Page 97 of Heartbeat Girl
“Yes. Once Marilyn is gone.” He stated like it was something anyone would want. When I said nothing, he caressed my cheek. “There’s not another option. You’re too fragile as you are. You don’t think I can make you happy for an eternity? Or are you afraid of being undead?”
I bared my thoughts to him. “I’ve thought about what it must feel like to be like you. Living forever. No sickness or aging. As a human, I believe that part can romanticized,butI also realize that no part of your life since becoming a vampire has been happy.”
“Until you,” Liam murmured softly. “We will be happy.” He leaned down and kissed the edge of my jaw before planting another at my neck. A delightful shiver claimed my body. “Jayne, what’s your answer?”
My resolve was a part of me before Liam even asked. While searching for confirmation that he was a vampire, I probably found it then. I simply waited for him to ask. Instead of telling him that, though, I said, “My memory. Give it to me, and I’ll tell you.”
“You don’t have to bargain with me, Jayne. What I took always belonged to you. It’s time to give them back.” Liam sat up and pulled me onto his lap. “Want the light on?”
I shook my head. The light would leave me too exposed. The darkness allowed me the chance to embrace my emotions instead of what I saw looking at his face.
Liam cupped my jaw. “Remember, it’s the past and no matter what, I wouldn’t take back the choices I made that night.”
Worry churned my stomach. “What if it changes what I feel now?”
Leaning my back against his chest, Liam rested his head on my shoulder. His hand came up and lay between my breasts, at my hammering heart. “Jayne, I’ve waited for you for over three years. I can wait three more if I have to.”
I sucked in a shaky breath.
“Ready?” he asked, and I reached for his leg beneath mine, then nodded. He placed his palm against my forehead, kissed my cheek, and whispered, “It’s time to remember what I’ve stolen and… What I changed.”
Changed?
Before I could ask what he meant, I got my answer. One minute I was in the dark, the next I flinched as a fist came at me. Arms wrapped around me, but fear gripped my chest, drowning out the safety of Liam’s embrace.
Dean.
I shook my head, threw my hands out, and begged, “Stop. You’re going to kill me.” I touched my ribs, gasped for air. The pain was only remembered. Liam didn’t steal just one memory. My memories totaled hundreds of nights as a foolish woman too scared to get out.
Dean had me convinced no one loved me because I made the mistake of telling him about my uncle and everyone else. He used my past against me. I believed his hateful words. So, I let him hurt me, trap me, and take my phone. I let him keep me from my new job. He kept me from getting to know Ruth. He kept me isolated, so that I couldn’t save myself.
I cried out and jerked with another illusion of Dean swinging at me. I grabbed my face, a phantom ache coursing through my eye. My stomach felt like I swallowed battery acid. My hands dug into whatever lay beneath me as I tried to pull myself out of the memory of falling down the steps. I winced as the piercing throb burst through my skull. Holding my head, tears spilled down my face. I remembered all the shouting, and the way Dean battered my wrist, leaving me unable to go to work. And I wanted to keep my job. I actuallybeggedanother human to let me go to work.
Shame heated my face, and I cried again, shaking so hard. I barely felt the arms holding me. The hands caressing my prickly skin. The voice that called out, trying to soothe me. That person’s touch must be important to me, but he couldn’t reach me. Not yet. All I saw was Dean.
Broken to the core, I stumbled into Dean’s hospital seeking help for the things he’d done to my body. When I found him there, I quickly discovered he had lied about not working that day because he wanted another excuse to abuse me. I was so terrified. Honestly, I wouldn’t have told anyone the things Dean did to me, but my presence posed a threat. He didn’t see it that way, though.
I ran and hid.
And that’s how I found Liam, Steve, and Pete.
The fear that hit me was different with them, but no less potent. My life flashed before my eyes as I took in the black pupils and sharp fangs. First, I saw Liam sucking on a blood bag. Then I glimpsed Pete and Steve with the nurse behind him, and I truly freaked out.
Amid that terror, in that dark room, Liamsavedme. His words flew through me as if I was hearing it for the first time. And just like his words did then, peace swept over me, reaching me through my memories.
“Heartbeat Girl, do you want to be free of the man that led you into a group of vampires?”
“He’ll never hurt you or anyone again.”
“I’d like to get to know you, Jayne, but not like this.”
“Do you want to meet me under better circumstances?”
“Jayne!” the man carried on in the hallway. A door creaked open.
“You’re going to forget about the pain—whatever he’s done to you. All the abuse, you’re going to forget it completely. Today, you dumped him because you caught him cheating.”
“Open your mouth.”