“Rach?” he begins.
“Yeah?”
“Tonight at the bar, when Jericho said I was lucky he didn’t find you first. You seemed really put off by that.”
I sit up, cross my legs and face him. “He’s a married man.”
Jaxon touches my face, and I lean into his warm palm. It’s rough from years of manual labor yet warm and gentle against my skin. “He’s was only kidding, babe. He and Marissa are totally in love.” I look down at my lap as painful memories bubble to the surface. “What is it?” he asks so quietly, so damn affectionately, that for the first time I feel that maybe here, with him to anchor me, I can talk about the past. I close my eyes and take a breath. It wasn’t as steady as I’d have liked, but when I blow it out and open my eyes again, Jaxon is there, patient and calm. I draw from that and begin.
“My father…” I pause for one second, then go on. “He was an alcoholic. A mean one at times.”
He shifts closer, and lets his hands drop to the towel covering my legs. His thumb moves gently over the terry cloth. Soothing. “I’m sorry.”
I nod, and swallow hard. Tears burn my eyes. Here I thought I’d never cry over my father again. “Mom tried to protect me from the things he used to do, but she couldn’t.”
“Can you tell me what he did?” Jaxon asks softly. His hand moves up and closes over mind. A simple touch, yet the strength that flows into me from that gentle caress fills me with the courage to go on.
“So many weekends he’d disappear. Mom would keep me busy to keep my mind off it, but I always felt the tension she tried to hide from me. I’d see her smile falter when she thought I wasn’t looking.” I pause as a tightness grips my stomach, and my throat fills with acid. “He’d stumble home on Sunday, the same clothes he left in and smelling like cheap perfume.” I pull my gaze from his and look over his shoulder as the past rises up and engulfs me. “I hated those women, Jaxon, almost as much as I hated my father. I didn’t know who they were, had never laid eyes on them, but I hated them.” My other hand lifts, palm up. Empty. I look back at him. “How could he leave his family and sleep with other women? How could they sleep with a man who was married?” A sob catches in my throat and spills from my lips. Jaxon’s hand on my leg tightens. “I hated how much that hurt Mom, you know.” I look away again and dab at my eyes, and fighting back the tears.
“It’s okay to cry for your mother, Rach.” A long pause and then, “It’s okay to cry for you, too. What your father did was pretty shitty. A girl needs her Dad.” I glance at him and it dawns on me that he’s talking from experience. “He’s her first true love, and it’s up to him to set a good example and show her how she’s supposed to be treated by guys.”
A noise crawls out of my throat, a half laugh, half cry. “I guess that’s why I ended up in a relationship with Dylan.”
“Dylan?” he asks, and brushes my tear away with his thumb.
“My ex. He was…so much like my father.”
“He hurt you?”
There is real pain in Jaxon’s eyes as his gaze searches my face. Behind that pain is also anger. My body quivers, almost violently. “Yes, he hurt me,” I whisper. “He was violent, and he threatened to kill me if I left him, or went to the cops. I was terrified.”
His teeth clench and the sound reverberates through me. “Where is he?”
I shake my head. I’m not going to let Jaxon put himself, or his daughter in harm’s way for me. Nothing good could come from it, of that I’m sure. “Not around here.”
Jaxon’s eyes narrow, turning the strangest shade of blue, as his eyes narrow. “Does he know where you are?”
“No.”
He relaxes a bit, and so do I. “He was so nice at first, and I was a little flattered that he liked me. I usually have my head down and fly under the radar, you know?”
“I know you keep your head down, Rach, but you hardly fly under the radar. You were on mine the second you moved in next door.”
“Oh,” I say, totally surprised by that.
“So you never liked to be noticed, even before Dylan.”
I shake my head and Jaxon peels a wet strand of hair from my forehead when it sticks. “I wanted to make something of myself, be independent. I never wanted to find myself in a position like my Mom, stuck in an abusive relationship, with no way out. And I want to protect all the children.”
“You are an amazing woman.”
The corner of my mouth turns up. “Thank you.”
“You showed up here in the middle of the night. No family, barely any luggage, always looking over your shoulder. I pretty much figured out you were on the run.”
“His threats were getting more violent, so I summoned all my courage and went to the police. Turns out there were some outstanding charges against him in other states. They were going to arrest him, and I knew he’d come after me for that. I had no choice but to leave.”
“You did good, Rachel.”
I slide my fingers through his. “I’m still scared.”
He shifts closer and turns me, until my head is rests on his shoulders. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“He’s dangerous, Jaxon.”
“So am I.” He absently runs his fingers up and down my arm. His touch is like a healing balm and a sense of security that I haven’t felt in…ever, falls over me. “Tell me about your mom.”
“She died of cancer. She swallowed down my father’s betrayal and I think it killed her from the inside out.”
“What else did
