Ride (Alpha Male Romance): In Between the Covers (Carolina Bad Boys #3) by Rie Warren

Jase walked in from his classes. His dark brown hair stood at odd angles like he’d raked his fingers through it several times after taking off his motorcycle helmet.
    He pushed his fingers into his hair as I’d imagined and caught me watching him.
    Dropping his hands, he splayed them on the table. The ink on his wrist curled invitingly into the cuff of his shirt. His fingers were strong and long. I knew they could do wicked things, but they hadn’t in the week since our date.
    “Ave, can you take a break? Do you think we could go talk in the other room?”
    A heavy weight fell over me. He’d acted differently since he found out about Duncan. He didn’t want me anymore, not like he had before.
    I followed him to the living room on feet as heavy as blocks of cement.
    “I’m so sorry, Jase. I shouldn’t have told you about Duncan. I ruined everything, didn’t I?” I blurted as soon as he tugged me down beside him on the couch.
    “What are you talking about? Are you fucking crazy? Of course you should’ve told me. You should’ve told me weeks ago, the first day you came here.” He pulled me onto his lap. “Precious, I’m beating myself up that all this time you kept that crap inside of you. You tried to deal with it on your own.”
    He cradled my face in his hands and kissed me softly on the lips.
    “I think you need to talk to someone else though. I mean, I really think you need to tell someone exactly what happened so you can start getting over it. You can’t keep it bottled up.”
    His words sent me into a panic. I flew off his lap.
    “No, no, no. I don’t . . . I can’t do that. I am getting over it. I can’t tell anyone what he did to me. I can’t.”
    Wrapping my arms around myself, I doubled over. The thought of anyone else knowing sent splinters of pain deep into my belly.
    “Ave. Ave. C’mon, precious. C’mere.” Jase’s gentle tone worked its way through my panic attack. He guided me back to the sofa and I shuffled forward. When he sat me next to him, he stroked the hair off my face. “What about your mom?”
    My eyes slammed shut. “No, Jase. Please. This will hurt her. I can’t do that to her.”
    “She’d want to know her baby girl got hurt . She’d want to help you, just like I do.”
    “I can’t.”
    His hands moved to my back, gliding up and down, up and down until I opened my eyes again.
    “Okay. What about a campus counselor? They’ve been trained for this.”
    “They won’t believe me. No one would believe it. I’m too ashamed, Jase.” Tears came quickly. They spilled down my face.
    Jase shhh’d me with his arms around me. When I quieted from the sobs that had started coming from nowhere in the past few days, he whispered, “I believed you. Benny believed you. No one’s going to think you made it up.”
    I shook my head. I’d made his shirt damp with my tears.
    Tipping my chin up, he swiped a tissue over my face then gave me another so I could blow my nose.
    “Okay. Then I want you to tell me.” His voice was stark. He swallowed roughly. His lips sealed tightly together for a moment. “If you won’t talk to anyone else, I want you to tell me everything he did to you.”
    “No.” I started to get up as fresh tears surged to the surface.
    Jase caught my wrist and dragged me back down. “You are not walking around with this shit Duncan did to you inside. Now, Ave, you will tell me.” His words were firm. His expression bleak. Yet he caressed his thumb over my wrist in soothing circles.
    “Jase,” I pleaded.
    “Please, Avery. Let me help.”
    When I looked at him, his beautiful brown eyes were wet. He blinked quickly and brushed his knuckles beneath them.
    “Okay.” I sniffed. “Okay. I don’t know where to start.” I trained my eyes on my lap.
    “Wherever you want.”
    I started hesitantly. “It was just a party like that one we were at together. I only had a couple of beers. I didn’t dance. I didn’t talk to anyone except Benny, but then she