The Cowgirl's Chosen Love - Vivian Arend Page 0,75

had happened while here on the ferry meant she could talk about it and then walk away, which she really liked.

“It’s not that long of a story. EMT training—I stayed on campus, and as usual, there was a group of us that kind of hung out together. I didn’t date anybody. It was overwhelming enough to deal with school, living in a new city, and not being at home with Mom for the first time.”

She adjusted the grip between their hands, Zach’s big fingers giving her something solid to hang on to.

“We did lots in groups. Fun activities like movie nights, plus school activities that involved group projects. Dwayne and I were assigned into a group of four where one of our teammates quit and the other got sick. The two of us worked really hard to get everything accomplished without them. I was really proud that we handed in the assignment on time.”

“Only Dwayne thought that you were more than just classmates?”

Julia shook her head. “That’s the weird part. It wasn’t about us being together, like romantically involved. Dwayne had some undiagnosed mental problems, and for some reason, he got it into his head that I was in danger.”

Zach’s hand squeezed around hers briefly. “Okay.”

“He thought the other two people on our project had vanished because somebody had taken them out. He started talking about how we needed to be careful and stay safe.”

She’d thought back over that time so often, she sometimes wondered where her memories failed and if she might have invented things to explain what had happened. It wasn’t her fault for not having recognized that Dwayne’s mental illness had flared to the danger level, but there were times she still wished she would’ve been able to do more.

“I tried to convince him that was just his imagination, and I thought I’d gotten through. I came out from buying groceries, and he was there. He offered me a ride home, which of course I took.”

A soft swear word escaped Zach’s lips. “He didn’t take you home.”

“Nope. He insisted he needed to keep me safe, so he took me to a cabin with a boathouse out on a nearby lake. I figured out pretty fast Dwayne wasn’t thinking straight at that moment, but he was bigger than me, and stronger, and even though I tried to get away, I ended up tied to a chair.”

An instant later, Julia was lifted off the bench and resettled in Zach’s lap. He squeezed her tight, head buried against her neck, damn near vibrating under her fingers.

“Sorry. Give me a minute.” His words came out tight and clipped.

She wasn’t sure if patting Zach on the back was appropriate, so she just held on. She’d told the story a number of times now, but this was the first time anyone had reacted like this.

As if he’d been there the entire time and was even now experiencing exactly what she’d gone through.

17

Fury whipped through his veins even as Zach fought to control his anger. Losing his shit was not what Julia needed.

He was so damn proud she’d been willing to open up about this to him, which made his reaction that much more important. She did not need to know that right now, if he had Dwayne in front of him, he’d slowly turn the other man inside out.

It wasn’t possessiveness. It wasn’t because he thought Julia hadn’t been able to take care of herself or that she hadn’t done an amazing job of moving beyond what had happened to her.

But goddammit, he wanted to protect her from ever feeling that kind of fear again, whether in a nightmare or in real life.

He gave her a squeeze then let go, pushing back to meet her gaze again. “Okay.”

Julia raised a brow. “We need to talk about your vocabulary problems. I don’t think okay means what you think it means.”

Involuntarily, he snorted. “You’re right. I’m not using the dictionary definition. More like I’ve pulled myself together enough, please go on.”

It was a good thing he had faked his control as well as he did. Because Julia went on to briefly describe being left in the cabin over the next four days. Each time Dwayne returned to give her food and water and a bathroom break before leaving her tied up tight.

Julia took a deep breath. “Dwayne started ranting about how we had to escape and that the safest thing would be to paddle out to an island he knew about.” She stared down at