Page 51 of Protection for Rowan

“Then we’ll find a way to go around.”

She narrowed her eyes. “What?”

“Something was wrong when I was on top of you. I could feel it. We can find a way to do this without you feeling like something is wrong.”

She bit her lower lip. “I don’t know.”

“Neither do I, but I want to see if we can figure it out. And sometimes, it takes time to figure things out. We can work on this together.”

His words were like a jagged knife poking at the walls she'd set up to protect herself. But the walls weren't protecting. Instead, they were trapping her inside a horror show, and she wanted out. If she could poke from the inside, maybe his efforts to tear down the walls would work. Could they get through this?

“We can do anything together. Have faith.”

She wasn’t convinced that her faith was worth anything, but maybe his was. “Okay. We can find someone to see together.” She wasn’t convinced it would help, but she would put forth the effort. Worry twisted through her. Maybe she was so broken that she would never recover. What if she was stuck this way until she died? She didn’t want that. She wanted to be with her man. For Shine, she would try.

Chapter 36

Rowan knew she needed help.Going from feeling okay to having flashbacks at least once an hour was wearing her out. She'd barely slept on Saturday night, and Sunday was just as bad. On Monday, she had only one session with a pilot, and luckily, that woman was very stable. She could easily say yes to her continued employment with the airlines.

After the session, she was in her office when she received an email that made her freeze when she opened it. The only thing in the email was a warning.

You will regret this!

That was it.

Her stomach cramped. Was this from Charles? It had to be. Who else could it be from?

Charles was taunting her again. What did he want?

She needed to think. She took her tablet with her and left the office, telling her secretary she wouldn’t be back for the day.

Guilt filled her, but she needed to get some distance and take care of the Charles thing. A cup of coffee andsomething to eat would help. She hadn't been eating enough. Shine had said something the other day about her not eating, and she'd told him she was fine. But she wasn't. She had started only consuming food when he was around, and now, even when he was home, she didn't want to eat.

After ordering at the coffee shop, she sat at a corner table so she could watch the door. She pulled up the email and looked at it again. It told her nothing other than someone wanted her to pay for some unknown offense. It had to be Charles, though. He was the only person she'd turned down recently. Maybe it had been sent to the wrong email address. Mistaking her work email for something else would be weird.

She tried to figure out who had sent the email, but it was some random string of numbers and letters. Was this a prank? It could be. Or it could be some weird form of spam to get information.

The door opened, and a man in a gray hoodie stepped in. His face was barely visible, just a flash of white skin.

Rowan sucked in a breath as her fear mounted. Was that Charles? He was about the right height and size. Her breathing picked up as her hands started to shake.

The man ordered, then moved so he could watch her and the barista who was making his drink. Why was he watching her?

She couldn’t get a good look at his face, but she swore it was Charles. She had to get out of there. Waiting for him to attack was dumb. Getting out alive was her priority.

Rowan took off. She heard someone yelling behind her. Was that Charles? No way would she go back. She could buy a new tablet, but if Charles got her again, she would never escape.

Chapter 37

Shine neededto figure his shit out. The problems with Rowan were getting to him. He shouldn’t have pushed for sex. He knew she hadn’t been ready, but his dick had gotten in the way. She needed more time to heal, and he’d been stupid for thinking she was ready.

“Come on, Shine. Get your ass in gear.”

He was on the obstacle course, moving slower than normal. Thinking about Rowan was getting him in trouble. He crossed the finish line and moved to the water.

“What’s wrong?” Apple asked.

“Nothing.”

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