Page 69 of Love's Ace

I curled up on my side and gritted my teeth as a few kicks and blows landed across my legs and back… but I managed to open my eyes when Erin kneeled down beside me and jerked my head back, his own eyes narrowed as he glared at me.

“You’reworthless, Theo. You realize that, right? You’re a fucking broken toy.”

The sound of footsteps pounding toward us was probably the only thing that saved me from another blow, but it didn’t matter. Erin aimed one more kick at my stomach, then he and the assholes with him were running around the corner.

I rolled onto my back on the dirty sidewalk and stared up at the sky, a soft laugh tearing up my throat, bubbling with blood from my split lip.Fuck. It had only been a few minutes, but I hadn’t broken. I hadn’t begged. I hadn’t slipped back to that dark place that had feltendlessbefore.

I was still here—still me.

I knew who was running toward me, so I didn’t flinch when Wren gently pulled my head onto his lap. I was still laughing when his voice finally broke through the ringing in my ears.

“Theo. Who the fuckwasthat? Are you okay? I’ll… Fuck, I’ll go after them. I’ll fuckingkillthem. I’ll—”

“No.” I managed to get the word out, and the softness of my tone drew him up short. When he glanced down at me, for just a second, his eyes flashed, dark and dangerous… but it was gone as his gaze landed on my split lip.

“Let’s get back, okay? You can tell me what happened once we’re home.”

Home.

Dangerous word.

A dangerous word, but when Wren lifted me in his arms like I weighed nothing and I pressed my face to the curve of his neck, that was all he smelled like.

Home.

I didn’t raise my head until we’d made it back to the house. Even then, I was reluctant to let go of Wren. The thunder of his heartbeat was so violent against my ears, it felt like it was all I could hear, and I was drowning in it so deeply that I didn’t realize he was trembling until he sat us both on the couch.

“Are you okay?” I muttered, finally forcing myself to look up. I should never have left him and I knew it—my wanting to help was and always had been a bad idea.

“Am I—” His violet eyes were still darker than I’d ever seen them, nearly black in the way they swirled with fury. “Am I okay? You… Theo, whowasthat? Why did theytouchyou?” The last bit came out on a low growl, and I sat back.

It was ridiculous that I had to realize he wasn’t angry I’d left… He wasn’t mad at me… He was furiousforme.

It was so foreign it made me feel uncomfortable. I pushed up from the couch and headed to the bathroom, but Wren was at my heels. He was still gentle when he closed the door behind him, and he was silent as I turned on the water for the shower and got undressed. I’d taken beatings all my life, and I was surprised how much I wasn’t hurting—I had no idea if it was the heat of Wren’s anger stinging along my skin or the fact that I was turning into a monster, so I healed as quickly as Wren did. Whatever it was, I wasn’t going to question it.

I still felt his eyes on me, taking in every cut and bruise, every part of me that had been hurt.

Every scar on my body that suddenly had a face for him, a reason for being there.

I stepped under the hot water and felt it beat across my newly forming bruises, my busted lip.

And I didn’t have to look to know that Wren was silently getting undressed. He stepped into the shower with me and took the washcloth from fingers I didn’t realize were trembling.

He was tender when he ran it across the places on my body covered in blood and dirt, and I didn’t look at him when I started talking.

“Erin was the first person I was ever with. After my mother died, I bounced through the foster system and ran away when I was sixteen. He found me a few years later and took me in, and I didn’t realize everything about him, from what he said to his smile, was a lie until it was too late.”

Was there a way I could recount this without it hurting? I’dneverspoken these words aloud, never bothered to tell anyone anything about me orwhyI didn’t let anyone close.

The only person who’d ever bothered to show real interest in me beforewasErin, and I’d learned my lesson.

But with Wren…

With Wren, my fingers trailed to my chest and pressed over the red thread, and I couldn’t seem to help myself. This was a chance for me to cut the wounds open and finally let the poison bleed out. Iwantedit to stop hurting.

“I didn’t realize what he was doing at first, I guess. I’d spent a lot of my life with no one caring. Most people made sure I knew what a waste of space I was. It was easy to believe Erin when he said he loved me.” Fuck, I’d been sostupid. I should have known he was a liar, that I wasn’t the kind of person you justsawand fell in love with. But Iwasthe kind of person you saw and knew you could take advantage of.

Wren was silent… careful as he ran the cloth across my skin… and when he turned me so he could dab at the cut on my lip, I didn’t stop him. I just dropped my eyes to stare at the thread between us instead of his face—I wasn’t sure I could stand it if I saw disgust.

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