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She lowered her head so that our gazes locked, and once again the ainst me Her experiences hurt and I wasn’t the one that had to live through them

"Occasionally, he would act like I’d finally done soht, like I’d earned his approval I would soak those e, until I realized the only reason he lowered hi me any kind of praise was to hurt either my mom or Salem We weren’t his loved ones or his family We were toys he played with and tormented for his ah that had soto knock her off her feet When her eyelids fluttered back open I knew I needed to stay braced for the rest of her story

"It wasn’t until I e that I realized what a truly awful man he was Without me and Salem in the house the only person around to take the brunt of his blame and brimstone was my mom He never loved her Hein the coitirant The only reason he stayed with her was because a wife and kids were part of the required packaging if you wanted to sell yourself to others as acitizen He couldn’t preach about relationships and family if he didn’t have his own"

"Poppy …" I breathed out her na My mom left me but ultied from flophouse to flophouse as she chased after her next fix I always felt like I wasof both aleft behind Things had never been great, but they hadn’t ever been as bad as she was describing Who wanted four walls to call your ohen you were trapped inside the days of belittling and breaking down sounded unbearable

"When I cae, he told race He didn’t bother to hide the fact that he was disgusted by the one by then and my mom was so emotionally stripped and physically worn down that I was his only available target I spent somyself for his approval, that I let hi I believed him when he told me I couldn’t be trusted to s the first time I struck out on my own and there were no second chances"

I wanted to ask rong when she left for college but I didn’t get a chance to put a word in edgewise She placed her hands flat on the counter and leaned towardover her shoulders and down around her face If I pressed forward I could gettold me she needed that layer of protection between us as she continued giving ht Oliver around" When she said his name her entire body convulsed "He was a deacon in Dad’s church and had all the things ht would make an acceptable son-in-law" She frowned, her eyebrows snapping sharply above her nose "Meaning he was a carbon copy of ry He hid it well up until he had a ring on er, but not even an hour after our vows, he let his true colors shine through"

"Why didn’t someone help you? Where was your sister? Your rier than I intended them to but I was furious she’d had to face all of that on her own

She gave another one of those high-pitched, hysterical laughs and shook her head slowly from side to side "Salem didn’t know until after the fact She would have stopped it She would have driven to Texas fro such a big ain her head rocked back and forth "She wouldn’t ever crossherthe sa left in her I found that out the hard hen I told her that Oliver was hitting me and she told me to try harder to htened into fists and I couldn’t stop ht up to her We were so close that I could feel the way she was vibrating and I knew she could feel the heat ofoff my skin "That’s not okay, Poppy"

She turned her head to look at me and I instinctively reached out a hand to stop her fro away from me when she took a step back I stopped myself before my hand landed on her ar aardly in the air She faced e and carefully laced her fingers through th I could feel running through the thin and delicate digits

"It wasn’t right, which is hen Saleot the whole story, she stepped in She put herself between me and everyone that has ever hurt me She went to Texas and blackmailed my father in order to keep him away She doesn’t know that I know, but I overheard Sayer telling Zeb the story one night She protectedaround her She forced her way in after I did my best to shut her out because I was so ashamed that I’d ended up just like our ers "She did all of that because she loves me and she wants to defend me when I can’t defend myself That’s how she made Denver home for me"

We stared at each other for a moment that seemed to stretch on infinitely She held ers curled around my heart

"Poppy" I whispered her name and she tilted her head back and blinked up at me

"Wheeler" I was astounded that there was a hint of ah about after what she just told me was unfathomable Her father had handed her off to aShe made her way out of hell with one of the purest hearts I had ever seen

"I really want to give you a hug, probably more for me than for you, but I told you not to let anyone touch you without permission" I knew I sounded a little desperate but I didn’t care "So, can you put ive me permission to hold you, just for a second, please?"