Free When I’m With You (Indigo) by Laconnie Taylor Jones Page B

on Marcel’s forehead. “Tracked you down? How?”
    Caitlyn nodded. “He hired a private detective. The mistake I made was using my credit cards, opening a bank account—anything in my name.” She squared her shoulders and continued. “Anyway, I came home one night, and there he was waiting for me inside my condo.” The painful memories caused her to jerk, and her breathing became heavy.
    “Caitlyn, baby, don’t shut down on me now.”
    She sat rigid. Her brain still processed information, but her mouth refused to cooperate with the output. She stared blankly at the wall in front of her.
    “Caitlyn, come on. Baby, you’ve got to trust me.”
    She turned her tear-stained face to him and saw the distress in his eyes. “H-he…”
    “Talk to me, cat eyes.” Marcel pulled her against his chest and spoke over the top of her head. “We’ll deal with whatever it is, together.” He leaned back to see her face. “But I can’t help you if you won’t trust me. Understand?”
    “Yes.” Her voice was a whisper and she brushed away another tear.
    “Wait right here.” Marcel made a mad dash and brought back a box of tissue. He knelt in front of her. Pulling out several tissues, he placed them in her hands, then took one and began wiping the tears that fell at a steady pace.
    Still shaking, Caitlyn blew out a long, hard breath, and her voice trembled. “That night…” She lowered her head.
    Lifting her face up, he softly asked, “What happened that night, baby?”
    “He…raped me.”

Chapter 6
    Marcel’s body went rigid. Emotions swirled through him so swiftly he stopped breathing for a split second. He swayed from side to side as he rose to his feet. Shock, sadness, and rage ripped through him simultaneously.
    “Baby, I’m so sorry…I didn’t know.” He sat next to her. “We don’t have to talk about this.” He glanced over and saw her shake her head. Reaching over, he clasped her trembling hands within his steady ones, silently communicating that continuing the conversation was her call.
    Lines formed around Caitlyn’s full-lipped mouth, and she squeezed harder. “You know, it’s funny, but it’s still hard for people to believe that someone you’re involved with can rape you.” She then turned to him. “But it happens. And it happened to me over and over until the next morning.” With her free hand, she swiped at her tears. Her voice was hoarse and barely audible. “No means no. And if a man doesn’t accept that, then it’s rape as far as I’m concerned. Anyway, he forced me back to New Jersey. I let him think that I believed him when he said it would never happen again. The only thing I wanted was out. I was no match against him physically, so I had to think of a way I could beat him.”
    “What did you do?”
    “I outsmarted him.”
    Pain settled around Marcel’s heart. He felt pure contempt for the man who’d violated her. He couldn’t imagine any man forcing himself on a woman. As far as he was concerned, any man who would was the worst scum on earth. It took everything he had to keep his voice calm. “How did you do it?”
    “It took me weeks, but little by little, I cashed out everything I had—my retirement plan, savings, stock, bonds, you name it. I packed only the things I needed and figured out an escape plan. I let things settle down for a while. One day, my opportunity came when he went out of town on a family emergency—his sister was in a car accident. I left that day, and I’ve never looked back.”
    “Didn’t you have friends, anyone who could help you?”
    “At first, I didn’t want to bring any of them into that kind of drama because I would never have forgiven myself if he’d done anything to them. And trust me, I believe in my heart he was capable of it. I finally confided in Vic, and she was my saving grace.” A half chuckle escaped. “I don’t even own a cell phone. I didn’t want to take the chance of him tracking me down again.”
    “Where’d