She looks up at me through her lashes. Fuck, she’s beautiful. Tears form in her eyes as she stares at me.
“You don’t have to, if you don’t want to, but I think it will help, sweet girl,” I say softly, still holding my ground. The little pet name easily slips past my lips. I’m trying to make her feel more comfortable, but also let her know she needs to remember she can trust me. That we have been friends for a very long time.
She blinks and the tears are released. Lexi quickly wipes them away and looks down at her lap again. “Cam,” she says in a breath. “I don’t know what to say. I hate that I let everything get as bad as it did.”
Shaking her head, she moves her knees up and wraps her arms around them, resting her face on them, I'm sure, to keep her tears hidden. I move closer to her and rest both hands on either side of her legs so I’m closer to her face so she can hear me.
“Lexi… I need you to hear me when I say this,” I say in my deep, commanding voice and wait for her to acknowledge me. I don’t speak again until she does. Slowly she raises her headand rests her chin between her knees. Her eyes are swollen and rimmed red from the crying, but she is still beautiful no matter what.
“Are you listening to me?” I ask and she nods the best she can. “None of what happened is your fault. You did nothing wrong. Should you have left when it first happened? Sure. But you have such a good heart, I’m sure you were hoping it wouldn’t happen again or even continue the way it did. Am I right?” I ask her.
She nods her head and tears begin to flow more freely as I lift one of my hands to cup her cheek. “I mean it, sweet girl. This is not your fault. You are only to blame for the fact that you loved someone who hurt you when they should have been protecting you.”
She closes her eyes and bites her bottom lip. I can see the restraint she is giving to not just sob. The tears are flowing now. She finally reopens her eyes and gives a little sniff, wiping her nose with the back of her hand. I drop my hold on her cheek and get up from the bed to grab the towel that is hanging on the back of the door. I hand it to her and she wipes her face.
Taking a deep breath when she drops the towel beside her. I sit down again on the bed and look at her. I don’t give her a look of pity, because I know that will make this worse, plus I don’t feel pity for her. I try to relay in my look that I am here to just listen, and I wait a few minutes to see if she’s willing to talk.
Lexi takes a deep breath and relaxes her forearms on her knees. The tears slow and she releases a long breath.
“It started a couple of years ago…” she begins and I turn more towards her giving her my full attention. “...with just talking down to me and embarrassing me. Degrading me whenever he had the chance.” She gives a little chuckle looking up at me. “And not in a sexy way,” she says, trying to relieve a little tension. I give her a small smile.
“Anyway. Then it progressed to grabbing me and pushing me up against the wall. He would always apologize after and explain it away saying how much stress he was under at work. Saying it would never happen again. I wanted to believe him… I really did,” she says looking down in her lap. She stretches her legs out and leans back against the headboard again. Pushing the palms of hands into her eyes, she grunts in a frustrated way.
Her hands drop to her lap and the tears are forming again when she looks back up at me. “Then I started to notice the later nights at work and the way he would lock his phone when he was around me. I found out by accident he was fucking some girl at work. She’s younger than me and she even knows we’re together. I’ve seen the texts,” she says and rolls her eyes. “Fuck, I wish I hadn’t. I could have remained blissfully ignorant.”
“Are you sure about that? That doesn’t sound like the Lexi I know,” I say, quirking an eyebrow at her.
She laughs. “You’re right,” she says, taking another deep breath and looking up to the ceiling. “Well, after I found out I confronted him, and that was the first time I ended up at the emergency room with a dislocated shoulder, sprained wrist and several bruised ribs. Not to mention a busted lip and black eye,” she says, looking back at me waiting for my reaction.
I wait a few seconds before replying. “Why didn’t you leave then?” I ask her. Trying not to sound like I’m placing any blame on her, because I understand why people who have dealt with stuff like this stay.
Her gaze slowly moves back to her lap and the crimson blush rises on her cheeks. “He apologized for getting out of hand and said that itupset himto be accused of something he hasn’t done.”
I can tell in her voice she’s upset with herself for allowing this to go on any further.
“It progressed from there. I guess the fact that I kept forgiving him, just gave him the go ahead to continue.”
I know that nothing I say to her will make this easier or better. And I don’t want to make her feel worse than she already does. She finally looks back up at me giving me a small smile. “I’m not a victim, Cam. And I refuse to be one or be treated like one. I really need to just work through this, ya know?”
Giving her a small nod, I once again place my hand on her covered knee. This time she doesn’t jerk or get startled. I give her knee a small squeeze.
“Lexi, you and Shayna are two of the strongest women I know. So I know you will get through this. We will be here for you every step of the way and in any way you need us.”
She gives me a real smile finally, and I smile back. I squeeze her knee once more before I stand up from the bed. “You need to get some sleep. If you want to talk more tomorrow or whenever, I’m always here for you. Just like Shay is. You know that,” I say.
I turn to walk to the door, and I hear her soft voice. “Cam,” she breathes. I turn to look at her just as I reach the slightly open door.
“Yeah, Lex?”
“C-can you… ummm… c-c-could you…” she begins with a stutter, as I raise my brow giving her the time to process her thoughts and get whatever it is she wants to ask out. “C-can you stay here u-until I fall asleep? Please?”
I walk back towards the bed, turn the bedside light off, as she moves over further towards the other side of the bed and lays down. I sit on the bed, this time leaning up against the headboard. She turns curling up next to me, but not touching me. She looks up at me and I give her a small smile. “Sleep, sweet girl. I got you. You’re safe now,” I whisper and softly begin to caress her head, pushing the hair away from her face.
She releases a deep breath and closes her eyes. Continuing to pet her hair softly, as her breaths begin to even out, it seems she’s fallen asleep. A creak at the door catches my attention and my head quickly darts to where the door is more open and Shayna stands leaning against the frame smiling at me, as the hallway light filters through the opening. I give her a smile back and she blows me a kiss and turns walking back to our room. This has been an eventful evening, to say the least.
CHAPTER 7
Shayna
