Exposed Exposed (Dom Nation #1) - E. Davies Page 0,97

Okay, maybe he did get it… but I wasn’t sure I wanted him to.

“I know it’s sudden,” Rex murmured. “And this isn’t the right moment to discuss it. We have plenty of time to talk later. But I want you to know that you’re safe, okay? No matter what, you’ll be safe.”

I knew he was trying to calm me down, but I shook my head slowly.

Rex would protect me, yes. I trusted Daddy. But I couldn’t trust Brighton and Seb and others—people I barely knew—who could only protect me within these four walls.

My boyfriend couldn’t protect me forever. At work? Hanging out with friends? I didn’t know when Isaac would strike. But sooner or later, there would be a crack in even the highest walls Rex tried to put around me.

And it would be me facing down all of Isaac’s rage alone, while trying not to break into a thousand little pieces of hot-edged shame.

The same bile of shame boiled in my stomach at the memory of just minutes ago—Isaac’s single, cruel smile through a crowd. A split-second and he could pull me into his orbit again, away from the best thing I’d ever known.

But if I reported him, moved in with my new Daddy, and trusted a bunch of strangers to listen and believe me… wasn’t I just jumping from living my life under one iron-clad thumb to another?

The choice was unfair and cruel, and I was still the problem. Me and my fucking curse: the insatiable need to be broken which, like a stone in a windshield, just shattered everything in my life sooner or later.

I shook my head numbly and pulled away from Rex, batting at his hand when he tried to touch me. My throat was too full of the lump I couldn’t quite swallow down, and my cheeks burned fiercely.

I’d been so sure that I was invincible from Isaac now that Rex was with me, but not even he could protect me from myself. Even being claimed in public and beaten to tears in front of a room full of hungry men wasn’t enough for me. How much deeper did this fucked-up part of me run?

I didn’t mean to, but I looked over Rex’s shoulder and saw Seb shifting to attention, watching us closely with an expression of studied neutrality.

He wouldn’t let Rex follow me or make a grab for me if I just said one word. Fuck, guilt throbbed through every atom of my being, but I had to do it.

So I said, “No.”

And then I fled from everything I wanted, toward the darkness and pain, because every breath hurt like I was breaking into pieces. Worse still, with every step, the padlock jingled softly around my neck like a millstone.

I didn’t know how to fix any of this.

15

Rex

“You know I can’t let you do that.”

I’d never fought so hard to keep my face blank. The need was overwhelming: I had to rescue Slate from the demons that had just chased him away.

But I also recognized the stance Seb had adopted—a forty-five-degree angle to me so he was imposing but not threatening, legs spread and hands behind his back.

If I moved to chase Slate, Seb would block my path.

Don’t you dare, I thought. Nothing gets between me and Slate. Fire flooded my veins as I stared at my friend. I’d burn down anything that threatened my boy—or stopped me getting to him. But before I could do anything reckless, Seb spoke again.

“Not while he’s in here, anyway,” Seb told me gently. “Club rules apply. You know I have to enforce them.”

I both hated and begrudgingly respected him for saying that. I wanted to snarl and throw myself past him—to make a break for it and chase my boy to the ends of the Earth.

But I wasn’t giving up just like that. Not ever.

“This is sub drop,” I told him fiercely. I bent over to grab my duffel bag and slung it over my shoulder. “He doesn’t think it is, but he’s wrong. Slate needs me.”

Seb’s answer surprised me. It was gentle and quiet, and he turned to face me, dropping the confrontational pose. “I can’t disagree. What happened?”

“No idea,” I whispered, but the icy tendrils of fear yanked suddenly at my gut.

I crossed a line somewhere. I finally went too far, and I hurt him. Maybe for good.

I swallowed the thought, my nails digging into the strap of the duffel. “No idea,” I said again, louder. “Fuck. Did you let Isaac near us?” That