Pagan (The Henchmen MC 8)

She swallowed hard, looking like the action required genuine work.

Then she got one word out.

"Ethan."

Her eyes instantly filled and overflowed down her cheeks as her voice caught, letting out a loud, pained-animal sound as she half-folded forward, holding her belly like she had been gutted.

I wasn't what any woman would call an 'emotional support' kind of man.

But there was no way I was going to stand five feet away from her while she sobbed her goddamn heart out.

I walked toward her, arms folding around her, and pulling her to my chest.

She didn't recoil like I had maybe been thinking she would.

In fact, she melted into me. She turned her face into my neck. And she just... let it all out.

Me, well, I felt completely mother fucking inept. I had no idea what I was supposed to say, so I didn't say anything. I held her. I rubbed my hands up and down her back, careful not to push too hard in case she was hurt anywhere else. I knew she needed to drain it out before I could ask those kinds of questions, get the answers I needed. There was no use even trying to ask when she was literally fucking falling apart in my arms.

I wasn't sure how long I stood there holding her, but by the time the sobs became sniffles, the whole right side of my shirt covering my chest was wet through with her tears.

"Sorry..." she mumbled as she pulled back slightly so she could wipe at her cheeks, eyes downcast.

"Sorry?" I asked, jaw so tight there was a grinding pain in my back teeth. "You have fucking nothing to be sorry for."

She shook her head, keeping her head down. "It's just... you're not..."

She didn't finish that, but I got the gist. I wasn't her man. For some reason, that chafed. What? Because I hadn't given her flowers and candy, she thought I would have a problem holding her while she cried after being fucking attacked by some dickwad?

"Hey," I said, taking a deep breath, trying to keep my tone calm. My hand reached out, snagging her chin gently, but pulling harder when she resisted raising her head. "Might not be your boyfriend, but I give a shit about you. And we're going to get back to that later, but right now, pet, I need you to tell me what happened tonight."

Her eyes closed, like she couldn't look at me while she told it, like there was... I don't know... shame there? And that shit was so misplaced that more kindling was added to the fire inside me.

"We had that meeting at Famiglia tonight," she told me, making me recall the day he came into her salon and pulled her into the back to talk to her. Had a bad vibe about him then. Maybe I should have taken it more seriously. "Then he drove me back here because I, ah, didn't want him to know where I was living. I turned away and he..." she swallowed hard, taking a second, but powering through. "He pushed me up against the desk. I think my ribs are... I don't know. They hurt," she said, shaking her head sadly and that teeth grinding thing got even more intense. "I tried to get away, but my heel twisted and I went down. Then he, um, he pushed me down." Her hand lifted, indicating her cheek. "He... he got behind me and I just..."

Fuck.

I knew she needed to get it out, she needed to purge it, but even just the thought inside my head was making it hard to breathe. I wasn't sure I would be able to hold it together when she gave me the details.

"I knew I was just... screwed. But I threw myself onto my back so I could at least... try to fight back. But he's so much stronger..."

I took a slow, deep breath, deep enough that it made my chest burn with it. Nothing, there was fucking nothing worse in the world than a man who used his power against someone weaker.

"And I knew that no just... meant nothing to him. It was like he thought it was me pretending. So I just... I threatened him."

I felt myself jerk back slightly, yanking her chin back up. And, this time, her eyes fluttered open. "You threatened him?"

"I had sort of resigned myself to the fact that I couldn't... that he was going to..." she trailed off, not even able to say the word. I couldn't blame her. It was a fucking ugly word. "So I just wanted to make it clear that I wasn't going to let him get away with it. I told him I was going to call the cops and do a rape kit and give them the footage on my cameras. He was going to go down for it."