Page 43 of Break

Fiddling with the ends of her hair, she considers how she’ll explain it. Her hair is only half brushed and hanging loose around her shoulders. Knowing she’s always worn it braided, I assume she wasn’t able to do it with her injured shoulder. So, I offer, “Would you like me to help you with your hair? I can do a regular braid to help get it out of your face.”

Giving her an easy smile, I’m happy to see that this time, it’s returned with a slight quirk of her lips. “If you don’t mind. I don’t want to be a burden.”

Using this as an excuse to get her to sit down, I assure her, “Not at all. Come sit and I’ll fix it all up while you talk.”

Once she settled where I had been before she came into the room, I smirk at Max’s glower, apparently irritated at my machinations. He’s probably just jealous I get to play with her pretty hair, as he should be.

I smirk when Walter plants his ass on the ground next to her, and lays his head in her lap. He’s apparently infatuated with her, and I don’t blame him when she starts to stroke her finger between his eyes.

Running my fingers gently through the tangles to break them apart, I tap her uninjured shoulder. “Fill us in, doll.”

“Umm… so, well, you know that we were neighbors and our families always insisted on regular meals together. My parents were very good friends with his, and mine were also extremely traditional. After my mom passed away, my father started dating a new woman who wasn’t happy that I was still living at home, which wasn’t by choice. My father demanded I stay to take over my mother’s duties in the home. The topic of me leaving came up at one of the family dinners with the Reeds and they all came up with the brilliant idea that Danny and I should marry. This would get me out of the house. My father would provide Danny with financial assistance for taking on the burden of supporting me, and Danny agreed.”

She pauses, fighting through something. Then says, “It wasn’t what I wanted. When I tried to say no, I was told none too gently that it was my duty to obey the head of the house. He would be good for me. I don’t know. I was railroaded into it and probably should have fought harder, but I wasn’t sure what to do or what my options were. Everyone was pushing for it to happen and they countered every argument I made with a reasonable answer. I tried to say no many times, but the last time I argued with my father… Well, it didn’t go well.”

I finished the braid long before she was done speaking but find I can’t let go of the strands at the end. I wrap them around my finger as I listen to her story. At the mention of her argument not going well with her father, my hand jolts and I accidentally tug her hair. She looks up at me in question, so I drop her hair and move around the couch to sit next to her.

I expect Walter to move, but he just eyes me like I’m intruding in his space, so I move to the other side of her.

“Well…” I contemplate how to respond to the bomb that everyone in her life manipulated her into a marriage of convenience, and I use the term convenient loosely. I finally settle on, “All of that is a thousand ways fucked up. Jesus, Mina.”

She leans forward and picks up one of the photos and studies it. It’s one which highlights a curved shoe-print shaped bruise on what looks like her thigh. “So, you’ve seen all of this. What now?”

Reaching forward, I pull the photo from her hand and set it upside down on the table. Waiting for her to look at me, I smile when she seems somewhat more relaxed. “Now, we wait.”

“Wait? For what? I feel like I should be doing something.”

As Max starts to gather all the documents together to put away, he says, “There’s not a lot that we can do right now until Danny makes a move. We’ll keep you here while you consult with a lawyer, which I can help you set up, and let the investigators put together their case against him. It’ll be a waiting game. As long as he sticks to the restraining order, he’ll be out until this eventually goes to court. I’m hoping you’ll use this time to heal and relax until then.”

“But what about a job, or a car? I’ll eventually have to find someplace to live and replace everything I owned,” she argues. I have sympathy for her since this has got to be incredibly frustrating. He still has so much control over what she can and cannot do with her life.

“For right now, you don’t need to worry about those things. We’ll sort that out when we get to that point, and we’ll also figure out a way to get your things from the house in hopes of minimizing what you’ll have to replace.”

Max looks at me, so I help out how I can. “Normally, we’ll arrange a time for you to be escorted there to gather your items. It would be a police escort and we can do our best to ensure he won’t be there.”

“Can we do that sooner rather than later? I don’t have much there, but I do have a few things I’d like to keep. Along with some clothes and hygiene stuff.”

Walter huffs out a sleepy groan as he gets up from where he was laying on Mina and goes over to Max to place his head in his lap. The moment Max starts to pet him, he huffs like he’s not doing it right, then slides back into his place at her feet. “Damn dog really loves you, doesn’t he?” I snicker, petting his head, my fingers grazing hers as she does the same. “But yeah, I’ll talk to my boss and see if we can do that in the next week for you.”

Yawning, she nods. “I think I’m going to go back upstairs. There should be enough left from lunch for you all to have for dinner tonight.”

“Let me know if you need anything, and thank you for cooking today. It was appreciated,” Max says, watching his dog follow her to the stairs.

“You’re welcome. Goodnight.”

“Night,” Ethan says. Max and I say it as well and watch quietly as she walks up the stairs, disappearing back into her room.

“I’m going to call Coop and set up a time to get her shit,” I inform them as I pull out my phone.

“Tell him I’m coming with you.” I’m not surprised that Ethan will want to be there to make sure that piece of shit is nowhere near her. I suspect Danny won’t like how it turns out for him if he is.

Chapter 19

Tattoos

Ethan

It’s been three days of awkward co-habitation.

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