“Oh, Shane,” Lia moaned. She pulled him closer into her arms and held him close. Her tears fell against his shoulder as she cried for the frightened boy he had buried inside himself, and the man who still had to endure those memories.
“At sixteen, I finally had enough. I beat him nearly to death, then left the house and never turned back. I was done. The sad thing was that I didn’t even care when I found out my mother had killed him. One day, I guess she just had enough, too. She stabbed him in his sleep, then waited for the police to come. She didn’t even try to hide what she’d done. They asked her if it was self-defense, and she said no. She could have gotten off. He beat her constantly, especially after I left, but she still pleaded guilty to the authorities. She told the prosecutor that she’d just decided he wasn’t worthy of living another day. She’d grabbed a kitchen knife, stood over him with a crazy smile on her face and plunged the knife deep into his chest. She told them that she’d laughed as his eyes popped open and he struggled to catch his breath.”
“Oh, my gosh,” Lia gasped, unable to imagine what he was saying.
“I went to the trial. She didn’t know I was there, but I wanted to see what happened. I sat in the back row. It was odd, the emotions I felt. It was as if I was a different person, just a journalist there to take notes. I felt nothing when she was deemed crazy and the judge had her locked up in a mental institution. I felt nothing for the man who had been killed. No…that’s not true. The only thing I felt at knowing he was dead was regret — regret that I hadn’t been the one to plunge the knife into the coldhearted bastard’s chest.”
“You don’t mean that, Shane. You couldn’t take a life,” Lia gasped.
He was silent for several heartbeats. “Not like that. No,” he said. “At that moment, I did feel regret, though. I don’t know. If I had stayed any longer, I might have been the one to take his life.”
The certainty in his tone frightened Lia. He was so different from the abused teenage boy he’d told her of, but she couldn’t comprehend what he’d been through. It was so tragic.
“Have you seen her since she’s been locked up?” Lia was afraid to ask, but she needed to know.
“No. I don’t have any desire to see that woman,” he spit out, his body tensing again.
“Maybe you should, Shane. Maybe it would help you to heal and you could fully let go of the past. What she did was horrendous, but if you could tell her that, tell her how wrong she was, then you could let go of that burden.”
“How would that help? She’s mental,” he snapped.
Lia knew he wasn’t snapping at her. She knew he was in a world of pain right now. Having grown up with loving parents and siblings, she couldn’t pretend to know what he had dealt with, but she loved him enough to get some glimmerings.
“It doesn’t matter if you get through to her, Shane. It’s about you. She stole enough from you, your childhood, your joy, your love. She took it all, and she doesn’t deserve redemption, but you deserve to be able to let it all go.”
“Well, I guess it really doesn’t matter now, does it?” he said, shocking her as he turned toward her and smiled.
“Why is that?” she asked, completely confused.
“Because we’re lost on a deserted island and may never be found again. It may be our sole responsibility to populate this land and start over,” he teased.
“Mmm, that sounds like it could be fun,” she said and rubbed against him. The frightening thing was the tug inside her heart at the thought of carrying Shane’s child. It should terrify her. She didn’t want to be a mother, not yet, but as she looked into his eyes, she could picture a little boy with his hair and eyes gazing back at her. She was also confused because of his earlier statement. Did he want kids or not? She didn’t want them now, but she knew she would someday.
Shane drew her beneath him and easily slipped inside her body. She knew he was healing by losing himself within her. She was OK with that — more than OK, she thought as passion began building and thoughts of children evaporated as pleasure began enveloping them.
Lia knew Rafe would rescue them. It was only a matter of time. And so, in the meantime, she would enjoy every moment she was locked tightly in Shane’s arms.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Ari
No worries here, Ari thought smugly as she walked up the steps to the huge library. She’d be safe, sound, and inviolable as Fort Knox. There was no way that Rafe would put the moves on her while in a public building. Well, he had in public before, but he wouldn’t dare do something in a library, and they certainly couldn’t have sex. I mean, really!
Since she’d done nothing but toss and turn the night before, she was quite irritated with Rafe. Had he been a terrible kisser, or had her body not completely betrayed her, then she would have been in a much better mood.
To top all of that off, the snore-worthy pig of a doctor had dared to call her at midnight to see if he could get her address and stop by. He wanted to have dessert. She’d just bet he wanted dessert...
She’d told him to lose her number, then hung up on him while he’d still been sputtering.
It seemed that Ari was doomed to end up in the presence of the wrong men.
This last date wasn’t really her fault, since her friend had set the entire thing up, but still… Some days, it seemed she’d end up as that person with ten cats, four dogs, three piranhas and a parakeet, rocking alone on her front porch. Not that there was anything wrong with that. And anyway, she was far too young to be thinking that way, but it still frightened her.
She didn’t want to settle with just anyone because she was afraid of being alone. It was OK to focus on herself for a while. Being in a relationship didn’t define you as a person. First, you had to be confident in yourself before you were capable of having a healthy, mutually beneficial relationship.
Ari had gained confidence over the last couple of years. She was just lonely, making it easier for Rafe to slip past her guard.
She’d have to put forth more effort in her attempts to keep him out of her pants.
She found a quiet corner table, and sat down. People were all around her, busy studying or reading for pleasure, but the point was that people were there. She felt secure. Her phone vibrated; picking it up, she saw a message from Rafe.
Have you arrived yet?