I woke to the sound of voices engaged in an argument. It took a second to get my bearings and remember everything that happened, but once it all came rushing back to me, I wanted to burst into tears all over again, only this time they’d be from humiliation.

“I don’t wanna leave her,” my sister said passionately from the living room, her voice filled with tears. “She needs me. I have to take care of her.”

Oh, god. I squeezed my eyes closed, thinking I was definitely going to lose it again.

“Baby, we need to go,” Bryan insisted. “We gotta get back to the kids.”

Thank the heavens for Bryan. I loved my sister and appreciated her protective instincts, but after the disaster that was tonight, I just wanted to be alone.

“I promise, Brina. I’ll take good care of her. You have my word.”

At the sound of Camden’s voice, my eyelids popped open and my eyes went wide. I remembered the man on the dance floor. I remembered the fear I felt, but everything after that was fuzzy. I only vaguely recalled the spice and citrus smell of Camden’s cologne as he picked me up and held me, but that was it.

I knew from experience that the rest of what happened would come to me eventually, bringing with it an unbearable humiliation.

I didn’t want him to be here. I didn’t want to have to face him after what he witnessed. But I could hear the resolve in his voice as he pacified Sabrina.

“I promise I’ll call you if anything happens.”

Hesitation filled the air in the form of silence before she finally spoke again. “All right. I’ll let you handle this. But I’m coming back first thing in the morning, got it?”

“Loud and clear,” Camden replied.

The sound of footsteps was quickly followed by the front door opening. I listened closely to their hushed goodbyes, and my heart started beating frantically against my ribs when the door shutting echoed like a gunshot through the house.

A few seconds later, Camden’s big frame filled the doorway of my bedroom. My body stayed curled up on the bed as I lifted my eyes to meet his.

“You okay?” he asked, the tenderness in his tone making me flinch with embarrassment.

“I’m humiliated,” I murmured, my voice scratchy from my earlier crying jag.

He moved then, climbing into my bed so we were facing each other and pulled me into his arms. I tried my best to hold it back, but a few stray tears leaked from my eyes as I sniffled and burrowed into his strong chest.

“Don’t you dare be embarrassed,” he ordered gently, the pads of his fingers rubbing a soothing line up and down my spine. “You have absolutely nothing to be humiliated about.”

“You’re kidding, right?” I snapped, pulling my head back so I could look up into his sinfully handsome face. “I had a meltdown worthy of a soap opera drama queen in front of an entire goddamn club. I’m sure there’ll be pictures of me curled up on the dance floor all over the internet by morning. The press is gonna have a field day.”

His body went so hard I feared it might break into a million pieces. “Fuck everyone else. I don’t give a shit about anyone but you, and you shouldn’t care either.”

I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I didn’t bother. We lapsed into silence as the minutes ticked by, my mind reeling from the memories tonight brought back up to the surface. It was like being trapped in a living nightmare that wouldn’t end.

Camden wanted to ask, I knew it. However, he was too respectful to push, especially now when it was still so raw.

But he deserved the truth. It was already hanging between us after what happened the weekend before, and tonight had made the rift my past was causing that much more prominent. I couldn’t stand the distance, and I knew of only one thing that could help us in breaching the gap that had been growing wider over the past several days.

“Camden—” I started, but he cut me off.

“Baby, don’t.”

Determined to get through this, I pushed onward. “But I have to tell you—”

“Baby. Don’t,” he repeated harder.

Putting pressure against the arms he had wrapped around me, I sat up and looked down at his anguished expression. “Why?”

“’Cause I have a sick feeling I know what you’re about to say, and I don’t want to put you through that.”

God, he was destroying me. For two years, I thought this man was a self-absorbed asshole, but now that I knew just how big his heart truly was, I wanted to kick myself for wasting all that time.

“I have to,” I said on a whisper. “I have to get it out, Cam. It’s like a poison eating me up from the inside.

His eyes closed tightly as pain moved over his face. “You’re fuckin’ killing me, Sutton.”

“I’ve never said it out loud,” I continued. “I didn’t feel safe enough to do it until now. Until you.”

Those dark blues met my gaze as his chest rose and fell with a heavy sigh, like he was bracing himself. Then he nodded.

Pulling in a fortifying breath, I opened my mouth and said the words I’d never once spoken in all these years. “When I was eighteen, I was raped.” My stomach revolted, twisting and heaving at my admission. Saying it out loud caused a physical reaction I never would have thought possible, and it took everything in me to keep from getting sick.

The moment the last word left my mouth, Camden had a reaction of his own. He was on his feet, pacing the length of the bed like a wild animal as he raked his hands through his hair. His words started as an agonized hiss before finishing in an explosion. “Fuck. Fuck me. God-fucking-damn it!”

A whimper worked its way up my chest as a tear trickled down my cheek, and in a flash he was back on the bed, scooping me into his arms and planting me in his lap. He held on to me like he worried I’d disappear in a puff of smoke.

“Fuck, baby. Christ. I’m so fuckin’ sorry.”

The floodgates had been opened. I’d been holding that one word inside me for years, afraid of the repercussions. The stigma around that word frightened me, like speaking it was akin to saying the vilest curse word in existence, like saying it would cast an ugly light on me. While the truth was I wasn’t the one to blame. I did nothing wrong.

I’d given that word all the power for as long as I could remember, and it was high time I took my power back. It couldn’t hurt me, not if I refused to let it.

Now that I’d started, I knew I had to get it all out. I had to see this through if I was going to take control of my life back.

“It was the summer after graduation. My friends and I were all about to start college, and we wanted one last big celebration. There was this popular club everyone was talking about, so we snuck out late one night and went to check it out.”

“Sutton,” he said on a plea. “You don’t have to keep going if it’s too much.”

“No,” I replied with determination, even as I silently cried against his chest. “I need to get this out. All of it.”

His arms spasmed, growing tighter. “Okay, then give it to me. I’m right here, baby. Give it to me so you don’t have to carry it alone.”

“There was this guy,” I said, swallowing back the bile rising in my throat. “He’d been a couple years older than me in high school, and I’d had such a huge crush on him back then. He was back from college for the summer, and word got out that he’d be there that night too. I was so nervous. He hardly ever noticed me while we were in school together, but when we got to the club, he spotted us and came right over, acting like we were long-lost friends or something.”

Talking about it was like being thrust back in time to that night. Every word I spoke was as if I was reliving it all over again. But I was safe. I was in Camden’s arms, and he wanted to take all my pain.

So for the first time, I did something I’d never done before.

I gave it to him so I didn’t have to carry the load by myself.

“I felt like I was walking on clouds the whole night. I mean, I was getting attention from this guy I’d had on a pedestal for years, and he seemed into me. It was a dream come true.”

When I stopped talking, he said my name, but it wasn’t a plea to quit or to push me on. It was simply an offer of support, a way to remind me he was there, holding me close, protecting me.

“He slipped something in my drink,” I admitted. “Everything that happened after is still fuzzy. That’s the only thing I’m grateful for, if that makes any sense—the fact that I can’t remember all the ugly details.”

“It makes perfect sense, cutie,” he said, gently dragging his fingers through my hair as he cradled me in his lap. “I understand why you’d feel that way.”

I’d never felt so drained in all my life. It was like I’d just run a marathon at a full sprint right before taking the SATs. I was exhausted both mentally and physically, but there was one last thing I needed him to know.

Pulling back, I looked into his eyes and said, “That night with you—”

“You don’t need to explain. If I’d known what you’d been through, I never would have taken advantage—”

I pressed my fingers against his lips. “I kissed you. I did it because I wanted to, and the only thing I regret was that I gave you mixed signals. You did nothing wrong, Camden. You were giving me what I asked for, that’s all. I just didn’t realize I couldn’t handle it until it was too late.”

His face pinched in pain before he lowered his forehead and rested it against mine. “Baby.”

“Now you know the truth. I just want you to know I’d understand completely if you want to call this whole thing off. I’ve got a lot of baggage, and I wouldn’t blame you for backing out.”

His back shot straight. A deep V puckered between his eyebrows as he asked, “What are you talkin’ about?”

“I’m kind of a mess, Cam. You have enough on your plate as it is. You don’t need to worry about taking on my issues as well.”

“You’re not a mess,” he clipped aggressively. “There isn’t one goddamn thing wrong with you, and I don’t want to hear you say that shit again.”

Instead of getting angry and upset at his tone, I felt warm and… free. Like a weight I’d been carrying around had been lifted off my shoulders, and I could finally take a full breath.

“Okay,” I whispered, dropping my head and leaning back into him.

“That’s it?” he asked in bewilderment. “You aren’t gonna fight me on this?”

My eyelids were growing heavy as I snuggled closer to his warmth. “Maybe another time. Right now I’m too tired.”

At that, he shifted, taking us both down so we were lying back to front. “Then sleep, baby.”

Pressing my head deep into the pillow, I reached down to his hand on my belly and tangled our fingers together. “Will you stay with me?” I asked, my voice groggy as sleep tugged at my consciousness.

“I’m right here,” he replied softly. “I’m not goin’ anywhere.”

And just like that, the world faded, and I slept like the dead wrapped in Camden’s safe arms.