Rebound: Passion Book 2(19)

“Yes, your family’s almost as crazy as you are and your mom’s just so amazing. I don’t understand why everyone’s being so nice to me though, they’re acting like I’m one of them, like we’ve known each other forever instead of just a few hours.” I just squeezed her in answer. I had come to the conclusion that in this case actions would speak louder than words. This was just the beginning of my campaign to undo the damage that had been done. By the time I was through Bruno would be nothing more than a distant memory, a blip on her walk through life and nothing more.

I didn’t tell her that the women knew what had happened to her and were going out of their way to make up for it, each in their own way. We didn’t have to discuss it but I knew the women in my family, including my new sister in law. I knew with them in my corner it wouldn’t be long before my girl was on the road to healing. It might seem like a silly thing, shopping, but already I could see the difference in her. Mom included her the same way she did Nessa and Carrie, that was just her way, but I’m sure the knowledge of what my Kadyn had endured was never too far from the forefront of her mind and that added a little extra something.





All in all everyone was having a good time except Josh and dad who complained every hour on the hour. I trailed along behind the women taking in everything for future reference. I kept my eyes on Kadyn to make sure she wasn’t becoming overwhelmed in anyway and called a break around lunchtime. We headed to a restaurant in the mall with their haul and already she was relaxed enough to talk with the others in the same light manner they were.

I noticed that when she felt a little stressed she’d find me and draw closer which was fine by me, though every once in a while she’d question my sanity. Two minutes in Josh’s company should soon disannul her of any doubts as to the way of the Steele men. I was hoping that this little outing would also open her eyes to the way things would be between us. There wasn’t going to be any slow build up, no hands off this is too new.

Because of her past there would be concessions made yes, but that was only gonna go so far. I had no intentions on putting us on hold or moving at a snail’s pace. Like I’d told her the night before I was willing to give her time to get used to having a man in her life but there was no way I was going to be able to keep my hands off of her for long.

The day would’ve been perfect except for after lunch as we were leaving some dude called out her name. She flinched at the sound and we turned to see the douche from the diner heading towards us. “Oh hi Dan.” She introduced us as the others had walked on to look into a store window. He acted like I was an insignificant species as he focused all his smarmy attention on her. Lucky for him she was practically under my arm, his days had already been numbered but his actions now sealed his fate; the fucker was obliterated. No I have no problems with being possessive, it doesn’t bother me at all no matter what society says.

They exchanged bullshit small talk while he kept giving me looks but I noticed that she seemed oblivious to his obvious interest. Maybe that’s something I’ll have to teach her about as well. I wasn’t sure just how much the asshole in the Midwest had stolen from her but I didn’t want her walking blind. When it looked like he planned to monopolize more time than I was willing to give him I hurried him along. “Sorry, Dan is it? but we have to go.” I didn’t even wait for him to say anything else just took her away. Fuck him, childhood friend or not he didn’t get any props.

We walked into the store that the others had gone into and mom called us over all excited. “Mom what the hell is that?”

“It’s the quintessential little black dress, every young lady should have one.”

“Yeah but isn’t it a bit too short, and where’s the back?” the women started groaning but I paid them no mind as I walked deeper into the store pulling Kadyn behind me. I searched the racks until I found something more agreeable, it had a solid under dress and was topped with lace; at least it had sleeves and a back.

Next was the shoe store where she stared at these shoes with red bottoms that Carrie and Nessa were trying to push on her. I could see her practically salivating over the gravity defying contraptions but she refused to even try them on. The third time she did this I pulled her aside. “What gives baby? You’re looking at those shoes like they’re the holy grain so why don’t you want them is it the price?” she looked up at me and I swear I heard my heart crash and tumble at her feet with the next words that came out of her mouth.

“I can’t run in those Matthew.”

“Baby…” I pulled her into my chest and held her tight. I know I must’ve been squeezing her too hard but she didn’t complain. I held her until the pain in my chest eased before holding her away from me.

“I’m standing between you and danger remember? You don’t have to run anymore not from anything or anyone I promise.” I bought her every color they had to the delight of the women in my family and when she complained that she’d only ever worn her mother’s heels in the house to practice she had more than enough volunteers to offer to teach her how it’s done.





By the time we returned home I felt like I’d made a little baby step towards progress, one down a million more to go. Since today had been such a hit I planned on forcing as much new things on her as possible. I’ll have to work around her schedule though unless there was something I could do about that. I couldn’t imagine that if given the chance she wouldn’t prefer spending her days doing kid shit as opposed to being stuck in a diner working.

I really was becoming my brother because it never entered my mind to ask her one way or the other. I was in Matt Steele knows best mode; it felt kinda good too. I never had this much interest before so this was all new for me as well, and it was an eye opener. When your true emotions were involved this dating game was a whole new playing field. My mind was consumed with ways of making her happy, of seeing that winsome smile that she’d shown throughout the day. I wanted to hear her laugh at Josh’s stupid antics or the douche’s calamities as they tried to entertain her.

“You guys go on we’ll be right in.” I let the others go into the house leaving us in the garage. Each of them was laden down with bags and though the others had done a bit of shopping most of it was hers and that too felt good. It felt amazing that I could do that for her and more. I walked her over to the bay where my cars were kept. The garage was sectioned off because all the men were car aficionados and the women weren’t too far behind. Though I think they just liked pretty little roadsters with speed.

“Choose one.”

“What? Matthew no, now this is too much, you can’t just lend me a car what’s wrong with you?”

“You’re right I’m not lending it to you I’m giving it to you. I would buy you one but there’s nothing on the market that can beat my collection so choose something. You said the only transport you have is your father’s truck right? this way if you need to come to me you can anytime.” Her eyes ran over my babies but she made no move to choose one so I made the choice for her. “This one, it’s the Mercedes G550 built for speed and safety, perfect.” Not to mention this baby was outfitted with every feature known to man.

“Carrie has the same one, you can choose a car later, for now this should do just fine.” I think I’d finally overwhelmed her because she just stood there staring like she didn’t know what to do with herself.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Truth? Because I read what that fucker did to you, to your life, and I aim to erase every bad moment. I would’ve treated you like this anyway as my girl but I’ve accelerated shit because you need it baby, trust me, I know what I’m doing.” I hope like fuck I did. I know going shopping and giving her a car wasn’t going to erase four years of terror but it was a start, besides it was about showing her that her life could be so much more than it had been.





We hung out in my room the rest of the day, I didn’t jump her as soon as the door was closed but it was close. I needed to get her used to my touch so we sat with her on my lap. I had a moment of ‘what the fuck should I do now?’ if I made the wrong move it might spook her, I had no idea what to do with this girl as she sat like a stiff board on my lap.

“Relax baby I’m not going to do anything you don’t want me to, we’re just going to relax and talk okay?” she nodded her head but seemed nervous still. There was so much fear in her, fear of even this, a simple thing that most girls her age took for granted. “Baby can you tell me what you’re afraid of? I understand what you’ve been through but I need you to explain to me what the fear is, that’s the only thing I can’t feel for you.” She took a deep breath and pulled at the bottom of her dress. She didn’t want to talk about it anymore than I did but it was the elephant in the room.

“He’s been there ever since I was fourteen, I don’t remember when he wasn’t there so now it’s hard to accept that he’s finally gone. Everyday when I awake I wonder if this is the day that he’ll find me. It doesn’t matter how nice the day is or what fun thing I’m doing, at some point I always stop and wonder if he’s near because I know he’ll never stop until he finds me. So you see, you maybe shouldn’t be spending all this time on me. You should find a nice girl who doesn’t have all this ugliness in her life someone…”