Her Men (book 2)

Chapter 19

Teagan

The drive is quiet I don't want to say anything or maybe just processing what I want to say when I do. Luckily the drive is short as Finn lives in Woodrock. As soon as we get there Finn opens my door and offers a hand to help me out, Aiden comes to my side and we follow Finn to the house it’s a small duplex-style home, three houses connected he walks to the first house within the small complex, he opens the door flips the switch his on the inside and allows us in. It’s a very small living area, as you walk into the house you enter the living room, you immediately see the kitchen right in front as it has a bar-style divider the bar ends with the wall turning into not far a hall that leads to I’m guessing the rest of the rooms. It’s a giant L-like-shaped area. He has it furnished generically with things you need for a comfortable living, it's not exactly “homey” but it’s definitely a man’s house. He’s in the kitchen and I gravitate to the bar stools vs the couch, pulling one out and sitting on it Aiden follows but is at the end of the bar standing we watch Finn take some mugs out, he’s making coffee.

“Here you go” as he places a mug in front of me, as well as some sugar, and turns in the small kitchen to the fridge pulling the creamer.

It’s late well after 2 am By the time I’m done making the coffee how I like, he’s filling his mug, I glance at Aiden who has a full cup but not drinking it, and the awkward silence starts to settle but before it does I start my story

“How’d you figure it out?” I chose to ask Finn since I had a feeling he was the brains behind this intervention Aiden hadn’t picked up on anything until tonight even after the incident the night before

“That first night I spotted a few bruises when your shirt lifted some grabbing cases, plus that ” he pointed to my arm “you’d quickly readjust everything back in perfect place, told me you didn’t want them seen, Ian mentioned you didn’t know anyone here but I already knew you were Aiden’s neighbor, you also told me that night NOT to tell Aiden, which meant you wanted to stay hidden from people realizing you are from here, I also heard your conversation at the bank you don’t have any personal details with you meaning just picked up and left everything behind, you didn’t see me there until you walked out and I walked after you,” he pulled something out of a drawer “you dropped this after you stormed off telling me to go kick dirt” he chuckled and pushed the envelope towards me, it was the check I lost.

I’ve been here almost 3 weeks and most of the bruises are gone and the cut looks good it will leave a good scar but healed there are only the large bruises left from getting kicked in my back and side that are now yellow and almost gone

“I’m betting if I wasn’t so intrigued by you you could have gotten away with it but there’s something about you that keeps pulling me in” I’m shocked at his confidence or the fact that Aiden’s right here and he doesn’t even care to admit his interest, Aiden shifts at his words clearly uncomfortable but he takes the chance to speak

“Last night was probably the biggest indicator I knew something was wrong and honestly I haven’t had a chance to think on it I loved having you in my arms last night I didn’t want to chance upsetting you if I pushed you I thought I’d wait till you were ready but Finn came to me tonight with what he’s seen I thought back on the few moments we had, I thought you were flinching because of our history but now I see it probably was not and between him and me we figured it was more serious” I took the first sip of my now warm coffee, I guess making coffee was less about actually wanting it and more about just giving us things to do with our hands while we each thought about things

“He wasn’t always like this, it took a while our life was pretty perfect, but once it started it went from zero to one hundred rather quickly, between outburst I’d try to figure out what I did or was doing wrong, then I realized it was me even on a great day when we were having an amazing time, something would change I then figured it wasn’t me and there was something wrong with him then I tried to help me promising if he just gets help I’d stay, he’d give empty promises and then I tried to leave, I tried multiple times, each time the abuse got worse and worse the last few months he never went back to his old self, I was constantly just trying to survive the day, he got really close this last time I was sure he’d kill me, for something incredibly small and unimportant” I stop to gaze at them, Finn processing and Aiden is looking down into his still untouched coffee

“I guess the amount of blood this time stopped him from, when I regained consciousness he said we had to go to the hospital I guess the one saving grace was he never touched my face he’d only occasionally slap me but luckily it wasn't so bad makeup couldn't hide it, he would try to avoid leaving marks visible it as much as possible. This time though I had a few spots that took longer time, but the cut on my arm was bad, I told me that was the only reason he would take me he didn’t think it would close on its own, from what I could see he stupidly tried to put a bandaid on it” I laughed out of nervousness but neither thought it was funny and Aiden continued to look sicker the more I talked, Finn at least didn’t look at me with pity his look was turning more angry with every word.

“Most time if I needed a doctor Leo would stay with me never leaving my side so no nurse or doctor would be brave enough or try to secretly ask the questions that needed to be asked, they either didn’t want to help or were too scared for me to try but one night he slipped and luckily I had a nurse brave enough to help me, she help me escape and I was able to get away with plenty of time, though I know he will come looking soon, I did leave everything even my purse that had my id, my phone. I left everything in that hospital room, my aunt has been helping me she’s the only one who knows not even my mom knows. I did go to the police a couple of days after I got here but I wasn’t ready to file the reports, I did however take pictures of everything and we got the nurse to make her claim, it’s ready to be filed I’m just scared once I file it he will know where I’m at, I was trying to save a little get a better hold on myself but had little setbacks like forgetting I need my id to make a new bank account to Cash these” I picked up the check and toyed with it “I was able to get cash from Linda she said she would pay me in cash for now and the tips since working at Stella’s have been greater than I would have imagined” Finn doesn’t let awkward silence even start after I finish before he walks around the small bar to me, turns my stool so I’m facing him and takes me in his arms hugging me tight after being stiff for a moment I relaxed in his arms

He takes my face in his hands forcing me to look right into his eyes

“You're incredibly strong Teagan! You’re beautiful and fierce and you didn’t deserve what he did to you.” My eyes start to water and I’m turned once again this time Aiden places one hand on my cheek as his thump gently swipes a tear that fell, he's looking from one eye to the other, he shocks me by pulling me in and kissing me, the kiss is almost angrily you can feel he was mad from hearing about what happened to me but then it turns desperate like he’s trying to breathe me in like he can’t get enough, each stroke of our tongues is life that we both need, to reawaken after the hell I’ve been through, he's pulling me close holding me tightly like if he lets me go I might disappear our breathing is racing but after a few more gentle seconds he finally lets me go resting his forehead on mine

“I’m so sorry you had to go through that hell but as long as you let us, he will never come close to you again Teagan”

“Let’s get you safe,” Finn says with a smile