away from my shoulder. Titus might be twenty-eight, but there was nothing stuffy or old about him.

“I have to head back into the office for a couple more hours and I’ll take Sheba and Shadow with me. I’ll leave Bella and Daisy with you.”

At the sound of their names, Bella and Daisy rubbed against me, looking for attention as if they knew exactly what he said.

It hadn’t been very long, but Titus, the dogs, and this place of serene beauty had stolen my heart.

When old fears kept me awake, all I had to do was whisper their names, and Daisy and Bella came running no matter what.

Holding them all night was the safest feeling in the world.

“Okay.”

“Naji is ordering pizza for dinner. You still want it vegetarian?” I nodded, and he shook his head.

“One of these days, I’ll get you to try a really good steak dinner, and then you’ll stop eating like a little bird.

” He smiled, a deep dimple appearing on his cheek, and my body heated.

How had I gone from being terrified around men to wanting to fan myself whenever Titus was in the room? It confused me as much as his kindness.

“Maybe one day,” I said.

He grabbed the keys to his fancy SUV and waved as he walked out. Just like that, my heart slowed, and my smile fell as a shadow crept over me. Touching Bella and Daisy’s heads, I resolved myself to the task at hand.

A few hours later, after I’d scarfed down two slices of pizza, I finished stuffing my things into the backpack that Titus had gotten me for school.

I gripped the bag, my hand shaking and my bottom lip trembling at the thought of leaving this little cocoon of safety.

I’d tried so many times to call home just to make sure George was okay, but all I got was an automated message saying the line was no longer in service.

Before I changed my mind, I pulled on my jacket and slipped my arms through the backpack. Bella and Daisy cocked their heads as they stared at me, and I dropped to my knees, giving them each a hug. I nuzzled my face into the side of their thick necks, tears wetting their fur.

“I’m going to miss you two so much. Please don’t think I want to leave or that I don’t love you,” I said.

Bella licked my salty cheek, making me smile. Blinking back the sadness, I stood up and walked to the door with the girls right on my heels.

“Stay,” I said softly, and they both sat.

I hated deceiving them, but they would whine if they saw me go outside, and that would alert the guards. Slipping out into the hallway, I stared at their faces one last time and then closed the door before I lost my nerve.

Keeping track of the shift changes and where the guys liked to stand was easy.

Right about now, Naji and the rest of the guards would be finishing up the pizza and watching the second half of the Thursday night football game.

Tiptoeing down the stairs, I heard the television on in the kitchen, which was good for me.

Leaving through the patio door, I paused to look back at the house that had quickly become my sanctuary.

I’d found a small gap in the metal fence surrounding the backyard a few days ago.

Two bars had been set just far enough apart that I could get my small frame through once I tossed my backpack over to the other side.

Picking it up, I ran across the open grass and through the scraggly forest, popping out onto a sidewalk.

But this wasn’t the main street that I’d seen on the map.

I suddenly wished I was better at directions.

Turning to the right, I walked casually, not wanting to draw attention to myself, but froze when I spotted the massive gates.

“Shit, this is a gated community. I’m so stupid, of course it is.”

Looking back the way I’d come, I wondered if I could go around.

There were two massive homes on this road, and I would bet their backyards extended over to Titus’s road.

It would give them all extra privacy and security.

There was no way I could pull off saying that I was visiting these people.

I didn’t know their names or if they even had kids my age.

Sweat broke out all over my body. I was trying to think of a good excuse when I heard a lawn mower and spotted a landscaping truck parked in the driveway of the furthest home.

Keeping my head down, I marched for the gate and let myself feel all the emotions that I’d been suppressing.

One by one, Titus, Bella, and Daisy’s faces floated around in my mind.

Then came Shadow and Sheba and even my new friend Steph.

Tears immediately filled my eyes at the thought of never seeing them again.

It scared me how quickly I’d become attached.

A guard came out when I reached the gate. I slowly looked up with tears streaming down my face. His face twisted in concern.

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to bother you, but can you open the gate? I need to go. I was hired to help them,” I said, pointing at the grounds crew milling around. “And I just ruined a large patch of really expensive flowers and got fired.”

I started sobbing all over again, just not for the reason the guard thought.