Desired (28 page)

“Poor girl, if that’s what she had to face,” Porter said, staring at Rory, who used both feet to kick at the window.

Kyler had seen such behavior before, many times. Booze and a certain type of individuals didn’t mix, bringing out anger that looked animalistic. No sane part of Rory lived in him now. But a real man wouldn’t drink, if he knew alcohol made him this way.

Porter added, “Must’ve been scary.”

“I’d imagine so,” Kyler replied, which only tugged at his heart, reminding him how little Ella shared with him.

He’d been trained in how to deal with drunken assholes, and had the muscle mass to ensure he kept them at bay. Sweet Ella had none of those things. But why was it so hard for her to tell him how afraid she’d been? He craved her vulnerability like a drug … and yet he doubted he’d get his fix.

As Rory got in three good kicks on the window, the rookie, Maggie, strode up to her cruiser, then opened the door just as Rory was about to kick it again. She said in a controlled voice, “Do that again and we’ll tie you down, so you can’t. The choice is yours. Make good decisions.”

Kyler shook his head, suspecting Rory would be put in the restraint chair when they returned to the station. But past all that, he felt sorry for Ella that she had once had to deal with Rory on her own.

It should never have happened.

For doing what Rory did to her, abuse to a woman who couldn’t defend herself, Kyler wished death—or something far worse—on the man in the cruiser.

“All right?”

Turning to Dmitri, Kyler muttered, “Yeah.”

Dmitri’s brows drew together as he pressed a hand against Kyler’s shoulder. “Sorry to hear you’ve been dealing with this. I suspected something of this nature was going on with her, but I didn’t know it still affected her.” His gaze flicked to the cruiser, and he frowned. “Or that the problem was so violent.”

Aidan sidled up to them, and his hands were tucked firmly into the pockets of his jeans. His eyes narrowed on the cruiser, blazing red hot. “So,
that’s
what this is all about?”

Kyler inclined his head.

“Fuck.” Aidan yanked his hands out of his pockets and crossed his arms. “I wish she would have told me about this. I could have helped her, or at least provided more security for her at work.”

You and me both
. “She didn’t tell me, either,” Kyler replied.

Aidan’s head whipped around to Kyler, his brows drawn together. “How did you find out about it, then?”

Kyler scraped a hand over his face and muttered, “Ella called in to the Savannah PD when Rory approached her. A friend of his from Savannah is on the force and wanted us to keep an eye out for him.”

“Christ,” Aidan grunted. “She doesn’t deserve this.”

“She doesn’t deserve a lot of the shit that has happened to her.” Kyler pushed off the cruiser and approached Maggie. “Take Rory back to the station. Give him coffee and let him sober up.” He hesitated, considering next steps. “Don’t call your friend in Savannah just yet. All right?”

She nodded, her eyes searching his. “Anything else I can do?”

He imagined every cop in the vicinity knew this was personal to Kyler. He couldn’t hide his emotions. Not now. Not with having all of this explode in Ella’s face. All he’d wanted to do was protect her from more pain, and somehow he had failed. “That’s good for now. I’ll be at the station soon.”

“Yes, sir.” She turned, heading to her cruiser.

Kyler noticed how quiet Rory was now, which only infuriated him. So aggressive with ones who couldn’t protect themselves, but one statement from a cop had his head hanging.

Pathetic
.

Strong men don’t need aggression or force to hold power. Weak men need it, because they control nothing
. The advice from an older Dom that Kyler had met when he first joined Chains carried through his mind.

As the cruiser drove off with the other two following behind, Kyler stared after them. He sensed Porter step up next to him. Then Porter said in a soft voice, “You’ve taken good care of her, Kyler. She’ll be okay.”

“Will she be?” he asked, gazing at the lights fading off in the distance.

“She has you,” Porter stated.

Is that enough?
echoed in his mind.

Was this a step forward or simply a huge step backward? He knew what this night would do to her. The embarrassment she’d face having everyone know what happened to her, which was a secret that she’d done her best to keep to herself. And he also knew of her habits of running away when things got tough.

Tension battered him as he turned to Porter. “You’re right, she does have me.”
To make
her safe. To remove this threat. To be the cop that she desperately needs in her life
.

All he could do was act and do something to better the situation.

The rest he’d figure out later.

With Rory and all the Club Sin Masters gone from her house, Ella slumped down onto the couch. Her hands shook as she grabbed her lap quilt off the back of the couch and wrapped it around herself. Kenzie was off in the kitchen, making tea, leaving Presley and Cora with Ella.

She had yet to decide if she should tell everyone to leave or beg them to stay. All she knew, she was suffering a serious state of shock that included part embarrassment and the other part sheer horror at what had happened.

This
was exactly why she never wanted to talk about Rory. For once, her life resembled that of a normal person, one not touched by so much pain. Now everyone knew all her horrible secrets.

Where is a hole to crawl into when I need it?

Presley dropped down onto the couch, rubbing Ella’s leg. Her gaze was as soft and sweet as ever. “Jeez, girl, I wish you would have told us about him. We could have been there to help you, somehow.”

Ella sighed, tightening the blanket around her and fighting off the chills. “Yeah, isn’t that a great start to a friendship. So, I have this husband that pushed me into a table and gave me this scar. Oh, and he also won’t divorce me. Wanna be friends?”

Cora frowned as she sat next to Ella. “Well, it’s the truth. No one here is going to judge you.” She gave Ella a look. “I mean, he’s the asshole.”

“You know, it just never felt like that,” Ella admitted.

“Why?” Cora pressed.

Ella heaved a shrug. “Because all his friends—who I thought were my friends—turned their backs on me after it happened.”

“Because you left him?” Presley asked with a gruff voice.

Ella nodded. “They’ve all known Rory since they were kids. And they know—as well as I do—that it’s the booze that makes him so violent.” She shuddered at the look in his eye when he stood at her door.

That same look had haunted her for months, until she’d finally stopped thinking about it.
“They all thought I should help him get sober and forgive him.” Before anyone jumped on her, she added, “Of course, I didn’t agree, which is why I left. But when you have no one who understands that and simply thinks you should give him another chance, I was left feeling like I’d done something wrong.”

Cora’s eyes became sad. “I think that’s really understandable. Anyone would feel that way. I’m sorry you had such shitty friends.”

Kenzie returned with tea and offered it to Ella. “You did the right thing by leaving that sad excuse for a man. What’s the saying?
Once an abuser, always an abuser
. And him showing up tonight only proves that. Anyone who says you should have stayed with him is fucked up, as far as I’m concerned.” She smiled, warm and without sass. “It’s good Kyler was here to deal with him.”

“Yeah,” Ella muttered.

Though would having the abuse thrown in his face make things between them even tenser? She wanted Kyler to forget about Rory—hell, she wanted to forget about Rory. She craved for Kyler to treat her like a woman without the past she had. She didn’t want to be a victim—she’d been that for far too long.

Presley nibbled on her lip, then finally asked, “Did Kyler know about him? He didn’t seem too shocked to see him tonight.”

Ella scraped her hands across her tired eyes. Inside, everything ached. “He knew about Rory, but I’ll tell you, it seemed like Kyler had met Rory before or something.”

All heads nodded agreement.

Cora asked, “I take it that you didn’t know he planned to approach him?”

Ella shook her head, trying to rummage through her feelings. Did that touch her or simply anger her? She had yet to decide. “No, and I would have told him not to. I don’t need help with Rory. He would’ve eventually given up and just gone home.”

Kenzie snorted. “Yeah, but when, after he came to your house and possibly hurt you again?”

Ella couldn’t deny the statement, but she wasn’t quite ready to accept it, either. Kyler’s approaching Rory had brought him to her doorstep.

Before she could say as much, Cora said, “You have to understand, it’s just the Club Sin way. It wasn’t like Kyler was being nosy to be a prick. He was doing it because he was worried
about you.” She hesitated and then smiled gently. “Kyler is a really good guy. Believe me, if he went to Rory it was because he wanted to help you.”

“I didn’t want or ask for his help,” Ella retorted.

Presley laughed without amusement. “Sorry to break it to you, but you signed up for that when you walked into Club Sin. Dmitri was the same way. Our Doms don’t like us being threatened in any manner.”

Cora agreed with a nod. “Kyler probably wanted to make sure you’re safe.”

While Ella appreciated it, she also wondered what that protection cost them. Kyler was restraining himself toward Ella before he’d even met Rory, not even hearing the whole story. How would he be now that he’d seen firsthand what she’d gone through?

Distant?

Concerned?

She hoped not.

Before she could reply to Cora, her front door opened and then
he
was there. Tall, gorgeous, and damn near perfect. Her world narrowed on Kyler. His eyes were soft, yet hinted at tension. “Ella, come to me.”

Pushing off the blanket, she rose from the couch. Once in front of him, he slid his hands down her arms. But his gaze was exactly what she feared: focused elsewhere. Not on her.

He said with a tight voice, “I need to leave you tonight and go deal with Rory, but I’ll be back in the morning.”

“Kyler—”

He pressed a finger against her mouth. Not a soft touch, but firm.
Stressed
. “I’ll come back as soon as I can. Please, for now, just listen to me.”

The detachment in his gaze hurt, cutting so deeply into her battered soul that she needed to force air into her lungs.
No, don’t go. Stay. Don’t be different
. But his features weren’t playful and they weren’t focused on
her
, they were somewhere else. Somewhere so far from where she wanted him to be.

He leaned down and kissed her cheek like she was a casual acquaintance. There was no heat. No love. No passion. Only a tight embrace that spoke to the heady emotions raging through him.

Then he left.

Just like that.

Ella stared at the closed door, tears welling in her eyes. What would become of them now? How could he possibly forget about Rory when he simply seemed consumed by it? She didn’t want him to deal with Rory. She wanted him here,
with her
. Her strength drained out of her, weakening her knees.

“Hugs help.”

Tears streamed down Ella’s face as she turned to Cora. Her arms were opened as she added, “Come here. We’ll stay with you tonight.”

Ella found her feet moving, without even thinking. She dropped down next to Presley and Cora, with Kenzie on her knees in front of her. “I’m sorry.” She sniffed. “You all never signed up for this.”

“Oh, please,” Kenzie muttered, giving Ella’s leg a light slap. “We all have shit in our pasts. Horrible shit that we wouldn’t want anyone to know. Yours just happened to explode in front of us.”

Somehow staring at Kenzie, Ella thought Kenzie understood her more than anyone else. From the warm hints of understanding in her gaze, Ella wondered if Kenzie had been through dark times herself, or at least that’s how it seemed.

“Kenzie’s right,” Presley agreed. “We’re your friends now. Maybe new friends, but friends nonetheless. And when we go through tough shit, we’re here for each other.”

Ella looked from face to face, appreciating these women. She cherished that they didn’t pity her. They were simply there for her. Holding her. Loving her. For the first time in so long, she experienced the warm comfort that comes from being around people who truly cared for her. She looked to each of them, wiping her tears. “Thank you for being so good to me.”

Presley smiled softly. “You’re stuck with us now, Ella. Get used to it. There’s no getting rid of us.”

“Damn right you are,” Kenzie added with her typical sassy flare.

Cora jumped off the couch in her bouncy way. “Okay, let me go talk to Aidan. I’ll send him on a junk-food-and-movie run.” She moved toward the door.

“It’s Club Sin tonight,” Ella argued. “You don’t all need to stay with me.”

“Hush, you.” Cora glanced over her shoulder. “It’s a girls’ night. I’m sure the club will survive without us. We’ll have a blast and eat horrible food that we shouldn’t.”

Kenzie nodded with a dancing gaze. “Get him to grab some wine, too. No girls’ night is official without a big-ass bottle of wine!”