Page 10 of Under His Watch

No. Never.I sniffled, trying to breathe steadier.

“What are you talking about?”

“Nothing.” This man was a stranger. I didn’t know yet if he was a friend or foe. With his bravery to fight off my rapists, I wanted to believe he was a good person, a caring stranger who refused to be an innocent bystander.

Telling him anything about myself seemed like ammunition that I didn’t want him to have.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

I caught his hard glare in the mirror again, and I shook my head, refusing to answer.

“Who are you?” he tried instead.

“No one.”

He cursed, so quietly that I couldn’t hear. When he stopped at a light, he frowned at me. “Do you want me to take you to the hospital?”

He should. I needed medical help of some kind. Blood was leaking from me where it shouldn’t. I was ripped. Bruised.

Raped. I was raped.Admitting that fact was too cruel of a fate to accept, and just thinking it brought more hot tears to my eyes.

“No hospital?” he guessed from my reaction.

I couldn’t speak, drowning in this agony again. I needed to get checked out, but I couldn’t afford any medical care. I was past due in paying off my dad’s old debts, and my mom worked as an LPN at one of the nearest hospitals.

Facing her wasn’t possible. I wasn’t sure if I ever could after what those men did to me. Not because I felt disgusting, but because she’d realize I was damaged goods and wouldn’t be an option for Elliot anymore.

“Do you want me to take you home?”

I shook my head. “No. I can’t face my parents.”

“You live with your parents?”

I began to nod but stopped short. He was prying for information again, and the more I stuck to closing my lips, the better. I didn’t know if I could trust him. My trust was shattered too far.

I could not go to my parents. Not now, and I wondered if I ever could. I was supposed to be their good girl, the obedient daughter they wanted to marry off to a high and mighty lawyer.

“Then let me help you inside.” He parked, and I just barely had time to register that he’d stopped at a huge but old house. Itwasn’t rundown to a point that it looked like a vacant dump, but I saw signs of it needing a lot of care.

Before I could protest or even think of anything else to say, he opened the back door and held his hand out. Walking would be a challenge with the soreness between my legs, but I was determined to avoid touching this man. This stranger. This… knight in shining armor?

I stood, eyeing him closely. Paying attention to him and this place was a distraction from the distress in my mind and heart. But I was too cautious to engage in anything more than putting a name to his face. Until I could think for more than a minute without resorting to tears and panic, I had to take this slowly.

“What’s your name?” I asked as I stood and took a step from the car.

“Romeo.” He closed the door, watching me as though he feared I’d fall. He’d asked me who I was and I had yet to answer. But he didn’t pressure me to reply now as he gestured for me to walk up the steps. The first one I climbed on burned my knee, and I nearly crumpled to the ground.

“Let me help,” he said as he pulled me into his arms and carried me up the steps. I didn’t have time to freak out at his touch because the heavy pause after his words indicated that he was still waiting to know my name. He didn’t cop a feel. He didn’t glance down at me with any hint of the predatory evil that those three men had. In his blue eyes, I saw something that seemed a lot like concern.

This stranger caring about me… It was a wild thought that I yearned to hold on to.

I swallowed hard. “Tessa,” I said quietly as he brought me inside. “My name is Tessa.”

5

ROMEO

“The bathroom is right there,” I said as I put Tessa down on a chair in what might be a living room one day. When I started fixing up my great-great uncle’s house, I hadn’t counted on needing to offer a woman in distress comfort. My first-aid supplies were lacking.

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