Page 19 of Stalwart Ridge Security: Murray
Murray pulls back and tells Ballard, “Stay put.Don’t make me track your ass down and bring you back here.”
Ballard doesn’t get a chance to reply before Murray quickly ushers me into the bedroom.
He kicks the door shut behind us and says, “A better man would respect your privacy, but I want to know what haunts your nightmares.I’m aware of the recent trauma, triggering the shit in your past with the present, and I simply need to know.My mind can’t handle the worry and deep need to protect you.It feels like facing an invisible wall that could potentially block me out in case I want to be there for you...when you need me to.”
His words hit me hard, and yet the look of utter despair in his eyes is what makes me rattle out the words, “My stepfather.I killed my stepfather.They were always fighting and one day he just snapped.We just ate dinner and were still in the kitchen when he wrapped his hands around my mother’s throat until she stopped fighting him.He...”
I swallow hard and push down the memory.So.Much.Blood.I can still taste the metallic smell in the back of my throat while it burns my nose.It’s something I will never forget.Murray takes my hand and leads me to the bed.We sit down, side-by-side.
The images of what happened that day caused deep scars inside, and out.Murray is still holding my hand, and I stare at the white lines marring my skin.He brings our joined hands to his mouth and places a kiss on my knuckles.The soft gesture and his silence warm my heart, letting me know I’m not stuck in the horrors of my past.
“His bloodshot eyes were filled with so much rage,” I croak.“Strangling my mother wasn’t enough to calm his blind rage.He took a knife and kept stabbing her.I made a noise which reminded him I was there...he turned to face me and I knew...I knew deep down I was next.He slipped on my mother’s blood when he lunged for me, and he lost the knife, making it slide across the floor.It stopped right in front of me.”
A chill runs up my spine at the reminder.Of looking at my stepfather’s rage-filled eyes, down to the knife, and back to see his intention to finish what he started.
“I had no choice.He came at me and I grabbed the knife, holding it with both hands and I jerked it upward while dropping my head.He fell on the knife, making it lodge under his chin.He was so heavy...the silence deafening...the smell...I could taste the blood.It was...everything was...horrible.”
I turn and bury my face against Murray’s strong, muscled chest.Inhaling his scent to keep me in the present instead of allowing the horrid memories to flood back.
CHAPTER TEN
–MURRAY –
“Easy, sweetheart.I got you,” I murmur and pull her closer.“Nothing from the past will ever hurt you again, and I will make damn sure no one will ever get the opportunity to add more scars.Physical or mental ones.Fuck.I knew you were strong.Knew it the second I laid eyes on you.It’s why I call you little rebel because you fucking fight like hell.”
I bury my nose into her hair to breathe her in.Dammit.I knew she had more trauma when she was locked inside her head after she shot Burk.The intensity of the nightmares after that day, the look in her eyes; it all makes sense now.
Knowing the details of what this woman went through while my brain fills in the blanks makes anger flow through me.I’m glad she killed the fucker, even if it was dumb luck in a fucked-up situation that presented the opportunity.Hell, if the man hadn’t slipped in her mother’s blood and lost his knife?Elodie wouldn’t be here.
My last thought is unbearable and makes my chest tighten.The vow I just gave her is something I will live by.The leap we both took, going all in and becoming more than forced roommates, means she’s mine in every way.I’ll be damned if I let anyone or anything take what’s mine.
Elodie pulls her head back and stares at me.Eyes filled with unshed tears and so much emotion...it fucking pulls on my heartstrings.There are no words to comfort the gaping need to soothe the wariness and havoc running inside her.
She reaches out and caresses my bearded jaw as she climbs onto my lap.My cock hardens as her mouth covers mine.I groan and grab her ass to make her grind down on my length so she can feel what she’s doing to me.
Emotions are running high and it’s a reminder that we’re alive and free of our past to move on into the here and now.Something we both need...not to cling to trauma, to release and find pleasure in what we both create for ourselves.
