Chapter 249.

She went willingly, wrapping both arms around him and holding on.

He held her just as tightly.

One hand cradled her head while the other moved up and down her back. He kissed her temple, then her cheek, then the little space between her eyebrows when she finally lifted her face.

Kylie curled back into him.

And Christian stayed there, holding her against his heart, letting her take as much comfort from his arms as she needed.

There was no rush to let go.

Kylie stayed against him for a while longer.

Eventually, she lifted her head.

Her eyes wandered over his face, lingering on the swelling near his cheekbone and the faint cut at the corner of his mouth. The tenderness in her expression shifted into something closer to disapproval.

"Oh, my God."

Christian looked down at her. "What?"

"Your face."

He touched the corner of his mouth and winced slightly. "Still attached."

"Christian."

"What? I checked."

She gave him a look before carefully pushing herself upright. "Stay here."

"Where are you going?"

"To get the first-aid kit."

"Is that an order?"

"Would you like me to find another part of your face to hit?"

He settled back against the headboard. "Absolutely not, Blue. I’ll be good."

She rolled her eyes, but the corner of her mouth lifted.

A moment later, she returned with the first-aid kit and a small bowl of warm water. She climbed onto the bed beside him, placing everything between them.

"Turn your face towards me."

Christian obeyed.

Kylie wet a piece of cotton and began cleaning the cut at the corner of his mouth. Her touch was careful, almost excessively so, and he watched her through half-lowered eyes.

"Does it hurt?"

"Not particularly."

"Don’t lie to me."

"It hurts a little."

She frowned. "Good. Maybe next time you’ll think before punching someone repeatedly."

"Next time?"

"Don’t get excited. I’m not giving you permission to start a boxing career."

"Shame." He flashed a grin at her. "I was thinking of making you my manager."

"You’d be bankrupt in a week."

"Because of my management fees?"

"Because you’d spend all your money buying me pretty things."

"I can do that." His smile tugged at the cut.

He hissed.

Kylie immediately stopped. "See? Stop smiling."

"You’re very bossy when you’re worried about me."

"I’m not worried."

"Of course not."

She dabbed the cut a little more firmly.

Christian winced again. "Violence, Blue? After everything we’ve been through?"

"Keep talking and I’ll make it worse."

He laughed quietly, then let her finish.

When she was satisfied with his mouth, she examined the bruising on his cheek. Her thumb hovered beside it without touching.

"Does your face always have to be so pretty?" she murmured. "You make it difficult to be properly angry with you."

"That’s a terrible burden to carry."

"Someone has to suffer."

"Come here. I’ll let you hit the other side so everything matches."

She stared at him.

He gave her his most innocent expression.

Kylie shook her head, but she was smiling again. "There is something seriously wrong with you."

"I’ve been told."

She set aside the cotton and reached for his hand.

The smile faded as she saw his knuckles.

They were swollen, scraped, and already beginning to darken in places. There was dried blood along two of them.

Her stomach tightened. "Jesus, Christian."

He glanced at his hand. "Ah. Those."

"Those?" She looked at him in disbelief. "You say that as if you found them in the street."

"I was a little occupied at the time."

"You were beating a man to death."

His expression changed. "I stopped."

Kylie took a fresh piece of cotton and began cleaning the blood from his knuckles. She worked slowly, wiping away the dirt before reaching for the antiseptic.

Christian watched her.

She had gone quiet again.

Not the comfortable silence they had begun learning to share. This was different. Her attention was fixed on his hand, but he could tell she was somewhere else entirely.

He knew better than to force her back.

So he let her work.

She poured a little antiseptic onto the cotton. "This might sting."

"I’ll survive."

She pressed the cotton to his first knuckle.

Christian barely reacted.

Kylie moved to the next one. "His name is Ben."

The words came so casually that, for a moment, Christian thought he had misheard her.

He looked at her. "What?"

She kept her eyes on his hand. "Ben. The man from the boxing club." Her fingers moved to another knuckle. "That’s his name."

Christian waited.

Kylie dabbed away a thin line of blood. She reached for the small bottle of antiseptic again.

"He was my rapist. Thirteen years ago."

She said it as if she were telling him what she had eaten for breakfast.

Her voice was level, and her hands were steady.

She even blew gently on his knuckles after applying the antiseptic, as though that was the only thing in the room that required her attention.

Christian stared at her.

Thirteen years. He did the arithmetic before he could stop himself.

His gaze moved to her face. He went still. "You were eight?"

Kylie nodded casually. "Mm-hmm."

He looked at the small hand holding his, at the fingers carefully tending to the injuries he had earned while defending her, and could not reconcile the woman sitting beside him with the little girl she had once been.

Christian swallowed.

Kylie continued cleaning his knuckles.

"And the day the whole scandal went out about you and me..." She paused to blow gently on his hand. "My dad called me to remind me of him."

Christian stopped breathing for a second.

Kylie spoke with the same absent tone, as though she were discussing an irritating phone call she had received from a telemarketer.

"He’d seen the pictures. He wasn’t happy about the attention I was getting, obviously. He asked about you, your engagement, and the things people were saying online."

She picked up another piece of cotton.

"Then he started talking about Ben."

Christian’s fingers twitched in her grip.

Kylie kept her eyes lowered. "He assumed I was using you for attention. The same way I used Ben for attention."