“I know,” I agreed.
“He raped her face. I’m not a woman, I can’t call it but I’m guessin’ that isn’t much better than violating other parts of her.”
I was a woman but I luckily didn’t know either. That said, my guess, it wasn’t.
“I didn’t know that,” I reminded him.
“You knew she was dead,” he returned.
I did know that.
I remained silent because he had a point. But I stayed where I was because I felt I did too.
We held each other’s eyes in silence and this lasted a long time before Chace ended it.
“Never hurt you.” His voice was soft but firm. A vow.
“You scared me,” I told him.
“No, honey, you scared me.”
“What?” I whispered but he heard it because he answered.
“Anything happened to you, I don’t know what I’d do.”
“Chace –”
“You in my life, me livin’ in hell, feels like I’ve been touched by an angel.”
I stopped breathing.
Was he serious?
“Anything happened to you, I don’t know what I’d do,” he repeated.
He was serious.
I forced air in my lungs.
Chace kept talking.
“See them in my head, her footprints in the dirt on the trail. She was wearin’ heels. She stumbled. She fell. He drove her on. Her knee prints in the clearing where he violated her. They were yours, those were your last moments, no drama, no joke, I’d lose my mind.”
“It haunts you,” I said softly but he again heard me.
“Damn straight. I didn’t want her but that didn’t make her not mine.”
Oh God, Laurie was right.
I stood and reminded him, “You didn’t kill her, Chace.”
“I didn’t protect her either.”
Oh God. Laurie was so right.
“Has it occurred to you that you couldn’t even if you tried?” I asked.
“Yeah, Faye, but I also didn’t try,” he answered instantly.