Chapter 9
King quickly ledthem back up the stairs, down the long hallway to the bedroom just beside his. By the time they made it there, Faith’s pace had slowedconsiderably.
“Bathroom is through that door.” King pointed to the door in the back corner of the room. “If you’ll get a bath started, I’ll get what you need. Be back in just aminute.”
Taking Faith by the hand through the room, Laura cast him a wary “Thanks.”
She was worried about him locking her in the room again. He didn’t want her worried, he wanted her at ease so that she would listen to what he had to say later on tonight. He needed to convince her that her brother was bad and get her help. So, he left the door propped wide open and jogged back down the staircase, finding Melissa in the lab next to the hospital wing. “I need girlstuff.”
She glanced up questioningly. “Care to explain what you mean by girlstuff?”
“Soap. Shampoo. For the little girl,” King saidawkwardly.
Melissa glanced at her watch. “Yeah, she should be getting tuckered out about now. Come on, I keep my travel shampoo in there. She went to a closed white door that King never opened, revealing a small twin bed and the shower through another smalldoorway.
“You sleep inhere?”
She quickly entered the bathroom and came back with three tiny bottles clutched in her hands. “Only when I’m working long hours. Here.” She dropped the bottles into a tiny mesh purple-colored bag. “It’s shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. That should do them fortonight.”
King took the small bag between his thumb and finger holding it up betweenthem.
“And I’m guessing they’ll need some clothes to sleep in?” Melissa stated her question as she breezed past King, still holding the travel toiletries bag, and dug through a small closet, extracting a bundle of clothes. “There are some pajamas for Laura and a nightshirt for Faith. It will swallow her whole, but it will work until we can get them something moresuitable.”
“Thanks.” King accepted the clothes and left the lab. As he ascended the stairs he ticked off a mental list of supplies he’d need to acquire for the two females. Clothes, toiletries, maybe some toys for the girl. He needed to talk to Laura about thattonight.
He knocked on the open bedroom door loudly to announce his arrival. A squeal sounded from the bathroom. Water splashed. King knocked once more. “I’ve got yoursoap.”
“Just set them on the floor,” Laura called from thebathroom.
King did as she asked and then wandered over to the window. The sounds of water splashing in the bathroom grew as Laura eked open the door behind him. He purposefully kept his back to her, giving them privacy, but he couldn’t help himself from glancing at her reflection in the darkened window. Even indirectly he could see the shadows forming under her eyes and realized she had to beexhausted.
He was trained for high risk situations and adrenaline pumping missions, she wasnot.
“I’ll be out in about ten minutes,” she said and then shut the door, disappearing into the bathroom oncemore.
A minute later Faith squealed again, water splashed and then came a very distinct shriek from Laura. “Faith!”
A peal of child’s laughter followed, tugging at the corners of King’s lips. He could only imagine trying to give the girl a bath in the sunken oversized Jacuzzi tub. She probably thought it was a swimmingpool.
He’d had issues the one time he’d attempted giving Hope a bath when Trinity had taken a girl’s trip for an extended weekend. He ended up with more water on himself than her, and a very excited three-year-old streaking buck-naked with soap dripping down her back through thehouse.
King leaned his head forward, resting it on the cool panes of glass. He’d never realized how precious that memory wouldbe.
The numbness he’d cleaved to for the past few years started to melt a little, allowing the crushing heaviness to fall on his chest. He lifted his hand to rub the spot. He hadn’t let himself think of Hope or Trinity for so long and when he had it’d only been nightmares. A rush of emotions shot up through his legs and wrapped around his ribs, threatening to take him to his knees rightthere.
By sheer force of will, he crammed the memory into the box in the back of his mind and slammed the lid on it. He wasn’t ready for it, not any of it. He’d rather feel nothing at all than the agony of hispast.
The bathroom door glided open and out came Faith, her loaner nightshirt hanging on her like a loose potato sack. Short sleeves hung down to her wrists and the tail of the shirt skimmed the floor. Blonde hair hung long and wet down her back and that ragged stuffed cat was just as limp from her hand. King’s throat knotted. Laura quickly trailed the child from the bathroom, grabbed and carried her to the bed. “Let me tuck her in and then we cantalk.”
Not really processing her words King watched entranced as she pulled the covers back in the oversized bed and then began tucking them aroundFaith.
The walls in the room shrunk around him and his heart dropped into his stomach. He had to get out of there. “I’ll be next door,” he bit out and strode from the room, grabbing the door to shut it but deciding at the last minute to leave it open. He barely made it to his own room right next door before he hunched over and put his hands on his knees, attempting to regain his breath. He managed to stumble to the bathroom, turn on some cold water and splash his face. He stared at his bleak reflection. This wasn’t going to work. He’d have to figure something out, he didn’t want to deal with the painful memories they wereprovoking.
He’d purposefully distanced himself from the general population, focusing on work and dutyinterventions.
King heard the water cut on next door. While his hearing wasn’t as intense as the rest of his team, he could tell that Laura was taking a shower. Good. He needed a few more minutes to regain his shakycontrol.
King focused on his face, and the new eye patch Dawson graced him with. Revenge had helped him survive all these years, it would help him now. Dawson had taken his eye and nearly his life, and the couple in the bedroom next to him was King’s avenue to vengeance. Nothing more, nothingless.
