Page 56 of Cain

“Something like that,” I say, my tone sounding dead even to my own ears.

“Hey.” He rubs my arm. “We don’t need to continue. You can tell me whenever you feel ready.”

“No. I need to tell you now. I want to tell you now.”

Cain places another comforting kiss on my neck, making me relax against his chest.

“Anyway, I made it to my room and locked the door. It was just one of those flimsy locks on the door handle. Anyone could kick it in. I made the mistake of thinking he was down for the count. Whenever he got that drunk, he would be passed out for the rest of the night. Well, that night, I was wrong. So, so wrong.” I pause to take his arm and wrap it around me. The bath water is still warm, but a chill has settled over me. “I was woken up from my sleep by him trying to kick my door in. I froze Cain. I fucking froze. And all I could do was watch it be kicked in. It was like my whole flight response just blanked.”

“It’s not your fault, Evan. That’s a natural response,” Cain reassured me.

“I know. Looking back, I don’t even know what I would have done. I’ve replayed this scene over and over in my head about what I would have done differently, and I come up blank. Sorry, I keep getting sidetracked.” I shake my head, trying to recenter myself. “By the time I unfroze, Richard had already had me pinned to my bed with my arms above my head. I tried to get my arms out of his hold, but he was so much stronger than me…”

Cain gives me another reassuring squeeze that I needed to continue. “I remember kicking him as hard as I could repeatedly, but it didn’t even seem to phase him. It wasn’t until his hands were trying to pull down my pajama bottoms to… you know.”

“Yeah. I fucking know,” Cain clenched out. If I thought his body was wound tight before, it’s even worse now.

“It never happened, though,” I say softly as I squeeze his thigh in what I hope is a reassuring gesture. “Zeke came charging in and pulled him off of me before beating the shit out of him. He was in the hospital for a week because of what Zeke did. That was the last time I saw him.”

“Good. He deserves to be six feet under,” Cain growls. “Why did Zeke come back? I mean, I’m so glad he did, hellcat. He saved you, and I owe him for that, but it doesn’t make sense because you said he had just moved out.”

“Remember how I said it was just me and one other younger girl in the house? She heard Richard kicking my door in and called him.” He didn’t even hesitate to come that night. This is part of why I agreed to help Zeke and the club. Even this isn’t enough to repay him for what he stopped.

“Thank you for telling me all of this, hellcat. I know it wasn’t easy.” Cain gently grabs the edge of my jaw before turning my face toward him, placing the most intimate kiss I have ever experienced on my lips. There was no sexual yearning behind it. It was all about the connection we just shared. Maybe it’s because I’m feeling so raw. So exposed. I’ve never told that story to anyone except my therapist and Zeke. And he was there for half of it.

“Wait,” Cain started while pulling away. “You said that was your last foster home, but you were only what? 15? Please tell me you didn’t stay after that.”

“I didn’t stay.” The tension immediately left his body upon me saying that. It never occurred to me that he thought my story was about to get worse. “Zeke packed my stuff and took me to his place that night. And that’s where I stayed.”

“So he adopted you?”

“Not in the legal sense. It was kind of an unspoken agreement between us and Richard and Mary that if no one talked about what happened that night, they wouldn’t let the state know that I wasn’t living with them. Plus, they were still getting their checks, so it didn’t matter. We used that as leverage.”

I can feel him nodding against my head. “What about the other girl? Did she stay?”

“No. Her mom ended up winning custody back, so I like to think that her life turned around.”

“How did you stay at Scotch’s place when he was away in the Army?”

I let out a nervous laugh. I know he’s an outlaw biker, but I still don’t want to be judged. “He, uh… he still kept the place and paid the rent and all the bills. He even put money into my account for food and whatever random stuff I needed. I just stayed there on my own. I mean, I was already in high school at this point.”

“So you raised yourself?” His voice has that edge again.

“Calm down, babe,” I say as I rub his thigh for some comfort. “It wasn’t like that. Zeke didn’t even need to take me in like he did. I told him to go. I didn’t want to be the reason he put his life on hold. We both had it rough growing up. I wanted him to go find his happiness.”

“I have a newfound respect for Scotch, and I feel like I owe him my life,” Cain says before pausing. “So, you two really are just like brother and sister.”

It wasn’t a question. It was like mine and Zeke’s relationship finally clicked for him. I feel so relieved that he finally gets it. I don’t even think I noticed how much it was bothering me that it was in the back of his mind that Zeke and I had something going on the side. Cain taps my thigh, breaking me from my thoughts. “Let’s get out of this. The water is cold now, and I’m fucking tired.”

The funny thing is I didn’t even notice the water was cold because, for once in my life, I finally felt warm.

Chapter Thirty-Four

CAIN

I don’t know what I expected her to tell me, but it wasn’t that. I never want to hear my girl tell me she was assaulted ever again. I thought the rage I felt when I found out someone had broken into her place was bad, but that doesn’t even come close to what I feel right now. She doesn’t need to know this, but Scotch will be giving me that sick fuck’s address. There’s only one place in this world for child molesters, and that’s six feet under.

I watch as Evan climbs out of the bath before I wrap one of her big fluffy black towels around her—the kind I’m sure are in all the fancy hotels.

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