Page 9 of Speechless
He heard the trust between them crack.
“Sarah, get him the fuck out of here,” he snapped as he elbowed Cal out of his way. He had to fight, viciously, his own need to punch Caleb. But when he weighed the consequence of that action, of using violence in front of a woman brutally terrorized through violent actions, he couldn’t bring himself to take the swing.
He would have it out with Caleb when they were on their own.
Connor didn’t move as Sarah and Caleb left the room. He heard their voices moving down the hall and noted, with satisfaction, that Sarah’s had chilled considerably. Good. Maybe Caleb would take a hint from her rather than a direct statement from his little brother.
He blanked that from his mind. He had bigger, more complicated issues in front of him. Slowly, he knelt onto the hard floor, never taking his eyes off Jenna. He opened his arms to her and prayed for a miracle. “Jenna, he’s gone. It’s just you and me.”
She stared at him out of devastated green eyes. The long lashes were wet with tears. She huddled against the wall, using her body to defend and hide the scars down her front. She glanced down at the music player in her hand, fiddled with the buttons.
Something like peace flickered over her features before she met his eyes again. What the hell had she found on that player?
“Can I listen?”
Her gaze flickered but after a moment’s hesitation, she scooted closer to him and held out the free earpiece. He pressed it to his own, and the haunting sound of LP’sMuddy Waterscame through the speaker. “You really like this one, huh? This is the one you kept flicking back to every time it ended?”
Jenna eyed him. He nearly smiled. She was cute when she was suspicious, despite the ungodly smell and grime. But she nodded in reply to his question.
Connor settled in beside her. He could see the goose bumps running along her arms but didn’t dare push their fractured relationship by pulling her into his warmth. “My brother, Caleb, can be an ass. But he’s a good guy, one of the best sheriffs this town has ever had. You can trust him like you trust me.”
Her lips quirked in what could have been either amusement or ayeah, rightexpression.
“He said something earlier which made a lot of sense. He just came at it from the wrong perspective. He thought that someone from a…different lifestyle might have done this to you. A dominant kind of person.” He watched her face carefully, caught the flicker of acknowledgement he doubted she knew she’d even given away. “Was it a man who did this to you, baby?”
The song changed. Jenna’s hands fumbled to change it back. Once more,Muddy Watersbegan to play. A tear trickled down her face. And her head jerked in a nod.
“Did you know him?”
She shook her head in the negative and Connor sighed.
“This is going to sound like a stupid question, Jenna, but it’s important. I really need you to talk to me and I haven’t got a clue why you’re not talking. Do you have a vocal impairment? Something wrong with your tongue or your throat which makes it hard for you to talk?”
Another negative headshake.
“Did this man order you not to talk?”
Her eyes flashed up to his, bore into them with an intensity Connor felt penetrate down to the marrow in his bones. She gave him all the answers he needed with that one fierce glare.
“Good. If I tell you something, do you promise not to freak out on me?” He smiled at her kindly and chuckled when her eyes narrowed at him in return. “You have my promise not to hurt you, Jenna. What I need to tell you is something I consider very private. It’s my secret. Can I trust you with it?”
He’d piqued her interest, he noted with satisfaction. She looked toward the door and back at him. After a little hesitation, she shuffled closer to him and tilted her head as if waiting for him to divulge his ever-so precious secret.
“I am…” Connor sighed heavily. “It might be the man who did this to you believes himself to be a part of a particular lifestyle. BDSM. Bondage, domination or discipline, sadism and masochism.” He felt her stiffen and took her hand in his. “I think he took the domination or discipline part too far. Not to mention the sadism,” he added in a mutter. “I think he’s just a sadistic bastard who abused you because he could.
“I’m not like him. I have the same…urges?” Christ, that sounded wrong even to his ears and, by the way she recoiled, it didn’t strike Jenna the right way either. “Urges is the wrong word. I’m a Dominant, Jenna, and believe me, it would take me a while to explain the differences between who and what I am, what I need, and the steps I take to ensure that any woman in my company leaves happy, and the piece of shit who’s done God knows what to you.”
Jenna paled.
“I can be your Dom, Jenna. I stepped away from that world because…because I needed to. But if stepping back into that role, if giving you adefinitive orderto speak, helps you out of this mess, then that’s what I’ll do. I promised to help you, baby.”
The music faded, and the first melancholy notes of her favored song started again.
“I know ordering you to start talking again might not work. There’s a high possibility you’ll need to build trust in me, in us, before you feel safe enough to obey me in that way. I’m not looking at this as a sexual relationship, Jenna. I’m hoping it’s going to be a way to get you back on solid footing.”
Jenna tugged on the hand he held, but he refused to let go. He felt her panic, and just as quickly as it surfaced, he defused it. She sniffled, and if the expressions on her face meant anything, fought valiantly to keep the tears at bay.
Finally, she relaxed and rested her head on his shoulder, her body shivering as she pressed against him. As he wrapped his arms around her, drew her into the warmth of him, she nodded her capitulation.