Page 81 of The Marriage Auction 2: Part 2

I lifted my head and looked at him. His tortured expression made me feel worse. My bottom lip trembled as I stared into his kind eyes.

“It wasn’t a bad dream…” I whispered, feeling like I couldn’t hold it all in any longer. If I didn’t tell him something, it was going to mess up everything I’d gained with him. And as much as I never wanted to admit the truth behind my past, more of these episodes were going to happen when I least expected it. This one had been brought on by him sleeping next to me, the same condition the last time I’d had a freak-out.

A couple years ago, I’d taken one of the bikers in Sam’s club into my bed and fallen asleep after our festivities. I woke him similarly as I had with Rhodes tonight. It seemed my trauma was triggered if I woke in a man’s arms, something I was pretty good at preventing most of the time.

“Then what was it?” Rhodes asked before placing a kiss on my forehead.

“A memory.” I gritted my teeth and held my breath.

His body seemed to stiffen for a moment, then he took a deep breath. “Will you tell me about it?”

I bit down on my bottom lip, closed my eyes, and nodded. I kept my eyes closed because I didn’t want to see his response to what I was about to share.

“It was the night I was kicked out of my parents’ house. Well, my mom and her husband, Damon.” I let out a long sigh.

“Okay. What happened that night to make you respond the way you did? Because sweetheart, you scared the hell out of me. Acting like a wildcat who’d been tased.”

Trying to be brave, I opened my eyes, turned my head and rested my cheek on my knees so I could look at him. For a few long minutes, I just stared, unable to speak.

“Come here, Maia.” Rhodes opened his arms. “Come sit in my lap. I have a feeling I’m going to need to hold you when I hear this.” The way he said it was as though the request had been torn from his soul. He knew what I had to share was going to be hard to say and hard to hear.

I unfolded my legs and cradled my aching wrist as I turned around and slowly crawled into his lap.

His gaze tracked the movement of me protecting my bruised wrist and his jaw tightened. It hurt but nowhere close to how much my heart did at that moment.

He settled me sideways in his lap, pressed against his chest, those muscular arms wrapped around me. I sighed in relief as I nestled my head under his chin and breathed in his delicious citrus woodsy scent.

“It was the night my stepfather kicked me out.” His arms tightened around me. “The same night I told them that my stepbrother was sexually assaulting me and had been for years.”

“Fucking hell.” He pressed me so close to his chest I couldn’t have slipped a piece of paper between us. “Fucking hell,” he repeated, his lips and breath moving against the crown of my head. “I’ll kill him.”

There was no way I could hold back the tears, so I let them fall, wetting Rhode’s t-shirt. “He didn’t believe me.”

“I believe you,” he said instantly and something in me broke wide open.

How could this man, who’d known me such a short time, trust me when my own family couldn’t?

I sobbed against his chest. “I haven’t seen my family in person since. Derrick could be hurting my little sister Maisie. She’s now the age I was when he started to hurt me.”

“That’s why you are so determined to get back to Colorado. For your siblings.”

I eased back and looked him straight in the eyes.

“I can’t let him hurt her.”

Rhodes cupped my cheeks and wiped the tears away with his thumbs. “We won’t let him. We’re going to find out what’s going on in Colorado and make sure all of them are safe. I swear it, Maia. I will do whatever it takes.”

And he would. Because Rhodes Davenport was a man of honor, strength, and compassion. Kindness, the love of family, and strong moral values were at the core of who he was and how he presented himself to the world.

I used the same words he’d said to me. “I believe you.”

He nodded and then pressed his head to my forehead. “Tomorrow I’m going to make some calls. Get someone to investigate what’s going on, but Maia, honey, we still have to be vigilant. Your place was trashed. Threatening messages were painted on the walls. Alana was also threatened. That situation needs to be dealt with and all of you kept safe before we head to Colorado. Does that make sense?”

It did. I hated every second of it, because it meant more time for Damon and Derrick to hurt my family. Except we didn’t know what was going on there. The last time I spoke to my mother, she said everything was fine. Which she said every time I’d spoken to her throughout the years.“We’re fine, and don’t risk coming back.”It was always the same message even though the words might have changed.

I knew it was a lie, because Damon put his hands on her too often to suddenly stop just because I’d been kicked out. But after me being hurt by Derrick, I also knew she’d be more aware of what was happening in their home in relation to my much younger siblings. I had to believe she’d protect them with her life, especially since she couldn’t protect me or herself.

“Okay.” I inhaled a jittery breath, fatigue taking over to the point that I slumped against Rhodes’ chest and closed my eyes.

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