Wyatt-1(Lane Brothers, Book 1)(12)

Shut up!

No, you need to face this shit and deal, girl. You’ve turned into an idiot who sleeps three hours a night, if you’re lucky, and won’t even eat something nice because you don’t think you deserve it.

Bolton Conrad hurt me four years ago, but I’ve been hurting myself ever since.

I am pulled back to the present when a wall covered in overgrowth rises up in front of me suddenly. I’m so surprised that I’m breathless and unable to stop quickly enough.

I make impact and bounce back onto my ass with a thump that knocks the wind out of me.

“Please, please, please.”

I’m on my feet and searching through the foliage, my heart sinking rapidly when I pull the leaves back to reveal a wall well over eight feet tall staring down at me.

The top is covered in what looks like electric fencing, and the darn thing stretches as far as my eyes can see.

“Shit.”

“Told you.”

My scream sets off a flock of birds and I jump back, plastering myself to the wall when Wyatt comes ambling into view, his eyes so dark that they look black instead of that captivating blue.

Heart thumping wildly, I look around frantically, hoping desperately that I’ll spot a weapon of some kind around me. Nothing jumps out at me as I cower closer to the wall, and I feel myself tremble and quake when he stops not three feet away and glares.

“Your lip is bleeding,” he snarls.

A swipe of my tongue proves his words are true. I have a tiny split at the corner, nothing huge or painful, but it’s bleeding. And the place on my cheek where I hit the wall is pulsing softly.

“Don’t hurt me.”

“Goddammit! I won’t. I fucking told you that already, Eloise. However, you won’t get away with harming yourself and I warned you about that.”

Why those words cause warmth to unfurl in my traitorous belly is beyond contemplation, and I find it horrifying to even entertain the zing of excited joy over the fact that he cares so much.

“Come.”

I shake my head and ignore his outstretched hand.

That sets him off and he starts cursing so badly, I feel my cheeks heat at the crudeness of his words.

“You come here right now or I’m coming to get you, and, Eloise, I promise you, you won’t like what happens then,” he warns.

“What are you going to do, huh? Beat me? Like I care, asshole. Been there, done that, worn the stitches and the cast already. You lay a finger on me and I’ll hurt you right back.”

I’m yelling as the tears filling my eyes spill over and run down my cheeks. I hate crying, loath showing such weakness, but I can’t help it.

I was so close.

I see his fists clench and those eyes go so molten, they turn from black to a glowing blue that is just plain mesmerising.

“I would never hurt you, never,” he spits, grinding his teeth. “Come here, Ellie. Please. Before the snake hanging off that vine gets any closer to you.”

I’m terrified of snakes and just the mention of one has me shrieking, running, and leaping straight into his arms and crawling up him like a spider monkey.

“Don’t let it touch me, don’t let it touch me!”

The fear—that numbing, undeniable fear—grips me so hard that I’m hyperventilating as I attempt to get all the way inside the man in my need to escape.

My therapist tried to help me with that once, but nothing ever broke me of the hysteria that comes over me at the mention of snakes.

Just looking at one in a book is enough to have me almost catatonic.

“Shh, baby, I have you now. There’s a good girl, princess, just breathe deep and hang on to me. I have you safe and sound.”

He croons to me and starts walking back the way we came, his strong arms and gentle baritone serving to keep me tethered precariously to reality.

I hate the slimy, slithering bastards after what Conrad did to me, and nothing will cure me of it. If I had to choose between starving to death and walking by one snake to get at sustenance, I’m afraid I’d die from starvation.

“Shh, baby, stop now, you’re making yourself sick.”

He has to sedate me to calm me, and I slip off into oblivion wondering what to do or think about this man. He hasn’t hurt me in any way, has fed me, held me while I slept, and told me over and over that he won’t do anything harmful to me.

I want to believe him. I need to because I won’t get another chance to run. If that’s true, I’m at his mercy.

***

Wyatt

I feel like the worst piece of crap to ever walk the face of the earth after that lie and regretted it immediately when poor Ellie tried crawling under my skin to escape.

I know that my baby has a phobia about the critters, but I’d never imagined she could be that terrified that she’d start hyperventilating to the point where I had to knock her out to stop her from going crazy.