Page 19 of False Start

“So, let’s cross this one off. I think the next—”

“Who did that to you?”

My jaw was tighter than I’d ever felt it in my fucking life, my teeth grinding together hard enough to crack as I stared at those marks. They were a dark, nasty purple against her pale skin, the edges of them turning a sickening green.

Madelyn frowned up at me, and then instantly went white as a sheet. She tugged her sleeves down without even looking at the bruises she knew I’d seen.

“Oh, stop it,” she tried, waving me off. “You know how clumsy I am. I just—”

“I swear to fuckingGod, Madelyn, if you try to tell me youfelland bruised your arm in the shape of a hand—”

That was not the right response, and I knew it by the way she shriveled in on herself. But it was like trying to ride a fucking bull, the way my rage was bucking wildly in my chest.

I inhaled a long breath, closed my eyes, and opened them again before tentatively moving toward her. I didn’t dare reach out for her, not when she looked like a scared doe ready to race across a highway if I did.

“Look at me,” I whispered.

I didn’t miss how her eyes welled with tears, but her nose flared despite them, her chin lifting and eyes finding mine in defiance. “I’m fine.”

“Who hurt you?”

“I’m not hurt.”

“Who,” I repeated, slower this time, the strain evident in my voice as I tried to keep my cool. “Did this?”

She sighed, shaking her head and looking away from me. Then, she rolled her lips together, eyes falling to the binder. “My ex.”

Madelyn

He looked like I’d just thrown a bucket of ice water over his head.

Kyle stood frozen for a long moment, and then he nodded, over and over, like I’d just told him the NFL schedule for the year, and not that I had bruises on my arm from my stupid ex-husband.

His eyes found mine, and I thought I saw them break before they hardened into stone.

“He’s dead.”

Kyle was already turning for the exit, key fob in hand and shoulders tight as a bow string. But I reached out for him, my hand catching him by the crook of the elbow.

The moment our skin touched, fire licked along my spine, a thousand memories racing to be the first to reach me. But I snuffed them out, focusing on the matter at hand.

“Don’t,” I begged, voice cracking a bit. That only pissed me off, and I blew out a frustrated breath. “I’m serious when I say he didn’t hurt me. I’m fine. But if you go acting like a big tough guy with a savior complex, you’re going to make it a lot worse.”

He spun to face me. “He can’t be worse if he’s not fucking breathing.”

I sucked my teeth, letting my hands fall against my thigh with a slap. “You sound like an absolute brute right now.”

I left out that it wasannoyinglyhot as hell.

“Your ex-husbandbruisedyou,” he pointed out, slowly and with punctuation like I was ignorant.

“I am aware,” I shot back. “I am also aware that you are blatantly ignoring me when I tell you repeatedly that I amfine. You think I’m some poor victim stuck in an abusive situation? Why do you think I’m divorced?”

I waited for him to put the pieces together.

“I got out,” I said. “But unfortunately, the state doesn’t think I have enough proof to keep a well-respected veterinarian from his son. So yes, occasionally, I have to put up with his drunken temper. And yes, sometimes, he gets in a mark. But I am not a victim. I am a survivor, and these stupid bruises on my arm don’t mean shit other than that there was a situation and I fucking handled it. So, if you would kindly back out of my personal business, we can get back to finding you a house. Okay?”

The bruises that had Kyle in a tizzy didn’t even hurt — not anymore. Marshall had thrown a fit when I started to leave his house after getting Sebastian settled in the car. He was drunk and mad that I wasn’t going to stand there and listen to him try to belittle me, which happened to be one of his favorite pastimes.