“What’s wrong with you?” the stranger asked, but Jake was beyond answering.
“Out!” he screamed, panting and short of breath. “Get away from me.”
The stink of kerosene assaulted him.
Did he smash the bedside lantern?
Voices and footsteps bustled in the hallway.
Glass crunched under the strange woman’s shoes as she backed away.
“You’re crazy,” she said, alarm straining her voice. “I would’ve treated you well.”
“I don’t want you. Get—out!”
The door opened, and lantern light filled the dark room. The woman who’d propositioned him was not quite within reach. Seeing her clearly for the first time, he glared furiously and yelled at her again to leave.
She stared at him with big brown eyes, looking shocked and afraid of his overreaction to her advances. Jake remembered her. She was one of several women who’d been staring at him for weeks. She was attractive, and if he wasn’t so screwed up, he might’ve taken her up on her offer—that is, if she hadn’t treated him the way all the others had. She expected him to comply whether he wanted to or not, and when he didn’t, she intended to take what she wanted without his consent. If she had taken it slower, he might’ve given in, eventually, but just like all the other times he had found himself in similar situations, she didn’t care what he wanted.
Approaching him in the dark like that was a bad idea. It creeped him out and left far too much to his imagination, which took him right back to the hell he had lived in. This time, however, he could fight. He wasn’t chained, and he wasn’t so full of the fear drug he couldn’t move. This time, he could defend himself.
He took another menacing step toward her, fury gleaming in his cold, hazel-green eyes, and she stumbled backward.
Suddenly, another woman stood in front of him, but his gaze stayed locked on the brunette who’d assaulted him.
“Jake,” the woman blocking his path called softly, being careful not to touch him, but standing her ground. When he leveled the power of his angry glare at her, she blinked but she didn’t move. “Jake?” She whispered his name this time, and the note of concern in her voice reached inside him and coiled around his heart.
His breath hitched and then rushed out in a whoosh as the rage seemed to flow from his head, through his body, down his legs, and out through his stocking feet. A puddle of fury and fear pooled around his socks. The image made him want to giggle.
What the hell is wrong with me?
“Jake? Are you all right?”
Panicked and peering around the room, he tried to remember what just happened. It only came in bits and pieces, but as they fit together, terror flooded him and his rapidly beating heart felt about to explode. The melodious voice calling his name drew his attention, and his eyes scanned the face of the lovely blonde woman who stood before him. As recognition finally dawned, a completely different type of dread banded his chest.
“Jake?”
“I-I didn’t m-mean to hu-hurt her,” he stammered.
“You didn’t hurt anyone,” Monica assured him before she shifted her attention to the others in the hall. “Please go back to your rooms now,” she told them, and then focused on the young brunette who had caused the whole ruckus. “Kristine, I will talk to you in the morning. For now, go back to your room and stay there.”
Monica turned to her head guard. “Rosa? Would you have someone bring me some towels, water, and a broom to clean up this mess?”
“Right away,” Rosa answered in her soft, Spanish accent, and giving Monica a knowing look Jake didn’t understand at all, she turned to the others. “Okay, everyone, you heard Monica. Back to bed. Tomorrow’s going to be a long day.”
Monica closed the door, leaving the rest of her people in Rosa’s capable hands. When she turned back to Jake, he was standing where she’d left him, staring at the floor and trembling.
From the corner of his eye, he marked her unhurried approached, how she carefully kept her distance. Good, maybe she heard my shouts not to touch me. He also noticed her sympathetic expression and didn’t know what to make of it. Does she think I’m crazy, too?
“Why don’t you sit down, Jake?”
He nodded and went to the bed. He perched on the edge, staring at nothing.
“I’m sorry,” Monica said, adjusting her dark-red robe. “Did she harm you?”
He shook his head and lifted his gaze to hers.
“How will you punish me now?”
“Oh, Jake.” Monica sighed. She took a step toward him, her arm outstretched.
Jake stiffened and straightened up, squaring his shoulders to face an enemy.
Monica stopped. She dropped her arm and waited until he met her gaze again.
“I’m not going to punish you. I told you we don’t do that here. Besides, you didn’t do anything wrong. At least, I don’t think you did.”
He frowned at her, but looked away again. Does she really think that?
“Will you tell me what happened?” Monica was closer to him now, trying to meet his eyes.
He shook his head and scooted a little farther away.
Deliberately, Monica tucked her hands behind her and leaned against the wall opposite Jake. She seemed willing to wait indefinitely for him to speak.
A part of him didn’t want to discuss it. The brunette had only kissed him, but he’d flashed back to other abuses and situations in which he’d be unable to protect himself. He’d suffered through far worse than a kiss during those.
Still, he thought, what could it hurt to tell Monica? She said she wouldn’t punish me for denying the other woman what she wanted. At least Monica didn’t ask him to reveal the full extent of what caused him to act like a crazy person so often; she was only asking about what happened tonight.
He sighed before he spoke. “She was in here when I got back from
