Shaking off my stupor, I lurched to my feet and yanked the door open to a swirl of snow. Then staggered back.
There stood Jesse Travis, covered in snow, shivering violently, with blood dripping from his face like something out of a horror movie.
“They’re after me,” he said, then collapsed into my arms.
6
JESSE
I fellinto the arms of the man I’d both wished dead and jacked off to more times than I could count.
Rafferty.
Thank God.
I’d nurtured hatred and sexual tension like a pair of burning coals in my chest this last year, but fear—of hypothermia, of being found—had pushed me through the slush and ice. I hadn’t even been sure he’d be here. Barely able to stand, I despised the relief that filled my chest at his warm presence.
“Hey, I’ve got you,” he said, breathing heavily and smelling of vodka. “Someone coming after you right now?”
I shook my head. “Everyone’s dead. Rangers. My uncle.” I sucked in the heated air, grateful. “But my dad. My dad’ll come looking for me once they don’t find a body.”
“Hold up,” he said as he supported my weight andwalked us through a small living area. “Your uncle went after you?”
“Ye—”
I went in and out of it for a second, and when I was able to focus, I was sitting on a toilet with the lid down. Rafferty was tugging off the sopping wet shirt spackled to my body.
The shirt had been white, but not anymore.
I touched my neck and cursed. When had I lost my chain?
My concentration was still spotty, but I couldn’t remember a time I’d ever felt safer. Like nothing bad could happen to me in Rafferty’s arms.
It was fucking with the version of Rafferty I hated—the cold bastard from that day in court—but clicked with the fantasy of him when I took myself in hand. Couldn’t tell what was making my head spin more: the concern in the depths of his big gray-green eyes or the gentle way he warmed my hands in his.
I rocked back, dizzy. The room wasn’t spinning, necessarily, but I could definitely feel the rotation of the earth.
“We’ve gotta get these pants off you,” he said, like something out of an erotic dream. “You look like you’ve been half-drowned and beat to hell, and you said something about your dad looking for your body. What the fuck happened to you?”
Warm me up, detective.
“Highway 29. Buchanan,” I slurred, struggling to answer his question as I rocked forward, taking in thetiny bathroom. Old-school wood paneling, an unadorned large window, brass fixtures. Shallow porcelain tub surrounded by subway tiles. “The dam.”
“You went into the water?” he asked in a hushed voice.
I nodded shakily. “Uh. Both cars. Hiked. Mostly stayed off the road.” I shut one eye, hardly able to concentrate with the heat he was putting off.
“Was your uncle’s car the second car?”
“Yes.”
“And you walked here? In this weather?” He cursed under his breath. “That dam is almost three miles away.”
“Rangers… Their families.”
“We’ll call it in. I just need to get these clothes off you.Now.”
Yes, sir.
