Safe at Last (Slow Burn #3)

Her lips pursed in consternation. Zack would have to be one damn good actor to pull that off as consistently as it had played out, and Zack was no actor. He had always been refreshingly blunt, unable to hide his true thoughts or feelings. You never had to wonder where you stood with him. If ever in doubt, all you had to do was simply ask him. He certainly never shied away from giving his honest assessment of anything, even at the risk of hurting someone’s feelings.

Her head ached vilely, her pulse pounding at her temples. It was all too much to take in. She was clinging to the edge by her fingertips, having already gone all the way over the cliff and dangling haphazardly. One little slip and she’d be gone. She wasn’t sure how much more she could take.

She risked another look up at Zack and saw real concern and agitation in his eyes but at the same time his features were unyielding. He wasn’t budging and she knew him well enough to be certain that he wouldn’t be swayed once his mind was set on something.

Which meant they were about to have a serious come-to-Jesus moment and for only the second time since the horrible nightmare twelve years ago she was going to tell someone what had happened in exacting detail.

God help her but she wasn’t sure she would survive facing the man responsible for destroying her and recounting in detail the pain, sorrow and humiliation she had suffered at his instigation.





TWENTY-ONE


ZACK’S heart pounded viciously against the wall of his chest. After his forceful declaration, he and Gracie had eaten the rest of the meal in silence. He could sense her fear. Hell, it was tangible, completely enveloping her. And it broke his heart.

Never, never would he have imagined that Gracie would be afraid of him. He was the very last person she needed to fear. He’d always been her protector, had always handled her with the utmost care and respect.

He had put her on a pedestal and had worshipped the ground she walked on. There was nothing in the world he wouldn’t do for her, and he’d made sure he told her that every single day. He never let a moment pass when she wasn’t completely confident in his absolute love and devotion. She’d been the most precious thing in the world to him.

She still was.

But Gracie wasn’t the only one who was afraid. He was fucking terrified. This was the single most important moment of his life. Everything was riding on this. Right here, right now. If Gracie refused to believe him . . . and, God, how could she have ever believed it in the first place? It was so baffling that he couldn’t wrap his head around it.

Had these so-called friends who’d raped her told her that he had asked them to? Who the hell asked someone to rape someone as a favor, for God’s sake? It sickened him. It was so abhorrent to him that nausea curled in his stomach at the very thought. And what sort of sick fuck did she think he was to have believed that shit?

He swiped his hand down over his face and stared down at the dishes he’d placed in the sink. Once they’d finished eating, Zack had broken the stony silence by telling Gracie that it was time for them to talk—really talk. And then he’d received a punch in the gut when panic had buzzed across her features.

After helping her into the living room, he’d returned to clear the table. Not that it was important at all, but Zack needed time to compose himself and bolster himself for the revelation of the demons that haunted Gracie’s past—her present. And to prepare himself for her assertion that he was the biggest demon of them all.

He’d racked his brain trying to figure out which of his hometown friends would have done something so despicable. And he kept drawing a blank. Gracie was such a sweetheart and people couldn’t help but love her on sight. He knew he certainly hadn’t escaped her infectious smile and laughter. He’d fallen and fallen hard the first time he laid eyes on her. He’d known without a doubt that she was it for him. And then he’d taken the necessary steps to ensure that she was his.

But again, who—and why, for God’s sake—would hurt Gracie? And blame him? It made no sense! Nothing made sense anymore. Not one thing in this entire fucked-up situation made a bit of goddamn sense.

He closed his eyes, braced his hands against the edge of the sink and breathed deeply for a few seconds in order to gather strength for the ordeal ahead. Sterling was staying put in his bedroom making business calls, at Zack’s behest. He’d absolutely planned that the moment he got Gracie established in a safe place, where they could have privacy, they would finally air out the past. He hadn’t been pleased that Sterling would be occupying the same quarters as him and Gracie, but if it gained Gracie’s cooperation, he’d get over it. But he’d made sure that Sterling was for the most part going to stay the hell out of the way.

Zack glanced over his shoulder into the living room, where Gracie sat like an ice sculpture on the couch and he knew he was merely delaying the inevitable when before he’d been frustrated as hell with the lack of information.