Free Betraying Innocence by Airicka Phoenix Page B

window. He’d nearly broken his controller as he pitched it aside and tore out of the house. But that was nothing compared to the blazing rage that had ripped through him when he saw the guy forcing Ana into the car. He had almost torn the guy’s head off. He wanted to. Then he’d seen Ana, slumped over, face a frightening shade of gray. She was shivering violently, barely conscious. However, her parents didn’t need to know that, or that the guy smelled of mothballs and stale beer.
    “I’m glad I was there,” he murmured, fingers tightening around the ceramic mug.
    A s lim, white hand rested on his wrist. It squeezed before moving away. Mrs. French rose to her feet, but didn’t move away. She stood watching him, a question in her eyes he didn’t know how to answer.
    “ Raphael?” She moved the stool to stand at the counter. Her knuckles popped as she wrung them anxiously at her midsection. “You and Ana are friends, right?”
    Rafe thought of his run-ins with Ana, thought of their conversations and almost grimaced.
    “Not really. I mean…” He almost kicked himself at the discouraged look on her face. “We haven’t really talked much.”
    “Oh.” She dropped her gaze.
    “Why?” he asked.
    She shrugged. “I just assumed because she’s talked about you in the past and…”
    He felt about as surprised as Mr. French looked by the confession. Ana talked about him? To her parents? Why would she do that? More importantly, what did she tell them?
    “She did? Why?” Mr. French demanded, the disgust in his tone almost amusing. “When?”
    Mrs. French shot him a dry glower. “She talked to me, in private.”
    Mr. French looked like he didn’t understand what that meant. “But she tells me everything.”
    “ Some things,” Mrs. French said curtly, “a girl just wants to talk about with her mother. God, Richard, now is not the time for this.” She turned back to Rafe. “I was just wondering if she ever talked to you about what was bothering her.”
    Rafe frowned. “Is something bothering her?”
    Mrs. French pressed a hand to her brow, using the tips of her fingers to rub the skin. “I don’t know. I don’t want to burden you or embarrass her, but she’s been very upset since we moved here. She doesn’t eat, or sleep and when she does, she winds up all over the house lost and confused. She’s become withdrawn and unhappy.” She broke off with a frustrated growl. She gouged her fists into her eyelids. “I’m sorry. I’m sure you don’t want to hear this.”
    Rafe didn’t know what to say. True he’d felt an inexplicable pull towards Ana since the first time they met, but he had no idea what to do with girls with issues. That was so out of his league. He wasn’t the guy people went to with their problems. Heaven knew he had enough of his own.
    “Maybe she’s homesick,” he said lamely.
    Mrs. French shook her head slowly. “Maybe.”
    “Why don’t I walk you to the door, Raphael.” Mr. French pushed away from the counter he’d been holding up and started for the doorway without waiting for Rafe to say anything more.
    Rafe, knowing a dismissal when he heard one, thanked Mrs. French for the tea he didn’t drink and got to his feet. He followed the other man to the front door.
    On the porch, they stood just looking at each other, neither wanting to be the one to blink first.
    “Ana’s a good kid,” Mr. French said.
    Rafe nodded. “Yes, sir. She is.”
    “I worked very hard to make sure she stayed that way.”
    Again, he just nodded, not sure what else to say.
    “I’m not going to tell Ana to stay away from you because I raised my daughter to make her own choices. But you, you’re going to do the decent thing and remember my daughter isn’t like the girls you’re probably used to. She isn’t here to be your plaything. I take my job as a father very seriously, so seriously in fact that I would not lose sleep if the person who hurt my daughter wound up missing and never