Page 59 of Ruined
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
I was probably crushing her, but I couldn’t bring myself to let go.
The more I thought of the things she had to endure, the angrier I became. Don’t even get me started on the gross miscarriage of justice…Shit! I needed to stop thinking about it. Nothing would ever change what happened.
Every time I blinked, I saw the look of shame in her eyes. I wanted to yell that she had nothing to be ashamed of, that I wasn’t bothered by the past.
I only cared about Zoe and the possibility of having a future with her.
There wasn’t a person walking this earth who didn’t have some sort of demon hiding in their closet. I knew that certain choices we made might come back to haunt us. My brother, Logan, was the perfect example of that. Hell, one bad decision had almost cost him everything.
Zoe was part of mine now, even if she didn’t know it yet.
I was going to protect her no matter what.
“C’mon.” I took her hand and led her to the bedroom, switching off lights as we went. Once inside, I brushed my fingers along her jaw. Her gaze never left mine, not even when I had to shut my eyes momentarily because I couldn’t stand the look in hers. I was undeserving of the trust shining in those hazel depths.
Swallowing hard, I walked toward the bed, but stopped when she wasn’t following me. I turned around to find her exactly where I’d left her, hugging herself. “Please don’t do that?” Her whispered words echoed in the silent room. “Please don’t treat me as if I might break at any moment.” Zoe squared her shoulders and straightened her spine. “I’m still the same woman you’d made love to this morning and I’m a lot stronger than you think.”
Didn’t I know it? That was precisely what I said as I started to approach her, “You’re incredible.”
She shook her head like she didn’t believe me. “Then why are you looking at me like you pity me?”
“Pity?” I spoke louder than I’d intended, my voice booming. “You think I pity you, sunshine? You’re so far off.” Coming to a halt when we were toe-to-toe, I immediately gripped her chin between my fingers and guided her gaze to mine. “Do I hate what happened to you? Yes, with everything in me. It’s human to sympathize with someone when something bad happens, that doesn’t mean I think you’re some broken doll. I’m having a hard time thinking of someone I admire more than I admire you right now.”
She blinked, two thick tears dropped from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. I swiped them away with the pads of my thumbs and figured if she could be honest about her thoughts, I could at least do the same.
“Do you even realize how desperately I want to make love to you right now?” I knew how terrible that sounded. It wasn’t that I was insensitive to what she’d confided in me, but it was more that I needed to take the hurt away, so I clarified, “I want to replace every bad memory and feeling withusand everything I feel for you.” When she started to lower her head, I curled my fingers around her nape and perched my thumbs under her chin. I needed her to see that I meant every word I said. “I don’t think you’re broken, sunshine, but I can see you’re hurting.” More tears rolled down her cheeks. “Let me take away your pain like you’ve relieved me of mine.”
In answer, Zoe pushed onto her toes and wrapped herself around me. Her mouth hovered near mine while her eyes roamed over my face, “Don’t you see, Eli? You already have.” Her breath fanned my lips before she kissed me slowly, tenderly.
Lifting her with ease, I carried her to the bed where I made love to her in the exact same manner she’d kissed me.
Slowly.
Tenderly.
Later, as she fell asleep in my arms, I stared at the ceiling wondering, how much longer I’d be able to keep those words that burned on the tip of my tongue to myself. I’d known for a while that I was falling in love with Zoe; it was only a matter of time until she realized it too.
I had murder on my mind.
And not just the figurative kind either. The first thing I’d done the moment I’d walked into the office this morning had been to make a request to TCPD for Zoe’s case file. As much as she’d asked me to, I couldn’t let it go. After reading the flimsy one page report, I was one hundred percent certain that John Hammond would pay for what he’d done.
And he’d pay by my hand.
The guy was a piece of work, that was for sure… Zoe hadn’t been the first one to press charges against him; there’d been four other women before her. Every single time the charges were dropped.
Clearly, someone was helping him fight dirty.Well, buddy, two can play that game. I glanced at my office door to ensure it was still closed before pulling my phone from my pocket. I poked the little green phone icon after I pulled up Holden’s number.
“Now this is a surprise,” he said by way of greeting. I’d met Holden when we were both doing our training in TC. For the first few minutes we made small talk, but his detective senses soon started tingling. “Not that I don’t enjoy hearing from a friend,” he said, “but something tells me you didn’t call to catch up.” He sounded more curious than annoyed.
“You got me, man.” My gaze snapped to the door again. No one needed to know what I was fixin’ to ask him. “Listen, how opposed are you to someone dishing out some vigilante justice in your city?”
“Hold on.” I heard shuffling in the background followed by the sound of a door clicking shut. “I’m assuming this someone would be you?”
“Not just me, I need your help too.” I knew if there was anyone who’d be prepared to cross a certain line, it was him. A few years back Holden’s daughter had been kidnapped; to this day she hadn’t been found, and he hasn’t stopped looking for her, even though his captain had officially ordered him to.
“I’m listening.”
Leaning back against my chair, I talked him through the plan I’d come up with while Zoe had still been asleep in my arms. I’d promised to keep her safe, and the only way to do that was to make John Hammond disappear.
