Raging Heart On_ Friends to Lovers Romance(146)

“Daniel came into my room. I had my headphones on, so I didn’t notice him until he already had me cornered. When I told him to leave, he laughed,” she whispers like it was a dirty little secret. “I screamed at him to leave. I told him if he didn’t the others would find him, and he’d be in trouble. I stupidly threatened him with the law, anything and anyone I could think of.”

“He wasn’t impressed?” I ask, already knowing the answer.

“If the smack across the cheek was anything to go by, then I’d say no,” she jokes. I shift so I’m behind her and lift her body over so she lies between my legs and against my chest. Her back to my front, her head tucked under my chin, and I hold her close. Her body eases against me, and she sighs. “He threw me down on the bed and ripped my sweater off of me. I can still taste his skin, even after all these years, Max. The clammy, salty, horrible taste of his hand as he clamped it down on my mouth to stop my screaming.”

“Did he…”

“No, Max. He didn’t rape me. I managed to bite down on his hand hard enough he jerked back. I was kind of proud that I drew blood. He punched me in the face then. I tried to scratch and claw, but he was bigger, stronger, and definitely meaner.”

“How’d you get away?”

“Long story short, Rory heard my screams, broke through a downstairs window with a baseball bat,” she tilts her head to the side and looks up me with this slight laugh. “You should have seen Rory. He was barely a hundred and ten pounds soaking wet, but he came running in my room like a conquering hero. He took the baseball bat and used it to slam Daniel on the side of the head. Daniel fell off of me and was unconscious on the floor.”

Tessa shifts again, this time to snuggle back into me and curl on her side. I try to ignore the way my dick semi-hardens as her ass brushes it. I clear my throat and try to concentrate on the story and not just how bad I want Tess, again, so soon. “What happened next?”

“I think Rory and I were both in shock for a minute at how easily Daniel went down. We threw what few clothes we had into a plastic Walmart bag. Rory grabbed some food and drinks in another one. It took us all of ten minutes, and we were terrified the whole time, afraid Daniel would wake up.”

“He didn’t?”

“Nope, not a peep. Not even when Rory and I cleaned out his wallet. Now that was scary. I was sure he’d catch us. Rory insisted we needed the money to get us away from there though.”

“He was smart,” I say grudgingly—torn between liking this unknown kid and resenting him.

“The smartest,” she sighs. “We pocketed the money and Rory grabbed my hand, and we took off running. We never stopped running. From that moment on, it was him and me against the world.”

“Where did you go?”

“Florida,” she half laughs. “We lived in Georgia then. Rory and I walked, hopped trains, and hitched. It’s a wonder we weren’t killed.”

“Damn.” I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t this. “You got married?”

“In a way. Rory and I were a team. We loved each other deeply, but well…it wasn’t an adult love, at least not for me—but he was my world. We were teens and experimenting. Rory was getting sick again. We both knew it though we tried not to talk about it. We decided to give each other our first times.” My arms contract against her, pulling her even further into me. Needing her closer, even if I don’t understand why. “Rory though, was an old soul. Or maybe he just knew his time was short. He said we couldn’t unless we were married because he wanted his first time to be with his wife.”

“Is that where you get it from?” I ask gruffly.

“Get what?”

“Your belief that fairytales happen?”

“Maybe. I’d like to think that Rory got everything in his next life that this one cheated him of. Plus, I mean with all the hell we had, somehow Rory and I found each other and that was good. That was pure. That has to mean something, Max.” There’s a pain in my chest at her words. I ignore it and wait, for her to finish the story. “So, at the ripe age of seventeen, Rory and I went out on Flagler Beach and joined hands as the tide started coming in. We yelled out to the powers that be that we were linked together forever, husband and wife.”

“You’re a remarkable woman, Kitten,” I tell her, trying to work through the thoughts that I’m having, but unable to process them.

“It’s your turn now,” she says, and I sigh. I don’t want to talk about Renee. I’m about to tell her that when Tess, remarkable Tess, surprises me again.