Revealed by You (Torn) (23 page)

“Evvie?”

I jumped at the soft voice coming from the door when I saw Anna peek her head around the corner. I sighed and motioned for her to come closer.

She chewed her bottom lip and took tentative steps towards us. It had been a couple of weeks since I had seen her after our coffee date. I liked her. I did. As much as I didn’t want to in the beginning, I now knew she would never do anything to threaten my relationship with Brett. I trusted her. I didn’t know how I knew that I could. I just did.

“Is he…is he alright?” she asked standing at the foot of the bed.

My gaze fell on Brett’s relaxed face. His eyes fluttered now and again but every so often, a deep sigh would leave his lips like a weight had been lifted. “He will be.”

Anna let out a sigh.

“How did you get in?”

Her cheeks reddened. “I snuck—”

“No visitors,” the same nurse from before demanded.

I looked between the older woman and Anna. “She’s family.”

A soft smile splayed on Anna’s full lips. She mouthed
thank you
as the nurse huffed and left the private room.

Anna pulled up a chair and scrubbed a hand down her face. “Do you know what happened?”

I shook my head, tears filling my eyes again as memories of Kane and I finding Brett invaded my mind. I kissed his forehead, inhaling the scent of leather and sweat. I wanted to shower him. To wash away the memories of the nightmare he had experienced and replace them with me. Us. No one else. Just Brett and Evvie.

“He’s strong. He’ll make it through this.”

Squeezing my eyes shut, I nodded at Anna’s words. I prayed he would. He had been doing so well. He drowned himself in work stuff. Setting up more parties and benefits, conventions, anything to get out of his head. Or that’s what I had assumed anyways. He never told me. He didn’t tell me much. Not until we fought and then words poured from our mouths as if they were forced.

At that point in time, I decided that I would avenge him. My possession of him came out thick as blood. He was mine. And no one messed with what I called my own.

NINETEEN

“Evvie.”

I groaned.

“Lover. Wake up.”

A small smile slowly spread on my face and I sighed, snuggling into the warm hard body that was beside me.

“Evvie.”

My eyes popped open. I took a couple of deep breaths. I looked around the room and blinked a couple of times before I remembered what had happened.

Brett. Bound and restrained. Black and blue bruises. Cuts and scratches. Him breaking in front of me and passing out in my arms
.

My heart raced before I turned my head to look up into the bluest eyes I had ever seen. Sapphire depths that drew me in from the beginning, captivating me from the start.

A lump formed in my throat. I swallowed repeatedly and shook my head.

Brett’s eyebrows narrowed, his full mouth turning down at the corners. His bottom lip was split, a dark purple bruise marring his cheek. But he was awake. He was…God, what he must have gone through.

“Hey. Why the tears?” he asked softly, brushing his thumbs under my eyes. He kissed my forehead and that’s when I lost it.

Sobs wracked my body, tears flowing freely down my cheeks. I cried so hard, it gave me hiccups.

“My sweet Evvie,” he said, pulling me tight in his arms. “I don’t like seeing you cry for me.” His voice was soothing as he brushed his nose along my neck.

I gripped him hard, my fingers digging into the hospital gown. I wanted to crawl inside of him. Protect him. Be his armor that would stop the pain. I wanted to save him. From himself.

I didn’t know who had hurt him but I wasn’t stupid. It had to have been his mother and that monster husband of hers. Then there was Claire but I didn’t think she actually had the balls to set that kind of torture up.

“Evvie,” he breathed against the crook of my neck. “Please stop crying.” He ran a hand down my back and held me tight.

I swallowed several times.

Brett cupped my cheeks and placed soft kisses on my face. “I love you deeper than ever,” his voice cracked.

“I love you hard,” I whispered.

A small smile splayed on his lips. “Now tell me, why the tears?”

I let out a deep breath. “When I walked in and found you strapped to your bed…”

“Did you think that I cheated on you, Evvie?” he asked, his eyes searching my face.

“No, actually. I didn’t. I was more confused but then I saw…” Fresh tears welled in my eyes. “I saw the bruises. The cuts. What bothered me the most was you lying there, not having any control. Brett…what happened?”

His jaw clenched, his gaze darkening but he didn’t answer. He shook his head and looked away.

“Brett, tell me, please,” I pleaded, cupping his cheek. My thumb grazed over the dark bruise. “Talk to me,” I whispered.

“I felt like a little boy again,” he mumbled. “Unable to fight. Unable to do anything because I wasn’t strong enough. I was weak. I swore to myself that I would never be weak again,” he said, his eyes going cold. “They tried to break me. They tried to destroy me. But Evvie, you put me back together. I…” his breath hitched. “I know it’ll take time, but I know as long as I have you, I can get through anything.

With a shaky breath, I placed a soft kiss on his lips.

He leaned his forehead against mine. “I forgot something at home. Something told me…my gut was saying to stay away, to wait for you.” His eyes met mine before he pulled me back against him. “I should have waited,” he whispered in my ear. “but I thought it was all in my head. When I got home, my mom and her husband were there. I…”

My heart hurt. Anxiety swirled deep in the pit of my belly. I couldn’t deal. My chest constricted like someone was sitting on it. My breaths came out in small bursts. I shoved out of Brett’s arms and sat up, sitting on the edge of the hospital bed. Trying to take control of the overwhelming emotions that racked through my body, I took deep breaths.

“Evvie?”

I shook my head. “I can’t…I…” Tears of rage burned down my cheeks and I angrily wiped them away. “I want to hurt them for doing this to you. I…” A dark feeling came over me. An emotion so strong, it took my breath away. “I want to kill them,” I sobbed and covered my face. God, what was wrong with me? My mother would be so disappointed. My stomach clenched.

Heavy arms wrapped around my shoulders. “Stop. Please.”

I couldn’t. The control of my emotions was no longer there as the sobs shook through my small body.

“Evvie. I’m fine. They won’t get me—”

“They could have destroyed you,” I mumbled.

He pinched my chin, turning my head to meet his gaze. His blue eyes glistened. “But they didn’t.”

I shoved my head out of his grip and rose from the bed before spinning on him. “Brett, I want to rip off every piece that touched you. They saw you.
I’m
only meant to see you.” Brett reached out for me but I hugged myself instead. “I-I want to hurt them. Break them until they beg me to stop. I want…I want to avenge you.”

Brett got up off the bed slowly and closed the distance between us. His shoulders were tense but as he cupped my face and pulled me against him. His breathed hitched but his body relaxed. “I love that you are possessive of me. I love that you want to hurt them for me but Evvie, I will not have you doing anything that would put you in harm’s way.”

I tried pushing out of his grip but his hold only tightened. “Brett—”

“What they did to me has not set me back. Yes, I may have more nightmares but because of you, I will get through them.” He cupped my face and placed a soft kiss on my lips. “I’ll get through this. We will get through this.”

“They need to get punished—”

“Evvie, stop. The police can deal with it. I will not have you thinking these dark thoughts.”

“I want to hurt them for what they did to you,” I cried.

“I know. So do I, but you taught me to ask for help when I need it. You,” he kissed my nose. “made me realize that I can’t do everything by myself.”

“Did they…” I swallowed past the bile that had unexpectedly risen in my throat. I couldn’t ask. I didn’t know if I even wanted to find out what exactly they had done to him.

His mouth was grim as he waited for me to ask my question. “What, lover?”

I took a breath. “Did they r-rape you?”

Brett’s jaw ticked. “No.”

A breath of relief left my lips, a weight that had rested on my shoulders since finding him restrained a couple of hours before, leaving me. “Oh thank God.”

“I think they just wanted to fuck with my head,” he said, moving to sit on the edge of the bed and pulling me in his arms.

I brushed the dark strands of hair off his forehead and grazed my fingers over his face. Memorizing him. Pushing the strength from my being into him.

His blue eyes were clear, no longer cloudy from the drugs that had been used on him.

“They touched you though,” I stated.

He nodded.

We sat there for what felt like an eternity, holding each other.

A light knock sounded on the door when a uniformed police officer entered the small hospital room.

“Sorry to interrupt, but Brett, I’m Officer Charles. I need to ask you some questions.” The older cop pulled out a notepad, his eyes warm as they looked between us.

Brett sighed and nodded.

The cop threw question after question at him but Brett answered open and honestly.

I had also found out that when Brett got to his apartment, it didn’t take long for him to get knocked out and dragged to his bed. He said that the rest of the time was foggy but at one point he woke up, naked, bound and restrained with his mother on top of him. He said as far as he knew, it didn’t go further but he couldn’t be sure.

Hearing those words made me sick to my stomach. What kind of mother would do that to their child? And how could God let that happen?

Not his fault.

My breath caught as those words sounded in my head. I wasn’t sure who they were referring to, but my body felt lighter all of a sudden.

“My mom’s a psycho bitch. I don’t know why she wanted to come after me,” Brett mumbled.

My thoughts interrupted, I cupped the back of Brett’s neck, running my fingers through his hair.

“When was the last time you saw her before all of this?” the cop asked, scribbling notes on his pad of paper.

“Over ten years.”

“What do you think she wants?”

Brett huffed. “Me.”

I cringed at the answer.

The cop raised an eyebrow but didn’t respond, his eyes going cold. “Thank you. If I need anything else, I will let you know.”

“Thank you, officer,” I said softly.

Officer Charles reached the doorway and turned back to us. “And Brett, I will do everything in my power to put these people away for you. They won’t hurt you again.” And with that he left.

A sigh escaped my lips.

“Evvie.” Brett cupped my rear and pulled me flush against him. The movement, although usually sexual, wasn’t this time.

I brushed my fingers through his hair, over his face, across his lips, giving him the strength that I knew he needed. I didn’t feel very strong at the moment but I tried. I would try anything that I could to make him strong again.

“Do you hurt?” I asked softly.

His lips tugged at the corners. “Nothing that can’t be taken care of later.”

A small smile splayed on my lips at the innuendo in his words. “I can’t help but wanting to destroy them,” I whispered.

“No,” he said, his voice firm. “Take out your rage on me, Evvie.”

I frowned. “Why the hell would I do that?”

His grip on my waist tightened. “Because they will hurt you. It will be over my fucking dead body before I let anything happen to you. Use me. Hurt
me
, Evvie but don’t you dare try and avenge me.”

“You would do it if the situation was reversed, Brett,” I cried.

His eyes darkened. “Damn right.”

“You and your double standards,” I growled.

“My double standards will keep you safe.”

I rolled my eyes.

“I can feel you shaking from anger. I can see the pain in your eyes. I get that. I understand it. But don’t you dare go after them.” His voice was hard, final, as he held me in his strong arms.

I knew it was totally insane of me to think it, but the possession I felt for the man holding me made me want blood. I wanted Diane and her husband to pay for what they did.

“Promise me.”

I met Brett’s dark gaze. “I will let the police deal with them but that doesn’t change the way I feel.”

“I don’t expect it to.”

“Are you okay?” I asked a couple of minutes later.

He released me and pulled off the hospital gown before getting dressed. “I will be.”

I leaned against the wall and watched him change into black sweatpants, a white t-shirt and a black zip up hoodie. The outfit, although casual, still screamed domination.

My body heated and I cleared my throat before looking away.

A heavy hand pinched my chin before tilting my head to look up into deep cerulean eyes. “Don’t ever stop looking at me.”

My heart thumped, my gaze stuck on Brett’s handsome face.

“Promise me.”

I nodded.

“Say it,” he demanded.

I licked my dry lips. “I promise. I will always look at you. I’ll never look anywhere else.” The words flowed from my lips like they were meant just for him. “You are it. You’re mine. Anyone that hurts you, hurts me.”

His hand moved to the back of my neck as he pressed me up against the wall. “I like when you look at me. You see me. As much as I like to think that I’m in control, I’m not. Not at all. My emotions are scattered. All over the place as each day passes. God, Evvie. I need you to be mine.”

I frowned. Confusion coursed through me. “I am.”

He shook his head. “No. Officially.”

“What do you mean?”

“Marry me.”

TWENTY

“What? Really?” I asked, clapping a hand over my mouth. It wasn’t your typical proposal. It was more of a demand but I wouldn’t have expected any less from Brett.