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Chapter Sixteen

I’ll kill anyone who tries to mess with my girl. -Levi

She blanches and turns onto her back.

Obviously, I’ve said the wrong thing.

“I’m sorry. It’s none of my business. It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it.” I place a hand on her cheek to reassure her.

She continues to look at the ceiling and then sighs. “It’s okay. I can talk about it. I’ve had lots of therapy so I can talk about it,” she says drily.

I instantly tense. “Did he hurt you? I’ll kill him,” I say in a low, menacing voice. He may have been the one to hire the Silver Snakes, but I’ll murder him and bury him somewhere that he’ll never be found if he hurt my girl.

She turns and looks at me with a small smile. “Nope, big guy. It wasn’t him.”

“Who was it then?” Because I’ve known from the very first moment I saw her that there are dark secrets hiding behind those bright blue eyes.

She nibbles on her bottom lip and her eyes fill with tears. Then she says the last thing I’m expecting her to say. “It was the high school football coach.”

I clench and then unclench my fists. My mind starts spinning. I’ll take notes of everything she says. After today, this coach is dead. My boys and I will find him in no time.

“He started out by being extra attentive to me. I loved it at first. My uncle was always too busy to pay attention…I liked that someone was finally paying attention.” The pain in her voice reminds me that my job at the moment is to comfort her and to be there for her.

“Can I hold you while you talk?” I know I have to, if not for her, then for me.

“Y…yes, that would be nice.” She takes in a long breath.

I stretch out my arm and she settles her head in the crook of my arm. I inhale her sweet scent and struggle to maintain my composure. Now would be the absolute worst time to get an erection.

“I didn’t think a lot about it. The coach was around a lot, but then he was supposed to be. I was a cheerleader, and we were a winning team. Every year, we made the state championships. Once, even the nationals. He was a handsome guy and the parents adored him. I heard rumors from some of the other cheerleaders that he could be a bit inappropriate, but honestly, we laughed about it. There was a feeling in my gut, a feeling I should have listened to. When I think back, I always wonder why I didn’t listen to that feeling.”

She absentmindedly places her hand on my bare stomach, and I get goosebumps again. Every fiber of my being is concentrated on her story though, and I wait for her to continue.

“It was the night of the big game. The state championships my senior year. We won. By a lot. Everyone was excited and I was flying high about the win. I wasn’t thinking and I took my time getting ready in the locker room that night. I wanted to look good for the afterparties. I was so damn obsessed with that back then. Always wanting to appear like I had it all together when the truth is I didn’t. I never did.”

She closes her eyes, and I can feel her body tensing again.

“You don’t have to say anything else.”

“I do. I do because every time I tell it, it gets a little easier. My girls in the Survivors Club would tell me that anyway.”

“The Survivors Club?” I ask hesitantly.

“It’s a few girls and me. My therapist put us together as a group because we’ve all survived something. They’ve become…well, they’ve become family to me over the last year or so. They make me want to heal.”

I rub my hand along her arm, and she cuddles in closer to me. So that’s what the meetings at the community center were about? I swallow hard, thinking about all the nights I stood outside there while she relived her past.

“He cornered me that night. I c…can’t go into specifics. He said a lot of things. Touched me. I tried pushing him away. He didn’t…” she breaks off on a sob. “He didn’t rape me, but he did other things. Probably would have done more if one of the girls in my squad hadn’t come in to check on me.”

Fuck that guy. He dies. He dies slowly and painfully.

I struggle to maintain my gentle hold on her and not take the rage I feel out on my precious girl.

“I told my uncle. I thought he would believe me. I thought he would immediately get the coach arrested. I was so damn wrong.” One tear slips down her cheek and I squeeze her shoulder.

“What did he do?” I ask. I have a feeling, but I hope I’m wrong.

“He said that maybe I misunderstood things. The coach had a good reputation, so how could he possibly have done that to me? He made me feel like it was all my fault.” I feel that sadness from back then creep into my voice. I knew I hadn’t misunderstood anything. It took years of therapy for me to realize that what happened that day wasn’t my fault.

“What the fuck?” I can’t help it. I try to hold onto her, but my anger gets the best of me. I sit straight up.

“Why the hell would he do that? I’ll go beat the hell out of him right now, make him sorry for how he treated you. How dare he?” What kind of fucker doesn’t stand behind a woman that’s been attacked? Especially his own niece?

She lays a gentle hand on my back, and I turn to look down at her. Her eyes are still glazed over with tears, but she’s smiling.

“Lay back down, tough guy. I’m okay. It hurt like hell then. And I have to admit it still does, but I learned to not let how he treated me, and what the coach did, affect my life anymore. I have good people in my life now, and I focus on that.”

I lay back down and gather her in my arms again.

She strokes my stomach with her soft hand, and I take a deep cleansing breath. She will never have to worry about being afraid again. I’m hers and she’s mine from this moment forward.

“I’m glad you told me,” I say softly.

“Me too,” she says in a sleepy voice.

I hold her for a long time after she falls asleep. I place a gentle kiss on her forehead, and I make promises to her that night. I never say those promises out loud, but I mean every single one of them.

My tough survivor. The only woman I will ever love.