Rock Wedding (Rock Kiss #4) - Nalini Singh Page 0,74

her hands on his thigh. “They called me the ‘spawn of shame.’ My mom let it slip once when she was drunk.”

Abe wanted to strangle the older couple. “So, your mom drank?”

“Just the odd weekend bender. Her drug of choice was men, and they were the only thing about which she cared. I basically raised myself after my grandma passed away.” She blinked really fast, as if fighting off tears. “My mother blamed me for all her lost dreams and opportunities.”

Abe felt his jaw lock at the pain inherent in that last statement, knew he shouldn’t interrupt, but he couldn’t stop himself. “You had no choice in being born. And being a young single mom doesn’t mean the end of everything.”

“I know,” Sarah said softly. “I didn’t for a long time, but then I met my best friend, Lola. She was a teenage mom too, and though her folks didn’t kick her out, they were dirt-poor and working all the hours of the day themselves, couldn’t really offer her much help. She raised her son with sheer grit and determination, and he adores her.”

“I think I’ll like Lola.”

A trembling smile. “I know you will—but she’s probably going to want to deck you.”

Sucking in a breath, Abe winced. “I can take it.” Lola had been there for Sarah when she needed a friend—Abe would give the woman any leeway she wanted. “So, your mom never settled into a stable life.”

Sarah shook her head. “We had a rotating front door—one man after another, all of whom were going to be ‘different,’ going to be ‘the best.’ All of whom were knights in shining armor and so what if they didn’t like her ‘brat.’ It wasn’t like she liked the brat either. Just a whiny mouth to feed, no good for anything, useless.”

Fury roared through Abe’s veins. He wished he could go back, change the past, but he couldn’t. All he could do was hold Sarah, love her.

Shadows across her face, even darker and more vicious. “She always chose violent men. My father was her single good decision.” Her hand rose to her cheek, to the spot where Jeremy Vance had hit her.

Shoving away from the kitchen chair, Abe stalked to the window, pressing his hands against the counter as he fought the rage vibrating under his skin. “Did that asswipe hit you? While you were together?” He’d never forget how Sarah had looked that night, so shocked and lost and shattered.

But it wasn’t until this instant that he understood just how much Vance had hurt her soul. His blow would’ve awakened nightmare memories of her childhood. Abe didn’t have to read very hard between the lines to know that her mother and her mother’s boyfriends must’ve hit Sarah.

“No.” Sarah’s response was immediate and firm. “That was the first time—and I wouldn’t have stood for it even if you and the others hadn’t been there to support me. I was never going to be that woman, the one with fist-sized bruises under her shirts and heavy makeup to hide the black eyes.”

Abe’s gut filled with ice. Suddenly he knew where this was going. “One of them went too far?”

CHAPTER 25

“HE BROKE HER NECK.” Tears clogged her voice on the starkly brutal answer, but she kept speaking. “Then he set fire to our trailer. I crawled to her room, tried to drag her out… until I realized… until I realized…”

Striding back to her, Abe tugged her up into his arms. He went to speak but she wasn’t finished. “The police caught him. He’s serving life in prison.” A shuddering sob. “She wasn’t a good mom, but she was still my mom and he killed her.”

“Fuck, you were a strong kid.” He knew she must’ve testified to send that murderous bastard to prison.

“I got put into foster care after that.” She wiped her face on her T-shirt. “It was a bad place. More violence along with a son with wandering hands and a way of looking at me like I was meat.”

Abe gritted his teeth together, his muscles rigid.

Sarah continued to talk. “After the prick cornered me one night, grinding his crotch into me and telling me I was going to get it and I better not say a word or his parents would kick me out for being a slut, I packed up what little I had and left.”

“How old were you?”

“Fifteen.”

He crushed her close, his heart thudding. Fifteen-year-olds didn’t last long on the street without attracting the attention of certain predators. Especially fifteen-year-old