Page 5 of Breaking Conviction
His team was heavily involved with Sasha Saves as a pro bono security service. Not only did Wes help out, but one of Wes’s team members, Jason Stone, or Jaybird, as they called him, was Jules’s fiancé and Ellie’s big brother. Hell, Devil volunteered his services as a medic and he was a member of the BlackStone Crew as well.
So yeah, she’d be protected by the best, to the best of their ability. Once Jules explained that to her and judging by the woman’s injuries, surely she’d use the clinic’s resources. Especially since she had a little one to think about.
“I wanna go home now.” The woman—he thought he’d heard Nora call her ‘Naomi’—sighed, sounding depleted. “There’s nothin’ to talk about—”
The words entered Wes’s mind, rustling up memories he’d tamped down for decades and he resisted the urge to groan in frustration.
“Yeah, yeah. I hear ya.” Nora shrugged before seemingly looking at Devil’s clipboard of notes. “Bike accident, hm?”
Fuck. She’s going back to the bastard.
Wes refused to listen to any more. Paying attention to a woman throwing her life away for‘love’would just piss him off.
After a moment of focusing on Thea’s chatter, the room grew quieter and he perked up at the mention of his call sign in Naomi’s hoarse voice.
“...Snake, right? He can stay. So long as we whisper. Thea looks so… carefree, right now. I want her to keep that feelin’ for a little while longer.”
Why did the way Naomi said that, as if she was both grateful and heartbroken, make his own chest squeeze with tightness?
Devil, Ellie, and Nora agreed to leave the room, and while in the back of his mind, Wes had heard Naomi mention attorney-client privilege, he also wondered if she just wanted privacy. Something told him it was probably both, but hell, he couldn’t resist listening in.
“I can’t leave him,” Naomi blurted in her rough voice and the words fell like boulders at her feet, rolling toward him until they pinned him to the floor. He wondered if they had the same effect on her. Surely the admission made her feel trapped in her nightmare.
Wes closed his eyes and tightened his lips to keep from yelling. Shouting. Doing anything to prevent her from making such a colossal mistake.
Now see, this is why I never come here. It’s none of my business.
On the side of his brain where he could remain logical, neutral, and detached, he knew he was right. On the other, emotionally charged side of his brain, he didn’t give a fuck.
“M-my daddy was a captain in the Ashland County Sheriff’s Office before he was… before he passed. He’d skin me alive hearin’ me say this right now, but I can’t leave yet. I need to try everything I can first.”
“Naomi,” Jules began with gentle authority. “If your dad was a cop, then you should know how dangerous these situations can get. You’ve beenstrangled. Do you know how serious that is?”
“I-I know it looks bad. I mean, itisbad—”
“It really is. Strangulation is bad on its own, but your injuries are some of the worse I’ve seen. Petechial hemorrhaging—that redness in and around your eyes—is fuckin’ scary. I’m surprised you can see anything at all.”
There was a soft sigh. “I can’t leave just yet and it’s never gotten this bad before. He said he’s gonna try therapy and honestly, it was all just a—”
“—huge—”
—misunderstanding.Wes’s inner thoughts finished in time with Jules’s and Naomi’s.Tale as old as fucking time, that one.
There was a huff and Wes wished he could look at Naomi, try to assess what she was thinking. Even if he could turn to read her facial expressions, he probably wouldn’t be able to tell from the swelling.
“Naomi, I’m sorry, but the way this has escalated. It’s not a ‘misunderstanding’ anymore. Strangulation is serious.” Jules’s voice had dropped some of its gentleness to match the harsh truth. “A woman who’s been strangled by her significant other is sevenhundredand fifty percent more likely to be murdered by the same person—”
“But I’m never lettin’ him lay a hand on me—”
“—with agun… Now tell me, Naomi. Does whoever did this to you have a gun at home?”
There was a pause, and Wes’s stomach dropped along with his hope for her.
Goddamnit.
“I-I… I hear you. I want all the information, but I need time. I have to try… at least once more. It’s not always this bad and my baby needs her father. Growing up without one…”
Wes’s heart pulsed in his chest at Naomi’s vulnerability and everything left unsaid in her reasoning. She’d said her father had died. When was that? Was it when she was a kid? He knew better than anyone the impact a parent’s death had on a child. That shit twists your soul up until you’re wrung dry.
