Page 78 of Defending Casey

“I need you to listen to me, Case.”

What else was she going to do? “Sure,” she nodded, and almost smiled, “okay.”

“Good.” He visibly relaxed and let out a breath. “Because once you hear what I know, it’s going to change everything.”

“Okay.” She cringed inwardly. Casey was fairly sure that she sounded ridiculous, but as long as she kept Brian on an even keel, she had a hope of figuring out what was happening. “I want to know.”

“Don’t rush me!” He grabbed her arm, and his fingers squeezed her in a painful grip.

“Sorry!” She lurched forward, trying to ease the hold he had on her, but instead of getting him to loosen his hold, it made it easier for him to lift up and twist her shoulder into a weird angle. “I’m sorry, Brian. Please. Please.”

Her pleas went unanswered, and she whimpered when he lifted up even more.

“He’s got this hold on you, Casey. Why?”

She felt words in her throat, she certainly had them in her heart, but they were stuck somehow, holding back.

Afraid.

“Tell me!”

He shook her hard enough that her teeth rattled, and pain lanced through her shoulder pushing a gasp out from her lips.

“Tell me before I-”

“Okay. Okay.” She was almost on the tips of her toes trying to ease the pain in her shoulder. “Just give me a moment, Brian. You’re hurting me.”

The words were honest and true, she had stars in her vision as he held her there.

“Please, Brian, I-”

He dropped her arm like it burned him and some kind of reason replaced the manic light in his eyes. “See, Casey? See what you do to me? How crazy it gets when you’re not talking to me?”

His hands dropped down to her hips and she fought the instinct to cringe and pull away from him.

“We’re talking now, aren’t we?” Her voice was a little too high to sound normal to her ears, but it didn’t seem to bother him.

He was smiling.

“That’s all I want.” His voice was almost crooning to her like he was trying to soothe her emotions. It would have been sweet if he wasn’t the one causing the spikes of worry and fear in her heart. “I want this for us, Casey. You and me. Talking.”

She knew it wasn’t going to stop there.

Nothing about his actions said that it was going to be enough, but he was almost calm.

That scared her even more than his anger, but her main concern was keeping him calm and from there she might have a chance to get help.

“Damn it, Casey! Listen to me!”

He pulled her closer, but before she fell against him, she managed to put up her hands between them to give herself some kind of purchase.

“Don’t fight me.”

“I’m not. I’m not. I swear I’m not.”

He cast his gaze over her shoulder, and she tensed. “This is about your dad, right? You’re mad at me?”

“No. No.” The words came out of her mouth, but in her head, she was screaming YES.

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