She laid down, and after some pained moans, drifted off. Her brow pinched every few minutes, but her breathing stayed deep and even. I watched her for hours in the dark, counting her breaths, tucking her close when she whimpered. My baby was hurting, and I’d never felt so helpless.
Goddamn, I was angry. I only vaguely knew what had happened, no details, but someone was going to answer for this. I was almost glad Helen hadn’t called the cops. That left me clear to handle this on my own.
I must’ve dozed off at some point in the night, although I didn’t remember it. I woke to Helen slipping out of bed. Or trying to, at least. I snagged the back of her hoodie.
“Come back. Anything you need, I’ll get for you.”
She glanced at me over her shoulder, her hair curtaining most of her face. “Bathroom, Theodore. I probably have to do that myself.”
We both froze at her use of Theodore. I didn’t say a word, though. No way was I spooking her out of calling me that again.
“Want me to carry you?” I offered, sincere as fuck.
She snorted. “I can make it. Thanks, though.” Thankfully, she was walking instead of limping, although her movements seemed to be stilted.
A minute passed before the door to the bathroom slowly creaked open, but Helen didn’t come out. “You okay?” I asked.
“Yeah.” She peaked around the door. “I just need you to know I look a lot worse than I feel. Do you believe me?”
My fingers curled at my knees. “If you say you’re telling me the truth, I believe you.”
“Okay.” She stepped around the door and rushed to the bed, climbing onto my lap and burying her face in my neck. “You’re going to freak out.”
I held her close, keeping my embrace careful. I had no idea how badly her ribs hurt, or the rest of her. “I saw you last night. I already have an idea, baby.”
She hit my shoulder with her chin. “You can’t call me baby.”
“Helen,” I breathed out a low laugh, “you’re in my lap. A place you put yourself. I’m calling you baby because that’s what you are. You’re my baby, my little tiger. I haven’t been taking care of you, but that’s over. Even if you’re not up for forgiving me, I’m still going to be taking care of you.”
“I don’t know if I’m ready to forgive. All I know is you made me feel safe last night and right now.”
I stroked up and down her back while my stomach roiled. “That’s a lot. You are safe with me, baby. But I need to know what happened. Who did this?”
She shook her head. “You can’t go after him. He’ll kill you. If I hadn’t had his money last night—” A rough tremble took over her entire body. “I think he would have killed me. And then he would have gone after my mom and sister.”
“Amir?” I guessed.
“No. I mean, Amir was here, holding Zadie hostage while I was at work. But he isn’t in charge of everything. His older brother, Reno, is. He’s an absolute psycho.” She pulled back, cupping my jaw. “Listen to me, Theo. You cannot go after Reno. He’s untouchable to you. I need you to hear me.”
I heard her, but I was distracted by her black eye, the crusty cut on her cheek, the other cheek swollen and abraded. Her neck bore finger-shaped bruises that made my blood boil and struck a fear like I’d never known in my heart. She wasn’t broken, and she was still beautiful, but fuck, my girl had been banged up. I hadn’t even looked at her torso yet.
“I hear you. I need you to hear that I’m not letting this stand. You’re not going to owe that man money anymore. Your connection with him is over.”
She slumped against my chest. “I owe him a lot of fucking money. With interest...it’s going to take me until I graduate and have access to my trust to pay him off. I’ve got years of this over my head.”
“No, Helen.” Taking her head in my hands, I tipped it back carefully. “Listen to me. I am going to handle it. You have nothing more to worry about. That part of your life ceases to exist now that I’m here.”
Her chin trembled, but she clamped down on her bottom lip to make it stop. “I won’t let you do that. I know you’re working now, but you don’t have the kind of mon—”
I covered her mouth with mine, taking what I needed and giving back to her. Her gasp allowed me to delve my tongue between her lips, sipping her taste and letting it spread through my veins like a shot of pure heroin. Helen was calm, smooth, euphoric. Nothing had been right without her.
“Shut up,” I murmured against her lips. “No more.”
“We’re not kissing, Theo. I’m not there with you.”
“I know. I jumped the gun, but I needed you to shut your mouth, baby. This isn’t your worry anymore. I’m taking it.”
I didn’t have the money, but I’d find it. There were myriad paths I could take from here, but none of them involved me standing by while Helen gave more and more of her money, time, or self to the man who’d left her beaten in a parking lot last night.
“I stripped last night. Not only that, I lap danced. My ass was grinding on multiple men. I shook my tits in their faces. My friend Carina is a stripper, and she makes it look good. I admire her. When I do it, I feel like I’m never going to be clean again. But that’s the thing. I’ll do it again and again. Your promises are nice, but this is reality.”
As soon as she laid out what she saw as facts, she climbed off my lap and went to her dresser. She was digging around, but not taking anything out. I got the clear sense she needed space from me, but I’d already given her a hell of a lot. That was done too.
I crossed the room, bracing my hands on either side of her on the edge of the dresser. My chest was pressed to her back, and I bent down to nuzzle the side of her face.
“I didn’t know I wasn’t breathing until I met you.”
Her shoulders stiffened, but she didn’t move otherwise. I brushed her hair to the side, leaving a kiss on the bruise mottling her neck.
“I’ve been in survival mode since I can remember. My body was my weapon. But the war I was fighting wasn’t worthy of the sacrifices I made. The training, the starving, the doping.” My fingers skimmed her shoulder, and her head tilted, giving me enough of her to see she was hanging on my every word. These were things I’d never said out loud. Thoughts I’d never allowed to fully form for fear they’d tear down what I’d built.
“I would’ve done anything to get out of my old life. That meant when I moved here and the coaches my dad hired introduced me to performance-enhancing drugs, I took them without question. When they taught me how to game the system, I followed their rules to a T. The testing was different in college, but I heard of this guy who had access to something new—something the tests didn’t pick up.”