She swallowed hard. “I don’t want to talk about him,” she whispered.
“I think you need to explain it to us so we can understand.”
“Why?”
He took a deep breath and released it as he eyed her over. The woman was built for him, for his brothers. She had everything they desired in a lover.
“Because we care, and we like you. We feel an attraction to you and we want to explore that attraction. You feel it, too, Nina.”
She shook her head slowly.
“Nina, I felt you clinging to me when I kissed you. Your eyes were closed, you moaned into my mouth. We can’t fight what’s right there in front of us. This is real. Take the chance and let us in.”
She reached up to cover her mouth and suppress a cry.
“Baby, please let us in. Talk to us and make us understand your fears. We’ll help you every step of the way,” Buddy added.
She looked at him. “I’ve seen guys like you with all the women. You’re older, more experienced, and you’ll expect things. I’m not like those women. They cling to you, vie for your attention, they want you because of your careers, your masculinity and you—”
“Don’t want them, we want you,” Buddy said.
“What you say may be true. Our careers tend to attract a lot of women, but that doesn’t me we act on them. As a matter of fact, the three of us, Johnny included, haven’t been intimate with any woman in months. Don’t hold it against us. It’s a silly thing to fear. We get that you’re inexperienced when it comes to men and trusting your emotions, your body with them,” Trent said.
“Men?” She shook her head and pulled her lips into a tight line as she lowered her eyes.
Trent squinted his eyes at her. Looked her body over. She couldn’t be so inexperienced that she knew so little about sex and relationships. Why did he suddenly feel like he was capable of hurting her due to her fragility? Part of him wanted to step back and give her some time to adjust and the other part felt so possessive. The more she revealed about herself and her fragility, the more protective he became.
“We don’t want those other women. We want to get to know you, learn about you in every aspect,” Buddy told her. She looked so lost. She stared between Trent and Buddy.
“He had other women around him, too. He told me all the time it was only me he wanted, me he cared for. I was foolish enough to believe him, to feed into his control and allow him to own me. He proved he didn’t want only me.”
“He cheated on you?” Trent asked, teeth clenched.
“The woman I found him with said that I was too sweet, too regular to provide him with the wild things he liked to do in bed. He took my virginity and said he owned me, all of me, and no other man would ever want me, never mind have me.”
“Asshole,” Buddy whispered. She looked at him, then toward Trent before she started to lower her eyes and fidget with her hands.
“You don’t believe that, do you, honey?” Buddy asked.
Trent reached out and brushed his thumb and pointer finger against Nina’s cheek and chin when she didn’t reply.
“Dominance and control, manipulation of the mind of one so innocent. He’s the one who broke down your self-esteem, made you timid, scared of a man’s touch and affection. He can’t get to you now. He can’t have what’s ours.”
She blinked her eyes. “I’m not yours. Didn’t you hear what I just told you? I gave him my virginity. He said he owned me and that no other man would want me or have me.”
The tears rolled down her cheeks. Buddy took her hand and squeezed it.
“We want you. We care about you. They were all lies by him to control you. He probably said it over and over again, maybe even whispered into your ear when you were out in public as a reminder of his dominance and control,” Buddy said.
She gasped and tried to hold back a cry.
“Is that what he did, Nina?” Trent asked. She nodded her head.
He cupped her cheek and held her gaze.
“Lies. They were all lies for him to show power over you. He can’t control you anymore, Nina. He’s not here.”
“He’s in my dreams, my nightmares. His words pop into my head throughout the day. I don’t have control over that fear because I know he’s coming. I know he’s looking for me.”
“How do you know? You escaped his grasp. You got away, and you ended it.” Buddy looked at her waiting for an answer.
She was quiet a couple of seconds and then she whispered.
“Because I nearly killed him.”
* * * *
Buddy was shocked by her statement. He locked gazes with his brother, who pulled Nina into his arms and hugged her. She looked so fragile and petite in his arms. He reached out, even though her statement instantly shocked him and made him have further questions, he also felt even more compelled to protect her and to ultimately take the pain and fear away.
“Let’s sit down and talk,” Trent suggested and led her to the couch. He sat first and didn’t release her hand. Then she sat down. She rubbed one hand up and down her thigh over her knee as Trent held her other hand. Nina took a deep breath before releasing it.
Buddy sat down on the coffee table in front of Nina. He covered her hands with his, caressed them until she looked up at him. Trent was rubbing his hand up and down her back.
“Okay, let’s talk this through so we understand the level of danger you might be in right now.”
“Danger level?” she asked.
“Yes,” Trent said and caressed some of her hair away from her cheek. She glanced to the left and looked at him.
“We’re investigators, it’s what we do. Let us evaluate the situation. That’s a first step in the right direction of you trusting us.”
“I didn’t say that I don’t trust either of you. I want to. I feel good with you. Safe, ya know?” she said and shyly looked down.
Buddy reached up and gently brushed her chin and lower lip with his thumb as he smiled.
“Safe is good. That makes us happy. Now, tell us where you lived before Treasure Town.”
There was suddenly a knock on the door and Nina gasped and jumped back against the couch. Trent held her by his side, and Buddy patted her leg. “It’s okay. We’re here and you’re safe, remember?” He walked toward the door, feeling on edge even though Nina only told them minimal information about this guy possibly coming after her. He kept his hand on his revolver. When he opened the door, Johnny was standing there. He looked so worried.
“Is she okay? What the fuck happened? I just got off work. Kyle came in for his shift. I heard about the Dumpster explosion and then Jake said Nina was involved.” He walked in and went right to Nina.
Buddy closed the door and locked it as Johnny went to the couch, knelt down on the rug, and pulled Nina into his arms.
“Are you okay? Did you get hurt?” he asked, caressing her hair and her cheeks as he pulled back to look at her.
“I’m fine.”
“We discussed a lot with Nina, Johnny. Take a seat. Nina’s about to tell us about her life before moving here and about an ex-boyfriend who may or may not be looking for her,” Trent said.
“What?” Johnny asked, looking from Nina to his brothers then back toward Nina.
“Your brothers thought I was involved with the explosion tonight because I called 911 and reported the explosion, the people injured, and gave a description of the teenager I saw running from the scene before it detonated.”
“Shit. You wouldn’t leave your name? You didn’t want to be placed into the computer system?” he asked, but it was more like a statement. They all knew the answer.
Nina lowered her eyes and then looked back at Buddy. He gave her a nod.
“Explain about this ex-boyfriend and about how you escaped.”
Johnny heard the word “escaped” and ran his fingers through his hair, giving Buddy a firm expression. Buddy just stared at his brother. He prayed that Nina wasn’t a criminal or on the run from police. It would kill Johnny, never mind upset Buddy and Trent.
“I lived in California. A shitty part. I grew up with nothing.”
“No family?” Trent asked.
She looked at him. “None worth mentioning, except for Cleo. He helped raise me. If not for him I would have wound up in foster care or dead on the streets. I learned pretty quickly that in order to get out of the neighborhood and not wind up like my mother, I needed school and work.”
“He was a stepfather?” Johnny asked her.
She shook her head. “Nope, he was a man my mom was seeing until she broke things off. She cheated on him, liked drinking, partying, and eventually prostitution. Cleo couldn’t just leave me there in the apartment. I was thirteen. He saw the way men looked at me and he pretty much became my protector.”
“He stayed there with you, in the apartment?” Buddy asked, not understanding how this stranger could just take over and her mom not intervene or act concerned. She was her mother.
“My mom was never around. She hardly ever came home and sometimes if she did come home, she wasn’t alone. It became dangerous for me.” She twisted her fingers together. She was obviously nervous.
“Did any of those men force themselves on you, Nina?” Trent asked. He was definitely in detective mode as Buddy should be. But all he kept thinking about was this poor little girl who no one loved or cared about. How sad.