Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Liam

After the morning self-defense class ends, Jasmine sits at my desk in my office to take more GED practice tests while I set up for my next class—kickboxing—in the main room.

“So, where did you meet Jasmine?” Lia asks as she slips up behind me.

I turn to face her, wondering how in the hell I’m going to explain this.

“She’s freaking gorgeous, by the way,” my sister says, offering me a fist bump. “Way out of your league, though, bro.”

Oh, god, this is awkward. “Lia—”

She grins at me. “Hey, I’m happy for you. It’s about time you had someone special in your life. All the rest of us are either married or nearly married. You’re the late bloomer in the family. So, tell me… where did you crazy kids meet?”

There’s no easy way to say this, so I just blurt it out. “Jasmine’s a prostitute. I mean, was.”

Lia’s eyes widen just a fraction, but otherwise she gives no reaction. “Okaaay. I’m sure there’s a good story behind this. I’m all ears.”

“Last Friday night, as I was leaving Tanks, I was heading to my vehicle when I heard a scuffle coming from down the alley behind the bar. Then I heard a female cry out in pain. I went to investigate and found Jasmine’s, um, client forcibly pinning her against a brick wall, in the process of physically assaulting her.”

“I hope you kicked his ass!”

“Of course, I did.” I refrain from rolling my eyes. “Anyway, Jasmine had a number of facial injuries—cuts, bruises, abrasions—and it was obvious she’d hit her head on the wall. I wanted to take her to the emergency room to get her checked out, but she refused to go to a hospital or even a clinic. So, I did the only thing I could think of—I brought her home with me and asked Jason to check her over. Since then, she decided she wants to leave that life. I promised I’d help her do that, and she’s been staying with me ever since.”

“Holy shit.” Lia glances around to make sure we’re not being overhead. Jonah is still seated on the bleachers, ignoring us as he types on his phone. “That poor girl! What now?”

“The first step is to get her some ID—Troy’s working on getting copies of her birth certificate and social security card. Then, she’s going to take the GED exam. Once she’s done that, she can do whatever she wants—go to college, get a job. Whatever. It’s up to her.”

Lia shudders. “The thought of that poor kid selling her body on the streets, being treated badly by a bunch of assholes—god, it pisses me off!”

“Yeah, tell me about it. It’s difficult to wrap my mind around it. After seeing the Krav Maga demo today, she says this is what she wants to do—learn self-defense. She said if she could do what you do, no one could ever force her to do anything again.”

Lia lights up. “Oh, my god, I’m totally going to train her! Unless you’re going to do it. But if you’re not, I want to.”

Part of me wants to say no, because I want to teach her myself. But having Lia do it is probably in Jasmine’s best interest. “It might be better if you do it. I think she’d be more comfortable working with another female. I make a point of not touching her, you know—I’m trying to respect her personal space. She’s never had that before.”

Lia frowns. “How long has she been doing this?”

“Working the streets? Five years, since she was seventeen. She ran away from a really shitty home situation, Lia. My god, you should see her mother. She’s a meth addict who sells her body for drug money. Jasmine’s older sister is a prostitute, too. Jasmine ran away from home because it was only a matter of time before her mother pimped her out as well. Of course, out on the streets, with no money and no support, she ended up selling herself anyway. Her pimp is a guy named Tony, and she’s terrified that he’ll find her and drag her back.”

Lia’s eyes narrow. “Over my fucking dead body.”

I smile. “Don’t worry. I’d never let that happen to her. She’s under my protection.” I chuckle bitterly. “It looks like I’m the big brother she always wanted.”

Now it’s Lia’s turn to roll her eyes. “I saw the two of you out on the floor when you were paired up as class partners. I saw the way you looked at her, Liam. It didn’t look very brotherly to me.”

Shit! “Lia, stop. There’s absolutely nothing going on between us. That’s impossible. After what she’s been through, I could never go there with her even if I wanted to. I’m her rescuer. Naturally, she feels indebted to me. I’d be taking advantage of her.” I shake my head. “No, absolutely not.”

Jonah walks up behind Lia and puts his arms around her shoulders to draw her back against him. He leans down and kisses the top of her head. “Absolutely not, what? What are you guys up to?”

Lia glances up at Jonah. “Liam asked if I would mind teaching Jasmine self-defense, and I said absolutely I would not mind.”

“Oh, cool,” Jonah says. “That’ll be nice.”

“Thanks, sis,” I say, feeling instantly relieved. The thought of training Jasmine myself—putting my hands on her, holding her in my arms—scares the shit out of me. I’m finding it hard enough as it is to keep my thoughts platonic where she’s concerned. I keep having to remind myself that I’m her protector, and that’s all I am. It’s all I can ever be.

“I’m happy to do it,” Lia says. She nods toward my office. “I’ll go give her the good news myself. We’ll work out a schedule. I can train her at our house—she’ll be safe there.”

As Lia heads to my office, Jonah studies me. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah.” I blow out a heavy breath. “Look, Jonah, you should know… Jasmine—”

“She’s in hiding, isn’t she? I noticed back on the bleachers that she seemed hypervigilant. Every time someone walked into the room, she’d tense and look to see who it was. Who is it? A stalker? A violent ex?”

“Try an ex-pimp.”

Jonah’s eyes widen. “Seriously?”

I nod. “I rescued her a little over a week ago from a physical assault on the streets. Now I’m trying to help her get out of the life and become self-sufficient. She’s interested in learning self-defense for obvious reasons. I hope you’re okay with Lia training her.”

“Of course I am.” Jonah pats my shoulder. “Besides, no one tells Lia what she can and can’t do.”

That makes me chuckle. “Good point.”

“But seriously,” Jonah says, “she seems like a sweet girl. We’ll do anything we can to help her.”

The door to my office opens, and Jasmine comes running out, brimming with excitement. “Liam! Your sister said she’d train me in self-defense and Krav Maga!”

“That’s great,” I say, forcing an encouraging smile.

“We’re going to train at her house. She has a martial arts studio in her home. She said we can start right away.”

“Perfect!” Inside I have to tamp down my disappointment. If Jasmine’s spending time at Lia and Jonah’s, then she won’t be with me. I suppose that’s for the best. I need to try to keep some distance between us before I get even more attached to her. And it’s not like she won’t be perfectly safe at Lia’s. They live in our family’s private gated community.

Lia puts her arm around Jasmine’s waist. “Why don’t we take her back to our house now? We can start this afternoon.”

Jasmine looks my way, as if it’s up to me.

“Sure,” I say. “If she wants to.” I look to Jasmine. “Are you okay with this?”

Grinning, she nods. “I want to get started as soon as possible.”

“Okay, go with Lia. I’ll pick you up after I get off work.”

“Just let me change and grab my stuff,” Lia says before she heads to the locker room.

Jasmine walks right up to me and throws her arms around me. “Thank you, Liam,” she whispers. She’s shaking, but this time it’s from excitement, not fear.

“I didn’t do anything,” I say as I pat her back in a brotherly way. Boundaries, man, boundaries.

She pulls back and looks up at me. “Yes, you did. You saved me from hell, and now you’re giving me a chance at a real life. I’ll never be able to repay you for that.”

I force another smile—they’re becoming easier. “You don’t need to repay me, Jasmine. That’s what friends are for.”

Lia returns, dressed in jeans and a hoodie, her gym bag slung over her shoulder. “All right, gang, let’s go.” Then she looks at me. “Don’t worry. She’ll be fine.”

I nod. Of course she will. Jasmine couldn’t be safer than she is in Lia’s hands.

“Have fun,” I tell Jasmine as she heads for the door. I know this is going to be good for her. Already she seems far more relaxed and happier than she’s been since I met her.

At the last moment, Jasmine pauses and glances back at me with a tinge of sadness in her expression. There’s a sudden flash of apprehension in her expressive dark eyes, and she looks like she’s on the verge of changing her mind.

My chest tightens, and my breath catches in my throat. So, this is what tough love feels like. It sucks. “Go,” I force myself to say. “You’re going to have a great time. I’ll see you after work.”

And then I turn away from her and head to my office before I change my mind and ask her to stay. I close my office door behind me and don’t look to see if she left with Lia. If she tries to back out, I’m sure Lia will coax her into going.

I spot one of the GED practice books laying open on my desk and pick it up to scan Jasmine’s most recent efforts. She wrote her scores at the top of two tests. She aced both of them. Clearly, she has a high IQ. Hell, if she took the official exams tomorrow, she’d undoubtedly pass.

She’s beautiful, brave, resilient, and smart as hell. She’s a fighter. If I’d met her under any other circumstances, I’d move mountains to be with her. But that’s impossible.

She’s completely off limits, at least to me.