Tar leveled a look at his friend. “You’ve become a romantic.”
“Can’t help it, man. Love tends to do that to a guy.”
Lacey gave Tar a hug as well. She was one of the few women he knew where he didn’t have to bend to reciprocate. In his ear she whispered a heartfelt, “Thank you for bringing my sister back.”
“Let’s hope we can get her to stay,” he answered.
She nodded, pulling away from him and standing in the circle of her husband’s waiting arms. They all glanced at Keeley then back at each other. A consensual nod passed between them. Keeley wasn’t getting away again without a fight. The good kind of fight. The fight that spoke directly to someone’s heart, You are worth it.
Lacey spent the rest of the day with Keeley. Her sister was hiding something. There was darkness in her eyes that she’d seen before. Keeley was on the verge of making another bad choice. Lacey could feel it. So how did she stop her before it was too late? “Kee,” sitting on the sofa and turning toward her so they faced each other, “tell me what’s goin’ on with you?”
“What do you want to hear, Lace? How I can’t have any children? How I love a man who I will hurt, but he won’t listen? Or how about I crave pain every second of every day?” Lacey stared at her sister. “Yep, that one’s a doozey.”
Lacey gathered her thoughts, but she couldn’t fight the tears. “Why do you want to hurt yourself?”
Keeley leveled a look at her sister. “Seems the fucked-up shit Caleb got off on was right up my alley.”
“Oh…” Lacey gasped. “And Tar does that kind of stuff to you?”
“God no!” Keeley shot up off the sofa. “He could never do that kind of thing. See my problem?”
She watched her sister’s frenetic gestures, realizing how tormented she was over this. Lacey needed to help her before she did something stupid, something that got herself hurt—or worse, something Tar couldn’t forgive her for. “I think you need to talk to a professional about the cravings. One who deals with victims of sexual torture and recovering addicts.”
Keeley shot a nasty glare at her sister. “Seriously, Lace, what the fuck?”
Ah, Keeley’s temper was in high gear. Lacey knew to approach with caution. “I will help you all I can. Tar, E, hell even Nik and Aimee, Alex and Sofie will do whatever we can to get you through this.”
“And if I don’t want help?”
“Won’t make me stop trying,” she said, standing and meeting her sister in the middle of the room.
“You’re one stubborn ass girl,” Keeley fired back.
Lacey embraced her sister tight. “Takes one to know one.” She took a step back and tucked Keeley’s hair behind her ear. “Tell me about the rest.”
Try as hard as she could, Keeley couldn’t deny how much it hurt to know she’d never give birth. She latched onto Lacey tight and began to sob. Oh, how Lacey loved her sister, and seeing her in this kind of pain broke her heart. God, help me help her, she prayed silently as they cried together. Keeley told Lacey the whole story about how she had to have a partial hysterectomy to survive. Fresh tears flowed as the sisters sat in the middle of the floor, like they did as little girls, finding comfort in one another. A bond that went deeper than blood. They were connected in unique ways. There wasn’t anything one wouldn’t do for the other. And Lacey vowed she would assist her sister in every way possible. What that looked like, exactly, only time would tell.
E and Tar walked into a troublesome sight. Lacey and Keeley on the floor having a crying fest just didn’t sit well with either one of them. Tar approached and squatted down beside the beautiful women. “Hey. Everything okay, you two?”
Both giggled in response. “Girls cry, Tar. Nothing new,” Keeley pointed out.
He nodded in concentration.
E clapped him on the back. “Something you learn to live with, man.”
Lacey lightly smacked her husband on the leg. “Shut up. You have not grown used to it!”
He chuckled, helping his wife to her feet. “I keep telling myself I will.” He nuzzled into her hair and breathed deep. She was his all and fact was, he hated it when she cried and he couldn’t make it better. But he was reassured by his brothers that it was perfectly natural to feel this way when you loved someone so much. “I love you, sweetness. Of course I don’t like it when you’re upset, but I’m learning that sometimes it’s just an outlet.”
Lacey leaned into the man she loved more than her own life. He got her, or at least tried to understand her, and that made him perfect. She grabbed his face and kissed him softly. He growled and tried to deepen it, but she whispered, “Hold that thought.”