Tap Out (Reaper's Den Book One) - Nikki Mays Page 0,35
and people draw their own conclusions about him. Which sadly are almost always false.
I would trust him with my girls’ lives, which is saying something since they’re my whole world.
“You volunteer at the same woman’s shelter that I do.” Kealy states in a small voice that only has a small tremble to it.
Edge looks at her and gives her the softest look that I’ve even seen on his face. He even looks as though he’s trying to shrink into himself to make himself look less opposing, which sadly doesn’t work very well for someone his size.
“Yeah honey, I do.” His voice is low and even.
“Why?” She questions. Can’t blame her. It does seem a little odd, even to me. Well, if I didn’t happen to know that one of the reasons is standing in front of us questioning him.
He rubs his hand down his face looking somewhat uneasy. “Lets just say that I wish that there had been more places like that when I was growing up. Maybe my mom would’ve turned out better.” He shrugs, visibly growing even more uncomfortable. “I try to volunteer my time so that all those ladies know that not all men are as bad as the ones that they’ve had the misfortune of dealing with. To help them realize that some men would never think about hurting a woman. That a lot of us truly value you all.”
Kealy gnaws on her lip. “Then you’ve probably heard why I would want to take a self-defense course.” Her tone is so small and broken that I want to find whatever asshole hurt her and make him suffer tenfold. Judging by the scowl on Stacey’s face and the way that Edge is clenching his fists, I’m not the only one.
“Yeah sugar, I’ve heard some things. But that’s none of my business.” Edge replies.
Kealy looks at me still gnawing on her bottom lip. She is biting it so hard that I’m afraid that she might draw blood soon. “My ex…he…” Her voice quivers, making it extremely difficult for me to not try to reach out and comfort her. But I have a feeling that she would recoil if I did.
Stacey places her hand gently on her shoulder causing Kealy to look at her. “Babe, you don’t have to tell anyone anything.”
“She’s right.” I agree making Stace give me a warm smile. “You have your reasons and that’s all that matters. Your story is your own.”
Kealy blows out a breath and shakes her head. “No, you need some background to understand how I might react to certain things. You need to know that you might be wasting your time with me.”
“Kealy, I can guarantee you that no matter what, I would never consider working with you wasting my time. I promise to help you in any way that I can no matter what.” I look down at my arms. “Although, currently, I might not be very much help.”
She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes tightly. “He would hit and rape me when he was angry.” She rushes out and I’m glad that she has her eyes closed. The look on Edge’s face is murderous and I’m pretty sure that mine matches. “Whenever I did something wrong, or what he perceived as me doing something wrong it would happen. If he had a bad day at work, it would happen. Even if someone would cut him off in traffic it would happen. It took me a long time, longer than I care to admit, to grow the courage to run away and go to the police.” She opens her eyes and my heart breaks to see all of the tears there. “Luckily,” she snorts but it holds no mirth. “I had enough broken bones, bruises, and back eyes in my medical file to be proof. I spent a while at the women’s shelter waiting for his trail. I just knew that if he was able to get to me that he would kill me.”
“He’s in prison now?” I ask cautiously.
“Yes,” she hiccups. “He got fifteen years since one of the times that he beat me, I had been unknowingly pregnant and lost the baby. He was charged with a class A felony since he assaulted a pregnant woman and caused my pregnancy to terminate without a live birth.” The tears are now streaming down her face. I feel sick to my stomach that someone could ever do something like that.
Stacey wraps her up in her arms and whispers