Page 30 of Breaking Conviction
It was embarrassing at how easy it was to get hard for her, even after all she’d done to him.
He shook his head before taking one last drag of his cigarette and stubbing it out on her tire. Dean still needed to be patient, although it was only a matter of time before his blue balls were unbearable again. He wasn’t going to let her off the hook so easily next time. There was no way he’d resort to random pussy again when he had one right in his own home. So, he had to play this right.
Naomi was on the brink of leaving last time and he couldn’t let that happen. Besides the fact that she was his, who would protect her now that she was unknowingly playing double agent. She didn’t understand how precarious her position at CTI was going to become if she kept it up. He had to figure out how to get her to stop discreetly to avoid embarrassment, or much, much worse.
After that, he was taking her and Thea away. Now that the other fucker knew she was helping BlackStone, it was only a matter of time before Vlad knew too. He had to protect what was his, and the payout from this job would help them get the hell out of Ashland. Maybe if he took her away from temptation, she’d finally wear her engagement ring again.
She’d thought she was being sneaky taking it off a while back, but he’d just been waiting to point that shit out, too. If he confronted her about everything all at the same time, she might even feel guilty enough to finally set a date for the wedding. Then she’d be his forever.
‘Til death do us part, sweets.
Chapter Twelve
“You ready for this?”
Nora’s bottle green eyes watched her from behind round rose gold wire-frame glasses. On anyone else, they’d be reminiscent of a 1970s octogenarian. But normal fashion rules didn’t apply to Nora. She looked cute as hell in them.
Naomi ignored her mental ramblings and nodded, refraining from telling her new friend that no, she was certainly not ready to console a sexual assault survivor in a hospital.
The truth was, she felt woefully unprepared for her first case as a volunteer victim advocate. She’d worked with victims at the clinic, but this was only her second time meeting one right after they’d suffered the trauma. Nora had tried to encourage her, insisting that no one was ever prepared. But hell, it’d only been two months since she’d needed Sasha Saves herself.
The only other time she’d come close to directly working with a victim was when one came for their help a month ago. The poor woman had literally stumbled into the store, but it’d been closing time and Naomi had to leave to go pick up Thea from the church night program. Naomi had panicked about how to help her, and instead of calling the on-call volunteer, she’d called Ellie to go with the woman to the hospital as support.
At that point, Dean had still been lenient. He’d gotten snippy with her after she’d helped Wes and Nora with the scholarship list a few weeks ago, but after she’d been able to calm him down by reassuring him she’d been working for the nonprofit, he’d apologized and immediately become remorseful. For a few days after that, he returned to his angelic facade.
But true to form, he’d slowly gotten more and more irritated with her. Everything she did was wrong in some way. She’d answer his calls, but not fast enough. She’d text him, but it didn’t count if he’d had to prompt her. She’d leave volunteering early, but would still get the silent treatment or snide remarks if she came home a few minutes late. He was disturbingly calm every time Naomi ‘accidentally’ fell asleep with Thea every night while they watched a movie with her stuffed bear, Angus. He’d beaten her bloody the last time he’d tried to ‘encourage’ her to have sex. Perhaps the leftover guilt was why he hadn’t insisted on it again.
But he hadn’t blown up again. Not yet anyway. It was almost as if he was waiting for something. Hell, she didn’t know which she hated more. The waiting game was almost as scary as when it was game over. Maybe he was just irritated with work and it was just her own paranoia and stress kicking in. The party she’d been both helping plan and sabotage was in two days. Playing double agent was enough to make anyone crazy.
As Nora and Naomi walked into the hospital, Naomi couldn’t help the jitters trembling her hands. The past two months had flown by, but she was excited to finally be able to talk with victims face to face. Even though she was still stuck in her situation, for some reason it felt like by helping others, she was helping herself, too.
“‘Kay, doll.” Nora whipped around to face her and Naomi stopped short. “Just remember, above all else, listen. No judgments, ‘kay? For all we know, this survivor has just been through the most traumatic moment of her life. Our job is to minimize the fallout the best we can and to help her feel like she’s in charge of her own body again. We’re basically the best friend she needs right now.”
“Got it, got it.” Naomi blew out a breath as they navigated the halls to the ER. “What if the victim—”
“Nope, nuh-uh, survivor only,capisce?” Nora’s tone was firm, but not harsh, and Naomi slammed her lips shut. “She’s here, taking control of her life. She’s a fuckin’ survivor...” She glanced at Naomi. “Just like you, doll.”
Naomi’s cheeks warmed. “Our situations are completely different.”
Nora shrugged a shoulder. “Maybe. Maybe not. But like recognizes like. I have a feeling you’ll find more in common with this woman than you think.”
Naomi felt a scowl in response but swallowed back her rebuttal. Sure, she had an angry baby daddy at home who couldn’t control his temper, but that was nowhere near the type of trauma this poor victim had gone through. The two situations didn’t compare… right?
She sat in her thoughts while Nora approached a nurse. They were escorted into a room where a woman sat up on the examination table, much like Naomi had just two months ago at Sasha Saves. But that wasn’t what made her halt in her tracks.
“Sophie?”
Naomi’s friend lifted red-rimmed onyx eyes and gasped. She tugged a loose strand of fine black hair behind her ear and pulled at a loose thread on her cardigan lying beside her before crossing her arms over herself.
“N-Naomi? Wh—” She looked around the room as if it held the answers to her questions. “What’re you doin’ here?”
“I-I—” Naomi couldn’t for the life of her figure out the right thing to say as she took in the light bruising down her friend’s pale skin.
Thankfully, Nora stepped in, glancing between the two. “Hi Sophie, we’re from Sasha Saves. We got the call that you were interested in talking to someone and having someone with you during the exam? I’m Nora and it seems like you’ve already met Naomi?” Nora paused, waiting for one of them to find their words.
“We went to college together—”
“—before Naomi dropped out. God, girl, I haven’t seen you in forever.” Sophie turned to Nora but nodded to indicate Naomi. “She met her dream guy and ghosted us to go live her perfect life.”
