Part 16 (2/2)
Color leeched from Lauren's cheekbones, and she hunched over.
”We lost some of that closeness over the years-conflicting schedules and lifestyles, all the usual pathetic excuses family has for losing touch with each other. She rang me after she and Liam decided to move back home; she was excited about getting a role in a new local drama. I'd flown into Auckland unexpectedly in between a.s.signments, and after a little to-and-froing, she agreed to meet me for a drink. I wondered why she didn't ask me back to their place”-he shook his head, rocks tumbling in his belly at the memory-”and why she arrived at the bar in sungla.s.ses and a baseball cap.”
”She was hiding from her fans? Or from her husband?”
”My cousin loved being the center of attention; she loved meeting her fans. And as far as I knew at that time, things were a little strained with Liam but not...s.h.i.+t.”
He'd spare Lauren the force of his shock, his fury, and then the self-hatred he'd experienced when Savannah had reached for her winegla.s.s and her sleeve had ridden up, exposing a ring of purplish-blue bruises on her arm. ”They'd fought that morning about her meeting me. Liam had grabbed her arms, slammed her up against a wall. She'd calmed him down and then left the house to come meet me.”
”Was it the first time he'd gotten physical?” Lauren's words came in jerky little spasms.
Nate made a conscious effort to unclench his fingers, balled into iron fists. ”She told me it was. I was prying out more information about the mental and emotional abuse that she would, at least, admit to, when Liam tracked us down at the bar. He ordered Sav to leave with him, and she wouldn't, so he dragged her from her chair.”
A trickle of sweat slid between his shoulder blades. Even thinking about Liam's hand clamped around Sav's wrist made Nate's blood thrum and his vision darken. And that was his little cousin. Not knowing how Lauren's ex had hurt her? His back molars ground together, while a volcano spewed lava through his veins.
”I'm not proud of the spectacle I made, but I'm not sorry for teaching the b.a.s.t.a.r.d a lesson.”
”He didn't press charges?”
”Savannah didn't want the media sharks getting wind of the situation, and her weasel of a husband didn't, either. Liam didn't press charges, and I kept my mouth shut-for Sav's sake.” And for Sav's sake, Nate hadn't killed her husband. Instead, he'd helped evict Liam from her life and booked flights to Vegas to start quickie divorce proceedings.
”Thank you for telling me.”
Lauren laid a hand over his clenched knuckles, a soothing sensation like cool water on a fresh burn.
”Savannah's lucky to have you in her life,” she added.
Lucky? Yeah, lucky Savannah had a cousin who didn't notice she needed help because his head was stuck too far up his own a.s.s. But that wasn't going to happen with Lauren, because as Nate had promised Drew, n.o.body would hurt him or his mother while Nate was around.
Settling down with one woman is like volunteering to drop a noose around your neck, kid. Steve's voice again, laughing at him.
Nate's thoughts of vindication tapered off, and his fists unclenched. Was this thing with Lauren heading in that direction? Did he plan to stay in Bounty Bay, protecting and caring for her and her son, believing he could be part of their family? Would he relax the grip on his heart to allow any feelings other than s.e.xual desire to slip in and take root?
h.e.l.l, no.
Steve had been right. The cards life dealt to guys like them didn't include one marked ”long term relations.h.i.+p.” So maybe the kindest thing he could do for Lauren was to step back. Pull away before he carved his own scar into her heart.
”Your turn.” Nate turned his hand over, lacing his fingers with hers.
Lauren didn't pull away, but since it felt like rusty steel wool was crammed down her throat, she couldn't talk, either.
”Jonathan hit you, didn't he?”
She managed a small nod. ”Up until that night, only a few times.”
”Only?”
”A few slaps to the face, grabbing my arms hard enough to leave bruises”-she winced at that, remembering Nate's story of his cousin-”being a little rough when we'd make love.” Her chin dipped down, and she studied their linked hands. ”I was so stupid, so naive. I couldn't tell my mum-she adored Jonathan-and at the time, Todd and I weren't close.”
”Did you have friends who could've helped?”
”He'd isolated me from my real friends over time, leaving me with only the wives of his business a.s.sociates-women who were more interested in a sale at Saks than being my friend.”
”And Drew?”
Like wire was attached to her jaw, her chin lifted. ”Jonathan never raised a hand to him; otherwise, friends or not, I would've left him.”
”What happened that night?”
Her stomach clenched, as if it were wrapped around her spine, but she forced herself to release a pent-up breath and begin. ”It started with a c.o.c.ktail party that I didn't want to go to. Drew was off-color and running a slight temperature, but Jonathan wanted me on his arm, so we used our usual sitter and went.”
”Halfway through the party, I rang to check on Drew, and I heard him screaming and sobbing in the background. The sitter said he'd been vomiting and kept crying for me. Jonathan was deep in conversation with a business a.s.sociate, so I just left, sending him a text on the cab ride home.”
Nate squeezed her fingers encouragingly. She gave him a half smile, and continued.
”I paid the babysitter and sent her off, then went straight to Drew. The sitter had changed him into clean pajamas, but his room still stunk of vomit, and the carpet-well, the carpet beside his bed was a mess. Jonathan arrived about five minutes after I did; he must've immediately noticed I was missing and caught another cab. He'd had too much to drink, but that was no excuse.” She pressed her lips together so tightly her teeth pinched into the soft skin.
”He stormed into Drew's room, took one look at the carpet and screamed at Drew to get back into bed. Then he turned on me, raving like an insane person for embarra.s.sing him in front of his colleagues. Jonathan screaming at our sick baby was the breaking point-I told him I was leaving.”
Her chest locked tight again, trapping a lungful of stale air. ”That's when he grabbed me around the waist and hauled me out of Drew's bedroom. I fought and knocked a huge vase of roses off the hallway table. He slapped me a couple of times, and one of my fists connected with his nose, so he dropped me. I tried to crawl away, but he pulled me backward through the broken gla.s.s, and one bit sliced into my face.”
”f.u.c.k.” A muscle pulsed in his jaw.
She had to finish now, to purge it all from her soul, or she never would. ”Drew's shrieks and the blood on the floor finally snapped Jonathan out of it. He let me go and staggered away, locking himself into his office. I was a complete mess, my face bleeding, my dress ripped, but I grabbed Drew and my pa.s.sport and left. I never went back, and every contact we've had since has been through lawyers. He's moved on with his life, remarried.” She pressed a fist to her mouth to stop her lips trembling. ”He's moved on, and yet some days, I feel as if I'm still trapped in that nightmare.”
”This is why you don't sleep at nights.”
”It's not as bad as it used to be.”
Nate's thumb gently brushed over her other hand in soothing strokes.
Tingles charged up her arm, infusing her with warmth. Nate's touch somehow did that-cleaned out all the bad stuff clogging up her mind, filling it instead with a surge of...happy. She blinked at him, filled with happy, with heat, with the sudden burning desire to climb into his lap and wrap herself around him so the tingles spread all over her body.
Her lips curved, as the memories of that night fizzled and retreated into sepia blandness. The man was magic. He could make her forget-Nate could make them both forget.
She shuffled closer, but as she did, he returned her hand back to her knee and said, ”I'll take a rain check on the nightcap. You head back up, get some sleep.”
That was it? After exposing her darkest, rawest secrets, he was blowing her off?
Lauren's stomach plummeted like an out-of-control rollercoaster. ”You want me to go to bed, alone? You don't want to make love to me anymore?”
”Honey, it's not like that.” His gaze raked over her bare shoulders and settled on her face. ”I just don't think it's a good idea tonight.”
Words a woman didn't want to hear after all but asking a man to make love to her.
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