She was putting up the wall I wanted her to without even knowing it.
“One down…”
“What?” she asked, glancing up at me in confusion.
With a grin, I pulled the basement door open, flicked on the light switch then pulled her along behind me.
Once we reached the bottom step, once, we stepped over Jensen’s body, I turned around and scooped her up in my arms. Like carrying a bride across the threshold, I thought wistfully as I kept walking.
She didn’t know I had something that I knew she needed.
She didn’t know that I was going to show her the extent of my rage that I hid from so many people.
She didn’t know that she was going to see a man she wouldn’t recognize.
But by the end, she was going to know above all else, that the new stranger standing in front of her would be the one that would keep her safe from harm for the rest of her life.