Fated Hearts(In Deep Editing)

Chapter Nine

Aubrey's POV

*** MATURE CONTENT ***

I stare at Kane's large hand wrapped over mine. They are worn and have rough calluses that prove he has worked hard his entire life. My eyes travel up tree trunk sinew for arms, past broad shoulders to his face. He looks angry, yet saddened at the same time. Is there even a word for that?

I clear my throat. "Well now that I'm ready I have no idea how to get it out." I blow a strand of my hair from my face in frustration. Kane rumbles a short laugh, squeezing my hand. "Just tell me what you want. You can tell me anything."

Well put it that way somehow it makes me loosen a bit. "This was a lot easier telling Annie." A light seemed to come on in Kane's eyes. "I knew something was up. But why Annie?" Hurt crept into his voice as he pouted. I shrugged helplessly. "I'm sorry, but she's less intimidating to me than you are. And she knows about the abuse. But the details is something she never got." I smile a little for him, before just jumping right in.

"Okay, so I had a boyfriend back where I went to school in North Carolina." Kane tenses but says nothing so I continue. "His name is Chris. He was very sweet to me for the first couple years. Looking back I can actually pinpoint the moment when everything changed.

He came home extremely late and very angry. He walked in to find me sitting on the couch phone in hand. I'd been trying to call him for hours and I was out was out of mind worried he'd gotten in a wreck or something.

When I told him that, he snatched me off the couch and slung me on the bed. Cursed me out like I had never been cursed out before." I take a breath reigning in my temper. Just thinking about it makes me angry. After a moment I continued.

"I packed up while he was at work and left for a friends house. The next day he shows up at the house all apologetic and sweet again. I went back to him, thinking it was a one time happening and it wouldn't happen again. But from that night on he came in late. It was like that for the next  few months. At that point I had gotten used to it. Him coming ho,e drunk and late. Sometimes I would wake up with him just standing over me, pissed. I would ask if he was okay. And i would get smacked across the cheek."

I swipe a tear away. " I don't know why I didn't leave. I guess when you're being groomed by a monster, you begin to get used to that treatment, even believing you deserve it." I close my eyes, readying myself for the next part of my story.

"It was last October that things got real bad. He came in stumbling drunk. I offered to help him to bed. And he got this mean look in his eyes, like he got tunnel vision. I ran into the room, but he caught me before I could lock him out. He punched me in the head when I tried to fight him off. I blacked out. When I woke up I was in bed, feeling like I got hit by a truck. My neck was so sore that when I went to the bathroom, I looked into the mirror and there was a red, infected bite mark. He had tried to claim me. It hadn't worked." Kane snarled beside me viciously. He snagged me gently from my spot on the couch to straddle his hips. This was the most he's ever touched me, and my body was responding like an inferno. he pulled my hair gently to the side to inspect the scars. "This is why you always have that scarf. To hide the marks?" Kane murmured. He buries his face in my neck, calming himself.

"Kane." I manage out breathlessly. "I won't be able to finish like this, I can't concentrate." His hold on me tightens as I hug him to me. Once he's calm, he pulls away. "I need to touch you." I nod. "He raped me, Kane. I fought him off and he took what he wanted anyways." Kane's face is a thunder cloud, his brown eyes practically glowing. "It wasn't your fault, Angel." Tears are falling freely now, soaking Kane big, gentle hands as they frame my face. "You're an absolute bad ass for fighting him and getting away. You're safe now." Kane pulls me in gently, kissing first my forehead then my tears off my cheeks." I lean into him as if my strength were sucked from me and all I had holding me together was Kane's touch. "I know this. I strive everyday to find strength in my will. I still have flashbacks, but It's better lately. Despite everything in the past few weeks I have felt saffe knowing you'll always come for me." I lean back in his lap to finish my story. "I was packing when the sickness hit. Chris was irate his mark hadn't stuck. Which I didn't know at the time. It wasn't until he saw my bags packed that he got so mad he halfway shifted. It didn't matter that I was hurt and sick."