Page 51 of Protect Me
Safe.
My head realigned, my thoughts straightened out. The tightness began to fade, ebbing. Vik put his palm against my cheek. So gentle, so calm.
“Kate?”
Helpless, I could only stare. His rigid concern softened. He pulled me into his arms, encompassing and firm. I tucked my face into his neck with a pent-up sob. The muscles of his back elongated under my hands as he tightened his hold. His shirt caught my tears. His arms trapped my silent shaking. We stood in the backroom of the local grocery store with his body shielding mine.
Safe again.
But not really safe at all, because Vikram didn’t belong to me.
Heart-pain or not, I couldn’t let him go.
ChapterTwelve
VIKRAM
Hernandez:The guy you asked me about is Timothy Hanover. I remember him vaguely. He played on the JV football team. Used to give Grady problems. Our class. You remember him?
I glanced at the text, frowned, and responded. The guy at the outfitters ran back through my mind.
Thatguy?
Vik:A little.
Hernandez:He was trouble in high school. Turns out he just got out of jail a few days ago.
A dark feeling welled up in my gut.
Vik:Charges?
Hernandez:Sexual assault, five years back. You can find it online on the sex predators database.
Puzzle pieces slid together.
Katelyn’s darting eyes. The panic attack in the coffee shop weeks ago. Her obsession with locking the house. The fear on her face when she’d been evicted, not to mention Vinita’s vague warnings that alluded to something in her past. Her panic attack a few hours ago at the grocery store slid right into the ugliest puzzle I’d ever seen.
Now, I understood.
The urge to crush something rushed through me, hot as fire. I gripped my hand into a fist.
Bastard.
Bastard, bastard, bastard.
I jumped to my feet and paced, then sat back down. Whatever happened next, I had to get myself under control. She hadn’t confirmed that Timothy had gone to jail for sexually assaultingher, but her reactions seemed to support the supposition. Particularly because Dahlia mentioned a guy standing behind them when the panic attack began.
A guy that fit Timothy’s description.
I’d seen Kate go into the grocery store with Dahlia, laughing, moments before Timothy slunk in after her. That’s when I’d followed, trailing a prickle of intuition that told me to get in there.
Technically, I was supposed to be home doing . . . something. Lunch with Kate, and clearing the weird air between us, had seemed a better alternative, which had taken me into Pineville.
Thank the universe.
Rage smoldered as I tried not to think too hard about it. My knuckles tightened. Fingers clenched. Kate would see my agitation. She might not feel safe or clam up or . . . something. Her endearing, occasional embarrassment and uncertainty was charming, but I wouldn’t want her scared.
Not of me.
