to expect from Linda and Will—or how to behave. It took years to get over the anxiety of not knowing whether the Aherns were going to kick me out or not. I couldn’t trust them, yet I wanted Linda to be near me, always. I lived in a place where there wasn’t any structure, so having some was too hard to handle at first, but I wanted to please them. I never knew who my parents were. Maybe I even lived with them, but they didn’t give a shit about me.”
He puffs some air and looks up to the ceiling. “Did they abandon me? I don’t even know. My biological mother could’ve died just like the other woman.”
Wes shivers. I stand up and rub his arms. It’s breezy but not cold. I kiss the top of his head, assuring him that he’s not alone.
“It’s a time that I don’t want to remember. It’s been a while, but the memories still hurt. I should be grateful for my parents, yet I’m stuck wondering who my real parents were. My name before I became Weston William Ahern was: Hey kid. I hate to revisit those days because honestly, I don’t remember much. Only the anxiety, desperation, and fear that I carried around for a long time. But you’re right. I need to share everything with you. The same way I’m asking you to open yourself to me and trust me with your pain.”
I gasp, my breathing becomes shallow. He’s asking for the impossible. I wouldn’t want him to learn about those dark days.
“Please,” he says softly.
“You don’t understand what you’re asking for. They’re ugly. I can’t just give them to you. What if it makes you hate me?”
“Nothing you do will make me hate you.” The conviction in his words gives me a little hope.
“You might not love the fallout from the ugliness of those months,” I insist. I’m ashamed of everything that I let happen and the guilt I carry with me.
He caresses my face with the back of his hand, kissing my temple.
“Mom once said that the broken part is where the healing begins. Your broken soul fills mine where it feels empty.”
The words are beautiful. I touch the pendant he gave me yesterday, remembering the promise that he’ll always be with me.
“You’re going to have to trust someone, and I hope you trust me.”
Fear cripples me. How much could I tell him without lying? It won’t be easy to open up to him. I should do it soon though. I’d rather tell him when I’m wide awake and not in the middle of a nightmare. What if I’m being followed and the truth comes out? He has to learn about my darkest secrets from me, not anyone else. Wes will be the first person to know my side of the story, what really happened to Ava. To me.
“Would you give me a little more time?”
“Fair enough. Just do it soon. Holding it in is destroying you.”
He has no idea. Every memory feels like a knife stabbing me over and over again while they play inside my head. Corbin and Shaun own me.
“I wish I could snuff out the power they have over me,” I confess, closing my eyes. “They took everything, and they’re still doing it.”
I feel like I’m bleeding as I recall their laughs after they hurt me.
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing,” I say regretting what I’ve already shared. “I’m fine.”
Those men shouldn’t have any power over me. I’d take it back if only I knew how to do it. Could Wes help me?
“Stop trying to hide yourself from me.” He touches the necklace. “I feel your pain, Abby—it hurts so much to witness it that it feels like my own. Each time your heart screams in fear, I can hear it—even when you’re silent.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Wes
Abby climbs upon me, straddling me. A bold move that turns me on, but worries me too. What is she up to?
“What’s on your mind, gorgeous?”
“You.” She puts her arms around my neck. Her lips claim mine this time around. She kisses me furiously, as if she’s begging me to make her forget. I pull her roughly, almost violently to me. My heart jolts and my pulse pounds. It’s so easy to get lost in the intensity of her kiss. It’s like a storm. A swirling tornado claiming whatever’s in her way.
Our mouths burn with fire. She tastes of strawberries, chocolate, and wine, raw passion, and desperation. I surrender to her, to this kiss,