Vulnerable [Suncoast Society] (Siren Publishing Sensations)

by Tymber Dalton

“Do you believe her?”

  “I do. Ever since our come-to-Jesus moment in the shower, she’s turned it around. I can see a good change in her.”

  They both turned as Eva walked in. “Hey! Look at you.” She stopped and stared at them. “What? And where’s Laurel?”

  Leo arched an eyebrow and crooked his finger at her. “Come here.”

  “What?”

  “Apparently,” Jesse said, “Laurel read the papers. She spilled the beans.”

  “Papers?”

  “Divorce papers,” Leo said. “You’re both busted. Come here.”

  Almost looking like a guilty child herself, Eva’s shoulders slumped as she slowly closed the distance and stopped on Jesse’s side of the bed, next to him. Jesse hooked an arm around her waist and pulled her down into his lap.

  “Don’t be hard on her, Sir,” Jesse said. “Please. We were all doing the best we could at the time.”

  Leo focused on Eva for a long, quiet moment. “Jesse,” he softly asked. “Please go find June and Laurel and hang with them for a few minutes.”

  Jesse gave Eva a peck on the cheek before she got up, allowing him to move and her to take his chair.

  He crossed his arms over his chest in his best imitation of Laurel. “Fine, Daddy. If you wanted to talk to her alone, just say so.”

  Jesse thought the best sound he’d ever heard in his life was Leo’s pained laughter following him as he flounced out of the room.

  Okay. Sooo worth the beating I’ll get later.

  * * * *

  Leo stared at Eva for a moment. She clutched her purse on her lap, her gaze down.

  He knew that look too damn well.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  That finally got her to look at him. “You’re the one in the hospital bed asking me that?”

  “Yeah. So tell me the truth.”

  “I’m…dealing,” she finally said.

  “Tell me the whole truth. About Monday. In the bathroom.” The truth he suspected she hadn’t even revealed to Jesse, or Jesse would have told him.

  He waited her out. “I wanted to die,” she whispered. “I thought man, my parents are right about me. Leo’s moving on. I couldn’t even think straight. Thought she’d be better off with you and Jesse than with me.”

  “Is that why you were really going to drop the challenges to the divorce?”

  She stared at her purse. “I knew Jesse would keep her safe, even if you…”

  She didn’t finish.

  She’d never told anyone but Leo about the time in college when she’d taken some pills and a quart of vodka and surprised herself most of all when she woke up the next morning, hungover and feeling sick as shit and lying in a puddle of her own vomit, but alive.

  And he’d never told Jesse about that. It wasn’t his place. He might not be able to stay married to Eva, but some promises to her he absolutely would and could keep.

  Holding her secrets was one of those promises.

  Just like he would never reveal the other things she’d told him that had happened to her in her life. The dark things that made her childhood a hell.

  Jesse might never know exactly how grateful Leo was to and for him, that he didn’t hand Laurel over to Eva’s parents that first night in the hospital.

  Especially not to Eva’s father.

  Eva hadn’t revealed those dark truths to Leo until after she was pregnant with Laurel. Another reason why Leo wouldn’t have more than one child with her. Hell, he might not have had Laurel with her had he known about Eva’s father before that.

  He couldn’t ever plan what Eva might do in the future, but his own child, by god, he would protect her from that man.

  One promise he’d forced Eva to make to him after she’d admitted what her father had done to her was that they would never, ever, allow any child of theirs to be alone with her father. No overnights, not even shopping trips.

  Never.

  And that if Eva ever allowed it and he found out about it, he would immediately leave her and take their child with him and file for full custody. This was an oath he’d made to her before they’d even known if Laurel would be a boy or a girl.

  To the best of his knowledge, she’d stuck to that promise to him.

  Which was why he suspected she’d agreed to Ed’s plan, too scared or unable to stand up against her father herself, and afraid if Leo died that she might not want to live.

  And that Laurel would end up with them.

  If Jesse was Laurel’s legal guardian, and the house was safe, then Laurel was safe, no matter what happened, from Eva’s father. Legal protection Eva didn’t have to justify to her father. She didn’t have to stand up for herself against the fucking monster.

  Another reason Leo had tried to take this whole divorce slow from the start and had tried to keep their marriage alive for so damn long. No, he wasn’t responsible for Eva’s actions, or her past, but had she killed herself because he up and left her, he didn’t want to have to live with that, or spend his life apologizing to his daughter for it.

  “Answer me, Eva. Is that why you were going to drop the challenges?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Tell me about Monday. In the bathroom.”

  She looked away again and didn’t answer.

  “Eva.”

  Tears spilled down her cheeks. “She was safe, Leo. I knew Jesse had all your friends to help him keep her safe. They all would.”

  “Did you stop to think what would have happened had your parents challenged it if you died? And you know they would have. Huh?”

  She didn’t answer.

  “Eva.”

  “No.”

  “So you didn’t break the glass on accident, did you?”

  “No. I broke it on purpose. Then I fell over when I went to pick up a piece and stepped on some glass. Then I vomited when I saw the blood and before I could do anything else, I passed out.”

  “And Jesse found you.”

  “Yes.”

  “Yes, what?” Now that he understood what she needed, he would give her what little bit he could.

  She finally glanced up at him. “Yes, Sir.”

  He reached out for her hand. She put her hand in his and he stroked his fingers over her knuckles. “They have this thing in BDSM. It’s called being under someone’s protection. From this point on, until I say otherwise, you’re under my and Jesse’s protection. Understand?”

  She nodded. “Yes, Sir.”

  “I’m not your Dominant. I can’t be, and I think you know that. But Jesse and I will stand by your side and help you through this. Hopefully, one day, we’ll be able to find you someone we can sign off on.”

  She nodded, still crying. “Thank you, Sir.”

  He gently tugged on her hand and realized she wasn’t wearing her wedding rings any longer. “Come here, sweetheart.”

  She leaned in closer.

  “We have a daughter who needs us. You are not allowed to try that again. Understand? No matter what happens, no matter how bad it gets, you cannot.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “Do you have to work tonight?”

  “No, Sir.”

  “When you guys get home tonight and get Little Miss Nosey Pants put to bed, you need to sit Jesse down and tell him everything. Everything. I’m going to tell him about you being under our protection. But if you want to stay under our protection, you have to tell him everything. Understand?”

  She nodded. “Yes, Sir.”

  “Look at me.” He waited until her gaze fully focused on him. “He cannot hurt you anymore. And we will not let him hurt Laurel. But Jesse has to know everything so he understands why, and you have to be the one to tell him. Everything. Understand?”

  She nodded. “Yes, Sir.”

  “Good girl.” He heard Jesse and June and Laurel talking in the hallway. “Give me a kiss and go wash your face before Laurel sees you’ve been crying.”

  She leaned in, kissed his forehead, and disappeared into the bathroom, t
he door swinging shut just as the three of them rounded the corner and entered the room.

  He forced a smile. “Sorry about that. Thank you, June, Jesse.”

  “What about me?” Laurel huffed.

  “And you, too, sweetheart.”

  “Where’s Mommy?”

  “She’s in the bathroom.”

  Laurel crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. “See? I told you we could use your bathroom!”

  * * * *

  Jesse noticed a subtle change in Eva. He wasn’t sure what, but suspected it had to do with whatever Leo had talked about with her. When it was time to leave, Leo called Jesse back.

  “He’ll meet you at the hospital entrance,” he told Eva and Laurel. “I need to talk to him about work real fast.”

  He waited until they were out of earshot. “Bullshit,” Jesse whispered. “What is it?”

  Jesse felt impaled by his lover’s blue eyes. “Tonight, Eva needs to talk to you. I told her to do it. I also told her she is officially considered under our protection.”

  “What?”

  “Exactly what I just said and meant. She knows we can’t be her Dominants, but we will be the ones to sign off on anyone in the future.”

  “I know we were sort of joking about that, but…really?”

  “Let her talk to you tonight.”

  “You can’t tell me?”

  “She needs to. If she really trusts both of us, and she means what she says, it needs to be her story.”

  “Is this old knowledge you’ve had?”

  “Yes.”

  Jesse examined his fingers. “Am I going to be pissed off when I hear it?”

  “Yes, but probably not at her or me. You’ll understand.” He tugged Jesse’s hand to pull him in for a kiss. “Love you.”

  “Love you, too, Sir.”

  Jesse wasn’t sure what the hell this earth-shattering news could be, and he resisted the urge to ask Eva about it.

  Although he did have a sneaking suspicion it probably tied into why Eva didn’t want Laurel going with her parents.

  It felt like forever until they got Laurel in bed and asleep around nine that night. Jesse was sitting on the couch with his laptop and Eva had changed into sleeping shorts and a T-shirt and curled up on the far end of the couch, a few tissues clutched in her hands.

  He set the laptop on the coffee table and waited.

  Without meeting his gaze, she said, “Can I put my head in your lap?”

  What the hell? Why not. They were miles down the rabbit hole now.

  He shifted sideways toward her to stretch out on the couch and she climbed into his lap.

  Then she closed her eyes and started talking.

  By the time she finished an hour later, she’d completely shredded the tissues in her hand, his shorts and T-shirt were a sodden mess where she’d cried against him, and she’d fallen asleep in his lap with his fingers entwined in her hair.

  He also felt like he’d been run through an emotional blender.

  Yes, he’d suspected Monday’s incident had been a halfhearted attempt on her part to commit suicide.

  He wouldn’t have, if pressed, really thought she was serious, at the time.

  But now…now he understood.

  He understood why Leo took so long to finally end their marriage, especially once Laurel was born. Why he’d taken great pains to try to make it easy on Eva.

  He understood the strange scars he’d seen on Eva’s upper thighs and arms, scars that looked like bramble scratches, but weren’t.

  He understood why Eva had looked terrified of her father in the hospital that night.

  He understood why, when Eva’s father had demanded Jesse hand Laurel over to him, that she’d finally told them to leave Laurel alone.

  Why she’d agreed so readily to the outrageous deal Ed had offered her.

  All of it.

  And Leo had been right. Jesse wasn’t angry at her. Not even over her omitting the fact that she’d wanted to kill herself Monday morning.

  No, Jesse was enraged, but not at Eva.

  He wanted to castrate that motherfucking “father” of Eva’s.

  And he wholeheartedly concurred with Leo wanting them to be her official “protectors.”

  He had to let the puree that was now his brain settle into a slurry inside his skull before he finally moved. He gently untangled himself from Eva, carefully picked her up and carried her like he would Laurel, and took her to her bedroom. There, he placed her on her bed and tucked her in.

  Like he would Laurel.

  She stirred only a little. He leaned in and kissed her forehead. “I promise, sweetheart, we’ll take care of you.”

  Turning the lights off, he left her door partially open and headed to bed himself.

  Although with the knowledge now roaming through his mind, the nightmare he now understood that had been Eva’s childhood, he felt horrible for some of his thoughts about her earlier on.

  He also loved Leo a thousand times more for trying to protect her as best he could.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  On Sunday morning, they’d brought their breakfasts to the hospital to eat in Leo’s room with him. Jesse had noticed Eva was even more quiet than usual, and the reason finally became clear.

  “I want you two to move in with us,” Eva said.

  “What?” Leo and Jesse asked.

  “Yes!” Laurel said.

  “Let’s be realistic. It’s stupid for you guys to waste money on an apartment,” Eva said. “And you’re on the second floor. Leo can use the pool at home for rehab. I’ll move into the guest bedroom. The bathroom in the master bedroom has a wide doorway. A wheelchair will fit in there, and it has the shower.”

  “Please?” Laurel begged. “Please, please, please?”

  Leo stared at Jesse. “Eva, Laurel, I need to talk to Jesse, please. Alone.”

  “Oh, fine,” Laurel said, jumping up and flouncing to the door. “At least this time you just said so. Not like it’s an I-N-C-O-N-V-I-E-N-C-E or anything.”

  Eva slowly shook her head as she followed her daughter out the door.

  Waiting until they were safely out of earshot, Leo asked. “Well?”

  “Oh, no. You’re the Sir.”

  “I need to know. Remember our deal? That when I ask for input, you give it?”

  Dammit. Jesse considered it. “The stupid thing is, I see no fault in her plan, other than we totally lose privacy. Which is moot right now because of your injuries. So…” He shrugged.

  “Anything else?”

  “Well, we can keep a better eye on Eva. And it’ll make Laurel happy.”

  “Can you live with Eva?”

  “I’ve been living with her.” He sighed. “Good thing I was there, too.”

  He pointed at the drawer in his bedside table. “Open that, please. I had Landry go by our place and get something for me.”

  “What?” He opened it and found a small box. He handed it to Leo.

  Leo opened it. “I wanted to give this to you the night of the accident.” Inside, a stainless chain with a small tag on it. A silver dolphin on a blue background, leaping from the water, with a sun in the background.

  On back were their initials, LC and JM, with Leo’s on top.

  Jesse didn’t dare presume. “I wanted to put it on you myself,” Leo said, “but I my hands are a little…” He smiled. “Is it unDomly of me to make you put on your own day collar?”

  Jesse leaned in and tenderly kissed him. “Not at all, Sir.” He felt his own hands tremble as he lifted it from the box, unhooked the clasp, and put it on.

  “Do you like it?”

  “I love it.”

  “Keep it tucked under your shirt,” Leo warned. “If Laurel sees it, she’ll want to know what it is.”

  “You know she’ll see it eventually. What do we tell her?”

  Leo reached up and fingered it before Jesse tucked it in. “I guess we’ll tell her it’s a necklace that I gave you because I love
you.”

  “Do you think Eva will really be okay with us living there?”

  “She might be even better with us living there. It’ll force her to see she needs to move on and we’ll be able to find her someone faster. I hope.”

  “Why a dolphin?”

  He smiled. “Mote Marine. If Laurel really pesters me about it, I’ll say it means a lot to me and you and I found that for you.”

  By the time Laurel and Eva returned, they’d hidden the box and settled back into their positions.

  “Everything okay, Daddy?” Laurel asked.

  “Everything’s fine, sweetheart.”

  “Well?” she asked, hands on her hips.

  “Well, what?”

  “Are you moving back in with us or not? Duh.”

  Leo pointed at her. “You need to be a little more respectful if you don’t want me and Jesse and your mom putting you in time out once I’m back home.”

  Laurel let out a happy squeal and vaulted into Jesse’s lap, catching him in the balls in the process, to lean in and kiss Leo.

  Eva, who’d spotted the accidental assault, jumped in to grab her. “Sorry, Jesse.”

  “It’s okay,” he said in a pained voice. “Kind of getting used to it.”

  * * * *

  Three weeks after being admitted, Leo was discharged.

  To home.

  Jesse had rallied the troops and they’d helped get them moved into Eva’s, including shuffling furniture around inside the house and cleaning the apartment so they’d get the security deposit back. Because of the circumstances with Leo, they waived the lease term without any argument.

  Leo still had a lot of work, including rehab therapy appointments, exercises he had to do—and he had Eva and Jesse, and Laurel, to help him out.

  As well as their friends in the Suncoast Society, who Laurel was calling her aunts and uncles.

  Jesse had never been so grateful to be part of that extended family. They had been amazing, a life-saver in more ways than one.

  And three months after the accident, their friends even arranged a night out for sushi and a movie for Laurel with Rob and Laura and their little girl so that all three adults in the Cooke-Morrow household could take a trip to Venture the night before the really big day.