Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 116760 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 467(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116760 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 467(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
“No, other than my therapist, the only person I’ve ever told is you.”
She stared up at him, her face still, expressionless, but her eyes were filled with so much pain and loneliness that it hurt him.
But he was also happy that she trusted him with this.
“I lived at home in the guesthouse for months. And it was actually kind of peaceful. It was what I needed at that moment. My therapist helped me to work through what happened and I started to put myself back together. I even started to think that maybe my parents had changed, that my father would be more attentive, and my mother would be less manipulative. It was the happiest I’d ever been there. Which is really sad when I think about it. Do you know why I finally left?”
He was starting to think that perhaps he didn’t want to know. “No. Why?”
“I found cameras in the guest house.”
Holy fuck.
“That bitch.”
Just when he thought he had a handle on her mother, she did something else atrocious that actually took his breath away.
She was filming her daughter while she was vulnerable? While she was recovering? Even if her mother didn’t know the details, she must have realized that something terrible had happened to Bebe.
“Yeah. When I confronted my mother, she tried to claim they were for security and for my safety. That she was concerned about my state of mind and wanted to make sure I didn’t do anything.”
Bebe bit her lip and he reached up, freeing it. “But I didn’t believe her. I don’t trust her. I knew I had to leave, to get away from her. So I used the money my grandma left me and bought myself a house. Of course, my mother hated that, but I’d bought the house before she found out. I came into that money when I turned twenty-one, and there was nothing she could do about it. I have another trust fund from my parents, but I only try to use that for . . . emergencies.”
“Hey, you don’t have to justify anything to me, baby. I’m glad you got out of there.”
“I wasn’t in a good place. My mental health suffered. I only stayed in San Francisco because this was where my therapist was and I didn’t think I had the strength to start over.”
He didn’t know how she didn’t realize exactly how strong she was when it was so clear to him.
“After a while, though, I realized how much the house was going to cost to fix and that I couldn’t afford to eat and fix the house and go to my therapy sessions. In hindsight, perhaps I should have dipped into my trust fund and kept going to see the therapist.” She gave a sad-sounding laugh. “I should get a job, but the idea of interviewing with someone who saw me on The Benner Life fills me with anxiety. And then what would I even do? I find it hard to have commitments because sometimes things build up in my brain so much that I just need to do something to distract myself, to get myself out of my own head.”
“Like go sky jumping or skateboarding or knock down a wall that you don’t know is structural or not.”
“Yeah, like that. Sometimes, all I hear in my head is his voice. Telling me that I wasn’t good enough. I have dreams of him ordering me to do things I didn’t want to do and me obeying like a good little robot. My worst nightmare is when he orders me to walk off this cliff and I just do it, then I’m falling and screaming . . .”
“Oh, baby.” He gathered her up and rocked her back and forth. “You’re all right. I won’t ever let that bastard or anyone else hurt you again.”
“You can’t promise me that.”
He could if he kept her close and never let her out of his sight.
Probably not a healthy way to live, but if that was the way it had to be . . .
But you don’t want to become like that bastard. You can’t smother her.
“I won’t let him hurt you,” he repeated. “Not him, not your mother, not this stalker.”
“Do you think it’s just some random person who h-hates me?” she asked. “I can’t understand why they would do this . . . why they would a-attack you like that.”
God. She didn’t need this on top of everything else.
He drew her back so he could stare into her face, his hands cupping her cheeks. “Listen to me. He will not hurt you. I promise. You’re going to come to the Ranch and I’m going to take care of you. And if your Little side wants to come out, then she can. We also have a therapist on the Ranch if that’s something you want to consider.”