Dare’s nostrils flared, and he dropped his head before slowly moving to me. I stood and let him sit before I settled on his lap. I could feel the rapid beat of his heart.
Jericho spit blood into the trash can and grabbed a towel from a station.
“Deadly right hook, brother.” Jericho bowed his head toward Dare before he spoke. “Thorn has severe PTSD. He locks himself in his room at night, afraid he’ll hurt someone in his sleep. We make him go to a VA counselor and we put rules in place to keep him functioning, but I fucked up, forgetting you didn’t know the rules and Thorn didn’t know you.”
“So it’s not my fault I ended up on the floor?” Doubt dripped from my words. It was the only defense I had. I didn’t want to feel sorry for the broken giant.
Dare’s hands tightened on my waist.
“No, mine, and Thorn’s, of course. I didn’t protect you. And you were under the Brotherhood’s care.” He pinned me with his almost black eyes. “Lots of us were headed for jail, but the Brotherhood put us on another path. Some of it ain’t pretty.”
“So it’s not my fault, but you also don’t want me pressing charges. Is that it?”
He rubbed his temples. “Thorn would go in for over a year because he’s on probation now. He wouldn’t come out sane.”
I almost laughed. I didn’t think he was sane now.
“What keeps him from hitting other women?”
Jericho’s gazes flicked everywhere but toward me. “He likes to screw. A girl wants him, he’s not abusive in bed. You don’t, then you say ‘I’m Dare’s property.’ Or my property.”
“She’s mine,” Dare snarled.
“All the women, even those who ain’t mine are told that’s how you decline Thorn. He thought you were teasing him, making fun of him, and he reacted badly.” Jericho pushed his long hair behind his shoulders.
Badly? What an understatement. But, considering his size, he could have done lots more damage.
Jericho stood. “Do what you need to, he deserves whatever you do, but I wanted you to know the story.”
Dare shuffled under me.
“Don’t you want an answer from me?” I called to Jericho’s back.
“Nope, don’t deserve one.” Jericho rubbed his chin and looked back at me. “This is all me. Thorn hit the club late in the night. MJ, Dare, no one knew he was there. They didn’t abandon you. I did.”
Jericho’s boots echoed on the hardwood floor, and then he was gone. I rested back on Dare, thinking about yesterday and what Jericho told me. I’d never once turned in my dad or my first boyfriend, both abusers. They’d done more physical and psychological damage than Thorn.
Slowly it came to me, I’d never planned to press charges. Hell, I hadn’t considered quitting my job or breaking it off with Dare. I’d suffered a lot worse for much less. Dare’s world was dangerous, and now I understood the danger mattered more than the legality.
“He shouldn’t have come.” Dare’s angry voice startled me.
“He didn’t change anything.” I sighed, turning so I sat sideways across his lap. “I was never going to the police. Not my style.” I caressed his cheek.
“Pisses me off, you being so accepting of getting the shit knocked out of you.” His voice turned menacing. “It makes me see red.”
“Yeah, that’s like being pissed I’m a redhead.” I stood and paced the workroom. Tamping down the memories of all the ugly names my dad called me—all of them centered on the color of my hair. “It’s who I am. We can’t get rid of our past, that’s just the way it is.”
“Let me take you upstairs, make you some soup or something. You need to rest.” Dare still sat, unmoving.
“I gotta get showered and dressed for work.” I headed for the back door.
“Take a few days off, paid, of course.” His voice soothed but his gaze skittered away from mine.
“Because you don’t want people asking why I got a shiner?” I wouldn’t hide or tell people I’d tripped down the stairs. I’d worked and went to school with a lot more damage than this.
He didn’t answer.
“Fuck that. I’m getting dressed and working. You have a problem with it, you take time off.” I stomped past him, and he grabbed my arm, strong but gentle.
“What about us?” The words were quiet.
“I’m not saying enough—not yet anyway.” I barely spoke the words before he’d crushed me to him.
His kiss held a hunger, a need that was new. It drove me wild, and gave me hope. Together we made it upstairs and he joined me in the shower. I was late for work.