“You said the heat isn’t working, but there’s power?”
Lucy nodded.
“Okay, stay here with him. I’ll check it out.”
I didn’t wait for Lucy to respond as I left the room and did a quick tour of the small cabin. It was surprisingly modern for its remote location and the fact that it wasn’t running on a generator was both good news and unexpected. Whoever owned the place had had the money to get hooked into the electrical grid. The problem with the heat was an easy fix because it turned out to be nothing more than a blown fuse. Within a minute of me resetting the fuse and turning the switch on the thermostat, the heat kicked in. I did a quick study of the kitchen and saw there were a few things in the fridge that looked like typical gas station convenience food fare. Blessedly, the freezer was full and the pantry next to the fridge wasalso stocked. If the storm trapped us up here for a few days, we’d be okay at least.
I returned to the bedroom and saw Lucy kneeling next to the bed, her head resting on Ethan’s chest. Her hands were wrapped around Ethan’s lax fingers.
As I neared her, I realized she’d fallen asleep. I approached her, but stayed near the foot of the bed as I softly called her name. As expected, she jolted awake and her panicked eyes scanned the room before settling on me.
“Lucy, why don’t you go change?” I said as I glanced at her wet pants and shoes. “Maybe lie down for a bit?”
“No…no, I can’t leave him,” Lucy whispered tiredly as she rubbed at her eyes.
I took a chance and stepped closer and was pleased when she didn’t shrink away from me. I suspected she needed a comforting touch, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it so I said, “I promise to stay with him and I can come get you if he wakes up.”
She began shaking her head as tears filled her eyes and I knew she had to be as mentally and emotionally exhausted as she was physically.
“Lucy,” I said and I waited until she looked up at me. “He’s safe. You’re both safe,” I murmured.
She let out an ugly, choked laugh/sob combination. “He’ll never be safe.”
I didn’t miss the fact that she was referring to Ethan and not herself with the statement. Frustration coursed through me. I wasn’t equipped to deal with this shit. Ronan would have known what to do. Hell, any one of my teammates would have been better at dealing with the emotions of a teenage girl.
“I can tell you two have been taking care of each other for a long time,” I finally began. “When he wakes up, he’s going to be worried about you…if he knows you got some rest…”
Lucy’s warm brown eyes slid closed for a moment before she stumbled to her feet. I was half tempted to reach out to steady her, but my body recoiled at the prospect and I took a step back instead.Logically, I knew she was no threat to me, but my brain had stopped working on logic a long time ago when it came to other people.
“He’ll want to know where I am when he wakes up,” she said shakily.
I nodded. “I’ll come get you right away.”
“I’ll be right next door,” she said, her voice actually sounding a little fierce. My respect for her went up another notch at the unspoken message. I had no doubt she’d come after me again if I even looked at the man in the bed wrong.
Once Lucy had left the room, I returned to Ethan’s side and snagged the stained underwear from beneath the pillow and placed it on the pile of clothes I’d removed from Ethan’s battered body earlier. I grabbed the hand towel and gave it a good wringing out before I gently rolled Ethan onto his side so I could clean the blood from his backside and legs. I made quick work of the task and then I got him settled under the covers again before snagging his clothes off the floor along with the dirty towel and water and taking them to the kitchen. I’d found the laundry room off the kitchen when I’d gone in search of the fuse box so I quickly tossed Ethan’s clothes into the washing machine and got it started. On my way back to his room, I grabbed a glass of water and shrugged off the light jacket I’d been wearing. I had a change of clothes in my bag in the truck, but I didn’t want to risk leaving the cabin for the length of time it would take to grab it. In addition to the water, I grabbed one of the kitchen chairs.
Once I was back in the room, I put the water down on the nightstand and settled the chair next to the bed. I studied the man in the bed for several long minutes as I thought about what to do next.
I guessed him to be older than my own 25 years but maybe not by ten years or more as I’d initially suspected. He wasn’t quite as tall as my own six feet and looked skinnier than he probably should be. With the bruises on his face, I couldn’t make out much more than a firm, chiseled jawline and pale, full pink lips.
Full?
What the hell?
A twinge of discomfort went through me at the word my brain had decided to use to describe the man’s mouth. I brushed it off and leaned forward to put my hand on his shoulder, ignoring how warm his skin now felt compared to the iciness of before. “Ethan,” I said softly as I gave him a little shake. I didn’t like how long he’d been out and while I knew nothing about head injuries, the fact that he’d told Lucy to wake him up every couple of hours gave me the encouragement I needed to keep at it. Relief went through me when his eyelids began to twitch.
Thank fuck.
Now maybe I could finally get some answers.
Chapter 2
ETHAN
The pain hadme wanting to scream out loud, but I knew that would only make things worse, so I swallowed it down and fought back the tears that threatened to fall.
He liked the tears just like he liked the screams. They were like throwing gasoline on a fire. But the silence…
