Page 6 of Awakening the Wild
Kevin's jaw tightened. "Ex-fiancé. Recently ex?"
"This morning." The words came out before I could stop them. "I called off the engagement via text, and left New York. That's why I'm here."
He studied me across the table, those dark eyes seeing too much. "You broke up via text because you’re afraid of him."
It wasn't a question, but I answered anyway. "Yeah.”
“Did he hurt you?”
I shivered at Kevin’s tone. “No, not physically. He never hit me. He just controlled everything. What I wore, where I went, who I talked to. He said it was because he loved me, because he wanted to protect me."
"That's not protection. That's possession."
The quiet fury in his voice made me look up. But he wasn’t angry at me. He was angry on my behalf. I felt my fears melting away. This big guy was a protector, a teddy bear. Not a monster, no matter how grumbly he seemed at first.
"He made me believe I couldn't take care of myself," I continued, the words spilling out like water through a broken dam. "That I was too helpless, too fragile. Too stupid to make my own decisions."
"You drove here alone. From New York. That’s pretty brave."
"And look how that turned out." I snorted. “My car broke down and I got stranded in a storm on the first day."
"You left him. That took guts."
Did it? Or was I just running away like a chicken?
Before I could spiral further into self-doubt, the lights flickered and went out.
KEVIN
The power outage wasn't unexpected. These storms were hell on the electrical grid.
"Is that normal?" she asked, her voice sounding small and lost in the dark.
"Yeah. Happens all the time up here." I got up to light the oil lamps I kept ready for occasions like this. Golden light flickered to life, casting dancing shadows on the walls and turning the kitchen into something from another century.
Tonya looked like a fairy tale princess in the lamplight, all soft curves and wide eyes. My hoodie hung loose on her frame, but somehow that made her look more vulnerable, more in need of protection.
"Power might be out for days," I said, settling back into my chair. "Storm's not done yet."
"Days?" She bit her lower lip, a gesture that made my blood heat. "I should call someone. Let them know I'm okay."
"You probably won’t get cell service until the storm passes. Who would you call?"
She opened her mouth, then closed it again, looking lost.
"There's no one, is there?" I said gently.
"Michael made sure of that." Her voice was bitter. "He didn't like my friends. Said they were jealous of what we had, that they were trying to turn me against him. One by one, I stopped seeing them. Stopped calling."
Classic abuser tactics. Isolate the victim, make them dependent, then convince them it was their choice. I'd seen it in foster care, watched strong kids get broken down by adults who were supposed to protect them.
"What about your family?"
"My parents live in California. We're not close. They think Michael hung the moon. Successful businessman, comes from the right family, makes good money." She laughed without humor. "I called them from the road. They think I'm crazy for leaving him."
"They don't know what he did to you."
"I tried to tell them. They said I was being dramatic. That every relationship has problems, that I should be grateful someone like him wanted to settle down with someone like me."
