I took a breath and explained calmly to Shiloh, “You were telling me that I had taken your…daughter.”
Her brows knit with confusion.
“Yeah,” I nodded. “You were threatening to kill me if I didn’t tell you where she was.”
Her hand clamped over her mouth, her eyes wide with shock. She shook her head back and forth.
“Hey,” I crooned with a soft smile, pulling her hand from her mouth to hold it in mine. “It’s okay. I would’ve threatened to kill someone too if I believed they’d taken my child.”
“Fuck,” she muttered. “What if I had…what if I had grabbed my gun in my sleep and…” She trailed off in horror, her haunted eyes staring at me.
That thought did make my heart jolt in my chest, but I shook my head to disperse the what-if. Her face went white as a sheet and she ripped her hand from mine, shoving off the bed and racing towards the bathroom.
I was worried that she was going to lock herself inside, hurt herself in some sort of panic, so I scrambled off the bed to follow her.
I spent half a second surveying the bathroom before I was on my knees beside Shiloh in front of the toilet. I swiftly removed Shiloh’s hair tie from her wrist and secured her hair on top of her head.
She took short and shallow breaths, sweat beading on her forehead, eyes squeezed shut. It was only another moment before she was vomiting. I grimaced against the sound.
I could feel Jae’s eyes burning into the side of my face, but I ignored him where he stood in the doorway and focused on rubbing Shiloh’s back. She finally sat back on her heels. I quickly closed the lid and flushed the toilet before opening it up again.
Shiloh looked at me, and I pouted at her sad, clammy complexion. She shuddered and her teeth started to chatter. I noticed her hands curled into fists and I reached for them, unfurling them and holding her hands.
“I didn’t mean to,” she rasped, blinking away the glassy haze that had overtaken her eyes. “I promise, I didn’t mean to hurt you. I didn’t—”
“Shh. I know, baby. I know.”
I squeezed her hands, and she squeezed back, hard.
“Jae,” I said, not moving my eyes away from Shiloh’s face. “Hand me that glass of water from the bedroom?”
Jae was back in heartbeat, handing Shiloh the water.
She took a sip, waited a moment and then took another, filling her mouth and swishing around before spitting all the water out into the toilet. She grabbed a piece of toilet paper and wiped at her nose and mouth before using my shoulder to push herself to stand.
I turned around, watching as Shiloh grabbed her toothbrush and the toothpaste. Jae met my gaze in the mirror,his eyes flicking to my neck and chest where he could see the damage she’d done. “Are you good?”
“We’re good,” I nodded at Jae. “You can go back to bed.”
He hesitated to reply but ultimately nodded, leaving Shiloh and I alone.
When she finished brushing her teeth, I walked Shiloh back to her side of the bed, but she stopped, turning to face me. Her eyes lingered on the blooming red marks.
“Let’s try and go back to sleep, okay?”
She shook her head, trying to pull her hand from mine, but I held fast.
“I don’t want to hurt you again,” she pleaded, trying to remove her hand once more.
“You only hurt me because I was hesitant to stop you. I didn’t want to hurtyou.” I cradled her face with my palm, using my thumb to stroke her cheekbone. “I promise.”
She didn’t look like she believed me, but I didn’t know what else I could say to convince her. Her eyes looked glassy, and she closed them tightly, leaning into my hand on her face.
“I…I’m so sorry.” She shuddered as she said it and I wished I could take away her fear, like I might be able to syphon it all into my body instead.
“I know. It was an accident, baby. Come here,” I beckoned, dropping my hand from her face so that I could climb onto the bed properly.
I settled on my back and pulled her body down to lay on top of mine. My chest stung from her scratches and my throat burned, but I ignored the pain and hugged her close to my body.
