Page 128 of The Space Between
Tyler coughs, blood pooling in the dirt. “She’s not fucking worth it.”
Gruenedropsto one knee beside him. “You’re right,” he says. “She’s worthmore.”
And then, he looks up at me, I’m holding onto the porch railing for support. My hip is in agony. My vagina is raw from the assault of his rough fingers. I feel sticky down there and I think it’s from blood. My face burns and my eye is blurry. His face falls. His chest heaves as blood drips down his temple. His knuckles are shredded. His face goes white as he looks at my thighs, and he falls to his knees in the dirt.
Reece looks from him to me to Tyler. Rage darkens his face and he steps toward Tyler on the ground. He stops.
All I can see is Gruene.
I see it, written as clear as day on his face.
The fear.
The guilt.
He thinks this will break whatever we just started to build.
But it won’t.
He protected me.
I step down, wincing and hissing through my teeth as I move to his side. His eyes widen. I take his hand in front of the man who once owned me… but not anymore. I kiss his bloody knuckles and whisper, “I love you.” He swallows.
Looking at Tyler, still lying in the dirt, I say as loudly as I can, “Come near me again, Tyler and I’ll put you in the fucking ground myself. You are nothing. And I do not belong to you.”
His eyes flash rage and hatred but I don’t care. Gruene’s hand tightens around mine and he asks, “Blakelyn are you okay? What did he do to you? Did he—did he… was I too late?” His voice breaks.
He thinks Tyler raped me… again.
I shake my head. “No, he didn’t. You were. And I fought him… I fought him until you saved me, Thank you, Gruene. You were right on time. You saved me, but for the first time, I fought for myself, too.”
His shoulders drop as he releases the breath he was holding. “Thank God. I wasn’t too late. And I’m proud of you.”
Reece also breathes a sigh of relief.
Gruene’s words fill my soul and for the first time in a long time, I feelunshakable.
Sirens race up the drive. Two sheriff cars stop, and an ambulance pulls in behind them. The sheriff takes one look at me, at Tyler, and then, at Gruene. He takes out his cuffs and locks Tyler’s hands behind his back. He reads him his Miranda Rights and loads him into the ambulance while the other sheriff walks over and takes my statement. I tell him everything,everything. He nods and says I need to go to the hospital to be looked over. I nod.
He asks if I need an ambulance, but I shake my head no. Gruene says he’ll drive me. I let him.
Because this time—I’mnotrunning.
I’mchoosing to stay.
Gruene
She hasn’t let goof my hand.
Not since we left the hospital after she got checked out. Nothing is broken. But she’s already bruised. Her eye is swollen, and she has a handprint sized mark that is purple on the edges across one entire side of her face. Her wrist is sprained from where he tried to snap it, but she refused to drop the knife. Her hip is also deeply bruised. She has microtears… inside. She told the nurse what he did and what he threatened to do. They did a rape kit to be sure.
She’s battered but not broken. I’m so damn proud of her.
They also cleaned my knuckles and applied some salve and gauze.
And not once—not for a single goddamn second—did she look atmelike I scared her.
But I’m scared now.
