Page 59 of The Marine

“Fucking hell.” I wiped my hand down my face after draining the last of the god-awful coffee the cop gave me. “I need to get her out of that house.”

“You need to stay away. If her father decides to press charges, it’ll mess up your future,” he said, and I figured it was because I told him I was about to join the Marine Corps.

I don’t care. I love her. I’m not standing by and letting her father hurt her again.

That’s not who I am.

I want to marry this woman. What sort of fucking man and husband would I be to just sit back knowing she was being smacked around by some middle-aged asshole?

A shit one, that’s what.

I flop down on my bed when I get home and set my alarm for eight. I’ll get three-and-a-half hours' sleep if I’m lucky.

That’s if I can get to sleep.

I want to know how Briar is, but I am not going to go over there, obviously. Nor message her in the middle of the night if she has been able to sleep.

My car is still there, so my plan is to call into work sick and convince her to move in with me.

Like immediately.

I’m not the kind of guy who runs from difficulty and if that means I need to marry her right damn now, then I will.

She’s mine.

Mine to protect.

Even if it’s protecting her from her own family... and her own limitations.

The next day, everything fucking changes.

CHAPTER TWELVE

BRIAR

Present day

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