Page 48 of Eye Candy

“Excuse me, I didn’t invite you in.”

The more I looked at her, the more pissed off I became. “I don’t care.” I’d spent however long working to calm myself, and it all went to hell the moment I was in her presence. I couldn’t stop thinking about what she did to herself, all in an effort to… to what? It didn’t even make sense.

“Did you forget what I said I’d do? I’ll—” Laina stopped when I got closer, swallowing when I towered over her.

“I remember,” I whispered. “Go ahead. Tell your father whatever you want. Then you’ll have no one, and the next time someone tries something, no one will be there to save you.” I hated how mean I sounded; it was so unlike me. This girl was driving me crazy.

“My dad has other men—”

“Who might be in on it,” I interrupted, taking another step forward. Instead of backing up, Laina sidestepped me, walking further into her room, stopping in its center to whirl on me and glare even more. “If that man today wasn’t your kidnapper, it was someone else. They got past all of the security measures. He was confident enough to pull out a gun knowing the room was full of cameras, guards, and police. He knew he’d be caught, and he didn’t care. Don’t you think that means someone else is pulling the strings?”

“You’re so chatty now,” she muttered. “Why can’t you be quiet like you always are?” The question was meant to hurt me, but it didn’t. It slid right off me.

“I should tell your father what you told me. Every single word.” The threat to tell on her made her take a step back, even though there was a good ten feet between us. “Why’d you tell me that back there? Why tell me, out ofeveryone?”

“I don’t know!” she shot back. “Because… because I—” Laina paused, glancing down at her left hand. “Because I’m tired. I’m so tired.” When those eyes of her returned to me, they were mistier than they’d been moments before. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to watch your dad get everything he’s ever wanted, all because you were taken one night? Do you have any idea what it feels like to know your sensationalized kidnapping didn’t hurt the one person in the world that’s supposed to give a shit about you?”

Politics wasn’t a favorite subject of mine, I’d freely admit. “Laina,” my voice came out softer, gentler, “I’m sure that’s not what happened—”

“He brought me a TV,” she muttered, the mist in her eyes threatening to spill over. “I saw it all happen, in real time. The candlelight vigils, the press conferences, the acceptance speech. I saw it all. His marriage to Tessa. All of it. Not once did he ever stop being a politician to be my dad. Not once.”

I hated how broken she sounded. It was so unlike her, and yet… maybe this was closer to the real Laina than anything else I’d seen from her.

“How could I walk out of that house without a scratch on me?” she asked, her voice breaking. “He would’ve used it. He would’ve used me to say the police found me and saved me, even if it was a lie. Of course, he’s still using me now, wanting me to be the traumatized girl that managed to escape herself, so I don’t know if I really won.”

A single tear fell down her face, cascading down her cheek. I didn’t think I’d ever seen a more beautiful, sorrowful sight.

So, she didn’t hurt herself in a vain attempt to protect her kidnapper. Not fully. A lot of it stemmed from her father andthe things she’d seen while in that room. How could I be mad at her for that? No, my rage shifted to someone else.

Her father.

Another tear fell down her face, leaving a wet trail as it traveled, and she stared at me like she was waiting, waiting for me to say something. To argue with her further. To try to tell her that all of her feelings were invalid—but they weren’t. She had every right to feel the way she did.

“Laina,” I whispered her name. It was all I could say in that moment. Nothing would be enough. Nothing I could say would make her feel better, take away the hurt and the pain she carried inside.

“I told myself I wouldn’t fall back into the same routine,” she said, biting her bottom lip as she shook her head once. “When I got out, I promised myself I was going to live my life howIwanted to, not how my dad wanted me to.” She lifted her hands, gesturing to the room around us, full of girly pink hues. “But I’m right back here, like nothing changed. I’m back where I started, and I don’t know how to get out.”

More tears escaped the corners of her eyes, and Laina turned away from me, furiously trying to wipe those tears away. She was pretending, all this time, doing what she had to because she didn’t know how to do anything else.

Goddamn it. I felt for her. I shouldn’t, but I did. Watching her shoulders shake as she attempted to get herself under control, to stop crying, made me feel some kind of way. It was hard to describe.

Before I knew what I was doing, I’d taken a step forward, then another. Soon enough I stood directly behind her, and I lightly touched her shoulder, turning her towards me. Iwrapped an arm around her shoulders, bringing her in, and then I just held her.

She was broken. She was barely hanging on. Everyone else was too blind to see it.

I knew it then. I couldn’t leave her. I couldn’t quit this job and tell Sylvester and Lola to replace me with someone else. No, I had to stay here, with her, and make sure this world stopped hurting her.

I… I wanted to protect her. Again, it wasn’t like this was my first job. This was, however, the first one I felt in my soul.

“Everything’s going to be okay,” I told her, my other hand smoothing down her hair. Her face stood at the level of my chest, her nose buried against the lower curve of the muscles there. She was so small, and yet she fit so perfectly against me, like we were two puzzle pieces that had finally found its match.

Laina didn’t pull away from me, nor did she say anything. She stood there, letting me hold her, letting me stroke her hair, in silence. A minute or two later, she stopped crying… but even then, I didn’t release her. I kept holding her, not wanting to let her go.

“Whatever happens, whatever you decide is right for you to do,” I told her, the arm around her shoulders tightening and pulling her in harder, “I don’t want you to ever hurt yourself again, do you understand?” It still pissed me off when I thought about it, how she could’ve done something like that to herself.

She nodded against my chest, though she didn’t say a word.

I didn’t know how long we stood there, with her in my arms, but it was a while. A long while. By the time I let her go, she’d long since stopped crying. The area around her eyes wasa little puffy, but not overly so. My arms fell off her, and she took the tiniest step back.

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