Page 94 of A Little Bit Reckless
“I’ll let you have your time,” the doctor said as if she hadn’t just dropped a bomb on the room. Dr. Miller stood. “Rainbow, let me know if you need anything. Just use your call button, and I’ll come.”
Bow nodded, but just barely.
She’d also let go of our hands. She held herself, rocking.
“Bow,” I started to say, but Wells lifted his hand. He shook his head, and he put his arms around Bow. He held her in silence.
It was like he knew what she needed.
Bow lost it there in Wells’s chest, sobbing, and Wells held on to her like he was trying to fuse himself to her, both of them rocking together. Like he also needed her in order to continue on in that moment.
“It’s okay,” Wells said, the words tight. He was restraining his emotion, his face red. He kissed the top of her head. “It’s okay.”
It’s okay.
Wells looked at me, and our eyes connected. We shared a brief moment of something before I brought my arms around Bow too.
“It’s okay, Bow.” I was shaking, and Wells’s hold was the same as mine.
“I have to tell you something,” Bow gasped between us. She wasso small, so fucking fragile. She shook her head. “I have to tell you about him.”
Him.
Wells and I glanced at each other. Right now, Bow needed us. She needed our love. She needed our support, and that was enough to keep both our monsters at bay, I think. Someone didn’t just touch her. They did something else, and I could fucking feel that in my soul.Someone hurt her.
And that was all I needed to know.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-TWO
Wells
He was her professor.
He’d even had dinner with our parents.
I sat in horror as Bow told Bru and me about him. The guy had stalked Bow all semester and onlykindastopped after she spent more time with me. He was why she wanted people to see me with her.
I was silent while Bow spoke, dangerously silent. I was sure I appeared calm, but inside a war raged within me only one person related to. He was sitting on her other side.
Bru also remained silent while Bow spoke. He held her, one arm around her waist while his other hand was on my shoulder. Bow couldn’t see that hand, the one that gripped into my flesh with a fucking viselike grip. She didn’t see Bru’s face, his complexion the color of a thousand suns, red. His jaw clenched.
Bow sniffed back tears while she told her story. Bow was lying between us and gripped my shirt. “I’m so stupid. He told me so many things. Made me feel things…”
I held on to Bow to keep from fuming, shaking.
She shook her head. “I was just so lonely.”
She was lonely because of me. It was because of somethingIdid. I blackballed her. Hell, she couldn’t even havefriendsunless they were a part of our crew. That was somethingIdid, me.
The grip on my shoulder loosened a bit, and I think that was because Bru transferred his attention to Bow. She started crying, and he hugged her into him. He swept back her hair. “Baby,” he murmured.
She was our baby, and I knew I had no right to think of her that way. It was because of me this fucker had access to her. She wasvulnerablebecause of me.
She held Bru’s hand, squeezed it. “I didn’t even want to have sex. I thought I did. He made me think I did.” She sniffed. “I asked to stop at first. I didn’t want it, but he got in my head.”
Something happened to Bow she neither wanted or liked, and that was assault. Point-blank.
