Page 7 of Timeless Pages
Chapter eight
Nathan
If I had thought there was a chance I had imagined her flinching earlier, there wasn’t any doubt now. My blood ran cold, and my heart twisted in my chest when Isa flinched away from me. I didn’t know this woman, but I knew I never wanted her to be afraid of me or my friends. It might take time, but I was determined to get her used to my touch. I tucked her hair behind her ear, and while I could tell that my proximity unsettled her, I couldn’t resist grazing her cheek with my finger when I retreated.
“What has he done to you, Little Bell?” I asked softly. “Tell us everything.” While Dominic warned us not to fall for Isa, I knew it was too late. Somehow, even though our interactions had been brief, the small girl had gotten under my skin. I wasn’t one to pay much attention to anyone outside my friends, so this was new for me. I was just as surprised by my reactions to her as Evan and Dom were.
It would be easier if I walked away and didn’t care. But I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t ignore… this. I noticed everything about Isa. Every nuance in her expression. The way the gold flakes in her brown eyes brightened, and her nostrils flared slightly when she was angry. The way she nervously licked her lips, and her eyes darted around the room when she felt uncomfortable, as if she were looking for monsters in the shadows. I even noticed how her body leaned toward me just a bit while her face told me to fuck off.
I wanted this woman in my arms and in my bed, where she belonged since she had already wormed her way into my heart. But I needed it to be her decision. Her choice. And I was pretty sure she needed that, too.
Isa’s eyes hardened as her defenses rose. “It isn’t your concern,” she replied curtly.
“How can we help you if you don’t talk to us?” I asked.
“Please let us help,” Evan pleaded. She looked at him, and it almost seemed like his sad puppy dog eyes were working until she stiffened and shook her head.
“Did it ever occur to you that perhaps I'm not interested in trading one master for another?” she asked angrily. “I’m going to figure this out on my own and never owe a man a damn thing ever again. Please leave.”
Master? She had it all wrong. While I wouldn’t mind ordering her around in the bedroom from time to time, I wasn’t foolish enough to think I was the Master of a damn thing when it came to her. This beauty already had me in the palm of her hand, ready to do her bidding, and she didn’t even realize it.
Isa went to walk past me to the door to show us out, and instinctively, I reached out and grabbed her arm. The cry of pain that exploded from her put me into a momentary state of shock. I know I didn’t use excessive force or squeeze her arm. With wide eyes, Isa turned back toward me as mine slowly dropped to herarm. It was summertime, and she was wearing a cardigan. In hindsight, that should have been the first red flag that something wasn’t right.
Slowly, I slid the sleeve up her arm to reveal a bloody bandage. But that wasn’t what made me gasp or Dominic swear under his breath. Around the bandage were what had to be hundreds of scars. I pushed the sleeve up to her elbow, and the scars continued past where I could see. Did we have it all wrong? Isa blushed with embarrassment as she tucked her other arm behind her back. I was willing to bet her other arm was just as covered.
“What the fuck is this?” I growled
Chapter nine
Isa
Iwas mortified as I tried to yank my arm from Nathan’s hand. While his hold on me was gentle, it was also as unrelenting as steel. My deep, dark secret was out, and I couldn’t bring myself to look into their eyes and see the disgust.
“Are you cutting yourself?” Nathan demanded. “Is this why your father has conservatorship over you? Have you been playing us?” There wasn’t a drop of anger in his voice, and I almost wished there was.
I understood why he jumped to that conclusion. It was the same conclusion that every single adult in my life, except my uncle, had come to any time I tried to get someone to help me. He was angry, but beneath the anger, I could hear genuine concern for my well-being and, worse, pity. I didn’t want his pity.
“Let go, please,” I said quietly. Immediately, Nathan released me, and I turned away from them to give myself a little distance. It was because of the concern in his voice that I would tell themmy story. The story I hadn’t told anyone since I was fifteen. Still unable to look at them, I pushed my sleeve back down and stared at my hands as I rubbed them together nervously.
“I’m not cutting myself,” I assured them. “Believe me, if I were to self-harm, it wouldn’t be with a knife.”
“Then how did you get those cuts, Isa?” Evan asked softly.
“My mother died giving birth to me,” I replied. “Father loved mother more than anything else. And he didn’t hate anything more than he hated me for taking her away from him. My earliest memories are of pain. Of being hit or pinched. Being left alone in my crib for hours and hours, then as I grew older, locked in my room.”
I started to pace in front of them as I retold the horrors of my past, my surroundings fading as the memories overtook my senses.
“I didn’t know this wasn’t normal until I started school and saw how other parents treated their kids. I didn’t understand why my father wasn’t like the other dads or why everyone else always seemed so happy and excited when school let out, and they could go home. I never wanted to go home.
“In elementary school, he spent a lot of time punching me in the stomach. Pinching didn’t seem to do the trick anymore, though throwing me around by my hair also satisfied him. The cutting didn’t start until I was twelve. In a rare moment of defiance, I sassed him, and he completely lost it, grabbing a sharp knife and cutting me on my stomach. I thought he was going to kill me and found myself welcoming the reprieve. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t be the case, and when I saw the look in his eyes at the sight of my blood, I knew my life was going to get even worse.”
I paused my story to grab my water cup and take several long gulps through the straw. Baring my soul to these three strangers was more difficult than I thought it would be, but I didn’twant them to think I did this to myself. For whatever reason, I couldn’t stand the idea of them thinking the worst of me. They had remained silent the entire time I talked, and as I put my water back on the counter, I braved a glance up at them.
They stood frozen like statues, their faces displaying various degrees of anger. I was eighty percent certain they weren’t angry at me, but it still made me anxious, so I quickly looked away again and continued my story.
“At first, it was only on my torso and upper thighs, where the abuse couldn’t be seen by the school or anyone else, but eventually, as the cuts scarred and he ran out of space, he began cutting my arms. By then, I was a teenager, and people assumed I wore long sleeves and baggy hoodies because I was going through a phase.
“No one ever suspected my father of any wrongdoing. He was the epitome of what a father should be in public. I was seven when I stopped hoping things would change, and that he would suddenly love me. In public, he would be nice and loving toward me, but as soon as we got in the car, he would turn back into the monster only I knew existed.”
