Page 79 of These Rough Waters

“Ruthie,” I beg.

“I will look after Harper, I will take care of her, but Maya, you’re going to be okay. You have a family here now. We are your family.”

Tears track freely down my face, eyes blurred from them, “I’m so glad I came here,” I tell her honestly, “Out of everywhere I could have picked, nothing would have ever compared.”

She nods, “No more hiking,” She growls, trying to smile past her own tears.

“No more hiking without someone who knows what they’re doing,” I correct.

She pouts, “Fine.”

I turn to leave but pause, “Thank you Ruthie,” I say, swallowing down the emotion clogging my throat, “I know Harper would be safe with you.”

“Maya, everything is going to be okay.”

She says it with such conviction I want to believe her, but every arrow is pointing to the truth. It wasn’t going to be okay, and I doubt my future is going to be in Ravenpeak Bay, if there’s a future at all.

I will kill you.I hear his voice, the sound of it so embedded inside my head even the memory of it sounds real, like he is right there beside me. He had promised more times than I can remember that if I ever left him, he’d end me. My ex wasn’t the type of man to break those kinds of promises.

I make my way back out to Torin whose brows pull down in concern at the clear tears still tracking down my cheeks.

“I’m fine.” I tell him.

Even Rett is looking at me like I’ve just walked out of a warzone.

“It’s nothing,” I say to the both of them, “I guess we all need to talk now, huh?”

Torin grips my hand, pulling me closer and holding tight, like he believes I might disappear on him if he doesn’t. “Yeah, little doe, time to talk.”

The walk back to Torin’s house is quiet and quick. Harper and I will stay here for a little while since neither of the brothers are certain the cabin is safe anymore.

I still don’t know what happened to the men that tried to break in last night, but I had a feeling none of them were alive.

Again, I should be terrified.

I am not. Not of Torin. Rett was questionable.

I settle in on a chair at the kitchen table, listening to Torin move around his kitchen preparing coffee for us while Rett noisily pulls out the chair opposite me, his elbow hitting the table and his eyes focused on the top of my head. I didn’t need to look to know he was staring, I could feel those icy eyes boring right through my skull. I’m sure if he had the capability to, he’d pluck every thought from my head, every secret, memory and nightmare.

Torin takes the seat next to me, pushing a hot cup of coffee into my palm.

“I ran away from Harper’s father,” I begin, voice shaking as I try not to relive the past nine years of my life. I hadn’t ever told this story, not fully, and I wasn’t sure how this was going to go. I wanted to detach from it, like the words leaving my mouth meant nothing because if they meant nothing then they couldn’t hurt me anymore. And sure, they were just words, but words tell stories and some stories hurt. They batter you from the inside while everyone else just listens and hears on the outside.

“I was eighteen when I met him, I was raised in a close circle of people, we had money and a lot of it but not many friends and there were a lot of arranged marriages and connections that bettered each family. My ex, his name is Trevor, he’s the son of one of my dad’s old business partners.” I explain, tilting my head side to side as if to release the tension I feel building in the back of my neck and shoulders.

“Last name?”

“Carmichael.” I answer. “Our parents arranged for the two of us to go on a few dates initially, and I knew there was something off about him, but I wanted to please my dad so I stuck it out. Over time I guess I started to grow feelings for him, and I ignored the red flags. He started hitting me about eight months into our relationship.”

I feel Torin’s whole body stiffen beside me, the air around us growing thick with rage so intense I felt it on my skin. I let my eyes flick to him and if violence and revenge could be personified, I was looking at it. The muscles in his cheeks flex as he clenches his teeth, grinding them in his mouth. Rage swirls in his grey eyes, resembling that of the clouds during a storm.

“I told my mom about it,” I tell them, turning away from Torin, “She told me it was my fault, that I wasn’t pleasing him enough and boys will be boys, that these ‘tantrums’ would stop if I pleased him enough.”

“Maya,” Torin growls my name, his voice rough and deep, like he was both in pain and so enraged he had no control.

“That’s not important,” I wave it off, knowing my parents failed me and money was more important to them. “I tried speaking with them more, but they didn’t see it as a problem, but Trevor kept doing it so much that I expected it even though I tried to make him stop, and when I tried to leave him, he manipulated everyone around us so I had nowhere to go. He promised it would stop and for a while it did.”

Rett curls and uncurls his fingers on the table in front of me but stays quiet but Torin, as silent as he is, I feel him brimming with tension. I continue anyway.

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