Page 6 of Breaking Conviction
The need to comfort her was nearly overwhelming. At this point, he’d say anything she needed to hear to prevent her from going back to her abuser. But his words had never worked before. Instead, he waited patiently for Jules to take the reins.
“Listen, I was raised by an addict—”
“He’s not an addict—”
“—I get it, I’m not presuming to know your circumstances, but at least the wayIgrew up, I had to realize something.”
“What’s that?”
“In some ways, loving an addict isn’t so different than loving an abuser. Your boundaries are stripped down, over and over again, until you feel like you don’t have the right—nor the energy—to keep building those walls back up. They’ll just get torn down again.”
“It’s just… I don’t know what to do. I don’t evenwantto be with him. But leaving what I know… it’s terrifying.”
Jules lowered her voice and Wes strained to hear her. “You have to figure out your line, girl. How far are you gonna let this go? You need to decide thattoday. Define your line for yourself, then screw markin’ that shit in the sand. You carve your line in fuckin’ stone, got it?”
“I-I hear you. But you make it sound so easy.”
“Noneof this is easy. I can tell you all the legal stuff you need to know, give you all the brochures to look over. But your most important decision before you leave today should be what your final straw will be. What will he have to do to get you to leave? In the meantime, pray, send good vibes, or whatever the hell you do that he doesn’t cross your line, but if he does, youhaveto love yourself enough to escape and take your baby girl with you, alright? We’ll help you every step of the way.”
“But if y’all help me, he’ll get in trouble.” There was a hitch in Naomi’s breath as she muttered. “I don’t love him… and I know I should hate him. But I don’t for some reason, and I can’t send Thea’s father to jail. I-I’m not there yet.”
“I get it, I swear I do. It’s okay. First off, know he’ll be getting himself behind bars all by his lonesome. And we have plenty of different resources here. No one likes to hear it, but prosecution honestly isn’t best for every case. Help doesn’t always mean justice. Sometimes it means escape.”
Wes kept his eyes on the screen as Thea skipped to the last third of the movie. In his periphery, Jules left the room to join the others in the office, leaving Naomi to think with the pamphlets she’d been given.
Thea squirmed in the beanbag beside him and he lifted his gaze to see she wasn’t watching the screen anymore. Wes followed her worried eyes to see Naomi covering her face with a towel Devil had given her. Normally, kids might not notice Naomi’s shoulders shaking silently, or register that she was trying her best not to sob. But he knew for a fact a child who’d grown up in trauma would no doubt understand the signs.
He made to stand up, pausing midway to whisper to Thea. “Hey, keep on watching the movie for me? Your mom’s fine, I promise. I’m just gonna go check on her.”
Her red brows furrowed. “And you will come back?”
Wes grinned before whispering, “Yeah, princess. I’ll be right back. Just make sure to let me know what happens, okay?”
At her nod and small smile, he stood and took deliberately noticeable steps toward Naomi. Her head was bent and he didn’t want to sneak up on her, so he waved his hand low so she could see it. Still, Naomi jolted and groaned, her hand shooting up to her neck, obviously in extreme pain.
“Shit, Naomi, I’m so sorry. I tried not to sneak up on you.”
“Huh,sorry,” Naomi whispered to herself in what sounded like a mocking tone. “Hate that word.”
Wes felt his brow furrow and almost asked her to elaborate, but she took a breath and met his eyes. Her face was damp with tears and Wes stood directly in Thea’s line of sight to prevent her from seeing her mother so upset. She’d probably seen much, much worse that morning alone, but shielding someone from trauma was never a bad thing, especially not a child.
“Thanks for tryin’. I’m just not… I wasn’t expecting you, is all.” An indecipherable look passed over Naomi’s swollen face. “Not to be rude, but I’m kind of busy.” She waved the brochures in the space between them and Wes took a step back.
Her “not to be rude” tone was very much so a rude one, and although he got the picture loud and clear, he didn’t want to sit back down with Thea until Naomi had collected herself fully.
“I didn’t want to interrupt, it’s just Princess T over there was getting worried.” Again with that face. He was usually so good at telling people’s thoughts from their body language, but Naomi’s injuries made it impossible. Jules was right. They were some of the worst he’d seen, too. Her eyes were swollen to slits, but when she peeked out of them, the whites of her eyes were filled with an inhuman blood-red that was painful to see. He couldn’t imagine how she felt.
“Princess T?” she finally asked in her scratchy voice.
He laughed and rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah, fits doesn’t it? Anyway, I think she likes it.” He pointed his thumb over his shoulder. “I told her I’d check on you, but she had to tell me what happened with Merida while I was gone.”
“She’ll be able to do that, no problem,” Naomi muttered with a huff. She wiped her face, wincing every time she dried more tears from her cheeks. The muscles in Wes’s arms twitched to take the towel from her and do it himself. It looked like she was being way too rough, as if she was punishing herself for feeling something.
Just before Wes gave in and took control, she finished and sat up straighter on a ragged exhale with her eyes closed. “Okay,” she whispered, whether to himself or her, he didn’t know, but he decided to take it as a cue.
“You okay now?”
Her eyes opened again, but only barely, as she nodded.
