Page 36 of Only Everything
“Not at you.” His stare searched mine. “At your reaction. The terror on your face when you thought you were in trouble. I never want to see that again.”
My lids closed, trapping me in the darkness for only a moment. “I should really call Nancy, my therapist. I missed our last appointment, and she's been calling.”
“You see a therapist?” My lids opened at his question, but he continued. “There's nothing wrong with that, I was just curious. Does she know about what Emmett wasdoing to you? Saying to you?” More, his eyes scanned my face. “Does she know about me?”
“Sort of. I don’t know. I’m not the easiest patient. What she knows is that my life and head are chaos. How am I going to tell her what happened? I don't even want to imagine what she's going to think of me then.”
“Taur, what happened wasn't your fault. Emmett initiated. He hurt you. Two weeks later, you still have bruises.”
“You don't understand. She can’t see what happened; she’ll only hear about it. She's going to think the same thing that I do even if she doesn't say it. Violence. Murder. Patterns. What’s the common denominator?” His brow creased. “Me, Reid.It’s me.”
CHAPTER 13
REID
For four daysI waited for Tauren to come around. We picked up her car. She went back to work. I even sat in the truck for an hour while she went in and saw her therapist. I had been trained too well to let the facts become overshadowed by optimistic delusions. It didn't matter whether I wanted to see them or not. Actions were hints. Expressions were clues. Even Tauren’s silence provided signs that there were things she wasn’t telling me. And not just little things like what happened at her appointment, but something big. I was watching the collapse of the woman I loved, and although she had been through a lot, I couldn't shake the mystery. It was in the way her eyes squinted when she stole glances my way. How her mouth opened to talk, but how she didn't speak. It was in the way she couldn’t sit still once it got silent. The nightmares…they were getting worse.What was happening with Tauren was taking its toll. My sister had secrets. As I sat in the dimroom watching her sleep, I was determined to get to the bottom of every single one.
“Mmm-mmm.” Tauren’s face shot to the opposite side, and her lips parted. Her breathing increased through the unrecognizable mumble, but she grew still again, once again going silent. Minutes passed, and again she whimpered. It wasn’t out of pleasure. It was fear. Her lip trembled, and I stood, hating how distressed she was, even in sleep. “Pl…se.”
Heading around the bed, I kneeled, staring at her, not a foot from her face. More sounds. Again, her lips parted. When the tear raced over the bridge of her nose, falling to the bed, I couldn’t take it anymore. I stood, pulling back the covers. Tauren was sleeping so hard, she didn’t even wake when I eased her over and then pulled her in my arms.
The way she wrapped around me was heaven. With her cheek against my chest and shoulder, I was complete. I was whole. But I wouldn’t be if she didn’t recover. Something was destroying her on the inside, and it all went back to that stupid belief she held to. Tauren wasn’t cursed; she’d been prey. But how would I get her to see that? She had to know; she just didn’t believe.
Time passed as I went over our lives together. Our beginning as brother and sister had been great. We’d been close. We’d wake up, eat breakfast, go to school. Afterward, I had practice—football, basketball—but then I went home. We’d have dinner when my mom got off work. Watch tv. We even snuck into each other’s rooms at night and either talked or read books. It was fantastic…until it wasn’t. Until the shed. I was still so busy inthose days with sports or girls or some side job to earn extra money. I was doing my own thing, but I was still home by dinner. I never stayed the night anywhere. Unless…this happened after I left. Or maybe Emmett had done things Tauren didn’t want me to know about.
“No.”
My arms tightened as Tauren’s breath caught. For a moment, I thought she’d say more, but she didn’t. Her body shook and she mumbled incoherently.
“Shh. It’s okay.”
“Reid?”
My name was whispered, barely even audible.
“I’m here, baby. You’re safe.”
“I don’t want to go.”
My brow drew in. “Go where?”
“With daddy.” She sobbed. “I…I?—”
Tauren stopped, not able to hold in the cry as she seemed to wake. Her head lifted, and her lids fluttered as confusion took over.
“Reid?”
“You were having a bad dream again. I heard you and came in.”
“Oh…I was?” Her head came back to rest in the crook of my arm, and her eyes closed again. “I’m crying. Obviously, I must have been.” Her lids immediately shot back up. “I didn’t…say anything, did I?”
“You didn’t want me to let you go.”
“Go?”
“With Frank.”
Tauren stiffened. “Oh.”
