Haunted Love

Chapter 18 Part 20

Chapter 18

"Lindsey...Lindsey, open the door or I will kick it in!"

Thane was sure his hand was either about to break from pounding on Lindsey's door or one of her neighbors was going to call the cops. He was mentally bracing himself to be handcuffed and hauled away when the door opened.

It was just a small crack, but he could see the side of her tormented face and his protective instincts rushed to the surface and he pushed the door in and did his best not to hurt her. Lindsey stumbled back a few steps and his hands reached out to grip her waist and steady her.

He took her downcast face in his hands and tried to lift it for inspection, but she resisted. "Lindsey...look at me? What happened?"

As he waited for her to speak his heart beat wildly. He had known at the restaurant that something was wrong, but looking at her now, sensing a feeling of defeat, he wondered if he was too late to take care of whatever problem she was experiencing.

Was she hurt?

Did she get into a fight with her mother?

Wordlessly she crumbled into him, gripping the front of his shirt and sobbing as she babbled incoherent words that made no sense to him. Her body was shaking and her knees went weak with emotional exhaustion. Before she could hit the floor, he scooped her up into his arms and carried her to the couch.

As she sat in his lap, he rocked her, letting his hands rub her back through her thin blue t-shirt. She was wearing navy-blue pajama bottoms and fuzzy socks. As Thane held her, he felt as though she were a tortured child looking for acceptance and he began to stroke her hair as he whispered encouraging words of love in her ear and kissed the crown of her head.

She refused to talk, but he didn't stop trying to get her to respond. Something inside of him knew that he was on the brink of losing her. If he couldn't get her to open up now, she never would again.

"Lindsey...are you okay?"

He sighed as he heard nothing but their soft breathing.

"Lindsey, tell me what you need and I will make it happen."

Silence!

"Lindsey, you are starting to scare me. Please, please...talk to me!"

Nothing!

"Lindsey....did someone hurt you?"

When her head gave a small nod, he felt his arms tighten around her until she gave a soft moan of pain. His heart began to pound against his ribs, threatening to break the vulnerable bones. Visions of revenge against a faceless, nameless, person began to swirl in his head.

Whoever did this to her would pay! He would kill them himself!

"Who was it, Honey? Who did this to you?"

Lindsey looked up at him with a shiny, make-up free face. Her brown eyes were red from crying and her skin looked blotchy from her emotional turmoil. Thane let out a breath he had no idea he had been holding. There were no signs of injury on her body and that made him relax, if only a little bit.

Her eyes searched his face as though she were committing it to memory. Her small tongue wet her red lips that were swollen from her teeth nibbling them. She looked down at Thane's shoulder, refusing to meet his eyes and her husky, pain filled voice made Thane's heart shatter.

"Benjamin broke my heart. But that only started my tears, because as soon as he was gone I realized that he wasn't the only one that has hurt me. Penny convinced him that he doesn't need me." She looked up as tears began to form in her lovely eyes once more. "But neither of them hurt me as much as you, Thane."