Back in the room, Blakely digs through the dresser to find some clothes, but I loop my arms around her waist, her back to my front. She giggles and leans into me.
“You’re perfect, baby girl,” I tell her as I kiss her temple.
“Mmm, you’re not so bad yourself,” she teases.
I spin her around and cup her face, drawing her in for a deep and passionate kiss. When we break apart, I rest my forehead on hers and breathe her in. “Come with me,” I murmur, taking her hand and leading her to the bed.
She looks up at me, questions in her eyes. I pull back the covers and crawl into bed, resting my back against the headboard and opening my arms in invitation. Blakely joins me, curling up against my side as I cover us with the blankets and hold her close.
“I have to ask,” I start before taking a deep breath and trying again. This is going to be a hard conversation to have, but we need to have it. “What happened that sent you running off into the wilderness? How did you end up camped out at a construction site?”
Blakely stills, her muscles growing rigid as she decides how to answer. Finally, she takes a breath and surrenders her weight to me, melting against my side while I try to infuse some of my strength into her.
“I already told you I never knew my parents,” she whispers. “I honestly don’t remember a lot of my early childhood, but I think that’s for the best. Some of my first memories are around seven. I had my first real birthday party with a cake and everything. My aunt and uncle never gave me things like that. I guess that’s probably why I ate way too much and got sick to my stomach. I threw up all over the kitchen table.” She pauses, thenlets out the breath she was holding. “That was the first time my uncle hit me.”
"Baby, no," I murmur, bundling her impossibly closer to me. I want to cover her, shield her from every bad thing. For now, however, all I need to do is listen.
“He always had a violent streak. For a while, Uncle Terry was a professional boxer. That helped get some of his rage out. Until he started taking steroids and got banned from the competitive circuits, that is. All that anger had to go somewhere.”
She shrugs as if that’s just the way life is. It kills me that she accepts this as part of life. I suppose, in her experience, it is.
“Mostly, he directed the violence toward my aunt. After a few years, though, she started fighting back. I guess Uncle Terry needed an easier target. Since then, it felt like both of them were against me. I know they didn’t ask for a kid, and my mom forced them to take me in, but I don’t think…” Blakely exhales and takes a deep breath. I can tell whatever she’s going to say next has never been spoken out loud before. “I don’t think I deserved that treatment. It wasn’t my fault for being born. It wasn’t my fault that my mom abandoned me. It wasn’t… It wasn’t my fault. It wasn’t my fault,” she repeats, softer this time, almost like she’s whispering it to herself.
“That’s right, sweetheart,” I encourage. “It wasn’t your fault.”
She nods and sniffles, the first tear falling down her creamy, porcelain cheek.
I hold her through it all, whispering words of comfort. “I’ve got you,” I tell her, kissing her temple and forehead as I rock my girl back and forth.
Blakely straightens after a while, readjusting and snuggling back up against me. I comb my fingers through her hair, waiting for her to continue.
“Last week, my aunt and uncle announced that they’d like to have a clean slate with me. I’m almost twenty-one, and I thoughtthey were starting to see me as an adult. They told me they rented a cabin in the Smoky Mountains for a little vacation. I wanted to believe they had changed so badly that I was blind to the trap they were setting.”
Christ. Twenty-one?I knew my girl was younger than me, but thirteen years younger? No matter. My resolve to protect and cherish her is more solidified than ever.
“Uncle Terry was drinking less, and my aunt hadn’t been as cruel in the last few weeks. Somewhere deep down, I knew it was too good to be true. But what choice did I have?”
“Hey,” I whisper in a soothing tone. “You don’t have to justify anything or get defensive,” I remind her. “I believe you. I know you did the best you could at the time.”
Blakely relaxes a bit, nodding against my chest. “We arrived at the cabin and had a great dinner. My aunt didn’t comment on my weight or yell at me when I asked for seconds. It was such a different side of her, which should have been the first clue something was wrong. Sure enough, an hour later, there was a knock at the door.”
I furrow my brow, not expecting that turn in the story.
“My uncle answered it, shaking the hand of the older man standing in the doorway. As soon as the stranger’s eyes locked onto mine, a pit opened in my stomach, threatening to swallow me whole. I’ll never forget how he stalked toward me, the predatory look in his gaze making my throat close in panic. I vaguely remember through the haze, my uncle informing me that this was my new role in the family. I didn’t understand at first, but then the bigger picture materialized. He and my aunt were…” She pauses, swallowing thickly before continuing. “They were selling me for sex to earn money to get them out of debt.”
“Jesus fucking… Blakely, did he touch you? I need to know who I’m killing and who I’m merely maiming. Fuck it, I’m killing everyone,” I grunt.
"He didn't get a chance to do anything. I squeaked out that I had to pee and made a mad dash to the bathroom. My aunt pounded on the door, telling me I was being rude and better be ready to make up for it when I came out. With the door locked from the inside, I quickly heaved the one window in the room open, stepping on the toilet and hoisting myself up and out, landing like a brick on the ground."
“And then you ran,” I finish for her, finally understanding where she came from and why she was terrified of her own shadow.
“Straight to you,” Blakely adds.
I find myself smiling even though my woman just told me the most upsetting, awful tale about her life.
“And now I’m keeping you,” I murmur, tucking her head under my chin as I continue to hold my baby and rock her back and forth.
I’m so damn glad she survived so I could meet her. For the first time ever, I’m glad I survived everything so I could be here to love and care for my Blakely.
