Page 10 of Hunted Innocence

A shiver of disgust slides up my spine. I don’t want to say the words out loud. If I do, it feels like I’m inviting that monster back into my house, back into my life. But he wants to know, so I am going to tell him.

“My body wasn’t my own. He used me for whatever purposes he wanted, and that included whoever he wanted to share me with. Humiliation was his thing, especially since I was nothing.”

Chapter Four

NADINE

Grayson doesn’t saya word after I tell him what Landon Tate did to me while I was forced to be with him. Although I didn’t go into extreme detail, he’s an adult, and I know without a doubt he can envision what I’ve just said. Even if he does imagine—it wouldn’t be half as bad as what that man actually did.

The silence between us causes my heart to squeeze, though. It makes my mind wander, and I know that whatever could have been will absolutely never be now. We are never going to get together. As much as I wish it could happen, I know it won’t.

However, I still don’t want him to see me in any kind of way. I don’t want him to think of me as damaged.

I’m not.

I overcame.

At least that’s how I feel inside.

I didn’t fight back, but I ran, and I’ve been trying to survive since the moment my parents handed me over to him. Something that, when I was in the thick of it all, I didn’t think was possible.

“How old were you when you married him?” Grayson asks.

“Eighteen,” I whisper.

He dips his chin in a single nod, then wordlessly walks away from me and toward the window that overlooks the building across from me. I can’t take my eyes off him. I wish I could tell what he is thinking.

There’s no balcony or anything remotely calm and soothing like the safe house condo I just moved out of. So, the best he can do is look out of the main living room window, but there isn’t much to see.

Following him with my eyes, I wait for him to speak. He clears his throat but doesn’t turn to face me. Instead, he continues to affix his gaze out of the window, somewhere in the distance.

“I wanted to kill him when you told me that he abused you,” Grayson begins. I don’t say anything. My breath hitches, and I hold it for a moment, then let it out slowly as he continues. “Knowing what he did to the eighteen-year-old that you were, and how that feels, now I want to torture him.”

My thighs tremble at his words. His meaning is not lost on me. In fact, it causes every single nerve ending in my body to stand at full attention. I think this is the most we’ve said to one another since I told him about Landon originally, a few months ago.

“Grayson?” I call out softly. “What do you mean by how that feels?” I ask.

Slowly, he turns around to face me. His eyes meet mine, and his gaze darkens. As much as I want to cower away from him, to take a step back, maybe two, I don’t. Instead, I force myself to take a step forward. Then another step until I’m only a few feet from him.

He dips his chin down, his eyes on mine as if nothing else exists in this world other than us.

“Grayson,” I whisper. “What do you mean?”

He doesn’t say anything immediately. He stares at me for a moment, then lets out a heavy sigh. Closing his eyes slowly and keeping them closed as he speaks. Almost as if he knows that his next words are going to be painful.

“You know exactly what I mean, Nadine.”

Shaking my head, I take another step toward him. I need him to tell me. I need to know why he is the way he is and why the men of Securus are the way they are. Grayson takes half a step toward me as well. Then stops.

He lifts his hands, and when his fingers curl around my biceps, they grip me there as he looks directly into my eyes. My arms are no doubt going to wear his marks with the way he’s gripping me, but I don’t care. I welcome them.

I’m the only person in the world at this moment. At least that’s how he makes me feel. Much to my dismay, he releases my arms and then cups my cheeks. I can see the absolute torture behind his eyes, and I wish I could take it away from him.

When he looks at me with softness and an easy smile, that is my favorite—this is too painful.

“Baby,” he says, letting out a sigh. “One day, I’ll tell you. But today is not that day.”

Before I can say anything in response, his mouth comes down, his lips press against mine, and he kisses me. For the first time, he kisses me, and it’s glorious. It’s perfection, and I wish beyond all wishes that it were under a million different circumstances.

---