Laid Bear by Eve Vaughn (e books for reading .TXT) 📕

the patience and compassion in their eyes, no judgment whatsoever and she appreciated that.

It gave her the fortitude to continue.

“This does have a point.” She laughed nervously.

Gavin gave her a reassuring smile. “Take your time, sweetheart. Whatever happened in your past is exactly that, the past. Anything you tell us won’t be held against you.”

It felt good to know she could share her darkest secrets with them. Zora returned a brief smile of her own. “Thank you. Anyway, I started to get my act together. I was going to my classes and seeing tutors to catch up on everything I’d fallen behind on. I was on track once again and that’s when I met Dale. After my episode with so many random guys, I was a little hesitant to give him a chance. He had a reputation for throwing great parties and being a ladies’ man, so of course I handled his advances with caution. I think my initial rejection of him was probably what made him pursue me. In hindsight, I believe if I had given in to him the first time he asked me out on a date, he’d have been done with me right away. But I made him work for it. A good looking guy with his money and connections wasn’t used to that.

“One thing I can say for sure, Dale was definitely a charmer. He wore me down after several weeks and I’m not going to lie, I was flattered by his attention. Here was a guy who seemed to have it all together, and he wanted to date me.

He’d tell me I was beautiful and say the things no man had ever told me before. I started to develop feelings for him so I agreed to go out with him. Almost immediately, we began to date exclusively. In the beginning, things were great. He would wine and dine me, shower me with gifts and compliments. And I lapped it all up. I was so starved for love and I thought that’s what he was giving me, so of course, I believed I loved him too. I’m not exactly sure when, but things began to change. It happened subtly at first, with little digs about what I wore and about my appearance. Dale began implying I wasn’t worthy of him and I was lucky he’d lowered himself to even date me.”

“That son of a bitch!” Logan interrupted with a pound of his fist to the table.

Zora jumped at the sudden movement.

“Sorry,” Logan mumbled.

“It’s okay,” she returned with a sigh. Zora absently twirled one of her locks around her finger as she continued. “It wasn’t long before I discovered Dale was cheating, but when I tried to break it off with him, he made it seem like I was the one to blame. By this time, I was so conditioned by him to believe everything he told me about myself. After all, my own parents didn’t love me. That was something he threw in my face, by the way, one of the secrets I’d shared with him when I believed I could trust him.” She paused, closing her eyes against the pain that resurfaced when she remembered the cruelty of his words.

Gavin reached across the table and gave her hand a squeeze. Heath took the other one and Logan stroked the back of her arm. She smiled at them in turn, thankful for their support.

“Over the next year he made me feel like I was nothing and I would never get any better. After a while, I couldn’t take anymore. I tried to break things off with him again. That’s when Dale got physical. I was so ashamed at first, I blamed myself. I had no one to tell because I was no longer in contact with the few friends I’d managed to make in college. Dale had made sure of that. He’d isolated me from everyone. I didn’t feel comfortable going to any of my professors or the authorities. My academic career was almost caput anyway. I was on academic probation for the second time and I knew I couldn’t turn to my parents either.