Page 53 of Scarlet Angel

“I meant, are you a bad man? Do you kill when it suits you?”

So that’s her biggest issue with the family she was born into. Not the drugs. The tendency to murder. I lean forward, letting my forearms rest on my thighs, and risk a side glance when I answer. “I’m no different from you.”

“Earlier, when I offered to return the favor, is that why you said no?”

Now it’s my turn to snort. “You think I’m afraid of you?”

She arches an eyebrow.

“It’s not fear I was feeling back there.”

She dips her head.

“Did being touched…did it bring back memories?” That’s how I interpreted her tears.

“Are you asking if your touch reminds me of being raped?”

“Well, if you’re going to be straight up about it.”

“There’s no shame in being raped, and I won’t be made to feel that there is. Ask me anything you want to know.”

“All right.” Didn’t aim to get her riled. A tiny ant passes by, climbing a blade of grass, then dipping lower out of sight. “Did he rape you often?”

“No.” She looks off to the horizon. “Vincent got off on scaring others. He wasn’t a particularly sexual person. Our wedding night…” She closes her eyes and shakes her head as if she’s having a conversation with herself. “It didn’t take me long to realize that what he got off on was fear. If I didn’t show fear, he didn’t get aroused. There would be no rape. But then, depending on what he’d had to drink or god knows what else…that would turn into rage. I suspected there was someone else because he would go months without paying me any mind. And then, out of the blue, kabam. I expected he would kill me one day, so I acted.”

“Good on you.”

“Exactly.”

“I have zero tolerance for a man hurting a woman. Abuse is a no-go for me. I’ll never hurt you. You get that, right? While you’re under my protection, no man shall hurt you.”

“Human.”

“Come again?”

“Another human. The women in my life haven’t been particularly wonderful. Except Willow.”

We sit there, silently on the bench, watching the occasional bird flying overhead.

“I miss Willow.”

I raise an arm and catch her eye, sure to gain her approval before I wrap my arm around her slender frame and pull her snugly against me.

“She’s in a better place,” I tell her, then place my lips against her crown. She shifts, and I place my lips against her temple, then her forehead. It’s like I can’t bloody stop.

“Have you ever lost someone you loved?”

“I have,” I admit, not wanting to think about my family.

“Your parents. Is that why you’re so protective of Lina?”

“Lina’s not well. She seems right, I’ll grant you. But I fear she’s not. She needs protection.”

“From herself?”

“Obviously. I’ve got security for anyone else.”

“You can’t protect someone from themselves. She’s the only one who can do that.” She peers up at me. “You get that, right?”

---