At first, he couldn’t make sense of the words she’d uttered—the sheer shock sending his brain into a spin. No cheating? Rape. Brynn. Raped. His reply came out in a roar. “What?”
She flinched and shrank in on herself even more. “The night I broke up with you, I’d just been attacked.”
He shot up from the bed, his body burning with rage. He needed to punch something—no, someone—the bastard who did this to her. His fists balled, and he forced himself to breathe. “Why didn’t you tell someone? Call the police? Or for God’s sake, tell me? I went to you that night.”
She shook her head. “I couldn’t. He threatened me—my family. And I was so confused. He told me you had a real girlfriend, that I was only your whore. And then when I saw your picture in the paper a few days later with Vanessa, I knew he’d told me the truth.”
He raked a hand through his hair and leaned against the dresser. His guts had been torn out the night he and Brynn had broken up. But God, had he been so hurt, so angry that he’d missed the fact that she’d needed help? “Jesus, Brynn. You didn’t even let me explain about Vanessa. I would’ve helped you. And I would’ve fucking killed the guy who did it to you.”
She frowned and rubbed her arms through the blanket. “You wouldn’t have had the chance. I still have no idea who he was.”
He closed his eyes, a piercing pain slicing through his skull. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you back then, but I’m listening now. Tell me what happened to you.”
SIXTEEN
then
Brynn thought the blindfold was part of the surprise. Reid had promised something special tonight, but he hadn’t clued her in as to what exactly he had in mind. She smiled as the dark fabric blocked out the low lights of the storage room. “You’re early.”
Lips pressed against the back of her neck. Hot hands caressed her shoulders, her arms. “Shh…”
She shivered beneath the touch. So he was going to be Mr. Serious Dom tonight. Alrighty. She wet her lips. “Yes, sir.”
He grabbed her forearms with firm fingers and pulled them behind her back. Instead of the usual cloth or rope, something less forgiving circled her wrists—plastic? A quick zipping sound filled the silent room as he yanked on the bindings, tightening them to the point of discomfort. “Ouch, hey. Could you loosen those up a bit?”
With a grunt, he gave another pull, and the zip tie bit into her flesh deeper. She squirmed and tried to turn around, but he gripped her shoulder and held her in place.
“No, come on, I’m serious. That hurts. Ruby,” she said, using the word Reid had told her would signal to him something was wrong.
His chuckle was low and sent a chill through her insides. “Is that the special word you use with him?”
The unfamiliar whisper made her jolt forward, panic seizing her, but the stranger wrapped an arm around her neck and dragged her against him. A scream ripped from her throat.
His hand slapped her across the mouth and his whisper turned fierce. “Now, now, no yelling. You can fight all you want, that’ll make it better. But keep that big mouth shut or I’ll find something to shove in it. Got it?”
She nodded, tears flooding her eyes. When he released her mouth, words tumbled out of her. “Please, let me go. My boyfriend’s on the way. He’ll be here any minute. If you go now, I promise I won’t say anything.”
“Ah, Brynn. So naive. Your boyfriend won’t be making it. He’s at an event with his real girlfriend, Vanessa.”
The wind left her lungs. This asshole knew her name? My God, this was someone she knew? The rest of his statement registered, and she shook her head. “No, that’s not true. We have plans. I’m his girlfriend.”
“Oh, sweetheart. Haven’t you realized it yet? You’re just his whore.” The smile in his disguised whisper rang in her ears. “You think he’s going to parade around trash like you on his arm?”
The words stung as much as the bindings around her wrists. She couldn’t muster a response.
“Of course not. But even though you’re only temporary, whores like you have a way of fucking up the lives of perfectly good men, and I’m not going to let that happen.” He pet her head like she was a dog, and her whole body began to shake with terror. “So after tonight, you’re going to end things with him. Otherwise, this won’t be the last time we meet. Only next time, maybe I’ll take that sweet little sister of yours for a ride instead. I wonder if she likes being treated like a slut as much as you do.”
An inhuman scream of rage ripped from her lungs, and his hand clamped around her neck with crushing force.
“Shut the fuck up, you stupid bitch, and let’s see how rough you like it.”
Blackness edged her vision as she fought for breath.
His other hand moved to the neckline of her blouse and ripped downward, shredding the delicate fabric and her world all in one swift motion.
Reid tucked the last surprise next to the silver promise ring nestled in the box and smiled. Brynn would probably think he was being high-handed and had lost his mind, but he hoped once she got past that, she’d be excited. He’d agonized over the decision his aunt and uncle had laid at his feet, and he still had a burning ball of guilt in his stomach. But the last few months had been the most amazing of his life, and he couldn’t bear to let the woman responsible flit off to Austin without showing her how serious he was about her. He just hoped against hope that if it worked out between them, that one day his family would accept her.
He hadn’t said the words “I love you” to Brynn yet; he’d been too afraid to scare her off, but he’d known them to be true since his trip to Galveston. Tonight, he’d tell her—lay his feelings and his plan out there and see what she thought.