Be My Hero (Forbidden Men #3)(98)

She sucked in a breath and looked up at me. "You're being extremely cool about all this."

I snorted out an amused laugh. "You're the one who told me to simmer down."

"So you really don't feel as calm as you're acting?"

I shook my head and studied the bruise forming on her forehead. "Not even a little."

"Well, you put on a good show."

"Thanks." Reaching around to the back of her skull where her father had cracked it against the refrigerator, I winced. There was a decent-sized goose egg back there, but at least the skin hadn't broken open.

"What about you?" I finally asked, studying her eyes for signs of dilated pupils. "You okay?"

"Oh, you know . . . " She shrugged and lifted a nonchalant hand. "Reese, the one person on earth I never wanted to find out about all this, just found out, so . . . no. No, I'm not okay at all." Her chin trembled and she bit her lip to stop it.

I nodded, completely understanding. She was putting on just as good a show as I was. "So . . . your dad, huh?"

Glancing away, she sniffed. "He's not really my dad. The night he found out from my mom that I actually belonged to someone else was the first night he, you know, visited my room."

I swallowed the bile that rose in my throat and blew out a hard breath through my nose.

Shaking my head, I said, "I don't care if he was blood or not, he was still your father." Still a sick, disgusting motherf*cker.

Her face fell and her shoulders shrank in around her body as she hugged herself. "I know." Her voice was so small and her expression so defeated. This was not my strong, sassy Tinker Bell.

I hated what that bastard had done to her and was still doing to her.

My breathing picked up. I lifted my hands to my head and buried my fingers in my hair as I coasted right back onto the edge of uncontrollable fury.

"Fuck, Eva. I can't handle this, knowing what happened to you and not being able to do anything about it because it's already over and done. I want to hurt him. I want to hunt him down and hurt him so bad. If I could just get my hands around his neck . . . " I lifted my fingers, all ten of them tensed and curled, eager to constrict.

Eva caught them and lifted them to her mouth. "Just breathe," she instructed as she kissed the dried blood on my knuckles.

"I can't," I bit out. "All I can do is see him pinning you in the kitchen and—"

She kissed me.

Her mouth against mine. It was . . . yeah. Everything. I closed my eyes and sank into her, cupping her face and lifting her chin so our lips aligned perfectly. It might've been dry and closed-mouth, but it was still a perfect kiss and tugged up all these feelings I had for her from the bottom of my soul.

"Better?" she asked as she slowly pulled away.

I kept my eyes closed, reliving that kiss in my head as I swayed forward. "Um, I don't think so. Maybe you should try kissing me some more."

Puffing out a light laugh, she rested her cheek against my neck and hugged me.

I stroked her hair, and pulled her closer as the urge to protect her flared hotter. "If I ever find him near you again, I'll kill him. I won't be able to help it."

"Pick, I was serious when I said he could destroy you. He'll learn all your weaknesses and find a way to use them against you."

Remembering how he already knew I was an orphan, I didn't doubt her. He was probably a very powerful shithead. But the knowledge didn't scare me. I pressed my lips to Eva's temple. "You're my only weakness."

She sighed as if she knew she wasn't getting through to me enough to intimidate me, not until Julian and Skylar started crying from the bedroom. Then she pulled back and looked up at me with a steady, probing gaze. "You sure about that?"

My eyes widened as my chest caved in around my heart with instant dread. "He wouldn't. They're only babies."

Her laugh was bitter. "What? A man who started raping his daughter when she was twelve? Oh, I think he would. He uses every available resource he can against his enemies to take them down and get what he wants. Even innocent little babies."

I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth. "Twelve?" I whispered, bowing my head. "You were only twelve? Jesus, Tink. That's not information that's going to stop me from going out right now and finding him to rip his worthless head right off his shoulders."

"He could make you lose Julian." She snapped her fingers. "Just like that."

My eyes flashed open. When I looked up, she studied me a moment longer before the stark, raving intimidation set in. Blowing out a breath, I slumped onto the closed lid of the toilet and buried my face in my hands. "Fuck me." I felt sick, nauseated. My head pounded as if someone was whacking a mallet against it. I swear I could even hear—

I lifted my face to realize someone really was knocking, but not on my head. On the front door. Hard.

Oh, if that f*cker was back, he was dead. He couldn't use Julian against me if he was dead.

But the muted call that came from outside the apartment said, "Police. Open up."

Shit. Didn't that just figure?

Eva jerked in surprise, her eyes going wide. "What the hell?"

She obviously wasn't used to growing up in the same kind of neighborhood as I was.