Page 51 of Training the Heart

“He would reward me with it, or take it away to punish me, and it wasn’t even really good.” She blushes but grins with her admission. “He used everything as a weapon. It was all a mental game.”

I grit my teeth again to physically force myself from spewing a barrage of cuss words Ivy doesn’t need to hear right now. I will myself to just listen to her, just be there for her, but at the same time, I only have so much self-control when it comes to this woman that I’m starting to feel the need to care for and protect.

“I’m going to drive a little faster now,” I tell her. “I have to. I need to get as far away from here as possible.”

She nods and looks out at the passing countryside on the way back to Nashville as she continues.

“I’m not telling you this to be my savior. I know my worth now, even if my fate is to never carry a baby to term, and he should’ve never treated me like I was less. I started going to therapy, I was really fighting with my own self-worth after a few years of being under Brad’s thumb. My father, he raised me to be strong, and I felt like I was letting him down, if that makes sense. After six months of going to therapy in secret, I admitted to myself thatBrad was, in fact, emotionally abusing me. I was still in contact with my former mentor Peter from the American Quarter and Thoroughbred Association—again, in secret. Having male friends was a fight, even ones who were my father’s best friend and old enough to be my own father.”

Fucking hell.

“Peter said he saw the changes in me and was worried about me. He’s the one that sent me the ad for your trainer position. Seeing that ad gave me hope for a fresh start, a chance for me to live a life away from Brad and start over—to follow my dreams and to never let anyone fuck with me ever again. I made my mind up and promised myself and my dad,never again.” She looks at me for a fleeting second as if to see if she should continue. I slide my hand up to rub her shoulder, and nod.

“The night I tried to leave Brad, the night I drove to Laurel Creek in the summer, I packed my car. I was planning on going before he got home but I had told him I was going to visit my mom in Jellico …”

Ivy’s eyes are a million miles away, and all I want to do is crush myself to her and tell her it’s going to be okay.

“It was a Thursday. On Thursdays, he always went out with the boys, but for some reason he came home early. He was more than a little drunk, which is when he was the nastiest. My trunk was open in the driveway, and all my belongings were inside it. I was just inside for one more minute to verify I had everything with me. If I hadn’t gone back in, he would’ve been too late and I would’ve been gone. When I came out, he was standing beside my car; he knew instantly what I was doing.”

Ivy closes her eyes as if she’s trying to scratch the memory from her mind.

“He grabbed my purse from my hand and took off into the house, told me I wasn’t leaving, and once inside he dropped it and came for me. H-he pressed me up against the wall, spewedterrible things I’m not willing to repeat. Something in me just snapped. The look in his eyes, the way he was holding me. His hand came up and I remember thinkinghe’s going to hit me.”

Holy fuck, I will fucking kill him.

“I kneed him hard between the legs to defend myself. He went down like a sack of potatoes.” She smiles through her tears, and for that split second I know she’s proud of herself. I squeeze her shoulder even tighter.

“I could’ve run then, but I didn’t. I didn’t stop hitting him. I kept going, kept hitting him to let him know never to touch me again.”

Fucking right she did, my little spitfire.

“I couldn’t stop myself—every bit of anger I had boiled to the surface. I might have killed him, I was looking around, looking for something to hit him with if he got up and came after me, but my dad’s voice stopped me. I swear I heard him say ‘you’re better than this, angel, leave now.’” Another fat tear slides down her face as she bares her story to me, and she swipes it away instantly. “So, I ran as fast as I could to my car, I got in, took off and I never looked back. Showed up on your doorstep two days later and the rest is history.”

I let out a breath I didn’t even realize I had been holding, and pull over to the side of the country road we’re driving on just as the sun starts setting. It’s been a long day and I just need a second to look at her. Thinking of the way she came to my ranch, with nothing but some belongings and hope. Fuck, am I glad she put up with my shit and stayed.

“I’m sorry you went through that. But fuck, if you’ve never told anyone else this, if no one else knows this story, I want you to know I’m so goddamn proud of you, proud of you for getting the help you needed, proud of you for being brave enough to take a stand against him before he could hurt or violate you.” I use my hand to cup her jaw, my thumb tracing her cheekbone.

“You never need to be afraid of him again. I would never let him hurt you.”

Ivy’s hand comes up to grasp mine at her cheek and she smiles, her eyes still glassy from the tears.

“That’s the thing, Wade. I don’t need anyone to come to my rescue; the only thing that even remotely scares me is that when I finally snapped, because I held all that in for so long, I could’ve killed him for the way he treated me, and not regretted it for one goddamn second.”

Definitely not the response I expected, and fuck, I don’t know how it’s possible, I think I might be even more crazy for her than I was five seconds ago.

“But you did look awful hot and bothered out there, protecting my honor,” she adds, smiling. As usual she’s shifting gears in two seconds flat. Just the tone in her voice changing slightly has all the blood in my body rushing through my veins faster. Ivy’s such a beautiful whirlwind and she’s always one step ahead of me.

The thought of anyone making her feel like she isn’t enough sets off a rage in me like I’ve never felt. But the most prevalent thing I feel? Pride.

She’s got this, she doesn’t need me to handle it for her. I’ve never known a woman quite like her before. It’s goddamn refreshing.

She’s so fucking strong.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Ivy

“You still seem tense. Have another, Chief,” I say hours later as I motion for the bartender to come to our end of the bar.

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