Shay swallowed hard as if she saw the scene right in front of her. “An ambulance came, and when they asked her what’d happened, she said that Michael had stepped on her fingers and she’d lost her grip. He insisted that it was an accident and started to cry. But when they loaded her into the ambulance, I looked at him, and he was smiling. On the way home, he said, ‘I guess she won’t be playing with us anymore.’”

I pulled Shay closer to me. I couldn’t imagine trying to wrap your head around that as a child. “I’m so sorry.”

“That’s not the half of it. One friend I made, who was terrified of snakes, found one in her locker at school. Another had her bike smashed with a bat. At some point, I just stopped trying. It was easier that way.”

“But you were alone.” I wanted to erase it all. Every painful moment. I wanted to paint over her past so there was no more hurt or loneliness. But I couldn’t. And as much as I wanted to, those experiences made Shay who she was today. And that was a woman I was falling in love with. So, how could I wish her away?

“I was. But I got used to it. And once it becomes your normal, it’s really hard to break.” She tipped her head back so her gaze met mine. “It’s not always that I even want to push people away. It’s just habit. But with you…I’m scared. If anything happened to you. If Michael hurt you—”

“He won’t.” I pressed my lips to hers. “He doesn’t know where you are. He has no clue who I am. We’re safe here.” Or as safe as we could be when there’d been a murder just ten minutes away. But I wasn’t about to let my worries and fears fuel Shay’s.

“I just want you to understand why it’s hard for me. I’ve never been able to have this before. For a million different reasons. And it’s hard for me to trust that I’ll be able to have it now.”

My fingers tangled in Shay’s hair, tipping her head back. “You’re going to have it all. Everything you want. A big, beautiful life full of friends and music.”

“I hope you’re right.”

I knew I was right because I planned to make it so. I studied her face before I spoke. “Don’t be mad…”

Shay grimaced. “Just the sentence every woman wants to hear.”

I chuckled. “I hired a P.I. to do some digging into Michael.”

Shay sat up, the sheets pooling around her waist. “You did what?”