Page 110 of No Regrets

“We used to tell each other everything. It hurts that you didn’t trust me with this.”

“Kelly, it has nothing to do with trusting you. I already shared too much with you, and Sam almost tossed me because of it.”

“Fine.” She started up the stairs.

“Jeez, Kelly. Will you stop with the fine. You’re not fine.” He moved to the bottom of the stairs, looking up at her. She stopped and turned to face him.

“You’re right. I’m not fine. I’m worried sick about you. And I hate that you can’t share everything like we used to.”

Dex closed the gap between them, stopping on the stair below her.

“Don’t worry about me. I can handle myself. You know that.”

“This isn’t the same. It’s so personal, Dex. The note he left me... he knew my name. I'm scared Dex. OK? Scared.” She admitted, and the stark fear on her face tore at his heart.

“I love you, Kelly. No one is going to get near you. I promise. You have the best of the best protecting you now.”

“And who’s protecting you?” she whispered.

He reached out, taking her hand. “I have Raven, Nyx, and Sam watching my back. I think that’s pretty good protection, don’t you?” he said softly, squeezing her hand in reassurance.

“Nothing scares you, does it?”

He stared into those beautiful brown eyes and contemplated whether to tell her the truth. He was scared, but not about the threats. Honesty. He had promised her that.

“There is something that scares me.”

She bit her lip, waiting for him to continue.

“I’m scared I’m going to fuck this up. I’m scared I can't be the man you need me to be and get you through this. I’m scared of doing something wrong, pushing you away. I’m scared of losing you again.”

Kelly had tears rolling down her cheeks and he raised his hand to wipe them away. She didn’t pull away or flinch.

“Dex, I want us more than anything. You are the man I need you to be. You always have been. I promise you I’m not leaving, but I can’t promise I won’t push you away at times. How can I? I have no idea how to handle this. I’ve never been raped before.”

Dex winced at that word. “I have no idea how to handle it either.” His hand rested on her cheek, and they stood quietly for a few seconds before he lowered it. “We are going to get through this. Everything was going great, wasn’t it? Before I left?”

“Yes, it was. This whole thing just shook me up. It’s bad enough knowing Lazir is out there, but now there’s someone else threatening me.” She sighed. “I do understand why you didn’t tell me. And Sam did seem a little pissed at how much I knew about Onyx.” She nervously bit her lip again and he smiled.

“Yeah, he might have mentioned that to me in our chat.”

“Oh. Bad?”

“It’s all good. Stop worrying.”

“I’ll try. I'm going to bed before I collapse. I’ll see you in the morning.” She started up the stairs.

“I love you, Kelly.”

She paused, looking back. “I love you too.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

“Noooooo!” The leer in his eyes terrified her. Fight, damn it, fight! Her arms weakly pulled against the restraints above her head. The filthy mattress was stained with blood, urine, and the stench of it filled her nostrils. He stood before her, stroking himself and... A voice echoed in her head.

“Kelly, wake up. Come on baby, wake up.”

Her eyes flew open, and she bolted upright, gasping for breath.

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