Page 74 of Lesson In Honesty
“After a long discussion, we also decided to set up a charity. The cause and the name is up to you. Right now, we’re looking at donating fifty percent of each sale to the charity. The other fifty percent should take care of the supplies.”
The room spun even though the chair was perfectly still.
“I—what?”
Evander smiled. He really did have beautiful eyes. “Take a breath, pet. I’m throwing a lot at you, but I’m almost done.”
Almost?What was left to throw at her, the kitchen sink?
“Liam also told us that you like to donate rehabilitated stuffies to hospitals. We’d like to continue that tradition, although Liam did have an idea. Liam?”
She switched her focus onto her Daddy as he came forward to hunker down next to Evander. Her eyes were on his face, but her attention was spinning around from the ceiling, strapped into a Shibari harness, being buffeted from all sides.
“Wyatt pulled a number on you, minx. I know you won’t call it rape, but for me, he straddled a very fine fucking line.” Gray eyes turned to steel when she tried to protest, standing in defense of a dead man. “How many times did he fuck you dry, cause you pain, all in pursuit of his own pleasure? Too damn many. On top of that, the mental damage he wreaked on you was—is—a deep scar.”
Sierra bit her bottom lip, her weak protests dying a quick death in the face of his anger. She didn’t want to think of herself as a victim; she’d given her consent, after all, and maybe the fault had been with her that she couldn’t get aroused before Wyatt…
She remembered the night she gave him her virginity. The callous way he’d made her lay facedown in the sheets so he didn’t have to look at her face, the same way he did every time he used her after that. How her blood on his cock was still wet when he zipped himself up and left to go fall into a sorority girl’s bed not an hour later.
How he’d rut into her when she was dry.
Liam was right. She wouldn’t call it rape, but the line was as thin as a single strand of hair.
“There are a lot of women in similar circumstances and worse. Single women and women with children who need helpin getting out.” He reached out and took her clammy hand. “Evander is willing to donate a chunk of money to kickstart the charity. I’ve spoken to the guys at Avalon and they’re going to chip in. Jasper’s talking to his brothers about tapping into some of Dominic’s ill-gotten funds as well. This is a chance to give back to women who deserve to find themselves again—just like your stuffies.”
Overwhelmed, she tried to take a breath. It was too much—the store was a huge lump of pride to swallow on its own, but the rest… Christ, acharity?A charity should be created in honor of someone special, to continue the endeavors of a lifetime.
“You don’t have to do anything, little one; that’s what these idiots are leaving out of the conversation.” From the doorway, with his arm secured lovingly across Callie’s chest, Elias offered her a sympathetic look. “The charity will be taken care of by people who know what they’re doing. We want you to name it because without you, it wouldn’t exist. Your main part in this is doing exactly what you love, nothing else.”
All right, yes. When put to her just that way, it was easier to digest. Nightmare visions of towering stacks of paperwork and IRS forms faded into the background, along with the approaching panic attack.
She didn’t want to be the face of a charity, no matter the cause, when she’d done nothing to deserve it. They’d find her curled into a ball of pathetic tears beneath a desk if she had to be responsible for anything other than doing what she did day after day—healing herself as she fixed what was broken in others’ eyes.
Elias gave her a nod, obviously confident he’d said all he needed to say. Evander’s soft, puppy-eyed smile edged her closer to agreeing, simply because she was a sucker.
In the end, it was Liam who teased the nod from her.
Liam, who knew her better than she knew herself. The man who loved her despite everything she’d let Wyatt do to her, the level she’d lowered herself to in order to get some inkling of affection from someone who hadn’t seen her as human until almost the end.
Liam, who stuck by her through thick and thin, even when her body denied them both what they wanted most.
Exhaling slowly, she leaned forward and touched her forehead to his. “Accepting this will make you happy?”
“Sierra,youmake me happy. The question is, will it satisfy you?”
“I don’t know.” The answer made guilt curdle in her stomach. They’d gone to so much effort, spent money on her she couldn’t repay. “I don’t want to let anyone down, Liam. I feel like I let everyone down, every day, and—”
“Whoa. What the fuck?” He reared back, scowling at her.
Shit, she shouldn’t have said that. It probably fell into thedisparaging herselfcategory of punishment, which was a spanking offence. He hated when she put herself down in any way, shape, or form and, although she thought she’d improved since she met him, there was the occasional… relapse.
Oh, she was definitely in his sights now, she thought with a sigh. The gray of his eyes was homed in on her, locked and loaded, growing darker with anger and frustration as the seconds ticked past in slow motion.
“How long have you felt like this?”
The best method she’d learned of gauging him was reading his tone and his eyes. Eyes first, then his voice. He was able to regulate his tone far better than his eyes; take now for instance—he spoke calmly, almost casually, as though what she’d said was a problem easily remedied instead of the downfall of her self-esteem.
But those eyes… if she had one wish, she’d fall into them, cocoon herself in him until they cradled her like silver-lined clouds while the storm raged around her.