Lie (Betrothed 8)

I turned back to the door. “Do you want me to leave?” I didn’t want to stay. I didn’t wanna have to look at her and imagine what had happened to her. I was no saint, but I’d never been tempted to hurt a woman just because she stood up to me. I’d never been tempted to hurt a woman at all, actually. I punished those who deserved it without mercy and spared those with petty crimes. I couldn’t comfort her, do anything for her, except try to understand why any man would damage that beautiful face.

“No.” She came closer to me but kept a few feet between us. She glanced at the door, which was now shut but unlocked. “I’ll probably get a new place, even with the new door. But for now, this is all I have.”

I would offer to let her stay with me, but after everything she’d been through, staying with some man she hardly knew was probably the last thing she wanted. And offering would also seem insensitive.

“I’m so tired.” She ran her fingers through her hair and closed her eyes for a moment. “I haven’t really slept since…I can’t even remember. I don’t know how long I’ve been gone, I don’t know how many days passed, but I couldn’t sleep the entire time.”

“Then get some rest.”

She turned to me, looking at me with her bruised eyes. “Could you stay…?”

I stared into her green eyes.

“I know you don’t owe me anything, you’ve done enough, but if you could sleep on the couch, that would make me feel better…” She dropped her gaze slightly, like she was embarrassed to ask.

I’d do anything she wanted. “Yes.” I turned away from her and headed to the couch. “Go get some sleep. I’ll be here whenever you wake up.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and nodded. “Thank you…” She turned around and slowly walked to her bedroom. Instead of closing the door, she left it open, like she wanted to be able to hear the sounds in the rest of the apartment. Her body made the mattress dip when she got inside, but then she was still. When she didn’t move again, I knew she’d gone to sleep instantly.

She slept for thirteen hours.

I stayed on the couch the whole time, and when I had phone calls and other things to do, I stepped into the hallway and took care of it so I wouldn’t wake her. I didn’t sleep much because I was too upset by what I saw. That shit would probably give me nightmares, which was saying something, because nothing scared me.

I stepped into the hallway and spoke to Steel on the phone.

He asked me about what happened. “So, what was that about?”

“That’s a long story.” The hallway seemed to be deserted. “Remember that woman I told you about?”

“The one you want but doesn’t want you?”

“Yeah. She was in there, and I had to get her out…”

He was quiet for a bit. “Well, she’s gonna want you now,” he said with a chuckle.

After being beaten and god knows what else, that was the last thing on her mind. “I doubt it.”

“You literally saved her life. She owes you.”

“She doesn’t owe me a damn thing.” Even if she hadn’t begged me to save her, I wouldn’t have left her there. Even if it had resulted in a gunfight, I wouldn’t turn my back on her.

“You really like this woman.”

“I’m just disturbed by what I saw…”

“I can imagine. Need me to do anything?”

“Drop off my truck outside.”

“You got it.”

I’d promised Catalina something else, and since I was a man of my word, I would stick to it. “We have another problem.”

“Yeah?”

“We have to get the rest of the girls out of there.”

He was quiet as he considered what I’d just said. He probably had to make sure he heard me right because of the ramifications of such an insane request. “Why?”

I didn’t want to give the real answer because it made me sound like a pussy, but a real man told the truth. “Because she asked me to.”

“So what if she asked,” he snapped. “That’s impossible.”

“Nothing is impossible for me.” Would it be a pain? Would it cause problems? Yes. But I had to do it anyway.

“They are one of the biggest traffickers in the city. They have a lot of men and a lot of girls. Even if we tell them to shut down and they agree, we’re gonna lose so much money. The men aren’t gonna be okay with that shit.”

That was the biggest problem. “I know. But I’ll figure it out.”

“Heath, come on,” he said with a sigh. “If you want to get laid, just tell her you did it.”

She would never know if I kept my word or not, unless she physically went back there, but that would never happen. “You know I won’t do that.”