Page 66 of Resisting Fate
“I still feel in the dark,” he said quietly. “Like you’re hiding something.”
Fuck it. He wanted the grisly details, she’d give them to him. Maybe then he’d realize exactly how fucked up she was. She was sure he’d be sprinting out the door.
“What do you want to know, Ben? That my mom had me at sixteen and gave me up? How about the story of my adoptive parents dying in a car crash when I was ten? My dad dead on arrival, my mom in a coma, me looking at her full of tubes and wires, terrified, and then she died overnight while I was sleeping and I never got to say goodbye? That’s a real winner. Or that I married that bastard Louis at eighteen and endured three years of abuse? That he held my wrists and slapped me so hard my ears rang, yanked my hair out, hurled emotional abuse at me, and I let him? How about that he nearly killed me when I mentioned divorce? Is that what you’re so damn eager to find out?”
“Missy.” He reached for her hand, but she resisted, keeping her arms crossed.
Her mouth kept going with no thought beyond driving him away. “Add this to your Missy file. I was a fifteen-year-old runaway after my aunt’s sleazy husband made a pass at me. Six months on the streets, then a series of foster homes. Isn’t it great how much you can learn about someone even without the magic of the internet?”
“No, Missy, I’m sorry. Baby—”
Tears choked her voice. “Fuck you.”
His voice remained calm and steady. “I’m really sorry for what you’ve been through.”
She stared straight ahead, tears flowing freely. “I didn’t want you to know. He abused me and I stayed.”
“That wasn’t your fault.”
She wiped her tears and sniffled. “I know, but it feels like it. I came here to start fresh. I didn’t want you to see me like this.” She crossed her arms again, hugging herself. “I’m so embarrassed,” she whispered.
“Embarrassed? Hell, I’m impressed. You kicked his ass and he fucking deserved it.”
She met his eyes, seeing only appreciation. “It felt good,” she admitted. “I’ve been training for that confrontation ever since I left him.”
“You did good, Missy. You really did.”
She nodded, still feeling shaky but also a little proud.
“How long has he been begging you for money?”
“He showed up a few weeks ago. I thought after he stole the money from the church bazaar, I wouldn’t see him again. That’s why I was working a second job. I didn’t want anyone to know I brought the devil to their door.”
“Again, not your fault.”
“It is.” Without her, Louis never would’ve come around.
“No, not your fault,” Ben insisted. “Tell me everything that’s happened with him, and then I’ll figure out a plan to permanently get him out of your life. And then we’ll help out the Harpers together.”
“That ismy job. I don’t need you to rescue me.”
“I’m not. I’m helping.”
“I’ve got this,” she said evenly. She fixed her own problems. Always.
“Why won’t you let me help?” he barked, his voice too loud in the confined space.
She glared at him. “Don’t yell at me. I don’t need or want your help.”
He blew out a breath. “Look, I don’t want to fight.”
“Then you should go because I’m in no mood to get it through your thick head. I fix my own problems.”
“You can’t do everything by yourself,” he snapped, sounding really pissed that she wasn’t immediately falling in line with his fix-Missy plan. “I want to help. I want to keep you safe.”
“I am safe. You say you’re impressed with how I kicked ass, but you don’t think I can handle any further confrontation. I can. I don’t think there will be a next time with Louis, but if there is, I will be prepared.”
“What does that mean?” he demanded.
