“What would they do to her?”
“You don’t want to know.”
Like hell I didn’t. I was already planning on going to California with my twelve-gauge. “What. Would. They. Do.”
He was quiet for so long I didn’t think he was going to answer. “When it first started, it was usually just hitting and kicking. The older she got, the more it turned into whatever they had in their hands or could grab quickly. Once that started, she only came over if it was other objects. She lived for the days when it was only hands.”
“So what I saw tonight, you said it isn’t the worst?”
“Not even close.”
“What was?”
Tyler sighed and looked up at me, tears streaming down his face. “I don’t know, there were a few that really stood out, but I couldn’t name one that was the worst.”
I just kept glaring at him; he needed a beatin’ just for letting this go on for so long. She was seventeen or eighteen now, so she had been six or seven when this all started. And he’d known the entire time.
“A couple years ago, the cops showed up one night—”
“I thought you said she wouldn’t let you call?”
“I didn’t.” He sighed and ran his hands through his hair a few times. “The old lady that lived in between us heard her screaming one night, called the cops.”
I shoved off the wall and flung my arms out. “You had a perfect opportunity and you still didn’t do anything? They didn’t do anything?!”
“Gage, I didn’t even know the cops were called until she texted me hours after they’d left!”
“What happened?” I demanded, and forced myself back against the wall.
“Cassi opened the door, her mom and stepdad right behind her. None of her bruises were visible then and they all denied the screaming, including Cass.”
Seriously? What the fuck?
“When the cops left, her mom took off her high heels, used the pointy heel part to hit her head repeatedly. There was so much blood when I got there, Gage, and she couldn’t lay her head on even a pillow for almost a week after that. Another time her stepdad threw a glass of alcohol at her, she ducked, and it shattered against a wall. Since she didn’t get hit by it, he grabbed her by the throat, dragged her to where it was, and just kept slicing her forehead, arms, stomach, and back with one of the pieces. She wore a scarf every day ’til the finger marks were gone. That’s why she wears her hair with those things, what are they called? Bangs. She got those scars when she was ten and the one on her head isn’t very noticeable anymore, but she still tries to hide it. She tries to hide all of them, but some she can’t unless she wants to wear jeans and long sleeves in the summer.”
I stood there in shock, trying to make the connection between this girl he was telling me about and the girl I’d just met. Even with seeing the pictures it wasn’t clicking for me; I couldn’t imagine someone touching her, or her being so willing to let it continue. “You’re a poor excuse for a man, Tyler.” I opened my door and stood next to it, arms crossed over my chest.
He looked like he crumpled in on himself. “You think I don’t know that?”
I couldn’t say anything else to him. As soon as he was out of my room I slammed the door and fell to my bed. I wanted to make him stay in my room and go to her myself. Hold her and tell her I’d never let anyone else hurt her again. But for whatever reason she wanted him, and we didn’t know each other so it would be even creepier than my trying to be close enough to hear her talk tonight.
My whole body shook as I thought about anyone laying a hand on her, let alone sharp objects. Sweet Cassi, she deserved parents and a man who cherished her. Not ones who beat her and a boy who sat back and let it happen. I swallowed back vomit for the third time since I found out what happened and forced myself to stay in my bed.
I closed my eyes and tried to steady my breathing, focusing on her face and honey-colored eyes instead of what I saw on her back and the images that Tyler’s phone had seared into my brain. I thought about running my hands through that long, dark hair. Pressing my mouth to her neck, her cheeks, and finally those lips that were full and inviting. Tyler doesn’t deserve her. Not at all. I thought about taking her in my arms and taking her to the ranch so I could keep her safe for the rest of her life. But she’d already been living a life she didn’t choose, so I wouldn’t choose for her either; I would wait for her to leave him and come to me.
Chapter Two
CASSIDY
WE HADN’T BEEN in Austin for more than six hours before someone saw the bruises. And not just anyone, Tyler’s cousin, our new roommate, and the guy who wouldn’t leave my every waking thought. I told Tyler not to tell him—let him make his own assumptions—but of course Tyler didn’t listen and told him way more than he should have. I couldn’t blame him though; I’d made him keep a secret no kid should have to. I know he thought I was sleeping, but even if I had been, Gage yelling at Tyler, or Tyler coming back into our room to hold me and tell me how sorry he was while he cried, would have woken me up. I’d learned long ago that if I cried, I got hit harder until I finally stopped, so I’d become a master at turning off my emotions. But I knew if I had opened my eyes to watch him cry, it definitely would have broken through that wall and I would have been crying right there with him. So I lay there completely still, emotions turned off and eyes shut, while Tyler cried himself to sleep.
Once Tyler got in the shower the next morning, I slipped into the kitchen to start some coffee. We’d spent so many nights without sleeping over the years, we’d both started drinking it early on, and I was glad that now he didn’t have to sneak an extra cup for me since his parents hadn’t exactly known that I stayed the night all those years.
I shut the door quietly and turned to tiptoe across the hardwood floors when I saw Gage, and my heart instantly picked up its pace. He was dressed only in jersey shorts and shoes, his body still glistening with sweat. God, he looked amazing, and my breath caught at how perfect his body and face were. I’d barely caught a glimpse of him without his shirt on last night before Tyler had caught me staring, and now I couldn’t make my eyes look away.
“Morning.”
My eyes finally snapped up to meet his. In the light and this close, I could see the gold flecks scattered throughout the green of his eyes. They were the most beautiful eyes I’d ever seen. “Good morning, Gage.”
“How, uh—how are you today?”
I sighed and walked over to the coffeepot. “I know he talked to you, I could hear you guys last night. I don’t want you to be awkward around me now because of what you know.”
“Cassi, those things should have never happened to you. He should have told someone.”
I turned to find him right in front of me again. “I made him promise he wouldn’t.”
“Well he shouldn’t have listened to you.”
“You don’t get it, Gage. You weren’t there. I couldn’t let him.”
His eyes narrowed. “No, I wasn’t there. But if I had been, something would have been done the first time it ever happened. Why didn’t you say anything the night the cops showed?”
I shook my head; there was no point in trying to make him understand.
Gage put a hand on each side of my face and leaned closer. I swear I thought he was about to kiss me, like last night, and it didn’t matter that I hardly knew him; I wanted him to. “You didn’t deserve that, Cassi, you know that, right?”
“I do.”
Before I could realize what he was doing, he brushed my swoop bangs back and traced his thumb over a scar from Jeff’s glass. My body instantly stiffened and Gage’s eyes turned dark as he looked at it. He slowly tore his gaze from the scar to my eyes and spoke softly. “Didn’t deserve any of that.”
I took a step back and turned to look at the almost-full pot of coffee.
He reached around me and brought down two mugs before pouring coffee in each one. “I’m sorry if you like cream,” he drawled, “I don’t have any here.”
“That’s fine.” I breathed a quiet sigh of relief as I walked over to the fridge and grabbed the milk. “I’ll go to the store later and get some.”
When I was done pouring it in, he put the cap on for me and put it back in the fridge. Walking back over to me, he put a finger under my chin and tilted my head up so I was looking at him. “How often did it happen, Cassi?”
My breaths started coming quicker. What was it about him that made me want to fall into his arms and not ever leave? It took his repeating his question for me to come out of my daydream. I was up against the counter, so I couldn’t step back, but I moved my head away from his hand and stared past his shoulder into the living room.
He guessed when he saw I wasn’t going to answer. “Every day?”
I still didn’t respond; if it was a weekend, it happened at least twice a day. But that was something even Tyler didn’t know. My body started involuntarily shaking and I hated that I was showing any sign of weakness in front of him.
“Never again, Cassi,” he whispered while he studied my face.
My eyes flew back to meet his and my throat tightened. He sounded like he was in pain just talking about it and I had no idea why. But I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make me want his arms wrapped around me. I cleared my throat and forced myself to continue to meet his gaze. “Cassidy.”
“What?”
“My name is Cassidy.”
“Oh.” He looked a little sheepish. “My apologies, I didn’t realize.”
“No. Um, Tyler doesn’t like it. He calls me Cassi. I just wanted to tell you my real name.” Really I just wanted to hear it in his gravelly voice.
He smiled softly as he studied me for a minute and took a sip of his black coffee. “I like Cassidy, it fits.”
Oh damn . . . yep. I was right in wanting to hear him say that. My arms were covered in goose bumps and I even shivered. Yeah—his voice was that sexy.
When I didn’t say anything he walked around to the table and held out a chair, waiting for me to sit in it. We sat in silence for a while before I finally looked up at him again.
“This might be rude, but can I ask you something?”
One side of his mouth lifted up in a smile. “I think I already cornered the market on rude questions this morning, so go ahead.”
And cue the freaking dimples! I got so lost staring at them I forgot to ask my question and his smirk went to a full-blown Gage smile. At this rate I’d need to start wearing a sleeping mask and earplugs around him in order to not make myself look like an idiot. Though I’d look ridiculous either way. “Well, um, Tyler said you live on a ranch?”
“I do.”
“I was kind of thinking you’d look more like a cowboy . . .”
Gage’s laugh bounced back off the walls, and I felt my body relax just listening to it. “And how exactly were you expecting me to look?”