Break My Fall(71)

“Sorry Kyle, we’re out of cocoa. It’s just coffee I’m afraid,” Lee apologized, as she handed me a cup of steaming black coffee. Thank you, Jesus. I inhaled the welcoming smell of steaming strong coffee. “So are you going to tell me why you’re really here?” Lee asked, as she sat on the tarnished coffee table in front of me, her arms folded over her knees.

“Are you going to tell me why you are?” I shot back.

She frowned, “You know why. My dad…”

I interrupted her. “I know your dad had a heart attack, I’m asking you what you are doing here?”

Realization flooded her features, she paled. “Who have you been talking to?”

Lie or tell the truth… Fuck it. “Derek mentioned that you and your dad have a rocky relationship.” Smooth, but I carried on like a fucking idiot. “He told me a few things that make me wonder, no serious fucking question your sanity for being here.”

Lee’s eyes filled with tears. “That is none of your business, or Derek’s,” she sniffed. “I could kill Cam.”

I leaned forward and grabbed her arms. “Lee, don’t pretend with me. I know something’s going on. I care about you for Christ’s sake. I want to help. Let me in.”





Lee





I couldn’t believe Kyle was bringing up my private life like this. How dare he?

“You don’t care about me Kyle,” I snapped. “Don’t lie to my face by saying that you do. Oh god, you weren’t supposed to know, you were never supposed to find out.”

Kyle stood up and ran his hand through his hair. “You know I care baby.” He marched around the room like someone jacked up on too much caffeine. “I need to know, if it’s true, I need you to let me in,” he said. His grabbed my cheek, looked straight into my eyes, “Let me in.”

The floodgates of tears and anger inside of me burst open. “What do you want to know Kyle, about how my father used to beat the shit out of me?” I demanded. “Or how he locked me away from everything normal and kept me stuck in this goddamn house for eighteen years? Or maybe you’d like to hear about how he pulled me out of school in my senior year and killed all my hopes and dreams?” I was on a roll now. “Will that somehow help you? Do you get a buzz from hearing about my fucked up life? Well, there it is, turns out I’m just as messed up as you, probably more.”

I lost it then, pulling my top over my head. “You wanna see, huh?” I asked. “Would it make you feel better to see how badly he beat me for being a whore and easy. Well, it looks like you both thought that about me,” I screamed, placing my hand over my heart. “But the scars you left on me, you can’t see.”

I jerked my pajama bottoms down, stepped out of them and turned around. “Here take a good look. This is me, scarred and imperfect. I’m broken, nothing like Rachel.”

I heard Kyle take a sharp breath. “Jesus.”

I felt his hands skim my scars and I flinched. “Don’t touch me” I warned.

He pulled me closer. “I said don’t touch me.”

I struggled in his arms. “Don’t fight me baby,” he whispered as his arms wrapped around me tightly. All the fight went out of my body. Succumbing to the tears, I let Kyle hold me.





Chapter Thirty





Kyle





I held Lee for the best part of last night. Jesus, I’d been afraid to let her out of my arms. Those scars…

My stomach coiled thinking about the nasty welts across her back, her ass and thighs. What kind of monster did that to his kid?

I had a fucked up family, but they paled in comparison to Lee’s father. I wanted to kill him, more than I had ever wanted to harm anyone in my life. The only thing that had stopped me from driving straight to the hospital last night was Lee. She had been so small and fragile in my arms. How had I not noticed those scars before?

I was in way over my head, but I couldn’t back out now, I was fucking hooked. Walking away was not an option.

She had cried herself to sleep in my arms last night and I had put her to bed. I should have left her room, but I was a selfish bastard and had curled up beside her. I think I needed to keep her close last night, more for my sake than hers. I wanted to protect this girl from all the cruel, torturous blows she had been dealt. I wanted to pack her up in my truck and take her far away from here, keep her with me.

She was gone when I woke up this morning, had left a note to say she was going to visit that bastard. How she could show him any compassion was beyond me. Her actions proved another point; Lee was an angel. Christ, she was the best person I knew.