Battle for Love (Bachelor Billionaire #3) (24 page)

Julie
looked into Ethan's eyes.

“
Thank
you for being here for me. How does John know who he is? How much do
you know about him?”

“
We
can talk about that later. I want you to get checked out. We can ride
with John,” Ethan replied.

“
Where's
Gavin? Please don't tell him.”

“
He
doesn't know where I went. He's on the way to the meeting. I haven't
said anything to him,” he said, as he looked back into her
eyes. “We need to talk about this. You're going home with me
for now. Grab some clothes and what you need.”

Julie
nodded her head and got off of his lap.

“
I'm
so sorry that I got you involved.”

She
spent some time getting her stuff together in a bag, while Ethan let
the paramedics put his arm in a sling. John grabbed her stuff and
took it out to his car. Ethan saw her look down at the blood on her
carpet. He hurried to her side and put his arm around her.

“
Come
on,” he said softly. “We need to go.”

They
closed and locked her front door and got into John's police car. She
looked back at her house and then over at Ethan. Julie held his arm
and put her head down on his chest.

John
pulled his car into Ethan's driveway hours later. He promised Julie
that he wouldn't say anything to Gavin. She got out of the car with
her bags and walked with Ethan into his house.

Julie
was okay. Jason had gotten in a few good hits to her head, but
nothing was seriously wrong. They gave her a list of things to watch
for. If anything happened she would go back to the emergency room.
Her wrists had taken the worst of it. They were cut up and scratched
from being tied up. When she pulled so hard to get out of it, the
rope had dug deep into her wrist. It would all heal with time.

Ethan
had a broken wrist, swollen eye, and his hands were cut up. He had a
cast on and they gave him some medicine to help with the pain.

They
hadn't heard much about Jason. He was in the hospital with head
trauma. He had a police officer stationed outside his door.

Julie
knew it was going to be a long road. She had been through it before
and knew what to expect. Hopefully they would put him away for longer
since it wasn't his first offense. She helped Ethan to his room and
got him some of his medicine. He was in pain and needed sleep. Julie
helped him get undressed and pulled the covers over him. She turned
off the light and walked to the door.

“
Where
are you going?” he whispered.

“
I'm
going to go in the other room for a few minutes.

“
Come
here,” he said.

She
walked over and got next to him on the bed.

“
I
need you to be right here. Get under the covers with me. I need to
know your safe.”

He
wrapped his arm around her waist and sighed.

“
We
have things we need to talk about in the morning. I want you next to
me tonight. I need to feel your skin and know that everything's
okay.”

She
scooted herself down on the bed and put her head on his chest.

“
Thank
you, Ethan. You will never know how much what you did means to me.
Thanks for not listening to me. You saved my life. Thank you for
knowing I needed help when nobody else did.”

Julie
closed her eyes and held him tight. Who knew what was going to happen
in the morning.

***

Ethan
opened his eyes. Was that a dream? He felt a sharp pain in his wrist
as he lifted his arm. It was real. Julie was asleep on his chest. He
didn't want to wake her up. She looked so peaceful and deserved some
rest. What if he had been on the plane? What if he hadn't gotten
there in time? When he thought about what could have happened to her,
his heart broke. He would have felt that way for any of his friends,
right? Of course he would.

She
opened her eyes and looked up at him.

“
Your
face looks sore. Are you okay?” she asked. “I am so
sorry, Ethan. I didn't know who else to call. How bad is it going to
be that you are missing that meeting? Are you going to lose money?”

“
My
wrist hurts more than my face. I can think of a few things that would
take the pain away,” he said as he laughed. “I'm glad you
called me. I'm so happy that everything's okay. Don't worry about the
meeting. Gavin will do just fine. It's more important that you're
alive. Who knows what he would have done to you.”

“
I
have some stuff I need to talk to you about. Do you want me to make
some coffee? I think it's going to be a long day.”

She
got out of bed when he nodded. Julie went downstairs and made coffee.
She brought up a cup for each of them. He walked out of his bathroom
and sat down on the bed. She reached out and took his cast in her
hand as she shook her head. He rubbed the marks on her face with his
other hand. When she lifted her hand to his cheek, he gasped. Ethan
grabbed her hands and looked at her wrists.

“
I
can't believe he did this to you. I'm so sorry I wasn't there sooner.
How bad does it hurt?” he asked.

“
It's
not as bad as it looks. If I hadn't fought so much, it wouldn't be
nearly as bad.”

She
handed him one of the coffee cups and leaned back against the
headboard of his bed.

“
I'm
sorry I wasn't honest about who had called me. He was a part of my
life that I had left behind. I know you aren't going to ever be with
me in a relationship. You're not that kind of guy. That didn't stop
me from wanting to keep my past hidden. All of you look at me as
either a kid or as a responsible doctor. Everyone acts like I have
never made any wrong decisions or done anything I shouldn't have. I
just didn't want to disappoint any of you. I didn't want you to see
my mistakes. I'm embarrassed enough about things. There was no way I
wanted any of you to make fun of me or put me down. I went through a
very rough time in college. Not a single one of you ever noticed. I
did a great job of keeping it hidden. It was hard for me. I was so
lonely and afraid, but I was happy that none of you figured it out.”

She
stopped and took a sip of coffee.

“
Yesterday,
you knew his name. How did you know it? Why did John make that
comment when he got there?” she asked.

Ethan
let out a long breath.

“
Do
you want to tell me what happened, or do you want me to tell you what
I know?” he asked.

“
I
dated Jason in college. Everything seemed to be going well. We had
been together for a few months and had seen each other almost every
day. He was the first guy I had sex with.”

She
put her head in her hands. Ethan set his coffee down, reached over,
and pulled her to his chest.

“
I
can't believe I am telling my brother's friend this. I hooked up with
you,” she said, as she shook her head. “Once we had sex,
he started acting possessive and pushy. It happened gradually. After
a couple of months, I noticed how bad it had gotten. I wasn't able to
go to class without him demanding to know where I was and accusing me
of cheating on him. I was starting to miss classes and functions
because of him. Finally, I told him it was over between us and he
lost it. One night, he showed up drunk when I was alone at my
apartment. My roommate was gone for the night. I opened the door when
he knocked, and he forced himself into the room. He yelled and
accused me of doing things with other guys. His anger escalated
quickly. Before long, he was on top of me. He beat me up pretty bad.
I'll spare you the details. It's hard enough to tell you the other
stuff. He handcuffed me to the bed and tore my clothes off. I tried
to get him away but couldn't.”

She
quit talking and Ethan tightened his arms around her.

“
You
don't have to tell me anymore if you don't want to,” he said.

“
I
need to tell you. You risked your life for me. I at least owe you the
truth. I know it will change the way you see me. I know that you
won't want to touch me again, but I need to be honest with you.”

He
went to say something, but she cut him off.

“
I
was naked and he was an inch away from being inside of me. It was so
scary. We had sex before, but something about it was so different. He
was being very mean, and I didn't want him touching me. I had
screamed as loud as I could, but I didn't think anyone could hear me.
Just as he was about to have sex with me, the apartment door opened.
He jumped and yelled out. My roommate had come home to get something
she had forgotten. She saw what was going on and called the police.
They took him to jail and me to the hospital. I was cut up and
bruised pretty bad. I stayed at college and went through court. It
was hard to see him in the courtroom. My roommate went with me to
everything. When they put him in jail, I felt so free. I thought
everything was going to be okay. It didn't stop the bad dreams and I
still check my locks over and over, but I knew he wasn't going to
hurt me again. When that phone call came and I heard his voice at the
shower, it scared me so bad. I never imagined that he was here.”

“
When
all of that happened, was that when you didn't come home for the
holidays and your family was so upset?”

“
Yes,”
she answered, as she tightened her grip on him and let her tears
fall.

He
felt so much emotion coming from her body. Was she afraid he was
going to pull away?

“
I
didn't come home until all of the bruising was gone. I didn't want
there to be any chance of my family or any of you guys finding out
what had happened. You remember that?”

“
I
remember you not coming home. It wasn't easy on Gavin. He was so
upset that you weren't here. I kind of missed you too,” he
tried to joke. “I can't believe you went through that alone. We
all would have been there for you. You shouldn't have done that by
yourself. I can't believe he hurt you like that. You must have been
terrified.”

“
How
did you know his name?” she asked.

“
I'm
not sure how to tell you this. I don't want you to be mad at me or
anyone else.”

“
I
need to know Ethan. What do you mean anyone else?”

He
leaned his chin on the top of her head and took a deep breath.

“
You
remember when he called you?” he asked and she nodded. “I
knew there was something going on. Some things you had said before
that led me to believe someone had hurt you before. I saw the fear in
your eyes when you hung up that phone. You wouldn't tell me anything
and I was worried about you. Please know that what I did, I did
because I care about you. You guys are my family. I care about all of
you.”

“
Please
tell me.”

“
That
night, I got the number out of your phone.”

“
You
went through my phone?” she asked, as she moved away from him.
“How could you do that? You didn't even ask me to explain
first.”

He
leaned back against his headboard and closed his eyes.

“
I
would do it again in a second. I know you're upset, but I needed to
keep my family safe. You are part of that family. The next day you
wouldn't tell me anything at all, so I called John.”

“
You
got your brother involved,” she snapped as she paced the floor.

“
I
called John and asked him to get as much information as he could. He
got me the guys name and told me the guy had been in jail for
domestic violence and attempted rape and then again for some other
stuff,” Ethan said.