“What happened to the bastard?” If he wasn’t dead yet, Amaury would be happy to do the deed himself. He felt a swell of fury rise in his stomach.
“He survived. She called an ambulance and told them what I told her to say: that her husband surprised a burglar and was stabbed by him. I made sure all the evidence pointed to it by the time the police arrived: I broke a window from the outside and hid my bloody sheets. Of course they didn’t find the guy, and of course they tried to sniff out what was going on, but all they had to go on was our testimony. There was nothing they could really do. By the time he got out of the hospital, I’d brought a copy of the recording to a safe place with instructions to make it public if anything ever happened to me or Eddie.”
“A safe place?”
“A mail box at one of those mailbox places in another town with instructions to open the box and send its contents to the county sheriff if anything happened to me.”
“And then?”
“I had almost two more years left to my eighteen’s birthday. Those months living with them were hell, but he didn’t touch me, too afraid I’d make good on my threat. When I applied to become Eddie’s guardian on my eighteen’s birthday, they supported my application. I had two jobs by that time, working constantly, I could support us. They wanted me gone, so they did everything to help me leave.”
Amaury swallowed hard. How could an eighteen year old girl take on such responsibility while dealing with her own pain? How much had she suffered? “How could you even stay with them after what he did to you? Why didn’t you go to the police?”
“I had no choice. I couldn’t risk a long drawn-out trial. I stabbed a man. It would have taken months to prove that I acted in self-defense. I couldn’t risk being separated from Eddie. They would have sent him somewhere else while all this was going on. No, it was too risky. I needed to stay with Eddie. It was the only way.”
“Don’t you think it was riskier to assume they’ll give you guardianship of your brother? You were only eighteen, for God’s sake.” What were the chances of her application not just being tossed out immediately?
“As I said, my foster father was a respectable citizen, and he knew people. He pulled some strings with the judge, that’s how badly he wanted all this to go away. I was a thorn in his eye. As soon as I became Eddie’s guardian, we left, We moved around a lot until we landed here in San Francisco.”
Amaury grunted. He wished the asshole had bled to death rather than survived. He didn’t deserve living, raping a sixteen year old. His sweet Nina, putting her through horror like that. The thought of wanting to kill somebody coiled through him. He felt his body tense and harden.
“So, you see. I did a terrible thing, stabbing him, wanting to kill him. I did it on purpose. I knew what I was doing, and still I did it.”
Nina turned her head away from him and buried it in the pillow. He didn’t know what to do. Pull her into his arms? Give her space? Why couldn’t he read her emotions so he would know what to do now?
“I’m sorry, Nina.” Amaury couldn’t find any words, not when rage coursed through his veins. Somebody had hurt her, and he wanted to retaliate, hurt that man even more. He put his hand on her shoulder and flinched, pulling it back instantly—his fingers had turned into sharp claws. He felt his jaw itch and his fangs push through, unable to prevent his vampire side from appearing. No, he couldn’t let himself go like that in front of her. The last thing she’d want to see right now was another violent man, especially after he’d attacked her in his sleep. He had to tamp down his anger first before he could pull her back into his arms.
“Sleep a little longer. I’ll let you rest.”
Amaury turned his head away and avoided looking at her. He knew his eyes flashed red. He glanced down at his hands—lethal weapons. No, he couldn’t touch her right now, as much as he longed to comfort her. He wasn’t in control of himself. “I’m sorry.”
He got out of bed and, naked as he was, walked into the living room, pulling the door shut behind him.
In one corner, his punching bag hung suspended from the ceiling. He headed straight for it. That was what he needed: to punch something if he couldn’t punch her rapist or any of the other men who’d hurt her. Amaury slammed his fists viciously into the bag. He would kill any man who hurt her. Nina was his to protect now. Nobody would ever hurt her again. He’d make sure of that.
***
Amaury hadn’t come back to bed after Nina had told him about her past. She could easily guess why: he was horrified about what she’d done. And what was probably worse, she’d been raped, and what man wanted to deal with that? Nobody wanted that. Least of all a man like Amaury who could have any woman he wanted. He could have a woman who didn’t carry the kind of emotional baggage she did.