Marly's Choice (Men of August 1)

“He was her step-father. He’s insane,” Cade told the man quietly. “Marly’s mother brought her here when she was twelve, and started running, after he tried to molest Marly.”

“Well, he’s a slick one.” The deep voice of the stranger told Cade with a slow drawl. “Background check on him shows time in the Marines. It must have been well spent. We also have a report of several years spent with some of the homeland terrorists out in Utah. He’s a badass, Cade. I won’t try to sugar coat it for you. You’re lucky he didn’t kill you the night you went after him.”

Marly’s breath shuddered from her chest as she fought to control the sobs racking her body now.

“Marly’s all that matters, Rick,” Cade told him carefully. “I want her protected above all else. The bastard must have thought Sam was me when he shot. The pictures we found out in that cabin shows he knows my relationship with Marly, or at least suspects it.”

Marly clasped her arms around her chest, closing her eyes in pain as she listened.

“He’s definitely obsessed with her. The pictures show that for a certainty,” Rick assured Cade. “He knows you found the cabin by now, and his little hidey place up on the hill. He’ll be harder to find now. Your best bet would have been to call us in first, Cade.”

“Yeah well, I wasn’t thinking real clear after seeing those damned pictures,” he bit out roughly. “Son of a bitch, Rick. Marly’s had things hard enough. She doesn’t need this.”

“Her bedroom is out of bounds. It’s too accessible by too many directions. Keep her in your room.”

“That’s why she’s there now,” Cade grunted, and Marly felt a wound strike her soul that she wasn’t certain she could recover from. Shame struck her, making her body rock with the agonizing pain inflicted on her heart.

“No one needs these bastards running around,” Rick sighed. “Where is Marly, by the way? I haven’t seen her since the shooting started.”

There was a moment of complete silence before she heard Cade’s muttered obscenity. She couldn’t stem her tears, so she just lowered her head, burying it in the jacket she had wrapped around her body.

“Marly.” There was a wealth of pain in his voice when he stepped around the door. “God, baby. I’m sorry.”

His voice was tormented, rough with worry. She shook her head, refusing to raise it as she heard him kneel in front of her. His hand touched her hair, the other one lifting her chin. There was worry and fear in his eyes as he watched her now.

“You lied to me, Cade,” she whispered, her breath hitching with her suppressed sobs. “About the wolf, about why you suddenly wanted me. All of it. You lied to me.”

Her chest ached with her pain, with the sense of betrayal running through her. And she was right. She knew she was right by the look on his face.

“God!” Her fists clenched as she fought the demoralizing knowledge that he hadn’t taken her because he couldn’t resist her, or because he loved her, needed her. He had taken her to keep her close, to ensure her obedience and protection.

Sobs ripped from her chest as the pain lashed her soul.

“Marly please. Baby. It’s not like that.” But it was, she knew it was. She had seen the truth in his eyes.

Moving painfully, her muscles cramped from the hours spent on the floor she raised to her feet, ignoring Cade as he now towered over her.

“He said he wouldn’t let me go,” she whispered, remembering those terrifying hours before her mother had returned home and caught her step-father touching her.

She remembered with blinding shame the things she had refused to think about for years. The ways he had touched her, making her cry with pain as he groaned in pleasure. She remembered how he held her down, hurting her, his lips always moving over her, his hands harsh and hurting.

She clamped a hand over her mouth as she fought the heaving of her stomach. She wanted to scream, but it hurt too badly to even try.

“Marly.” Cade’s voice was tortured now as he tried to pull her to him.

“Don’t touch me,” she cried out, flinching away from him, unable to bear the touch of his hands now. She had been a fool. Such a fool to think he could love her. “It was all a lie. All of it. God, what a fool I made of myself.”

No wonder there had been no gentleness, no sense of caring in his touch when he fucked her. And he had fucked her. He hadn’t made love to her, he hadn’t possessed her, he had used a bodily function to control her.

Her hand flew out, connecting solidly with his face. Shock and fury flared in his expression, though he stood silently.

“You lied to me.” She was shaking harshly, her teeth nearly chattering from the overwhelming pain and anger. “It was all a lie. ‘Tell me to fuck you, Marly’,” she sneered his words back at him. “Well you fucked me Cade, good and proper.” She didn’t care about the audience she had attracted. The unknown Rick, or Brock’s brooding concern as he watched from the kitchen doorway. “You fucked me good and proper.”

She turned away from him, her head held high as she saw the confusion in the stranger’s dark face, and Brock’s sympathy. She couldn’t stand it. She could feel her soul breaking apart, tearing loose from the moorings that had always held it. For eight long years she had believed her dreams would come true. That Cade would love her, that he would need her.

Such a fool’s dream. She shook her head and walked tiredly away from them all. She didn’t run. There was nothing to run from, nothing to run to. Her whole world was collapsing around her and she didn’t know which way to turn now.

“Marly.” Brock touched her arm as she went to pass him. She pulled back, staring up at him, and rather than seeing the brother who had comforted her through the past eight years, she just saw another lie. Pity and sympathy rather than the love she had needed.