Page 35 of Unexpected

“I’m okay.” Her words were strained, but she looked me in the eye when she said them. The terror I saw earlier had subsided, and her shoulders seemed to relax. I didn’t let go of her hands after I chucked the towel in the sink as well.

“Thank you.”

“You don’t need to thank me, Angel.” I wanted to know so badly what happened, but I knew I shouldn’t press her for details. “I don’t think your nose is broken, thankfully. What else hurts?”

I didn’t want to fucking ask because I was worried if she was hurt anywhere else, I might go on a rampage. The broken woman in front of me, beaten, bloodied, and bruised, didn’t deserve such violence. Her hands were still shaking, but each moment I held them, it felt like the intensity of the shaking lessened. I needed to keep her calm and show her I wasn’t him.

She finally shook her head, but it was slow.

“Angel, if you don’t tell me, then I can’t help.”

“I’m not hurt anywhere else…” She sat for a moment and, after a breath, finally said, “Physically.”

The statement stopped me like I’d run into a fucking brick wall. Red blurred along the outside of my vision, and my head pounded as my imagination ran wild.What the fuck had he done?

“I’ll kill him,” I said in a voice so low that it was almost a growl.

I expected Hazel to say something along the lines of “no, you can’t,” but she didn’t. Her hands were still shaking, and her eyes were miles away, but she stayed silent as I fumed.

Once I had calmed myself down enough, I peered up at her beaten face, stained with her blood. “What happened?”

I was amazed by the way she had kept from crying through the entire cleanup, even with my not-so-gentle hands around her face, but once I asked about it, a tear slipped free. Then another and another until she was silently crying like she didn’t even realize the tears had fallen.

I reached up to brush away a tear, but she flinched away from my hand. It broke my already decimated heart.

“Fuck, Angel,” I whispered as I pulled back. “I’m so sorry. I swear I will never,neverhurt you,” I stated firmly but hopefully convincingly. Slowly, I reached up once again and kept my touch light as she let me brush away her tears. I couldn’t resist and placed a kiss on the center of her forehead.

She sighed, and I felt maybe I had gained a little more of her trust. The fucker had done a number on her, but I’d do my best to mend what he’d broken.

“That’s what Michael said, too.” The words were so soft I almost missed them. Gone was the confident, sassy voice I’d grown used to and expected from her.

“What?”

She cleared her throat and pulled her hands from mine to wipe her face. I was itching to get the rest of the blood off her and remove any sign of this fucking night, but I needed to make sure she was really okay first.

“Michael said he wouldn’t hurt me either,” she clarified and gave an unamused laugh.

“I would rather die than ever hurt you.” I carefully placed my hands on either side of her face and urged her to look me in the eye, hoping to convey how fucking serious I was. She fought for a moment, looking everywhere besides at me, but finally gave in. I watched as her eyes flickered with understanding as she took in a sharp breath.

Even smeared in blood and beginning to bruise, she was breathtaking. Going about half of the speed I would normally move, I let one hand fall from her face and wrap around her waist while I gripped the back of her neck with the other. Carefully, I urged her closer to the edge of the counter. She scooted forward and hesitated for only a moment before wrapping her arms around me.

I breathed a sigh of relief in feeling her safe in my arms. I kissed the top of her head and reveled in the smell of her clean hair.

I held her against me until her breathing evened out, her shaking subsided, and I felt the tears stop.

“Do you know where he went?” I asked into the top of her head.

She shook her head, not letting go of me.

“Can you tell me what happened?” She tensed against me, and I smoothed my hands down her back, rubbing back and forth to ease the new tension. “I just want to help.”

“Shit, I got blood on your shirt,” she said as she tried to pull away.

“Don’t you dare move. I’m not worried about the stupid shirt.”

She nodded and settled back against my chest. “He got home a few hours ago. He’d left yesterday, or whatever day that was and didn’t come back until now. It was right after I got home from staying the night here…” She paused and took a breath as I closed my eyes and braced for a story I didn’t know if I was ready to hear.

“He was so drunk. I think he went to work and then out, and he was so drunk and so mad. I really thought he would have calmed down, but it was like he couldn’t contain his anger and he just decided to—” She was speaking faster and faster until she stopped completely. She sniffled and groaned in pain from her busted nose. “I locked myself in the bathroom when I was able to get away and when I realized it wasn’t going to stop. He left after that, and you found me only a few minutes later.”

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