“Luc, you don’t need to protect me, or feel like you need to, I will handle this…” she wrapped her arms around herself and shivered, only she didn’t look cold.

“I know I don’t need to, but I want to. Besides I could tell how scared you were today when he was waiting for you in the lobby.” Suddenly the rims of her eyes turned red and they filled with tears. She bowed her head forward then shook it back and forth like she was trying to rein in her emotions. “Please don’t cry, pretty girl…” I said swiping at her eyes. “Please let me help you.” In this moment when I was begging her to let me in, I felt like I could never hurt her because I only wanted to see this girl smile, she had been through too much at such a young age.

“Luc, I told you I’m messed up. You don’t need this or me.”

“Vicky, let’s not put any pressure on ourselves here,” I began to say, knowing that I was repeating Dr. Davies' words. But the truth was that they sounded good and made me feel better. “Don’t worry about what this means. I get it we are both not in a place to commit, but I still need Scott out of your life especially since he is threatening you.”

Sitting on the couch next to her, her small body looked rigid and she shivered. “Tell me, Vicky, please.”

She took a few breaths, almost like she was forcing herself to just breathe. “When I went home with him I didn’t even know his name. Those things didn’t matter,” she explained, as her gaze drifted up to mine, she looked embarrassed. I nodded my head willing for her to continue. “I thought I was going to have a one night stand. Fun, easy and no one to deal with in the morning. Like I said earlier, my life had turned upside down so quickly, I had no processing time. It was one bad thing after another and I was cracking. I never expected Scott to be into heavy BDSM, though. I didn’t really know much about it but for some reason he thought I was on board. I was a stupid girl. I should have turned around and left the moment I saw the shackles. It wasn’t for me, I just wanted to feel numb, I was looking for an escape,” she explained and her words turned my blood cold. Did I hear her right? The man had shackles? I clenched my fists at the side of my thighs, but I couldn’t show her how much it hurt me to hear that someone did that to her. Instead I closed and opened my eyes acknowledging that I understood her, that I knew what it was like to look for a way to numb the pain.

“He beat me so bad and…” she paused. The fact that she paused meant that he did something unfathomable.

“Tell me,” I urged, as my thumb slowly caressed her hand.

She nodded her head and the sobs grew louder. I didn’t need her words to confirm what I already knew. “He raped you.” I said it as a statement and she completely broke down. Once again, I embraced her as I caressed her back gently and whispered in her ear that everything would be okay. I have never wanted anything more than to make her life okay. She’d been beaten down too much.

She pulled away from me and I didn’t understand what she was doing at first, but then she turned around and lifted her shirt. My jaw clenched when I saw the marks that animal left on her back. I couldn’t help but run my fingers over her rough scars. My heart broke thinking of what she must have been through, what Alexis must have been through, first with her mother and then with me. My past always came back to haunt me, even then sitting there with Vicky. I was a bad man. She was good and pure. I should leave. I would have left if she hadn’t needed my help.

“Vicky, I am so sorry for what that monster did to you, but you were in a bad place, this isn’t your fault. If Bryce knew he was blackmailing you, if he knew he raped you, he would have that guy put away for a long time.”

Her eyes widened again. “Please promise me you won’t tell Bryce. We have only just met, and I don’t want him to think badly of me.”

“Bryce has opened his world up to you, Vicky, I don’t think he would turn his back on you for this, but your secret is safe with me. I will deal with Wellington on my own.”

“Luc, I don’t want you getting into any trouble because of me either, maybe he will just go away.”

“Men like Wellington are opportunistic. I can’t let him get away with what he did to you. I will make a phone call and get him checked out, and then we need to find out where he keeps his video footage.”

I stood up and walked over to the corner of the room. I was going to make the call later but after hearing what he did to her, my fists were clenching with the need to inflict pain on this man. For the first time in a long time I felt like I was back in the family business making calls to check on people. I called an old contact. After two rings he picked up. “Ronaldo, it’s Luc Blanchard,” I drawled into the phone, feeling my blood pumping hard. Not because I was nervous but because I wanted to wring Scott Wellington's neck. I haven’t felt this kind of rage in a long time and I knew I needed to calm down.

“Luc, long time, no speak…” Ronaldo answered. I debriefed him on the situation and gave him some orders to follow through on. I also told him that I would reward him even more if he didn’t mention this phone call to my father. I had been out of the business for two years now, and calling in a contact would probably not be deemed acceptable in my father’s eyes. It could also send the wrong message that I wanted back in, when I clearly did not.

Vicky got up to open the door; it was the sushi delivery guy. I was surprised Tim didn’t call first, that’s not cool. I paid the delivery guy and walked back into the apartment with two plastic bags in my hand.

“Are you hungry?”

“Who was it on the phone, Luc?” she asked nervously.

“Just a guy… I want to get Wellington checked out, if he has the tapes then I want to make sure we destroy all evidence,” I explained.

“Thank you,” she breathed out.

“You don’t need to thank me, Vicky, you just need to eat with me now. For some reason you always catch me when I’m starving.” My eyes glittered with mischief at my double meaning.

Her eyes danced with the same mischievous gaze. “Of course, I’ll sit and eat with you.” She took the bags from me and placed them on the coffee table. “Can we eat here or do you prefer the kitchen?”

“No, the couch is good.”

We both broke into the bags, we were clearly hungry for real food, although Vicky opted for the vegetarian rolls.

We sat back and ate the sushi. I felt more relaxed and I thought she did too. I realized that I wanted to know so much more about her.

“So tell me about yourself.” I smiled.

“What do you want to know?” she asked nervously.

“I don’t know…you seem like a smart girl, are you in college?” At my question her lips turned down.

“Why do you keep referring to me as a girl, Luc? It’s irritating the shit out of me…I’m twenty-two years old,” she said with a tone that oozed attitude.

“It’s not that I think you are a girl, it’s that I need to think that you are a girl so that you will stay off limits to me,” I admitted hesitantly.

“What does that mean?” she snapped.

“It means that as much as I want you, I know I can’t have you. Even this thing with Scott Wellington reinforces the fact that I can’t have you.”

“How?” she asked, as her forehead creased and she squinted her eyes. Even confused she was beautiful.

“Because, Vicky, I am a monster. I have done bad things too,” I said with defeat in my tone. As much as I tried to be good, it always comes down to my sins.

“Luc, you’ve been watching out for me since the day I met you. You can’t be that bad. You need to be more forgiving of yourself. Besides this is just friendship here, right?” she asked. I knew she needed the confirmation because I did too. So even though my dick went hard just watching her I confirmed…

“Yeah, Vicky, we are just friends. I’m looking out for you,” I answered, wanting to believe in those words more than anything. Really, I wanted to undress her, knowing she wasn’t wearing a bra under her shirt and wondering if she was commando too. Luckily, I had put on a pair of boxers to tame my beast down.