Page 102 of Haunted Love

His mouth opens, and I see the fight flare in his eyes, but he quickly shuts his mouth again, realizing now is not the time to get into it. I’m sure we’ll still have it out, and when we do, it’s not going to be pretty, but right now, all that matters is getting her home.

And with that, I step around Austin and walk out of the dark room, leaving this fresh hell behind.

35

IZAAC

Pulling up at the top of my circle driveway, I cut the engine and hurry around to the passenger side before opening the door and reaching for Aspen. She didn’t say a word the whole way home, just sat there silently crying as I held her hand, feeling completely helpless.

I didn’t know how to help her or what to say to make it better, but I don’t think anything I could have done would have helped.

Tonight she killed a man in order to save herself, and no matter what, I will stand by her. Whatever she needs from me is hers.

“Come on,” I murmur, scooping her into my arms, just as I’d done in the dark room. “Let me get you cleaned up.”

She nods against my chest, and it’s the first real response I’ve gotten from her. Without skipping a beat, I make my way inside my home and walk straight into the bathroom. I keep her turned away from the mirror as I peel her out of her blood-soaked dress and help her out of her heels.

I toss the dress into the bathtub, certain that at some point, the cops are going to be knocking on my door and demanding they take Aspen down to the station for questioning, and when they do, they’re going to want to enter her dress into evidence. But as for the blood on her face and under her nails, I’ll be washing it away. I don’t want her to have to live with the evidence on her body for a second longer than necessary. Besides, as Austin said, every room at Vixen has surveillance. The cops will have everything they need to close this case. The only gray area is the solid beating Ryatt took from me right as he took his final breath, but considering the circumstances, I’m sure that will get looked over. But if it doesn’t, then I’ll gladly accept any consequence that’s thrown my way.

Reaching into the shower, I turn on the taps, and when the water is warm enough, I lead Aspen in, only she clutches on to me, refusing to let go. Quickly tearing my clothes off, I step into the shower with her. “Everything’s going to be okay,” I tell her as I lather soap between my hands to clean the blood off her.

She snuggles into my chest as the water runs red at our feet, her arms so tight around my ribs I can barely take a full breath. “I thought . . . He wanted to . . .”

“It’s okay,” I murmur, my hand brushing over the back of her head, trying to keep her calm. “I know what he wanted, but you fought back. You didn’t let him touch you. You did everything you were supposed to do.”

“I didn’t know what to do,” she cries. “All I could remember was what you said about the pen and holding my thumb on the end so it wouldn’t slip through my fingers, but I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t mean to kill him. I just wanted to get away. I . . . I couldn’t, but then he grabbed me and threw me down, and I hit my head. The next thing I knew, he had his hand under my dress, and I tried to scream. I screamed for you, but the music was too loud. Nobody could hear me, and I realized I was on my own. I had to fight him off, otherwise, he was going to—”

She pauses for a second, not ready to say what we both know was going to happen, not ready to face the harsh reality of everything that happened tonight, but I’m not here to force that on her. All I want is for her to be okay.

“I had to do it,” she whispers, heavy sobs tearing from the back of her throat.

“You did,” I tell her with pride as a pang of horrendous guilt cuts through my chest, realizing I was sitting at my desk, doing nothing but sulking while all of this was going down. “You did what you had to do, and even though you were terrified, you fought. You didn’t let him win, Aspen. You were a rockstar, and I fucking love you for how brave you were.”

“You told Austin that you’re in love with me.”

“Yeah,” I murmur, wiping blood from her face. “I did.”

“You never told me.”

“I didn’t need to,” I tell her. “You knew. It’s just like you said, you could feel it in the way I looked at you, and when I touched you, there wasn’t a bit of doubt. You’ve known all along. It was just a matter of me understanding what it was, but if that’s what you want, I’ll tell you every day of the rest of our lives.”

“I thought you’d given up on us,” she tells me, breaking me all over again. “You told me to leave and fall in love with somebody else, and then Austin told me that you didn’t even try to fight for us. I thought you were done.”

I close my eyes and let out a sigh. Of course Austin said that. “Birdy, I’ve been so far up Austin’s ass these past few weeks, demanding he hear me out, that I practically know how many times he shakes his dick after he takes a piss,” I tell her. “I’ve been arrested twice for trespassing, and nearly run over by your asshole brother, but sure, if that’s his version of me not trying, then I haven’t been trying.”

At that, she lifts her head off my chest, her eyes searching mine. “You’ve been fighting for us?”

“Every fucking day, Aspen, and trust me, it hasn’t been pretty. Your brother can be a real asshole when he wants to be.”

“Tell me about it,” she mutters under her breath, somewhat sounding like herself, and making me wonder if talk of our relationship is helping to take her mind off everything that just went down.

Wanting to keep her calm, I tip her head back and run the water through her long strands of chestnut hair before lathering shampoo through it. I’m sure I’m not doing a very good job, but it’s better than the alternative of having blood matted in it.

“I’m not walking away this time,” I tell her, keeping the topic on us. “I fucked up, Aspen, and I understand if you want to keep that distance between us. I don’t deserve another chance after how much I’ve hurt you, but I’m done waiting for Austin to come around. He made it clear tonight that he can’t get past his anger. At least, not yet anyway. And I’m done hurting the woman I love to cater to his emotions. I want to be with you, Aspen. I want to start a life with you. I want to build a home and have a bunch of kids with your beautiful green eyes.”

“And if I’m locked in a prison cell?”

“It’s not going to come down to that,” I tell her. “You’re going to be okay.”

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