Page 55 of Wreck Me

I smiled at her, setting my coffee down on her counter. “Come here,” I beckoned, stretching my hand out in front of me, reaching for her even though she was across the room. She did as I asked, and when she was within reach, I tugged her close by the blanket draped around her, and caught her lips with mine. When I pulled back, I saw the woman I had fallen in love with staring back at me without a glimmer of hesitation in her eyes, despite everything that had happened.

Still, I couldn’t push aside the regret I felt for what I had unknowingly let happen. Because of my carelessness, Isla was placed in harm's way, and I hadn’t protected her. I was petrified I would do something to end up hurting her even more. As scary as the thought was, I was even more afraid she’d look at me differently because of what happened, or she’d even begin to fearme.

“I’ll never be like him, Isla,” I whispered. I needed to say the words out loud—to reassure myself, as well as her.

“I know,” she stated simply, looking at me with conviction.

“But I’m still afraid I’ll—”

“I love you, Caleb. And I trust you,” she cut me off, reaching up and cupping my face in her hands. “But you need to trust yourself. Not once have I ever felt like you had any rage in you, or I was or would ever be in any danger. The actions of other men in your family have nothing to do with you and the man you are.” She wouldn’t let me respond. Instead, she reached around and settled her hands on my neck, pulling my head down until our foreheads touched.

I let my eyes close, feeling her presence and letting it calm me down. She was right. She could trust me, and I would spend every waking moment for the rest of my life proving it to her.

Our lips found each other, and we kissed slowly, building the pieces back together from what felt so broken. Isla sighed against my mouth and let her body melt against mine. Our tongues pressed together in small strokes, exploring lazily as I held her close.

When we broke apart, I grabbed her chin between my finger and thumb, tilting her face to look at me. “I love you,” I told her, unafraid of saying it out loud. I was ready to shout it from the rooftops and let this woman know how much she meant to me. I just wished it hadn’t taken such a scare to make me realize Iwantedher to know how I felt.

“I love you too,” she whispered back, once again giving me reassurance I wasn’t sure I deserved. Her eyes filled with tears, and she added, “I’m so sorry I didn’t just wait in the car. This could have all been avoided if I—”

“Don’t do that. Don’t sit here and blame yourself for something my dad did to you. For whatIdid to you. If I had just paid attention to the time—”

“You’re not to blame, Caleb. Really, neither of us are.”

I rubbed my face with my hands, pressing my pointer and thumb into my eye sockets, using pressure to ease the pain building behind them.

“C’mon, let’s go sit,” Isla suggested, tugging on my hand as she pulled me toward the couch. We both took a seat, facing each other. Our knees touched, and I positioned her legs up onto my lap just to get her closer.

It felt like if I wasn’t touching her at all times, something bad may happen again.

“Are we going to talk about it?” she asked. I knew the question was on the tip of her tongue, and was the one that caused me the most panic, because I knew if she had heard him say it too, then I hadn’t made it up.

“Who is Lucy?”

CHAPTERTHIRTY

The color drained from Caleb’s face at the mention of the name Lucy. His gaze drifted down to where my legs hung over his lap, and he picked at the fibers on my blanket. Whoever she was, she had meant a lot to him. The mere mention of her name caused him a sadness I had never known.

And then it dawned on me.

“She’s your mother, isn’t she?”

Caleb continued to pick at my blanket, keeping his idle hands busy. “Yeah.”

I poked my hand out of the blanket and covered his. “Tell me what happened, Caleb. Why would your father say he… Why would he say he killed her?”

“Because he was belligerently drunk and talking out his ass.”

“Caleb,” I drawled, my heart breaking all over again for him. I needed to tread lightly on this topic—I knew he wouldn’t want to hear it. But I had seen the look in his father’s eyes when he thought I was her. Ifeltthe hatred rolling off him in waves and slamming into me.

I would never forget it.

“Caleb… I think there’s some truth to what your dad admitted. The way he looked at me… he thought I was her. When I first came into the room, it’s like he had seen a ghost. Once his shock wore off, his expression turned to pure hatred and then the situation escalated quickly from there.”

He looked away from me, and the way the light from the kitchen illuminated my living room, I could see the shine from tears filling his eyes. Without hesitation, I scrambled onto his lap, straddling him and wrapping my arms tightly around his neck.

Letting his head fall forward to rest on my shoulder, he asked despondently, “What do I do?” His voice cracked as he said it.

It was so early in the morning, and we were both still so exhausted. The conversation weighed heavily on both of us, but it was one we needed to deal with quickly. Caleb’s father had confessed to murdering his mother, and even though Caleb still seemed skeptical of its truth, this was bigger than either of us could handle on our own. We needed to get the police involved so they could do a proper investigation.

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