Page 88 of Protecting Christina

She shrugged. “I’m just here to listen, not make judgments. What’s the problem?”

“The problem is I’m waiting for him to leave.”

Most people probably wouldn’t understand why I would say something like that, even Nikole would wonder why I’d think that. But Gabby knew. “Everyone in my life always does.”

“That’s not true, Chrissy. I’m here. I’ve always been here.”

“That’s because you’re not like everyone else, Gabby. You help the helpless every day. You do what others don’t have the stomach to do. You get in there when someone’s in pain rather than running away. You’re one in a million.”

She smiled and waved off my compliment. “Stop it. That’s not true.”

“It is. In my line of work, I see guilty people get away with white-collar crime all the time and no one cares about justice. I see friends turn their backs on one another and family members do horrific things to each other. It’s a cruel world. And there aren’t many people who want to change it.”

“But you do. And so does Will. He’s our Black Knight, remember?”

“Yeah,” I said quietly. “And I think that’s the problem.”

“How is that a problem?”

“He’s always looking for the next person to save. I don’t know what drives him to do it, but I do know it won’t last.”

“That’s not true. I’ve known him a long time, and he hasn’t changed his resolve. He’s dependable and loyal.”

He was all of those things and yet… “He’s interested in me right now because he thinks he can save me. He thinks I’m another woman he can swoop in and change her life. But I don’t need anyone to do that. I don’t need anyone to protect me. I can protect myself.”

Gabby nodded. “That’s true. I’ve known you practically your whole life and you’ve gotten up every time someone has knocked you down. When a teacher told you that you’d never leave this neighborhood, you studied harder than before.”

“Exactly. And when someone knocks me down, I get right back up. I don’t need anyone’s protection.”

“But you do.”

I rolled my eyes. “If this is where you say everyone needs help from someone, I get it. But I’ve got you.”

“That wasn’t what I was going to say.”

“No?”

“No. I was about to say, you may not need someone to protect you from the threats of the outside world, Chrissy. But who’s going to save you from yourself?”

I sat there, blinking awkwardly at Gabby.

Her words hit me like a punch in the gut. It was like the wind had been knocked out of me. I sat with my mouth open, the air trapped in my lungs.

Finally, I inhaled sharply and exhaled slowly.

I didn’t know what to say.

I had no words because she was right.

“I’m sorry to have to say it, but you are your worst enemy. You sabotage relationships because you’re scared. You—”

I held my hand up. “I get the picture.”

“Sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize. I asked for the truth and you gave it to me. It just sucks when it hits you in the face, you know.”

“I know.”

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