I waited for Cain to get up, but he didn’t. Instead, he reached for the water glass. Our fingers brushed for the briefest of moments and I felt a zap of electricity shoot up my arm. I suspected if my body wasn’t as messed up as it was, my dick would have responded to the contact.
Thank God for small favors.
“For Lucy’s sake, I need you to tell me how badly you’re injured,” Cain said softly. “It might be tough to make it down the mountain in this storm, but if you need a hospital…”
Storm?
Ignoring the pain in my head, I jerked my head to the side to look out the single window in the bedroom and felt my heart clench at the sight of wind whipping snow around outside. If the weather kept up, we could be trapped here for days, longer even. And it was clear Cain had no plans to go anywhere anytime soon.
“Doc,” Cain said.
But I couldn’t look at him. Because along with my terrible fear of him, I felt the need to unburden myself too. To admit how fucking scared I was that one wrong step meant disaster…for me, for Lucy.
Except I couldn’t trust this man. I couldn’t trust Ronan Grisham, no matter how friendly he’d always been to me, despite my lowly status as a transporter.
But I also knew the jig was up. Just like Ronan, this man wasn’t going to believe I hadn’t performed that procedure. Or that I hadn’t been using an alias at the hospital.
“I have a concussion so I need to be woken up every couple of hours and asked questions. If my speech is slurred or I can’t answer them correctly, it could mean there’s bleeding in my brain. Also, if I start seizing or you can’t wake me up…”
I let my words fall off because what else was I supposed to say? If any of those things happened, it was unlikely I’d survive long enough to make it down the mountain and to a hospital.
“My ribs are likely bruised and some might be fractured, but there shouldn’t be any risk of them causing my lungs to collapse. At this point I don’t think I have any internal bleeding, but that mightchange if I start coughing up or vomiting blood or if there is blood in my urine. I need to stay hydrated as best I can. The ibuprofen will help some.”
I expected that to be the end of it and waited for the weight on the bed to change, but it didn’t. I stubbornly kept my eyes on the window, trying to lose myself in the swirl of snow and wind. I couldn’t help but wonder how something so beautiful could be so deadly at the same time.
Like Eric.
“Ethan.”
My belly flip flopped at the way my name sounded on his lips. Soft, intimate. Like he was more than just a complete stranger seeing me at my weakest moment. I made myself look at him and was surprised when he was the one to drop his gaze. The hardness that seemed to be a constant feature softened quite a bit and I actually steeled myself for what was to come because I knew it wouldn’t be good.
I knew what pity looked like and that was the last thing I wanted.
“When I was undressing you, I found bloodstains in your underwear.”
And with that one statement, what little warmth I’d been feeling disintegrated and all I felt was obscenely cold.
Cain’s eyes lifted and held mine, but I felt no comfort in it. All I felt was numb.
“I just need to know if the damage-” Cain began, but I cut him off.
“It’s fine,” I bit out. “It will heal on its own in a few days.”
My throat felt like it was going to close off, it was so damn tight. “Is that it?” I asked, forcing my gaze to remain on him. I found myself wanting to make him more uncomfortable so he’d finally leave. The plan worked, because Cain stood up.
“Yeah, that’s it. I’ll be in the living room if you need me and I’ll come check up on you in a couple of hours.”
I wanted to tell him to stay away from me, but I didn’t. He’d do whatever he wanted.
As he turned his back on me, another round of humiliation went through me and I felt a tear escape my eye. I wanted nothing more in that moment then to crawl under the blanket and stay there, but there was one thing I needed from this man so I quelled what little pride I had left and called his name.
Chapter 3
CAIN
“Cain.”
I stopped at the sound of my name and turned around, though I didn’t want to.
