Page 86 of The Redemption of Remy St. Claire

“Can you hold me?”

Her whispered request broke his heart. With deliberate care, he rounded the bed and eased himself to the middle. When he reached for her, she came willingly, turning toward him, resting her head in the crook of his neck and placing her hand on his chest.

When she shook, he held just a little bit tighter. Soon, his shirt was wet. She was crying again, and he knew neither the reason nor how to stop the tears.

So he did what he did when something upset Mira or Calleigh. He rubbed his hand up and down her arm, whispering how everything would be okay. Making assurances he had no right to make. Offering comfort to this hurting soul.

Eventually the shaking eased, and the tears ebbed.

“I’m sorry.” She sounded repentant yet made no move to pull away.

He appreciated it because he didn’t want her going anywhere until he had some idea of what was going on. His instincts had been dead-on when he’d seen her Mini Cooper in the driveway.

“You never need to apologize. I have broad shoulders.” And he meant it. For as long as he’d known his ex-wife, he’d always been there to offer her comfort and support. When she’d ceased seeking those things, it’d hurt. Their previously close relationship had floundered. Until this moment, Remy’d convinced him she could always stand on her own.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Want to? No. Have to? Probably. Will I? Yeah, I guess so.”

Should he ask if she’d feel more comfortable if they sat up? Holding her in his arms, however, meant she didn’t have to look at him.

A pained exhalation of breath whispered across his T-shirt, warming his skin.

“I was in a meeting today—plea negotiations—with this horrible man. I mean, most criminals are not nice people, but this guy…I can’t explain it.”

“Then don’t try.” He tightened his arms around her, offering unspoken support. “I trust that he was a creep.”

“Creepy…that’s a good word to describe him. I tried to explain it to Zach, but I’m not sure I got through. He was pretty annoyed at first.” She exhaled a warm breath through his shirt. “I guess I must have, because, in the end, he backed me up.”

“That’s good, right?” He felt her nodding.

“Yes, Zach’s support means a lot.”

He was still in the dark with no idea what was going on.

She sat up and pushed away from him. She turned her back to him, hanging her legs over the side of the bed.

Okay…what do I do now?He propped himself against the headboard, using the pillows for comfort. This was bound to be a long conversation.

Her shoulders were so rounded, she was curling in upon herself. Her arms were wrapped around her waist so tightly he could see the tips of her fingers.

She took a deep breath and exhaled a shudder. “I was raped in my final year of law school.”

He sucked in a breath. Rage, intense and instantaneous, overwhelmed. His vision went red and he wanted to hit something. Sometimes he hated being a member of the male species. He despised the way some men treated women. Wife-beaters, rapists—all scum of the earth as far as he was concerned. Women were to be loved. To be revered. No matter how angry he’d been with his ex-wife, he’d never have considered physical violence.

Fighting to be calm, he waited for her to continue.

“He was a year behind me in school, and he charmed me.” She sighed. “My first real boyfriend, and he swept me away. Only later did I see what lay beneath.” She drew in a shaky breath. “He used me—academically. I thought I was just tutoring him, but he accessed my old term papers on my hard drive and plagiarized me. I didn’t even realize it until I found one of his papers. They were almost all my ideas. We had different professors, so he got away with it.

“I reported him. I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I hadn’t.” She lifted her head to gaze at the cream-colored wall, and then she slumped forward again. “All through law school I’d been laser focused on the end goal. I was going to be first in my class in corporate law. In the end I came in second, but I was okay with that. That’s why he sought me out. I was the best—and naïve in ways of the world. I’d never even had a boyfriend.”

Rusty barely kept his jaw from dropping. She’d reached the end of law school without ever having had a boyfriend? This was obviously not the right moment to ask about that.

“I had a crush on him. Hell, I thought he loved me.” Her voice cracked. “He came by the night after finals. He had a bottle of wine and was all nice with sweet words. I don’t know what I was thinking. I guess I figured he’d evaded academic suspension with some fancy footwork. I shouldn’t have let him in, but he said he loved me. He talked about us having a future together. He poured us drinks to celebrate my success and my future.

“I think you can guess what happened next.”

I can…but I need to hear it from you.Needed to give her a chance to share her nightmare. When he didn’t respond, she continued.

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