He grinned. “Never quick, little one.”
She practically spit with fury. “Why do you call me that? Stop. I don’t like it.”
“Why not? I like it.” Arilyn jerked her folder open and dragged in a few of those deep breaths she counseled him on. “You mad?”
“No.”
“Good, ’cause I don’t think that breathing’s workin’ too good.”
Her dirty look made him want to laugh out loud. “If you’re done avoiding the real reason you’re here, I’ll begin. I know what you’re doing. Trying to distract me by talking about sex, so I get so rattled I’ll forget this session is about you. I’m not that dumb, Officer.”
“Never said you were. It’s just a more interesting topic.”
“Tell me a bit about the domestic scene you witnessed.”
Guess playtime was over. Stone resigned himself to a long, boring session of talking about feelings. Yuck. “I went inside the house when I heard screaming. Found the husband beating up the wife, with the little girl hanging on his leg. He kicked her to the wall and she went unconscious. Guess I snapped. Don’t remember much afterward until my partner Devine pulled me off.”
She scribbled some notes like a shrink. He imagined her naked and was less bored. “How did you feel when you realized what you did?”
The questions were textbook. He wondered why he felt disappointed in her techniques. “Pissed that I snapped. Happy that I beat the crap out of him.”
“Is the little girl okay?”
“Yeah. She’s in a shelter now. But who knows if the mother went back. Battered women usually do. They’re too afraid to leave sometimes. It’s all they know.”
She quirked a ginger brow and studied him. He made sure his face remained impassive. “You said your father beat you with a bat. Hurt your mother. How old were you?”
Stone shrugged. “Guess it started around five. Went till I was a teen.”
“Did it happen often? Did he beat you and your mother?”
He picked at a cuticle and tried not to groan. Ugh. He’d done the mandated therapy after the first incident, and even checked in on his own for a few sessions. It was too brutally inane to continue. Maybe if he seemed more emotional, she’d hurry things up? Show her he realized his issues and wanted to work on them. “Yeah. He liked to mix things up in the household. I’m sure when I went into that scene it was a trigger for all the times he hurt both of us. I’m more aware of my shortcomings now. I think I can handle incidents better in the future.”
Perfect. He sounded apologetic, knew about his own limitations and wanted to work on them. She jotted down more ridiculous notes, probably on his mental state, then looked up.
Her smile stunned him.
Like the sun on crack, she blinded him. His heart got a bit mushy and weak, and he was unable to talk. Why did he suddenly crave to revel in her warmth? Why did he want to be the man to elicit that smile on a regular basis? And what did she find so funny?
“You’re smart, Officer. Wicked smart.”
He refocused. “Back to ‘Officer’ so soon?” he drawled. “Makes me want to force you to say my name in all sorts of interesting ways.”
“You think I’m a chump asking these questions. You think I’m easily manipulated.”
“I never said any of those things.”
“Didn’t have to. Who else were you protecting?”
He blinked. “Just told you. Me. My mother.”
Her voice softened, deepening to a velvety, soothing pitch, urging him to spill all his secrets. “I think there’s someone else. Another person in the house. A foster brother or sister? A friend? You got used to dealing with your father’s rage until he went after someone new.” She leaned forward, gaze locked on him with a sense of urgency. Within those emerald depths lay a vastness of understanding and gentleness he’d never been on the receiving end of. “Who was it, Stone?”
He jerked back. He’d gotten bashed in the face with a baseball bat and refused to cry. There was so much inside scarred up and dead he was grateful he never had to revisit. But Arilyn’s final question stole his breath and drew blood.
He was done.
Stone stood up. “This is bullshit,” he stated quietly. “I told you before I’ll be straight with you, but don’t dick around in my head and think you won’t get hurt.”
She never flinched. Just studied him for a long time, their gazes locked in a battle, until she slowly nodded. “I apologize. I went too deep, too fast. Why don’t you sit back down and we’ll talk about something else.”
Who did she think she was? A yoga teacher turned matchmaker playing at being a therapist? She led a charmed life and had no idea of the harsh realities in the world. She controlled her reality while she viewed others through a set of rosy glasses so she could avoid the true mess. Breathing. Meditating. Helping animals. Even with a broken relationship behind her, she pretended to understand and transcend, citing a higher purpose and acceptance she didn’t really feel.
It was a bunch of crap.
Maybe it was time she knew what it felt like to have her safe bubble ripped away.
Stone made his decision and slowly stalked across the room.
SHE’D SCREWED UP.
Arilyn watched the bristling, towering male approach her. Why did she push? Usually the first counseling session was easy, a getting-to-know-you phase and an opportunity to build trust. Instead, she’d done the unthinkable and hit on some hard issues way too soon.