My heart beats faster, raging toward a breathlessprestissimofinale where the newly found ground beneath my feet begins to slip away.
“Whoa.” Hendrick’s hands grip my arms through his jacket. His hold keeps me upright, but I can’t tell him that it’s his closeness and warmth that I’m reacting to. “Adora. Look at me.” One hand drifts toward my face, and stops.
His breaths are slow and strong and regular, unlike my short, panicked puffs. I try to memorize his rhythm, find my own against his, but it's too much ofeverything. Him, the night, the shooting… the flashes, the sound. It all echoes inside myhead, blasts of color and noise ricocheting against each other in endless fragments that fill my mind with noise, noise. Noise.
“Adora. Can you look at me?Fuck.Love,” Hendrick’s voice softens as I blink and focus on him.
The tiniest nod leaves him squeezing my arm rhythmically. I like that. Huh. Another nod.
“Good. Okay, that’s something. Listen, there's a house up ahead. I can get you into warm clothes and a warm bed. I can make you coffee or tea. You can get yourself roaring drunk if you like. I won’t judge, not after what you’ve endured tonight. I promise, Adora. But first, we have to get there because out here? We’re exposed.” Those dark eyes are overlaid with the same moonlight blue haze that coats the desert and everything I can see.
No, that’s a lie. It’s him. Hendrick. He’s all I can see.
Another nod.I understand.I’m scared, but I hear him. The noise…settles. Some of the fragments are still bouncing, but it’s lesser, somehow.
“Driver?”
He seems to understand. “He’s with the car. He’ll stay there until your team arrives. Okay?”
I don’t have a whole lot of control over that, so I shrug then nod. All the little actions that seem to satisfy him. Our stilted language.
He never stops watching me, soaking in every detail. The lies I don’t tell. “Good. That’s better, love. I know I wasn’t meant to do a lot of things but he changed the rules the moment he shot at you. I have a job, but that’s just more rules. All I want is for you to be safe and alive. Will you listen to me so I can do that for you? Please?"
I stare at him. My heart stares to pound, my breaths shortening. I don’t remember the last time anyone asked mesomething like that. I don't remember the last time anyone wanted to do anything for me.
“Love.” Hendrick’s hands cup my cheeks, his thumbs stroking my skin. Once, then again.
And again.
It’s a nice pattern, but everything is still blue. Maybe a little gray.
“O-kay,” I cough out, and raise my hand.
“That’s real good, love. Real good. I’m not gonna make you talk again tonight. But I want you to show me your favorite drink and your favorite food when we get there, alright? If I don’t have it, we’ll try to source something for you.”
I get the impression that he’s breaking some of his own rules for me. I broke some of mine and now he’s moving his bench marks for me. I know I’m not what he wants in an asset, and I’m far from what he expected, probably who wants to be shot on their first day on the job?
I nod once, and touch his arm, on the side where he’s hurt.
Hendrick’s face remains blank. “It’s fine, Adora. I’m okay. But we have to keep going.”
One foot in front of the other, over rocks that hate my heels. Once, when I stumble I try to slip them off, but Hendrick stops me. His large hand closes on my ankle when I try to pull the short zip down. We’ve fallen into a sort of semi-comfortable silence during our short trek. He looks up at me from his place on the ground, and squeezes my ankle gently, shaking his head.
Not yet. Just a bit longer. Can you do that for me?
I bite my lip and give him the nod he seeks, earning myself a smile I didn’t know I needed.
And it feels good.
CHAPTER THREE
HENDRICK
Adora explores my house, padding around after she showered. I’m still in my old clothes though I’ve swapped my too-tight borrowed shirt out for a tee that doesn’t irritate the graze on my back. Drake’s work is decent and I send off a quick message to let him know that we’ve arrived.
I circle the house at a distance, following her. She either doesn't notice me or pretends not to as she discovers each room in turn, only lingering in the library. Adora refused the bedroom that I showed her, and binned the dress as soon as she walked out of the bathroom.
Now, she's dressed in one of my older long sleeved shirts, buttoned all the way down. Adora’s taller than I thought, though there’s next to nothing of her. Slim legs are exposed along with bare feet. My shirt hangs just below mid-thigh on her, and is decent, though the knowledge that she’s naked underneath leaves me with a visual I shove away.
