Adrian's Wrath(22)

She turned around and gave him a sad smile. His hand now encased in her much smaller, softer one, Brea led them over to the bed and pulled him down next to her. Silence surrounded them and he used his finger under her chin to bring her face up.

“You don’t have to do this, Brea. You don’t have to explain anything.” He wanted to know about her, wanted to let her get it all out, but he could tell how hard this was for her, and that ate at his heart.

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I want to tell you. I need to tell you so you understand exactly why I am the way I am.” They stayed silent for another moment before Brea continued. “The first few years were great. He was considerate of my situation, compassionate, and listened to me when I was going through a hard day. When he graduated with his PhD we moved in together. I had just graduated myself with a degree in early childhood education and wanted to continue on for my master’s, but Cameron convinced me take a year off. To this day I regret listening to him. That was the moment everything changed between us.” The unspoken words hung between them as she pulled her hands from his tight clasp and put them in her lap.

“In the four years that we had been together he had never raised his voice to me. There were small warning signs that when I look back I see, but I was so blinded by having something happy. By being loved.” She rubbed her palms on her thighs and glanced down at the movement “That first time he—” She locked her lips and cleared her throat. “That first time he hit me the world came out from underneath my feet.”

Blind fury encompassed Adrian. After a moment he realized she was watching him with wide, frightened eyes. He could only imagine what he looked like. Standing, he started pacing in front of her. An itch had started under his skin and he suddenly felt very volatile. Whoever this Cameron was better pray he never came across Adrian.

“Adrian.” He stopped and looked at her. Taking a deep breath, he made himself calm down. “Please, sit down. I’m not telling you this to upset you. I want you to hear everything.” When he was sitting beside her again, she continued, “I wish I could say it only happened that one time, that I was a stronger person and had been smart enough to leave, but I’d be lying.” Her tear-filled eyes cut across to him and he didn’t hold back the need to wipe the tears away. “The abuse only escalated from there. First he used his hands to hit me, then it was his belt, then it was anything he could find.” Adrian swallowed hard. “The rape soon followed and didn’t stop until I finally found the courage to leave.”





Chapter Ten




The air left Adrian in a quick rush. Not even when he was hit in the gut did he become so breathless. This strong woman before him was a fucking survivor. Pain in his palms alerted him to the fact that his hands were clenched so tightly his nails were digging into his skin. Easing up on his death grip, he ran his hand over his hair.

“Fuck, Brea.” The words tumbled out of him, but he hadn’t meant to say them aloud. “There wasn’t anyone you could have talked to about it? Gone to for help?” The idea that she had been all alone, suffering through that kind of abuse made him sick.

A small shake of her head answered his question. “I was a loner. Even after four years in college I hadn’t made any real friends. Sure, I had talked to my peers, but Cameron was always there, spending time with me, keeping my attention. He didn’t make me feel lonely for one second.”

So the prick had been isolating her, making sure she was dependent on him.

“Now that I’m away from him I can see what he had been doing. Slowly he had been making me dependent on him.” A soft sniffle came from her. “I’m an idiot. I can admit that now that I can look back and see how I let my life be controlled. I was just so damn desperate for someone to be there, to love me.”

God, he wanted to tell her he loved her, that he wouldn’t let anyone hurt her ever again. The realization that he did love her, that he would give his life to her shocked him to his core. They might not have known each other for that long, but there it was. He loved this girl with a passion that rivaled anything in his former life. Guilt ate at him that his heart had fallen for another woman, but it had been so very long since he had allowed himself to feel anything but malice. But as he looked at Brea, heard the pain in her voice, felt it as if it were his own, he knew without a doubt he had fallen hopelessly in love with her.

“I stayed in that toxic relationship for far too long. My medical file is as thick as the dictionary, and although I know the doctors and nurses suspected my bruises, broken bones, and numerous concussions as more than just my clumsiness, I never had the strength to confide to anyone. Besides, it was my word against his, and Cameron had become a very renowned psychologist.”