Page 92 of Trusting Tanner
She shrugged and wiped her nose, letting the tears fall.
“Hey.” Devon put his arm around her.
She rested her head on his shoulder and cried. “Why does this keep happening to me? First Zach and now Tanner. Why am I not good enough? What’s wrong with me?”
“Stop it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you.” He took her face into his hands, his no-nonsense look firmly in place. “Youaregood enough, Jules. You are the best person I know. And Tanner had better get on his knees and thank fucking God he had you in his life. And then he’d better start praying for forgiveness for what he’s done to you.”
Her lips trembled uncontrollably, and all she could do was nod in response.
“It’s bad enough he broke your heart, but he will not make you question your self-worth. I won’t let him.” He stood and headed for the door.
“What’re you doing?”
“I told you. He hurts you, I kill him.” He left the room.
She jumped off the bed and chased after him. Her heart raced as she stumbled down the stairs, but she wasn’t fast enough. By the time she reached the bottom step, Devon was throwing the first punch. His fist landed squarely on Tanner’s jaw.
“You goddamned asshole!” He threw another punch, this one connecting with Tanner’s cheek. “What the fuck gives you the right to hurt her like you did?”
“Devon!” She lunged for him, but not before he got in another jab.
“Stay the fuck out of this, Devon.” Tanner’s voice was cold, and his body was tense. She could see the muscles in his biceps straining under the sleeves of his T-shirt. His lip bled, but he didn’t seem to notice. Or if he did, he simply didn’t care.
“Make me!” Devon moved toward Tanner again.
Tanner put up his fists, but not quickly enough. Devon punched him so hard it made her wince with pain. Oh God. This wasn’t happening.
“No!” Juliana screamed, her carefully constructed composure cracking and dissolving. She was grateful for Devon’s concern, but he was taking it too far. She wedged herself between them and shoved Devon away from Tanner. “Stop it.”
Devon glanced at her, anger radiating from him. “He’s not going to get away with this.”
“He already has,” she whispered sadly. “Now please, stop it. Go outside and walk it off. I’ll be out in a second, okay?”
He nodded and leaned around her to point at Tanner. “You’re a fucking coward, Collins. You never deserved her,” he said, pointing his finger in her direction. Then he stormed out of the house, slamming the door hard enough to make her heart jump in her chest.
Without a word, she went into the kitchen and got a wet cloth. She returned to the living room to find Tanner on the couch, head back, eyes closed. She sat next to him and gently dabbed the corner of his mouth with the cloth. No matter what he did or how much he’d hurt her, he didn’t deserve to be beat up. She was thankful it was the middle of the school day and the house was empty, because if any of the other brothers had been here, things would’ve been a lot worse.
“You didn’t even try to fight back.” Her tone was clipped and angry. She pressed against his cut lip harder than necessary.
“Ow.” He winced and jerked away from her. Tanner took the cloth and tossed it on the coffee table. “Why would I?”
Her eyes widened. “Why wouldn’t you? Normal people try to defend themselves when they’re attacked.”
He shook his head. “Everything he said was true. I’m a royal fucking dick for what I did to you. I deserve to have my ass beat.”
“I hope you’re not waiting for me to disagree with you.” She momentarily closed her eyes, fighting back the simultaneous surge of tears and nausea. Being mean to him wasn’t going to make this any easier. Even when he was being attacked, he was still trying to be noble. “No one deserves to be hit like that.” She grabbed the cloth and wiped the fresh blood from his mouth. “You should put ice on this before it starts to swell.”
“Dammit, Jules.” He gently pushed her hand away. “I don’t deserve your kindness.”
“You’re right. You don’t.” She dropped the cloth and stood. He obviously didn’t want it, either. “But if you think for one second I’m going to let what you did to me ruin the person I am, then you’re not the guy I thought you were.” With a disgusted shake of her head, she turned to leave.
Tanner grabbed her wrist, stopping her. He stood, bringing his body much too close to hers. She held her breath. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you.” He dragged his hand from her wrist, easily entwining their fingers as if it were the most natural thing in the world. His thumb grazed over her knuckles. “You’re a good person, even to people like me who don’t deserve it.”
She slipped her hand from his and flexed her fingers. Her entire arm tingled from his touch. “You’re not a bad person. I don’t think you went into this relationship planning to cheat on me. Doesn’t make it right, but I don’t for a second think your intentions were malicious.” As hard as that was to admit, it was the truth. While the circumstance might be similar, Tanner was not like Zach in this regard.
“Don’t do that.” His words were crisp, angry, and his eyes were narrowed.
“Don’t do what?”
