Total pages in book: 180
Estimated words: 182075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 182075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
“Then a few weeks later, I discovered I was pregnant. I knew I had to try leaving him again. I couldn’t stay with someone who continuously hurt me, put me down, who controlled every aspect of my life. Maybe I couldn’t be brave enough to try again for me but I could for my baby. I left my phone with a neighbor and took all the money I could find. Then I came to you guys, because I thought you would help me.” She had to pause to push back the tears.
What she needed was to feel numb. To go somewhere else where she didn’t have to feel.
The baby didn’t need this stress and neither did she. Finally, she managed to push her distress down deep. As she did she could hear Spencer.
He was breathing heavily.
In and out.
Shaky and fast.
Glancing up, she saw that Slade was still pacing.
Only Quaid was looking at her while Rock kept up his vigilant stance at the door.
“You never told us that he was abusing you,” Quaid said. There was no judgment in his voice, but she still felt it.
“I wanted to. Maggie came to visit me once and spotted a bruise on my wrist. I made up some bullshit excuse. I should have told her but I was scared he might hurt her.”
“We could’ve protected you and Maggie,” Quaid said.
“That’s why she came to us, man,” Spencer said brokenly. “And we threw her out.”
“I was actually going to tell you the day you drove me home after Sunday lunch with Edward, but then you got that phone call and were all stressed out. Plus there were things I wanted from the apartment.”
Like her backpack.
“No matter what he did to me, I just found excuses for him. It didn’t help that he would be so repentant later. And he’d twist things with his words so that everything sounded like it was my fault. He’d tell me how amazing he was and how unimportant I was and how lucky I was to have him. It got to the point where I started to believe him.”
“Fucking bastard,” Slade muttered.
“You have to know that’s not true,” Spencer said, looking aghast. “You’re the amazing one and he’s the fuckwit.”
“Classic narcissist,” Quaid said. “They believe they are amazing and they seem to take great joy out of belittling and bullying others.”
Right.
She’d guessed that Billy might be a narcissist. Among other things.
Indie attempted to shift position, trying to alleviate some of the pain in her side. A whimper escaped her, though. Spencer stood suddenly and she found herself flinching.
“Shit, sorry, sorry.” There was a frantic note in his voice as he held his hands up above her. “I just wanted to help you. I didn’t mean to scare you. I’d never harm you.”
Indie tried to keep her breathing shallow so it didn’t hurt so much.
You’re not supposed to be stressing.
Relax.
Every time she thought she might be able to relax something else happened to make her remember that easy lives were for other people.
Not her.
“Can I get you another pillow? How about another blanket? Are you cold? Hot? Hungry? Thirsty?”
Spencer had always been a caretaker. He was a pleasure Dom, something she hadn’t even realized existed until she’d started going to Club Slade.
And damn if it didn’t intrigue the heck out of her. But it wasn’t like she’d ever had a chance to experience what a pleasure Dom could do.
However, she’d never seen him look quite this upset as he attempted to figure out what she needed.
A pang of guilt filled her as she took in his unkempt state, the dark bags under his eyes.
No, no.
You don’t have to feel guilty. You did nothing wrong.
“I’m fine,” she told him. “I don’t need anything.”
Spencer flinched as though she’d hurt him. As though her saying that was a rejection.
In a way, she guessed it was.
She wasn’t trying to be cruel, but she had to keep a barrier up between herself and these guys. She had to protect herself.
To protect her baby.
If stress could hurt the baby, then she had to start eradicating it.
And she couldn’t get rid of some things that were stressing her. Like the fact she’d likely lost her job, that she couldn’t go back to that apartment again.
That Billy was still out there somewhere.
But she was doing what she could.
Spencer finally sat again, appearing even more upset.
“I’m not yours to take care of anymore, Spencer.”
“You were always mine to take care of. Until I fucked up. I should have stood up for you, Princess. I should have listened to what you had to say.”
“We all should have,” Slade said quietly. “It’s not an excuse but we’d had weeks to stew. To build on our anger which is part of the reason we reacted so . . . badly. Billy was celebrating, fucking ecstatic about his business winning that bid—”