Page 64 of These Jagged Edges

I toy with the hair at his nape. "Didn't want to," I tell him softly.

"Baby, I’m so sorry. You should have woken me up.”

"You've been so tired lately, and I didn't want to bother you."

Maddox looks hurt. "What the fuck does that even mean?"

"I know sometimes my dreams bother you."

"Baby, they bother me because I hate you reliving that shit. It breaks my heart to hear you so distraught and terrified." Maddox gently turns me and pulls me to sit with my back against his chest as we both look into the night sky. I nestle into the crook of his neck as his arms wrap tightly around me.

"You want to talk about it?" he asks after a few moments.

I shudder. "It wasthatnight."

"The night you got those scars?" His strong voice waivers and I know how hard it is for him to ask that question.

I nod. "But it wasn't that part. It was what happened afterward."

"What happened after that, Pretty Girl?" Maddox asks quietly as he begins to slowly rock back and forth.

"He r-raped me. I don't know why it bothers me so much, you know? It wasn't the first time it had happened."

"Oh, baby." Maddox's chest vibrates under me.

"The blood was everywhere Maddox, and he just passed out covered in it."

Trent's sleepy smile as he passed out covered in my blood was the last time I ever saw him. Looking as if he had just eaten a Thanksgiving feast and not torn into my flesh like a rabid fucking animal.

"How'd you get away?" His voice is quiet and drifts with the cool night air making me shiver.

"I quietly cleaned up what I could, I had to superglue a few bite marks closed. Then I went into the study, opened the safe, grabbed a stack of cash, and left." I didn’t do anything to assure he wouldn’t wake up, he could have woken at any moment and caught me, but he didn’t.

Maddox doesn't say anything, he doesn'treassure me or offer me comforting words. He just sits quietly anchoring me to him. We sat out there for so long that I drift back to sleep. I awake to Maddox putting me back in bed.

"Shh, baby. Go back to sleep. I got you." He presses a kiss to my temple before throwing a heavy leg over me and wrapping an arm around me, making me feel safe enough to face whatever awaits me in my dreams.

The next morningI'm making a checklist of all the things I need to get done before the boy's birthday party in two days.

"Did you tell Soph to bring the cake by? I'm going to store it here and get it before the party."

"Yes, Evie. She also made a dozen of those chocolate cupcakes they like so much."

"She's the best!" My boys goes nuts for those chocolate monstrosities she calls cupcakes.

"Well, geez thanks," Lou says rolling her eyes. "Anything you need me to grab besides ice?"

Listen, I love Lou something fierce, but the woman can’t cook. She burns water. So, every year I task her with getting the ice and drinks. One year she tried to make mac n cheese and forgot to cook the noodles. The second Joe took a bite and screamed her name, I almost peed myself from laughing.

"Nope, just the ice."

"I forgot to cook some noodles once, and now y’all never let me bring anything!”

"Girl, it wasn't just the raw noodles you tried to feed my babies," Joe says coming from the kitchen. "It was also the frozen fried chicken."

"I didn't know you had to thaw the chicken out beforehand!"

"And the raw scrambled eggs you tried to feed your poor sister," I chime in.

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