“I got something for that right here.” I slowly reached toward a small jar of lip balm, sitting on the nightstand. “Can I put this on you?”
I’d uncovered her mouth, but still, she said nothing.
“I’m going to take that as a yes,” I told her. “You shake your head if I’m doing anything you don’t want me to, though, and I’ll stop.”
No response. But she didn’t shake her head, so I took that as my go-ahead. I needed this, maybe more than Bell, even. Taking care of her was the only thing keeping my bear down.
She flinched a bit at my first light touch, and I stopped. But then she did that making herself be still thing and let me apply as much ointment as I wanted to her lips.
“We need to get you a compress for your face,” I told her when I was done. “Can probably make one out of whatever you’ve got in the freezer, but first, let’s get you out of these cuffs.”
I checked the drawer in the night table, but it was empty. “Know where the keys to these are?”
She paused. Then tilted her head forward slightly. Toward the door with the eviscerated body on the other side.
It wasn’t words, but I understood what she was telling me. The fucker I’d killed kept the keys on him so there was no chance of her getting free without his say so.
I knew in that moment that I could not be trusted to go fetch the keys. If I so much as looked at the motherfucker, my polar bear would take back over.
“Don’t be alarmed,” I told her instead. “I’m real strong for reasons I’ll tell you about later, so I’m just going to snatch you out of these. Okay?”
I waited, hoped for an answer.
She just stared at me.
Even after I gripped her wrist tight, so there’d be no reverberation when I pulled the cuff chain in two, like I was tearing through paper.
Her wrist was so small in my hand. Delicate. The bear in me rumbled again. She wasmine, mine to protect. I’d never forgive myself for not getting here sooner.
Her thin arm flopped down like a doll made of cloth. She still didn’t say anything. Just watched as I freed her other arm.
And I didn’t want to push her. Knew this had to be some kind of trauma response. But I had to ask, “You got any questions for me?”
BELL
So many, but I couldn't open my mouth. My throat had closed up, and my hands were shaking—they wouldn't stop. I'd never been so scared in my life. I couldn't tell if it was fear of him or fear of actually feeling…. something… for the first time in months.
The man who’d come to save me—on behalf of my daughters—looked way more dangerous than Dennis, though I suspected they were around the same age. Ice-blue eyes glimmered, bright and sharp, inside his weathered face. He was huge, but not oafish. He’d approached me with careful intention, and his touch on my lips had been surprisingly light.
Even though he was shockingly strong. And naked, for some reason.
Also, covered in Dennis’s blood.
But that wasn’t why I was scared.
When I looked at him through my one eye, something new tingled in my chest. I think… I think maybe I liked it… looking at him. I couldn’t say anything, but I also couldn’t look away from him as he waited for my answer.
Patiently. Though something told me he wasn’t a patient man.
Eventually, he ended the silence. “Okay, if you don’t have any questions, how about answering mine? Anything broken?”
Everything was broken. But I was pretty sure he was talking about bones.
I shook my head. That was all I could do. My heart was beating so hard inside my ears. I wondered if he could hear it, too.
“Alright then, I’m going to take you to the bathroom. Get you cleaned up.”
The bed let out a huge, relieved creak when he rose back to his feet. I braced my sore muscles to get out of bed.
