Page 3 of When Autumn Arrives

Hen sighed, nodding his head. And my thoughts ran wild with everything that simple sentence implied. Don’t make me.

Don’t make her.

Had Kyle made her do something? Something she didn’t want to do? Don’t make her. Fuck. I wanted to scoop her up in my arms and hold her close to my chest. My own heart cracked, and my stomach flipped inside out. I suddenly wanted to drive to North Carolina, find the bastard, and break every single bone in his body.

“So your lawyer threatened to press rape charges if the police department went through with the deadly weapon charges,” Hendrix stated matter-of-factly.

And that made Thea break. All of her strength dwindled, and the well where she kept it all ran dry. She curled into herself, wrapping her arms around her stomach as sobs left her. Now Hendrix was on my ‘break every bone’ list.

“Bro, what the fuck?” I rushed for her, dropping to my knees beside her chair. My hands wrapped around her shoulders, yanking her off the seat and into my lap.

Hendrix shrugged, crossing his arms. “Clearly it needed to be said. She hasn’t dealt with it. Get it out, Thea. Handle the shit that you keep trying to push away.”

If I wasn’t looking at him, if I didn’t know with my own eyes that this was indeed Hendrix, I’d think it was Calder for all the insensitive ways he was handling this situation.

He leaned forward, his voice growing darker, more commanding. “Say it, Thea.”

Even I shivered at the husky rumble. Thea clung to my bare chest, her nails digging into me. I welcomed the pain, knowing I was an outlet for her raw emotions. I wanted all of them. She didn’t deserve to have to go through that. Nobody did, but knowing she did made me sick. If I couldn’t be here consoling her, I’d be in my truck, halfway to murder. This was a better use of my time.

“He raped me,” she finally said.

Hendrix’s fist slammed onto the table. “You need to press charges.”

Her head shook against my shoulder. “I can’t. I can’t.”

“Why?” I asked. “Fuck the charges on you. Fuck that. He deserves to repent for his sins.”

“It’s complicated. And I don’t feel like getting into it. Please. Just, please. Drop it.”

My hands slid into the locks of her dark hair, gripping it as I held the base of her skull. The crack in my chest widened with each cry, and if I wasn’t careful, this woman was going to split it in two.

Chapter two

Hendrix

Three hours later, Parker slammed the passenger door closed to my car while Thea locked the door to her tiny home. We’d calmed her, she explained more of the relationship dynamic between her and Kyle, and then we brought her home.

She still didn’t come clean about the daughter, though. And she didn’t mention Kyle’s new girlfriend. Riley Baker was Millie’s sister. The same Millie that broke Calder’s heart when we caught her fucking another soldier while we had been off the base and on a mission.

I wanted to believe it was a coincidence, but nothing in this world was. All the little dots that connected grew into a bigger picture. The Army taught me that, and I was still connecting the dots to create Thea’s story. Painting it to figure out just what was going on. If she wasn’t coming clean about the child, there were potentially more things she was hiding, and I intended to unmask each and every one. She couldn’t be trusted until then.

“Tell me why the fuck you did what you did, Hen,” Parker said, his fists clenching in his lap. “What made you think it was okay to go digging into her past?”

I squeezed the wheel, putting the car into reverse. “I found a book lying on her bed on the Fourth of July. It was about getting custody of your children or something along those lines.”

“What the fuck?” He turned toward me, jaw dropped. “She has kids?”

I nodded. “One. A daughter. She’s seven and currently spending the summer with her piece of shit father. I swear if there weren’t a kid involved, we’d be driving there right now to put that fucker in a wooden box.”

Parker’s mouth gaped as he glanced out the window, processing the information.

“What else did you find?” He asked.

I shrugged. “Found an Andrew on her socials back when she was a teen. Seems like he was just an ex from high school. But yeah, there’s more.”

I sighed, bracing myself to tell him what else I found. “Kyle’s new girlfriend is Riley Baker.”

He shrugged, not recognizing the name. “So?”

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