Page 171 of My Heart Still Beats
The pain explodes in me. I wasn’t feeling it much before, but now? With my adrenaline draining?
God, it fucking hurts.
Ben’s jaw is rigid and clenched. “Did they…?”
I shake my head. “No. Just my nose and face.”
“Your blouse is unbuttoned.”
“But they didn’t. I swear it, Ben.”
He pulls me against him. “Thank God.”
Braden—who I’m only now realizing is here as well—turns to us. “Get her to the ER,” he says to Ben. “I’ll take care of this for now. But the cops are going to want a statement from you, Tessa.”
“I’ve got a fucking statement to make too,” David blurts out. “And you know what it is, Black.” He sneers at Ben.
“What’s he talking about?” I ask, hoping Ben will deny it.
He wraps his arm around me and leads me out of the apartment. “Nothing for you to worry about. Come on.”
Chapter Fifty
Ben
Tessa is admitted to the hospital for observation after being treated for her broken nose and bruised jaw.
“This is ridiculous,” she says. “I’m fine.”
“You do what the doctor says,” I tell her. “You’ve been through so much, Tessa. Just when you were healing, you got the added trauma of your father’s death, and now those two—” I crush my hands into fists. “Neither of them will ever see the outside of a prison cell, if I have anything to say about it.”
“Ben, please…”
“I know. Assault and attempted rape doesn’t carry a lifetime sentence. How do you know David Conrad, anyway?”
“He was the bartender in Jamaica.”
“I know. I didn’t know who he was at the time. Only that you had a bad reaction to him, and that he made some comments about you that I didn’t appreciate. So I got rid of him.”
“He’s…” She clears her throat. “He was an altar boy at my first communion fifteen years ago. He…”
My insides churn as anger pulsates through me. “Hewhat?” I grit out.
“I didn’t remember for a long time, but it was after my first communion that I started to pull away from the church. Now I know why. He… Hetouchedme that day. Took my panties.”
I draw in a breath. Tessa doesn’t need me going all rogue on her. Not right now, anyway.
Besides…she and I can’t continue. I realized the truth of that when I was talking to Braden earlier. But I can’t tell her that. Not yet.
I want to know the details, yet I don’t. I don’t want to hear about such a heinous act, but I need to know exactly what he did to her because I’ll make sure the same damned thing happens to him in prison.
“Please…” she says.
“Please what?”
“Let it go, Ben. Whatever it is that has you so wound up. Please. Let it go. For me.”
“I can’t.”
