Page 39 of Snagged By Hook

His body stiffened at the reminder.

“You’re right,” he mumbled around her finger. When she dropped her hand, he just continued to stare into her deep-brown eyes. There was genuine affection there. Hook wanted to get lost in them and never find his way back.

She cupped his cheeks. “What are you waiting for?”

“I just want to soak up the way you’re looking at me right now for a little bit longer.” Silently, he added, because you may never look at me that way again.

Nodding, she didn’t say another word, allowing him the time he needed. Fuck, she was perfect for him. If she stuck around after this, he would never give her a reason to leave.

Finally, he knew it was time to continue.

“I told you about what happened after we ran away from the home and that woman who took me in. What I didn’t tell you is that she treated us like she was our mother, while training us to service her clients better.”

Hook squeezed his eyes closed.

As much as he hated to sever the visual connection with Nova and hide like he said he wouldn’t, he had to. If he didn’t, he would throw up.

“She made me have sex with her more than other people. And she got jealous when someone else asked for me again or told her how much they enjoyed it. She would make meretrainwith her.” He swallowed back the bile.

“Retrain, while she stayed in the role of my mother. It was sick and twisted and…” He broke off, sobbing.

Instead of scrambling off his lap and taking her daughter as far away from him as possible, she shifted to wrap her entire being around him. Framing his hips with her knees, she held him tight without making a sound as he sobbed out years of pain. When he was all cried out, she still didn’t speak or let go.

“It’s why I freaked out when June told me some of the things that asshole said, and then you with the tracker…”

Nova pulled back just enough to look him in the eye.

“You didn’t freak out about it, Hook. You brought it to the club for help. Hell, you were calmer than I was, and I appreciate it. I appreciate you. Just as you are. Nothing you’ve said makes me see you any differently than I did before.”

Nova would never understand how much that last sentence meant to him. And thank God she didn’t. If he had anything to say about it, she never would understand.

“That’s not all. Some of the things June said, the way she said them, makes me think there’s a possibility that Brent might be Casey.” The thought of Casey touching Nova, of being June’s father, made him physically ill, but all the pieces fit.

“Hook, look at me.”

“I am.”

“No, Jeremy, you’re not. You’re looking through me right now into the past. See me in the now.”

Hook shook his head and refocused. She was right, he wasn’t seeing her beautiful chocolate eyes or the love shining from them.

He nodded, and she smiled sadly.

“Didn’t you say Casey was older than you by about four years or so?”

“Yeah, something like that. When we ran away, we lost track of holidays. Birthdays aren’t as important when you don’t know where you’re gonna sleep or where your next meal will come from.”

“I’m guessing that would make him close to forty?”

Hook nodded.

“Right, well, Brent just turned thirty. So, see, not Casey.”

Hook breathed a sigh of relief, but it turned to one of anguish. If Casey wasn’t Brent, that meant he was still out there somewhere preying on others. That would be two more murders that would blacken his soul instead of one. Could he come back from that?

Hell, he never thought he’d come back from killing the first time, but Nova showed up at the bar, and June had given him a dandelion, and they did just that. Brought him back. He doubted there were enough magical feathers in the world to bring him back again, but none of that mattered. The two people he loved most in the world would be safe, and that was worth anything, even his fetid soul.

“There’s one more thing I need to tell you, and then I’ll leave you to sleep.” He hoped like hell she hated him once he said it. Things would be so much easier if she did. Pushing them away now would hurt so much more than he could even fathom.

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