Drake Sisters 07 - Hidden Currents

beach with open wounds, they would have argued with you and eventual y given in because they want to give you anything right now. I do, too, El e, but not at the risk of infection. You chose to be with me, and you have to suffer the consequences. I haven’t changed and I’m not going to change. We do what’s best for your health. If you want to be angry with me, and we both know you need to be angry with someone, then al right, I can live with that. And I’ve given you far more of an explanation than I’ve ever given anyone in my life.â€
    â€œIs that supposed to win you points?â€
    Again that faint, ghost of a smile came out of nowhere and his white teeth flashed briefly. “Maybe. I don’t much care about points. I don’t mind picking you up and carrying you to the trees either. So decide.â€
    â€œYou’re such a white knight.†She pushed past him and headed along the worn path for the wind-blown cypress trees overlooking the ocean.
    â€œI’m guessing that might have been sarcasm.†He placed the blanket on the ground just on the rise of the smal slope leading to the dunes separating him from the sea.
    El e sank down onto the blanket, sighing heavily to show him she wasn’t as happy as she would have been walking on the beach. “You guessed right.â€
    Jackson dropped a sweater over her head, his hand gentle as he put her arms through the sleeves. She’d given in too easily. El e Drake would have withered him on the spot for daring to dictate to her, even for her health, but at least she’d made a protest, token or not. “Libby can come tomorrow, maybe with Sarah or Hannah so you aren’t overwhelmed.â€
    El e’s breath caught in her throat as alarm slammed through her. “No.†She shook her head. “Absolutely not. I don’t want them to know.â€
    â€œBaby,†he said softly, picking up her hand, his thumb making lazy circles inside her palm. “They already know.â€
    She caught his fingers and held tightly. “No, they don’t. They know as in, oh, poor Jackson, he was tortured. How terrible. And of course they feel genuinely terrible for you. They have tremendous compassion, but they don’t know what it’s like to be stripped of al dignity, al humanity, to feel like less than an animal, crawling naked and blind on the ground, a body to be used in any way someone else sees fit. Knowing you can be raped, brutalized, sodomized, beaten, starved, forced to commit any depraved act just for someone else’s entertainment. Unless you’ve been through it, you can’t feel it. It isn’t stamped into your soul so deep you’re branded for life.â€
    Jackson raked a hand through his hair and shifted, the knots in his gut hardening. He knew what she meant. The knowledge, the bitterness, the rage.
    He could taste it in his mouth and hear his own screams. Sweat beaded on his skin and he looked away from her.
    â€œDon’t.†She hissed the command between clenched teeth. Her hand caught his face and forced him to turn his head back, to look at her.
    â€œIf you know every single detail of what that man did to me, then don’t turn away from me because I know what they did to you. If you can see me and accept my degradation and pain, then don’t take it away from me that I share yours.â€
    He leaned down and brushed his lips across her mouth, jolting her. “Men think we protect women and handle it, that we should handle it.†When she continued to stare up at him he sighed and brushed a soft kiss over her mouth again. “Al right. I’ve got it. I do, El e.â€
    â€œBefore, when you were captured and we were connected and I asked you to live, I knew what it meant, I knew what I was asking of you and what it meant to me. When you asked me to live, I expected that you knew what it would entail. I knew we’d be sharing the memories in our minds, that you’d know every detail of what happened to me at his hands, and I’d know every detail of what happened to you when you were captured. Does it bother you so much that I know?â€
    His gaze flicked over her face. Had there been a note of hurt in her voice? Was there a difference? He knew what Stavros had done to her, using her body, forcing her compliance, and even pleasure, and he knew she felt shame because of that. To