love is. Not having to ask. Not knowing you’re doing it, just giving because that’s what feels good. And giving means everything.”
I shifted to turn down the bubbles so I could hear her better, then stood to move but halted when Addy’s hands came out in front of her.
“Don’t move.”
“Baby?”
“Please don’t move.” Her pain-filled voice hit my ears right before they hit my heart and I froze.
I’d stand statue-still for the rest of my life if I never had to hear Addy sound like that again.
“I made you ask,” she declared.
“Ask what?”
“About Keith,” she spat and my lungs seized.
Oh, fuck.
“Addy, baby, let me come over there.”
“No. No. I made you ask. You didn’t make me ask, you gave it. I can’t stop looking back. If I stop, then I won’t be strong enough to keep it inside. If I go forward, it will come out and everyone will know how stupid I am. Weak and stupid.”
“There’s not a damn thing weak or stupid about you.”
“You don’t know,” she fumed.
I’d wanted my opportunity to push and there it was right in front of me. She’d opened the door, but seeing her ravaged face and wild eyes, I was having second thoughts.
“I do know, Addy.”
“You don’t.”
Christ.
Toughen up, Durum.
“I know he hit you. I know he left bruises. I know—”
Addy’s swift inhale left me without oxygen. But when her face paled, my heart constricted.
“So then you know I’m stupid.”
The heat pressing in had nothing to do with the hot tub. Thick caustic air surrounded us—a warning for me to stay calm and see her through. Her grief-stricken face should’ve been enough for me to check my temper, but it wasn’t.
“Goddamn it, Addy, stop saying that!”
“Why? It’s true. He hit me and I stayed after the first time. I stayed and he did it again and again and I still stayed because I was weak and scared. That’s stupid.”
Jesus fuck.
I’d known what that motherfucker did—she’d given enough signs—but hearing her finally admit it hollowed me out. Fury and fear mixed together. So much anger, I was afraid of it. And when her sobs came, hearing the hideous sound, cut straight through my fear. And in its wake, I was left with the putrid knowledge my sweet, shy, beautiful Adalynn had been physically assaulted by a man she trusted.
I’d had enough.
I surged forward, scooped her up, and hoped to God my bad leg didn’t give out as I climbed out of the Jacuzzi with Addy in my arms. She shoved her face in my neck, her body shook, and pain radiated from my thigh to my groin. So much fucking pain I had to bite back my groan as I walked to the back door.
By the time I made it to the stairs, I had to stop to breathe through the agony.
“Trey.”
“Shh, baby.”
Addy. This was about Addy. Not the garbage in my head, not my leg. I shoved the feeling of inadequacy down and ascended the stairs, and on shaky legs, I walked to my bed. There was no hiding my limp, and I wondered why in the fuck I’d tried to hide it from her in the first place.
Once I had us settled—me on my back, Addy tucked to my side, her head on my shoulder, my arm wrapped around her tight, I said, “Tell me.”
“We’re soaking—”
“You cold?”
“No.”
“Then I don’t give a fuck. Tell me.”
The silence stretched a good long while. And finally, she whimpered, “He hit me.”
My arm tightened and I waited for more.
“At first he didn’t. He’d just grab me to get my attention.”
I gritted my teeth in an effort not to tell her there is no “just” when a man grabs a woman with the intention of causing harm.
“That bruise Quinn saw, I lied to her. I lied to everyone.”
Again I waited for her to give me more, needing her to get it all out, yet dreading hearing any more.
“We were arguing. I was meeting my friends. He didn’t want me to go. I decided I didn’t like being told I couldn’t have dinner with friends so I walked away and he grabbed my arm, then twisted it behind my back. I missed dinner. Later that night, he explained it, how he’d lost his temper, how it would never happen again. With tears in his eyes, he kissed the mark on my arm and told me how sorry he was. Begged me to forgive him. So stupid,” she mumbled and I fought the need to remind not to fucking call herself