I cleared my throat and looked at them. “I need to tell you why I quit school.”
Instantly, tears formed in my mother’s eyes as she reached for my hand.
Christina had said I needn’t go into details, so I didn’t. “I was… I was raped.”
My mother let out a sob.
My father immediately stood and started to pace. He shook his head and walked over to the wall and punched it with so much force, I nearly jumped out of my chair. My mother held onto my hand tightly as my father yelled, “I knew it! Goddamn, I knew it!”
He must have realized his outburst was frightening, because he instantly walked back to me and dropped to his knees. “I’m so sorry, baby girl. I didn’t mean to lose my temper.” Taking my hands in his, he kissed the back of them, tears rolling down his handsome face.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I just couldn’t. I felt so ashamed and—”
“You have nothing to be ashamed of! Arabella Adams, you did nothing wrong. Do you hear me?”
My mother kissed my forehead. “Your father is one-hundred percent correct. You have nothing to be ashamed of, darling. Nothing.”
I smiled sadly, glancing from my mother to my father. “Daddy…you guys don’t even know what happened.”
“And we don’t need to know,” my dad said. “What we need is for you to know that we love you, Arabella. And no matter what you need, your mother and I are forever and always here for you.”
“Daddy,” I sobbed as I threw myself at him and wrapped my arms around his neck.
He held me tight. “I’m so sorry, baby girl…I’m so sorry.”
I drew back. “What on earth for?”
My mother placed her hand on my shoulder. “We should have pushed you harder to tell us what happened. Maybe if we had, you wouldn’t have hidden away for all those years. You and Hunter…” Her voice trailed off, and she looked at me with so much love, I could practically feel it radiating off of her.
“I haven’t told him yet. I’m going to tell him tonight when he comes over for dinner.”
Daddy’s forehead creased with worry. “Do you need us there? I’m…I’m…I’m sorry for losing my cool a moment ago.”
I placed my hand on the side of his face. “It’s okay. Aiden will be there, as well as Abby. Bishop and Kyle too.”
“Good, good. Because when that boy finds out, he’s going to want to kill the fucker—just like I do.”
My eyes went wide, and I looked at my mother, who simply nodded while she wiped her tears away. I had never heard my father talk that way in front of my mom.
“Are you mad I didn’t tell you?” I asked, wringing my hands together.
My father’s face softened, and he drew me to him again. “Never. I’m just sorry we weren’t there for you, that I didn’t follow my gut instinct.”
“You’ve always been here for me, Daddy. Both you and Mom have.”
“Not always,” he said as his voice cracked, and he held me just a bit tighter.
Hunter
The last few weeks had been both a dream and a goddamn nightmare. Every time we took two steps forward, something would happen and Bella would take a step back from me. But I was at least grateful she wasn’t pushing me away completely, and I needed to remember that.
Something deep inside told me that I already knew what was wrong with Bella. But every time my imagination tried to go there, I stopped it. She was terrified of something—and even more frightened by the idea of me finding out what it was.
Now I pulled over on the side of the road and took a few moments to breathe. Intimacy was still something Bella was working on. After that night on the sofa, when I had touched her and kissed her breasts, she’d pulled back a little from me. Something had shifted between us that night. Though, to be fair, I’d hardly gotten to see her since that night because of my schedule. I’d almost pulled out of the ice fishing trip with Kyle and Bishop, so I could spend time with her instead. None of us were damn good at it anyway. I was glad I hadn’t, though. It had been good to hang out with them and relax for a bit, even though I’d frozen my damn ass off. And I thought that Bella might have needed the space as well.
Staring out the window, I thought back to earlier this afternoon. We’d come back from ice fishing a little early, and I’d been driving past the clinic that Aiden and Mitch Hathaway, a former Navy SEAL and fellow police officer, had founded. It had started off as a place for veterans and those who suffered from PTSD to go for counseling, but I knew they helped other people as well. I’d almost talked to Aiden about maybe seeing someone there myself.