Page 108 of Luck of the Draw

Skye lowered her face and drew in a deep breath that lifted and dropped her shoulders. Brennan couldn’t decide if he wanted to hit something or cry.

“I had to pull my weight,” she continued. Her voice was suddenly as fragile as shattered glass.

Her beautiful, perfect bottom lip was violently trembling again, and she pushed out of the chair. She downed the last of her drink and turned around to set the glass on the mantle above the fireplace. She just stared at the mantle and covered her mouth with one hand to muffle a couple of hitched inhales.

“Baby…” Brennan started to say, barely able to force the shaky word past the boulder lodged in his throat.

“Don’t,” she clipped. “I’m not done.”

Brennan pressed his lips shut firmly, watching her while she put her fists on her hips and lifted her chin, drawing in a deep breath and exhaling like she and Liza had done in the courtyard. After several seconds, she let her arms fall to her sides and turned around.

“He said I could make us a lot more money than he ever could. He said he’d helped other girls make so much money they were living in penthouses downtown. He said if I only did this, we could be living over there, too. He said, ‘Baby, don’t think I’m asking you to do this because I don’t love you. It’s because I do. There’s nothing wrong with it.’ He said, ‘As a matter of fact, I’ve got more respect for a person that does it because it takes pride and self-respect. And joy comes along with making money and not having to answer to anybody.’ That’s what he used to say. And Ibelievedhim.”

The words she spat out were like multiple daggers being driven into his chest. His face went cold while his veins went hot. The confession she was tiptoeing around crashed into the front of his mind like a fireball.

She cut her flashing, red rimmed eyes toward him. “Are you hearing me, Brennan?”

His face was completely numb. He knew his eyes were huge. His fingertips tingled like he was ready to strangle someone.

“I’m an escort,” she hissed. “Which is just a fancy word forhookerwhen you’re doing it the way I had to. I’ve been one since I was sixteen years old. I didn’t choose this. He’s a sociopath. I didn’t know that then. I was just a kid. Back then, I really believed this was the kind of sacrifice you made for someone you love, and I believed that I loved him. I believed that he loved me. I didn’t want to go back to foster care. I didn’t know where to go. Jesse convinced me he loved me and respected me for it. After a while, he got really nasty because I turned eighteen and realized all of it was illegal. Like, just my being with him was illegal because he was twenty-four when he picked me up. When he figured out that I’d started figuring shit out, he turned into a monster. I tried to leave countless times, and he beat me within an inch of my life. When I was twenty-two, he shaved my fucking head and my eyebrows and cut off my eyelashes, and then he dared me to leave and find someone who’d love me looking like a fucking circus freak. He kept all the money I earned and gave a cut to these seedy friends of his who do this to other women with him, but I never got any of it. They were the ones who came after us that night at Harrah’s, sono,ittechnicallywasn’t Jesse. It was his shitty friends that work for him who knocked you out and nearly beat me to death in that car. They did it because I took the stash of cash when I was trying to leave. They were trying to kill me. They thought they did, but now that Jesse knows I’m still alive and hanging around in this city, they’re gonna come after me and either kill me or keep me so tight under lock and key that I’ll never see daylight again. That’s why I have to leave. And that’s why I can’t be here. That’s why I can’t be with you or be a part of your happy little group of friends.”

Skye looked at Liza, pressing her teeth into her bottom lip. “I told him I wish I had a friend like you. I like you, Liza. You are compassionate as all hell, and all these little kind things you’ve done for me mean everything, but I’m not like you people.” She glanced at Connor. “People like me don’t get to have the kind of lives you guys have. People like me have to tread water and try to survive.”

She took a couple of steps backward, inching out of the room, and didn’t look at any of them. “Brennan, I know exactly what’s going through your mind right now, and I’m sorry. I should have told you what I was before I let you take me home with you. I should’ve told you way before now. That was beyond shitty of me, but I hope you can at least see that all I’ve ever been trying to do is survive. This isn’t the life I’ve ever wanted. I never would’ve chosen this. This is just the life I landed in. I couldn’t do anything about it before. I still might not be able to. But I’m going to try anyway.”

Skye turned and left the room, and Brennan slowly leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees as he covered his mouth with his hands.

The house was silent for what seemed like an eternity. The sound of shuffling and hasty movements drifted down the hall from the bedroom, and he knew she was packing her stuff. She was going to leave. She believed he wanted her to, and she had wanted to ever since he brought her here the first time. Now he understood why, and like she said, she had her reasons.

The reasons were utter bullshit. Knowing all that…all Brennan wanted to do was hold her close, and keep her safe, and give her a life that eliminated any inkling of her believing she’d ever have to live like that again.

A tiny, hitched breath from Liza pierced the air, and she sniffled. “What can we do, B.?”

He raked his fingers through his hair. “I just need y’all to go.” He stood up, and so did Connor and Liza. “I love you both, I sincerely appreciate you being here and helping her, but I need y’all to leave. I need to take care of her.” He paused to lower his voice and heard the hasty packing. “I think this is about to get ugly. She’s going to try to leave, and I’m not going to let her.”

Liza and Connor exchanged a glance, and then Liza looked at Brennan through worried eyes. “Call us later,” she said, wrapping her arms around his waist and giving him a squeeze.

He rubbed her back. “I will.”

She stepped away and looped her arm around Connor’s bicep, and Connor offered his hand. “If you need anything, call before later. Or come by. Or whatever.”

Brennan shook with him. “Will do.”

After they closed the door, Brennan locked it and then rubbed his face again.

What the fuck could he possibly say to Skye after such an earth-shattering confession?

You could just tell her you love her.

Actually,no. No, he couldn’t do that because…

Why?

Because she was leaving? Because she wouldn’t believe him? Because he was totally and completely terrified of her not saying it back, which was exactly what would happen?

All of the above, yes. But you know what? Fuck it.

Skye had suffered a lot in her life, but was she was truly suffering from was a lack of love.Reallove. Love that didn’t hurt. Love that didn’t manipulate. Love that required absolutely nothing, not even reciprocated love, in return. Love that would care and hope and support and protect—even if the recipient of that love was going to turn right around and walk away.

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