The Ex Factor by RJ Scott

Author:RJ Scott [Scott, RJ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Love Lane Books Limited
Published: 2014-06-26T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

“Why is it I feel like the guilty one?” Daniel couldn’t help the words spilling from his mouth. He was battered and bruised, but despite the man taking the photos being sensitive and asking all the right things, Daniel just felt like every answer he gave was being judged and found wanting.

“Yes, he hit me…”

“Yes, I stayed…”

“No, I didn’t tell anyone…”

“No, I didn’t leave him.”

Ben sat down next to him and shoulder bumped him. “It’s done now,” he said gently.

Every visible bruise was on record, and if that was embarrassing, answering questions about his sex life was even worse. Apparently he’d been lucky that Cam didn’t sexually dominate, that Daniel hadn’t been raped or forced into sex. The shame had been complete when Daniel admitted they hadn’t even had much of a sex life, not after the beginning. Seemed to Daniel that Cam was more about control and money, and he was further humiliated when the interviewing officer said that was often the way. Why that last part got to him he didn’t know. Maybe it was because he felt like he was just one of many that this trained officer had seen or that he should have looked around him and seen what was happening as part of a wider contagion.

They were so nice to him, and he felt his control crumble with every damning question. Did Daniel ever think of going to the police? Did Daniel ever think of just talking to someone?

The officer might just as well have asked him if he’d ever pulled his fucking life together and done something about the shit he was in. Why package it up in fancy language when you could just be brutally honest?

“You shouldn’t feel guilty,” Ben offered.

Ben being here was just another layer in this whole blanket of angst that was draped over Daniel. Why? Ben was his bodyguard, impartial, kind, supportive, and a protective presence throughout. Even when Daniel had stripped to his boxers, he wouldn’t let Ben leave, and Ben didn’t argue.

There was something else, though, a curl of need that wasn’t just about being safe. It was an insistent tug that seemed to pull inside him whenever he looked at Ben. Even when they went back home and he decided he would cook dinner to give his mum a break, the contradictions in his head battled.

It’s just because he’s big and safe and that is what I need in my life. Not because he has eyes that are soft and so velvety brown or that he has a dry sense of humor or that he fills out his worn jeans so well. Not because he has lips that I want to taste, preferably while sitting in his lap.

Then the other voice, the one that kept him grounded, pushed its way to the front. He won’t want someone who can’t even stand up for himself. Freaking idiot.

“Daniel? You okay?” Daniel blinked back to the here and now and realized his mum was standing in front of him holding a pack of mince and a tin of tomatoes.

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