Page 32 of Rival
I’ve been around long enough to know she was hit. Bruising like that would be unlikely from a fall or banging her face on something. Which means she’s in an unsafe situation or around someone dangerous.
“I’m just gonna go ahead and not sugarcoat anything. Who hurt you, Edith?” EvenIcan hear the gravely anger as my voice scrapes past my vocal cords.
From the corner of my eye, I see her shoulders come up to her ears as she looks out the window. Those pearly white teeth poke out just enough to dig hard into her bottom lip as she anxiously chews on it.
Reaching over, I lightly tug it free from the abuse, then brush my thumb over her jaw before pulling it away.
“Alright. Do you have a boyfriend or something hurting you? There are people who can help you get out of unsafe relationships and into a protected place if you need it. Lots of women have been in—”
She snorts half brokenly and finally turns to face me. The sun shines directly on her cheek, giving a softness to the bruise as if it’s barely there, hidden under warm rays, but I know she can feel the pain.
“I donothave a boyfriend.”
“Then explain to me why you look like you got smacked around?”
She closes her eyes and inhales slowly. “I won’t deny what you think happened, but Jaxon,” she implores, her lids opening again and focusing on me. “I’m not comfortable saying more.Will you believe me when I say I’m working on a solution to remove myself from the situation?”
A thousand questions crash into my mind, but almost every single one of them requires her to give me an answer she’s just explained she’s not comfortable giving. The main one being “Who the hell did this to you?”
“Do you really need to pick up stuff from your shop?” Her question comes as I’m battling what to say next and we pass the turn I needed to take.
“Shit,” I grumble, then slow down to flip a bitch and head in the right direction. “So, you’re working on a solution. What does that mean?”
Watching the road, she tugs at her fingers to give herself something to do. “Money. That’s the answer to everything, right? If you’ve got enough money, you can buy yourself out a lot of situations you find yourself stuck in. That’s what I’m doing. I got a job and I’m saving up money. Then I’ll figure out what to do next.”
“Money for what? A lawyer? You need to buy something? Move?”
Edith’s tone is sad when she simply pleads, “Jaxon… I’m figuring it out. Truly. Besides, it’s not so bad.” Her hand reaches up to touch her face, and it pisses me off enough that I slam on my brakes.
She shoots her arms out to brace herself against the seatbelt stretched between her breasts and gasps. The moment we’re stopped, I turn toward her. “Don’t give me that shit. The momentanyonelays a finger on a person in anger, it’s bad. I won’t push you to tell me more than you want right now, but I can be your friend, Edith.”
Tears well along the brim of her lids and I swear to God, this woman has hope emanating from her like a beacon. “I’dlovefor you to be my friend. That… that would be really special to me.”
Her response is a bit odd, like an offer of friendship is something new to her. I’m sure asking if she has many friends would come off as insulting, so I bite my tongue. “Good. Do you know what the best part of being friends is?”
She shakes her head quickly, a few lengths of her dark chestnut hair falling free to frame her face. “No, what’s the best part?”
“We get to exchange phone numbers. That way, if either of us ever needs anything, or just want to talk, we can.” My lips curl up on one side when she blushes at the idea of swapping numbers. “Sound good to you?”
“Yeah,” she breathes out. “I don’t have my phone with me, though. It’s back in my room. The battery doesn’t last long when it’s unplugged.”
When I reach over her body, she leans back to keep our bodies from touching as I rifle through my glove box. Finding an old receipt and pen, I slam the compartment shut and scribble down my number. Taking her hand, I turn it over to place the paper in her palm and curl her fingers over the top of it.
“There. When you get home tonight, send me a text or give me a call so I’ll have yours. This way, if you don’t really want me to have your number, you don’t have to be embarrassed by telling me now and you can just ghost me. Sound like a plan?”
She giggles and nods, then stops when she chews on the inside of her cheek to stop from laughing. Hugging the paper to her chest when I release my hold on her, I settle back and get us back on track to head to my shop. “It’s good you’re coming with me. I don’t have anything important I actually need today, but I’ll grab a few things. Plus, you’ll get to see where my parents live since our business is on the same property as their house. It’s where the horses are.”
“Oh!” she exclaims excitedly. “I rode a horse this morning! Well, kind of. I rode doubles with my boss, and honestly, I was pretty terrible at it. But I did, and it’s really incredible.”
Am I disappointed that I didn’t get to be a part of her first experience riding? Maybe a bit, but I’m happy for her. Winking, I tease, “Maybe the next time won’t be so hard, and you can ride solo. I’m still planning on getting you out to the farm in the near future for some riding lessons.”
Her smile is radiant as she settles back, relaxing into the seat as we travel the last mile to my parents’ place. I hate I didn’t get all the answers I want from her, but I hope my offer of friendship will get her to open up.
It also doesn’t hurt I’ve got more of an excuse to get to know her better as well.
Later that night, just as I’m sitting down to relax on my couch with a beer, my phone vibrates in my pocket. When I unlock the screen, I blow out a relieved gust of air, all my anxiety disappearing as soon as I see a message from an unknown number. She took a risk and decided not to blow me off.
Hi Jaxon. It’s Edith. This is my number. I’ll see you next week!
