Page 46 of Elusive

Chapter 16

Sutton

The instant we’re inside, all bets are off and I rush down the hallway as though being chased by the Hounds of Hell. Her gut-wrenching sobs my guide, I burst into what I assume is the spare bedroom… and freeze in place. For less than a moment, I can’t move, the sight before me knocking the breath out of me and scripting itself as the nightmares I’ve yet to have.

JT’s got his arms wrapped around my girl, rocking her back and forth as she cries into his chest. His head jerks up as I move further into the room and he pins me with a deadly glower. ‘Stop,’ he mouths, denying me my every arguing instinct. “P, Sutton’s here,” he coos to her. “That okay? You want Sutton?”

“H… he… didn’t k… kill him?” She stutters, slowly lifting her head to look at me, that sweet, beautiful face instantly welding one of the cracks in me back together. “I… I thought you’d be in jail.”

“No, P, he’s fine, right here with us,” JT speaks with purpose, to me, his stare doing the same — he’s telling me to listen; he’s about to fill me in on what happened via talking to her. “Sutton knew you needed him here with you, so he didn’t beat up that drunk guy who cornered you at the party. Yet.”

And now I know.

Some drunk fucking bastard backed her into a corner, while my back was turned. Scared her. Made her feel threatened, when she already doesn’t like being alone in crowds; again, how I left her. Two wrongs. He used mine as his window to make it worse.

I’m gonna need a name.

His.

May God help him.

But for now…

“I’m so damn sorry I left you alone. I sh-” I amaze myself with how well I cover my murderous, scarily psychopathic anger.

“She knows that was my fault,” JT interrupts. “I yelled for your help, and the punk who pushed in on her isthe only one to blame for his bad fucking choice. You’re not responsible for other people’s behavior, Sutton, we all know that. Right, P?”

She nods, swollen, teary eyes still on me. “I shoulda screamed. Used my spray. I froze. I just… I froze.”

“Shhh, nothing’s your fault. Nothing.” My first steps forward are measured, giving her the time to protest if she’s not ready for me yet.

“J, how ‘bout you go talk to the girls? I’m sure they’re gettin’ antsy for an update. I’ll take care of Presley.”

I watch her closely, for the smallest signal she wants him to stay, but she doesn’t give one.

What she does give — in that exact glimpse of time, a mere pinpoint in the grand scheme, monumental in mine — changes me forever.

She shifts her body… and holds out her arms. To me. Asking, for me.

Damn if my heart doesn’t just about pound out of my chest, a primitive call within me screaming to haul her against me and never let go, but I tamp it down, forcing myself to be the man she needs me to be right now.

Stable.

Safe.

Sutton.

“Ah, come ‘ere to me, Sugar. I got you.” I gently take her from JT, lifting her in a cradle hold, then sit back down on the bed, keeping her flush, but non-constricting, against my chest. After a kiss on the top of her head, I lay my cheek there, watching as JT quietly leaves the room and pulls the door closed behind him.

I wait several long minutes before daring to breach the silence, mindful to speak soft and evenly. “You wanna talk about it?”

“No big deal,” she whispers. “I overreacted.”

It’s a true act of God, has to be, that keeps me from flying off the fucking rails and telling her again, how very wrong she is to blame herself in any way. Instead, I hear myself say, “we won’t make it any bigger of a deal than you’re comfortable with, especially not tonight, but please keep this in mind. Your feelings and reactions, right or wrong, and they’re not wrong, are your own. Therefore, they’re always valid. If he,” I stop, reining in the anger trying to find volume, “no one has the right to make you feel unsafe. No one. Never again, Sugar, I swear it on my life. I will never leave you alone like that again. No matter what anyone else has going on. You have my word.”

“I believe you.” Her lifeless, defeated whisper is so unlike the Presley I know, it cuts into me, yet I want to keep her talking.

“Are you up to a few questions?”

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