Maya Banks - Colters’ Gift

Now those lies were coming back to haunt her. Just when she’d finally made peace with the choices she’d made.

“We know about Joel Knight,” Liam said quietly. “The question is why didn’t you tell us about him? Why weren’t you honest about who hurt you? Were you protecting him?”

There was a note of fury that accompanied his last question, one she was forced to respond to.

“No!” she said fiercely. “I wasn’t protecting him. I hate him.”

“Then why?” Noah demanded. “Why send us on a wild-goose chase trying to find a man who didn’t exist? Do you have any idea how much time we’ve wasted looking for the son of a bitch who beat you up? We had the local police involved. We pulled so many goddamn strings trying to find this man so he could be arrested, so he’d never hurt another woman. And the entire time, we were looking for a ghost.”

She closed her eyes. “I can understand why you’re angry. I’m sorry I wasted your time.”

Her eyes popped open again when Liam let out an expletive that singed her ears.

“You have no idea why we’re angry,” Liam snapped.

Her hands were shaking again. Hell, her knees were too. Suddenly both men were close. Way too close. They’d vacated the love seat and were on either side of her armchair. Big and hulking. She should be terrified, but she’d never been afraid of them. They’d always made her feel safe, from the moment they’d accompanied Max to the apartment he’d moved her to.

“Ask us why we’re angry, Lauren,” Liam continued. “If you want the truth, then ask us.”

“W-why are you angry?” she stammered out.

“Because we care about what happens to you,” Noah said. “And while we were off looking for the wrong guy, Joel Knight could have gotten to you. He could have hurt you and we would have never seen it coming. We’re pissed because we were put in a position where we couldn’t do our job. And our job is to make sure nothing happens to you.”

Liam shook his head impatiently. “You aren’t just a damn job to us, Lauren. Use your head. You have to see that we’re attracted to you. That it makes us fucking insane knowing what this asshole did to you and when we think of what could have happened because you didn’t tell us the truth, it makes me crazy. What if he’d come after you? Did you ever think about that?”

She glanced rapidly between the two men, her mind in such turmoil that she couldn’t even comprehend the meaning of what Liam had just blasted her with.

It was crazy. All of it. But even crazier? She’d thought that she was alone in her fascination with these two men. She’d been bewildered by the fact that she could even look at Noah and Liam and entertain the thoughts she’d had.

He was wrong. She hadn’t seen it. She hadn’t even entertained the notion that they were attracted to her. All she’d seen in their eyes was pity and rage, two things she would have thought they would feel for any woman in her situation. They were honorable men. Their job was to protect people. Whoever hired them. Why on earth would they feel anything more for her than anyone else they were assigned to protect?

She shook her head, denying it even as they sat in front of her, bluntly laying it out. She’d allowed a man to walk all over her. She’d allowed Joel to manipulate her, dictate to her. How could anyone look at that woman she’d been and feel anything more than disgust?

She was an intelligent woman with a college degree. She had common sense, had always prided herself on being able to stand on her own two feet. And it had only taken Joel a few weeks before he’d completely taken over her life.

What shamed her most was that she’d so easily fallen into the life that Joel had built for her. Before, she would have laughed at anyone who would have told her she would fall into a relationship with someone who controlled her every movement down to what she wore and what she ate.

Everyone around her had been able to see the truth of her relationship with Joel, but she’d been so rooted in denial that she convinced herself they were wrong. She didn’t think she’d ever be able to forget the humiliation of having that veil lifted away and finally being able to see herself for what she was.

Gullible. Naïve. Stupid.

It pricked her pride. It gutted her and made her feel the kind of worthlessness she never wished on anyone else.

“What the hell are you thinking?” Noah asked in exasperation. “What kind of hell are you putting yourself through right now? I can see the shame in your eyes. It’s in your body language and written clearly on your face.”

“You can’t possibly understand what I’m thinking or feeling,” she said.

“Then make us understand,” Liam challenged. “What could possibly motivate you to lie about the man who did this to you? If you weren’t protecting him, then who the hell were you protecting?”

She surged to her feet, her fingers fisted into tight balls. She honest to God wanted to hit someone, something. Anything to vent the rage building inside her. But that made her no better than the monster who’d done the same to her.

“I wasn’t afraid for me!” she yelled. “I was afraid for Max. I was afraid for you!”

LIAM exchanged glances with Noah before rising to stand in front of Lauren. She wasn’t angry, as her tone might indicate. She was terrified. It was evident in her body language and in her eyes.

He took a chance and reached out to her, his hands sliding gently down her arms and then back up again to cup her shoulders. Finding no resistance, he tightened his grip, and then he simply pulled her into his arms.

For a moment she was as stiff as a board. He couldn’t even feel her breathe. But she didn’t fight him or try to push him away. And then she finally relaxed, melting into him all soft and sweet.