Watch Me (Phoenix 1)

And she let him, emptying her pain into this man’s arms…a man who owed her nothing.

She had no idea how much time had passed before she lifted her head, not caring if her makeup was running down her face. She met Rhys’ smoky gray eyes, transfixed by the strength in them.

He held up a USB stick. “For you.”

“What’s this?” she asked, accepting it.

“That is your evidence if you choose to seek justice against them.”

She glanced at the USB stick. “But wouldn’t that expose the club?”

His soft voice drew her gaze back up to meet a face so gorgeous she didn’t think it could be real. “Sometimes, Zoey, telling the truth is worth the risk. This is one of those times. What was done to you was wrong. Scott and Jake should be brought to justice for that.” He closed her hand with his, keeping the USB stick tight in her grip. “Take it. You decide what to do with it.”

She held his gaze, and it felt oddly easy to do that. “For a year, I have believed the very worst in people. That no one can be trusted. That you can’t believe a word anyone says, because people do terrible things. But this…you and Archer…” Her voice hitched, but she forced the words out to prove to herself that she didn’t need to hide anymore. “I can’t help but think that maybe hope’s not all lost and that there really are good people out there.”

“None of this should have happened to you.” He wiped a fallen tear like it was his duty to do so. When he dropped his hand, holding her intimately against him, he asked, “Would it be all right if I drive you back home?”

She inhaled and exhaled deeply, pulling back emotions she had become an expert at hiding. “Thank you, but I’m okay. I’m actually meeting up with my roommates tonight.” To celebrate leaving her old life behind and stepping into this new one, where Manhattan didn’t terrify her. “I’ll make my way home with them after. Honestly, after all that, I could use the air. It’s not far from here. I’ll just walk.” Of course, she’d call a taxi, but he didn’t need to know that.

Not taking no for an answer, he rose with her in his arms and set her down on her feet. “Then, let me walk you.” At her silence, he offered his hand, arching an eyebrow, which softened his strong features. “Indulge me, Zoey. It’s a beautiful night.”

There were a thousand reasons to say no. But she realized she didn’t want to. She slid her hand into his. “You’re right, it is a beautiful night.”

Chapter 5

On any given day, Rhys could look a person in the eye and tell what their greatest desire was. He’d learned how to read people a long time ago. However, he realized on his walk through Central Park with Zoey that part of her allure was the mystery behind her. All the secrets Rhys had yet to discover, and how exactly she’d pulled off something he never thought possible. She was brave, but cautious. He noticed when they began walking that her gaze was darting, searching for any threats. Her posture was tense, ready. He liked how, fifteen minutes later, she smiled more, laughed a bit, and her shoulders lowered.

Along the path hugged by mature trees, Rhys gestured at an empty bench. “Come sit with me a moment.” At the curious tilt of her head, he smiled gently. “I’d like to talk a minute, if that’s all right with you.”

She took her phone from her purse, glancing at the screen. “Let me just text my roommates that I’ll be a few more minutes.”

He waited for her to fire off the message before gesturing at the bench again. After she sat, he joined her. Knowing he needed to take this slowly and gently, he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, but turned his head toward her. “You owe me no explanation, but I’d like to hear your truth.”

“About what happened that night with Jake and Scott?” At Rhys’ nod, she asked, “Why are you so interested?”

Why, indeed? “Because your story is the only one that matters here,” he told her.

She breathed in and out slowly, turning away from him, staring out at nothing. But even from a side glance, the weight of her pain rested heavily on her face. “I wasn’t really a party girl in college, but two months before I graduated, my old college friends talked me into going to a frat party.” She met his gaze and her lips thinned. “The next morning, I woke up in a bed I didn’t know, half naked. I thought that was possibly the worst moment of my life, but as you now know, it wasn’t. Jake and Scott took that picture of me and shared it on the college discussion website with a message that read: A pretty piece from NYU. We destroyed her. Who wants her next?”

Rhys clenched his jaw, controlling the hot rage burning through him, and he watched every twitch of muscle on her face. She took another deep swallow, obviously shoving her sadness back to that place where she kept it to survive. “Can you tell me why you never reported them?” he asked gently.

She gave a small shrug, glancing down to her wringing hands. “Because I wasn’t technically raped, so I thought the punishment wouldn’t be severe. Ultimately, I just wanted to finish school, get the hell out of there, and move on.”

He suspected she hadn’t moved on at all, but it wasn’t his place to make a remark on that. “You obviously wanted your own type of justice, since you went to great lengths to show them you were still a virgin.”

Her response was immediate, her chin lifting in clear defiance. “I wanted to show them that they didn’t break me. That, yes, I was a virgin, and I was smart and strong enough to get close to them to show it. That, if I wanted, I could always get close to them. I wanted them to feel their control slip.”

Shy, but brave. Strong, but hurting. This woman utterly fascinated him. “That’s what this is about?”

She gave a firm nod. “This time, and every time from here on, I give my consent. My choice. My rules.”

A raw truth lived in her eyes. Power too. Such remarkable power he had a hard time looking away from her. “What did you get out of the experience, then?” Everyone had their own reasons for coming to Phoenix. To leave the person they used to be at the door and come out someone different.

She took a moment to consider his question then answered, “In a month, I’m moving back to my family in Sacramento. I need to leave New York, leave all of the reminders here. I’ve lived in this sort of hell for the last year. I feel stuck in this pain because this dark cloud is always there, hanging over me, suffocating me. I refuse to be the person I am right now when I move. Last night, I left all my shit at your club’s door. No more pain. No more thinking about those bastards. I’m officially moving on.”

It all sounded logical, but Rhys knew most women usually led with emotions. “I think that all makes a lot of sense, but the question begs to be asked: did you not want to give your virginity to someone you love?”

“I can’t love,” she said, holding his stare.