Free Seth's Cravings: An Endless Series: Book 2 by Sara Hess

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smile, that’s what had made the ire simmer hotter in me.
         She gave me a look of disgust. “I’m not a screamer, and
I wasn’t fighting him yet because he had my arms trapped under my body, and
I looked happy because you had just walked in and I mistakenly zought you were
going to pull the dolboeb off me. But you know what eblan , I
didn’t need your help. I handled him fine.” With one last poke she turned back
to the truck and started rummaging once more like she hadn’t just stabbed me in
the gut, twisted the knife, and pulled out my organs.  
         She was trying to give off this cool impervious
attitude, but I didn’t miss the slight tremble to her hands and it had me wanting
to grab and hold her close…but I knew that would not go over well at all. I had
no doubt whatsoever that she was telling me the complete truth and all I could
do was gaze at her with unbearable regret and self-condemnation in my heart and
eyes.
         “My God, Nadia, I am so fucking sorry. I swear I didn’t
know. I didn’t see your arms…” I could not recall seeing her arms trapped but I
believed what she was saying. “Your face…you seemed fine…Fuck!” There were no
words I could utter on how fucking wretched I felt.  
         She paused in what she was doing to stare straight
ahead for several seconds breathing deeply; she then turned toward me. The heat
appeared to have banked some and she stared at me skeptically. “You really
didn’t realize?”
         I shook my head agonizingly. “No! I never would have
left if I’d realized. I would have most likely killed him.” In fact, that might
still happen when I found him.
         She closed her eyes with a sigh and bowed her head. I
stood completely motionless waiting to see what she would say. I needed her to
believe me, and I wasn’t sure what I would fucking do if she didn’t. I don’t
think I would ever forgive myself for what I’d allowed to happen.  
         Eventually, she raised her head and looked at me with
those vivid aquamarine eyes of hers. The overt hostility was gone, but there
was still a certain amount of skepticism there. I was relieved to see the anger
gone but it didn’t release me from my guilt.
         “I’ve known you’ve had a problem with me from the first
night we met…I thought maybe you felt that I deserved it, or something?”
         I could hear the hesitant question in her voice and stared
at her in shock. Unable to stop myself took a step closer. “God no! I would
never wish that on anyone.” Fuck! That she would think that. But how could I
explain my feelings of anger and hunger toward her. I’d been dealing with them
for over a month and I still didn’t understand. “It wasn’t really you
personally that I had a problem with, it was something I was dealing with.
Please believe me. If I realized what I had walked in on…”
         Nadia’s hand settled on my bicep briefly as she
interrupted me. “I believe you. I was only seeing it from my point of view before.
I wasn’t all that scared at first and when you walked in I did smile, pleased
to see you. In retrospect…I can see how you might have thought it was consensual.”
         Her acceptance only made me feel worse. I can’t believe
I’d fucking left her in that room with that cocksucker. How could she forgive me
after what had happened to her? I was going to kill that fucker when I found
him.
         “Are you…okay?” I tried putting softness in my tone in
an attempt to cover the tsunami of rage inside me. The question was stupid because
how could she be okay after what she’d been through, but I had to know
something…anything…about how she was doing.
         She shrugged and lifted her injured hand. “I’m fine;
just a couple broken fingers and one of them is already better.”
         I hadn’t been thinking about her hand; although, I was
glad it was healing. “What are the police doing about it?” I