Page 29 of One More Betrayal

“You knew.” Heat rises in me and accusation drips from my words.

“Knew what?”

This time I do pivot…and glare at him. “You knew someone hurt her before she moved to Maple Ridge.”

Kellan closes his eyes and curses under his breath. His eyes reopen. “What exactly did Samuel tell you?”

“He’s not allowed to tell me much of anything. But you know. You know what happened to her in the past, don’t you?”

“It’s not my place to tell you. It’s up to Jess if she wants you to know.” He remains infuriatingly calm, not giving anything away.

I glare at him, but he’s right. There are things I’ve done and seen while in the Marines I don’t want to share with anyone. Things I’m not allowed to share with another living soul.

I get it, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it when it comes to Jess.

And I don’t like that he knows more about the woman I’m in love with than I do.

“Don’t push Jess about it,” Kellan says. “If she wants to tell you, she will. It’s not easy for her to talk about. She’s scared more than anything.”

His words from yesterday replay in my head: “Someone might be looking for Jess because of who she is. Or it’s possible someone found out who she is and threatened to expose her.”

“Does this have to do with what you said when you thought she was on the run?” Somehow, I manage not to growl out the question. Is whoever might be looking for her responsible for the scars?

Kellan flinches, the movement barely visible, but otherwise keeps what he’s thinking from his expression. “I shouldn’t have told you that.”

“Yes, you should have. There’re a lot of things you should be telling me, but you aren’t.”

“There’s not much I can do about that.” Kellan shrugs in the infuriating way that tells me he’s going to continue playing Fort Knox with Jess’s secret.

In a way, I’m thrilled he’s being a loyal friend to her. Kellan has a hard time letting people in after everything he’s been through. He doesn’t easily trust. When he does trust someone the way he has with Jess, that’s big.

But it doesn’t mean I’m not pissed at him for keeping from me what he knows about her.

I cross my arms, the tension vibrating in my muscles, my body rigid. As if I’m facing down the enemy, even though my brother isn’t one.

Kellan’s stance and expression matches mine. We’re eyeing each other like elk ready to fight over the right to be protector.

A nurse enters the waiting room and approaches our group. “I can take two of you back to see Jessica. Who will it be?”

I step closer to her. “Me. I’m her boyfriend.”

“I’m coming with you.” Kellan says it in his don’t-bother-to-argue-with-me tone.

I shoot him an I-don’t-need-a-chaperone glare.

He levels his gaze at me as if to say, I don’t give a fuck what you want.

Lucas clears his throat.

“Fine,” I grumble at Kellan. “You can come with me.”

“She needs rest,” the nurse informs us as the three of us walk to Jess’s room. “So you can only stay a few minutes. And try not to upset her.”

I assume this means not asking the questions prowling in my thoughts.

The nurse pauses outside a door. “She’s been given pain meds, so she’s going to be a little groggy. The state police will be here soon to ask her questions about the accident.”

We enter Jess’s room, and my heart almost crumples at how broken she looks, how pale her skin is compared to the white pillow behind her head. Pale and bruised. She looks so fragile, except she’s anything but that. She survived an accident that came so close to killing her. She survived being lost in the wilderness overnight without anything to protect her from the elements.

---