Page 38 of Wyatt
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Noa, Kelsey, Ani, and Carter were already heating up the grill when the teams arrived back at the house. The weather was positively perfect but was expected to turn much cooler over the next few days.
San Diego weather was fickle, but Coronado weather, although just across the bay, was even more so. The weather was dependent on wind, fog, currents, and so much more. It could easily be five to ten degrees cooler on Coronado than in San Diego.
“We had some great times in this house,” smiled Carter. Ashley laughed, shaking her head.
“I’m not sure they were all great,” she said. “I seem to recall hiding here from my psychotic ex.”
“Yes, you did,” said Noa. “We were determined to keep you safe for Travis. I’m not sure I ever told you this, Ash, but you were the best thing that ever happened to him.”
“Well, I feel the same way about him. He’s the best thing that ever happened to me. Actually, all of you were the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“I’m sorry, Ashley, I don’t think I know the story of your ex,” said Wyatt. “Is that something you don’t want to talk about?”
“I’m a therapist,” she smirked. “If I don’t talk about my trauma, how can I get others to talk about theirs? It’s okay. I don’t mind. Like most abusive relationships, it started small. Yelling at me, controlling me, that sort of thing. I had pretty low self-esteem, and I thought if I just made myself sexier, that would help.”
“No offense, Ash, but you’re very sexy. I don’t mind saying that,” said Abe.
“You’re very sweet, honey, but when a woman doesn’t feel that way, no words help. And, of course, he was doing his part in telling me all the things that were wrong with me and how I didn’t meet expectations. I bought some sexy lingerie hoping that it would help me and him. We were at a weekend getaway.”
“What happened?” asked Ulani.
“He went crazy. Beat me, raped me. Took a knife to me. To my chest,” she said, swallowing. Bree reached for her hand, giving her strength. “It was completely destroyed, my chest, I mean. I had to move multiple times and finally landed here at the hospital. My insurance wouldn’t cover reconstructive surgery. They said it was optional.”
“Optional? How was that possible?” asked Moose.
“That’s another story,” she smiled. “Trevor was one of my patients. It was right after his incident and a lot of things were coming to light about his life, his childhood. I was working with kids who had been abused, and his doctor thought it would help him to be with the kids, since Trevor had been an abused child.”
“Shit. I had no idea,” said Christian. “I mean, I knew about his testicle but not the abuse.”
“We became friends, and then one day, I needed to show him that someone wouldn’t care about him having one testicle. It wouldn’t matter. He kept saying I wouldn’t understand. So, I showed him.”
“Geez, Ash. What did he do?” asked Nate.
“He hugged me,” she smiled, tears pooling in her eyes. “He hugged me and told me I was beautiful. A few days later, I got word that someone had donated the money for my reconstructive surgery.”
“Trevor?” asked Ulani.
“Yep. He didn’t want me to know because he thought I would believe it was because he wanted me to have big boobs or something,” she chuckled. “I was so grateful for that gift and the gift of him.”
“Too bad you didn’t listen to us and came racing back here when you were supposed to stay hidden at Belle Fleur. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Trevor so panicked in all my life,” frowned Carter.
“In fairness, my crazy ex, who had escaped prison, was holding my patients, the kids, hostage. Camille and I hopped on a commercial plane and got here to save them. Of course, the guys hopped the jet and nearly beat us here. We were very lucky, but I wasn’t about to let those kids die because of me.”
“That’s what makes you even more beautiful,” said Ulani.
“Well, my whole world changed after that. I had this amazing, wonderful family that enveloped me. Camille and I became best friends, then I met Bree, and I had the circle of women I’d never had before.”
“You’ve changed a lot of lives as well,” said Ethan. “You changed mine, helping me to cope with my injuries when I arrived at Belle Fleur.”
“Same,” said U-Jin. “You undid the damage of my parents and grandparents. You helped me to see that I needed my sister.”
“Well,” she blushed, “I think we can all agree that we’re very lucky to have found one another. I guess we can thank Faith and Ian for that.”
“I think it goes deeper than that,” smirked Christian. “I would say we thank Matthew and Irene.”
“It does seem that everything goes back to them, doesn’t it?” smirked Ani. “What’s the latest guess as to what Irene is? Fairy? Witch? Voodoo? I’m leaning toward goddess.”
