AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You’re not there anymore. I didn’t see weakness with your brothers.”
He went to the minifridge and pulled out another water. “They’re the worst. My father raised us to put this business first. Above family. That’s why I left. I wanted out of the constant drive to outdo everyone else.”
Wow. It was difficult to understand why a father would do that.
“And we did it, or at least, my other brothers did. We did what he said, and then he had the fucking gall to say, ‘Oops, no that’s wrong. You should love each other and get married and procreate.’”
“That was wrong?” I asked.
He looked at me with his dark eyes. “I suppose that, in and of itself, isn’t wrong, but my father has a way of tying money into everything.”
Huh?
“No wife and babies, no inheritance.” He sliced his hand through the air.
“You don’t want to get married?” I asked.
He laughed derisively. “I can barely live with me, what woman would want to put up with me?”
I found the statement sad but kept my face impassive. “You don’t think you’re worthy of love.”
“Fuck,” he said under his breath, and he turned away like he wasn’t comfortable sharing so much.
I waited for him to say more. When he didn’t, I asked, “If you don’t think there is a woman for you, and your inheritance is tied to getting married, why are you still here? You have no reason to stay.”
His eyes narrowed. “Is Chase telling you to make me want to leave?”
I remembered him accusing Chase of trying to run him off and having a good reason for it. But this was the first session, and I wasn’t sure how far and fast to push him.
“No. And everything we talk about here is between you and me unless there is the potential for someone to get hurt.”
He planted his hands on his hips and glared at me. “You think I’m violent?”
“No. I don’t know. If I thought you were going to be hurt, I’d have to tell too.”
He rolled his eyes. “Who’s going to hurt me?”
He had a point. He was a large, imposing man. But that didn’t mean he might not hurt himself. I didn’t see any indication that he had suicidal thoughts, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there. Suicide was high among veterans.
We had jumped around a lot in the session, but I did get a lot of interesting information in areas I’d want to pursue in the future. We’d been in the room for nearly an hour, so I’d decided now was a good time to end things.
“We’ve been here for an hour. How do you feel right now?”
“Not healed, Doc.”
I couldn’t stop my lips from twitching at his continued use of ‘doc’ to refer to me. “Do you feel worse?”
“No.” He said it in a way that suggested he was reluctant to admit it.
“So maybe we can meet again.”
He shrugged. “Sure, why not.”
I put my notes away and stood.
“Say Doc, do you like crawling through the dark recesses of people’s minds?”
“I like helping people learn to accept and cope with the dark recesses.”
“Why?” Clearly, my line of work baffled him.
“Because I like helping people live happier lives.”
He laughed. “You think you can help me be happier?”
“I can help anyone be happier if that’s what they want. Do you want to be happier, Mr. Raven?”
“Sure, but all this talking doesn’t make me happy. Now, if you wanted to engage in some sex therapy, I might be on board.”
I tried to assess if he was being provocative for me or if this was how he engaged with all women. Either way, the intensity of his eyes as they raked over me had my body heating. My guess was that he didn’t have any problem finding women willing to help him in the orgasm department. But I also knew that sex could be used like a drug to numb pain, not fix it. That sounded like his coping mechanism clearly wasn’t working. At least, not anymore if his behavior was getting worse.
“It sounds like you’ve tried already, and yet, here you are,” I said, hoping my voice didn’t sound breathless.
His smirk morphed into a scowl. “At least sex is pleasurable.”
“I’m not here for your pleasure.”
“Well, now, that’s a damn shame.” Again, his eyes were on me with an intensity that made me want to strip naked. Geez, he was good. “You look like you could use pleasure in your life, Doc.”
He wasn’t wrong. I would love to discover the pleasure those dark eyes promised. But no. I was his therapist. “Is this the only way you can relate to a woman? With sexual innuendo?”
His jaw ticked again. I suspected he wasn’t used to a woman not falling at his feet.
“We’re done, right?” he growled.
“For today.”
He turned and walked out the door without a word.
