Free Tessa's Treasures by Callie Hutton Page B

would help. He needed to know what was going on in her head. Was it him using his fists like her ex-husband had? His stomach clenched. He would never put his hands on a woman in anger. Or a child. God knows how many walks he’d taken when the twins were in the rebellious teenage years to keep from slugging one of them.
    He put two cups on the table, poured boiling water over the tea bags, and sat across from her. Her hands were clasped together on the table, her knuckles white. He laid his hand over hers and squeezed with light pressure. She seemed to come awake. “Honey, we need to talk about this.”
    She ran her fingers over the scratches on his knuckles. “You got hurt.” Her eyes met his, brimming with tears. Her face crumbled. “You got hurt. You were fighting. That man was awful, he grabbed me and wouldn’t let go.” She pushed the chair back, jumped up and walked in circles, wringing her hands.
    “He pushed me against the wall and I slid down. There was blood and screaming, I was so scared. I put my hands over my ears but…but he kept shouting at me, over and over.” She took in great gulps of air. “I crawled away, but he…he grabbed me and threw me against the kitchen door. I went right through it, my shoulder, it hurt so bad. And his fists, they kept hitting and hitting.” Tears streamed down her face, she hugged her middle. “I covered my head with my arms, but he kicked me in the chin.”
    All the blood drained from his face. Dear God, she was reliving a beating at the hands of her ex-husband. His heart pounding, he stood and pulled her to his chest.
    “No, let me go.” She shoved him back, her eyes wide, her whole body trembling. “He... he dragged me across the floor by my hair, kicked me in the stomach.” She pushed the hair from her forehead with shaky hands. “It hurt so much, I couldn’t get enough air. I was smothering.”
    A roar of fury whipped through him. He took deep breaths to calm himself. She didn’t need his anger added to her fear.
    “And then...and then,” she licked her lips and covered her eyes with both hands. “He dragged me upstairs and threw me on the bed and raped me. Then he laughed.”
    Lucas caught her in his arms when she began to sag, swept her up and took the stairs two at a time to the bedroom. She sobbed without restraint. Mason hadn’t mentioned the rape, even though in his experience, rape was usually a part of domestic violence. He had pushed the thought to the back of his mind, unable to face the ultimate horror Tessa may have gone through. Until now, when she’d laid it at his feet. Undoubtedly, she’d carried that part of it around for years, never telling anyone.
    He laid her on his bed, and pulled her gently to him. She didn’t resist, curled herself up against his body in a fetal position. He rubbed her back and rocked her as she sobbed into his shoulder. Never in all his years in law enforcement, with all the horror he’d witnessed, had he felt this need to kill someone with his bare hands.
    After a while the sobbing stopped and turned into hiccups. He smiled when he heard a soft snore. He took a deep breath and eased away from her. In the dimness of the room, her swollen eyes were still visible. He circled the room, then sat on the bed, staring at her, his hands dangling between his knees. He wanted to touch her, push the tendrils of hair from her face, offer comfort, but he didn’t dare disturb her. Removing her clothes was not an option, either. He gently took off her shoes, walked to the closet and took out a light blanket and settled it over her.
    Having spent so much effort controlling himself, exhaustion hit him like a ton of bricks. Too restless to sleep, he went downstairs and poured a small drink from the dust-covered bottle of brandy he’d had for a couple of years.
    No point in telling Mason what he’d learned tonight. The poor guy already felt like hell over what had happened to his sister. He finished the drink and took a