Her gaze danced between my own. “Why are men always like this? Always—ruining good things?”
She reminded me so much of my Alicia that it damn near made me sick. “I don’t know.”
She pulled her chin away from my grip before her gaze fell to her lap. “I’m fine. I just need a moment.”
“Hey,” I said pointedly as I crooked my finger beneath her chin.
I raised her gaze back to mine before stroking my thumb along her cheek, catching a rogue tear as it slipped from her beautiful green gaze.
“You’re better than that,” I said as I held her attention. “Act like it.”
That was all it took. A simple directive to dig down deep into her gut for that well of strength she had no problems showcasing. And when she did, she sat there for me while I cleaned her up. I finally got her mouth to stop bleeding, though she’d be sore and bruised for a few days. Despite her hissing and jerking, I managed to clean the rocks and dirty water from her exposed fingernail beds before wrapping them up in gauze. It took everything inside of me not to tremble with fury as I thought about all of the ways I’d skin that motherfucker at the bar alive for what he had done to her.
And after retrieving an ice pack for the bruise on her cheek, I scooped her back into my arms.
“I think it’s time to lay down,” I said as I walked her over to the bed.
She relinquished herself to me, her head placed softly against my shoulder as I settled her down to the mattress. She turned her back to me, resting her cheek on the ice while propping it up with the pillow. I eased myself down and pulled her legs into my lap. I took off her shoes, tossing them to the floor before peeling the soaking wet socks off her feet.
“Do you want anything else off?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No.”
I placed her legs back down onto the bed. “Do you want me to stay?”
“Where the fuck is he!?” Trooper exclaimed.
He slammed through the basement door with Dutch hot on his heels.
“Where is she?” Dutch asked. “Is she all right?”
I stood to my feet, shielding Naomi from their prying gazes. “Calm down.”
“Calm down? Calm down!?” Trooper asked as he threw his hands into the air. “Bury just said Naomi was almost raped at the bar, and you want me to--.”
“Oh, my God,” Naomi choked out.
Her soft crying filled the room around us as Trooper pushed me off to the side. He crawled onto the bed, getting into Naomi’s face as he stroked her hair off to the side. Dutch wrapped around to the other side, standing there with his hands balled up into fists. And when I saw the droplets of his own blood soaking his fingernails, I snapped my fingers.
“We’ve had enough bleeding for one day,” I said.
He unfurled his fists. “And one more will bleed before the day is done.”
“Naomi, it’s me,” Trooper said softly as he settled into bed next to her. “I’m right here. So is Dutch. Would you like to see Dutch?”
“Where is the son of a bitch?” Dutch asked.
His voice was much too calm for that question, and if I had been a fearful man, it would have shaken me to my core.
“I have his picture. He won’t get far,” I said.
“What are you guys going to do to him?” Naomi asked through her sniffling.
Trooper kissed her forehead. “You let us worry about that, pretty girl. Okay? You let us take care of him.”
“Ranger?” Naomi asked.
Even Dutch seemed shocked that she had asked for me.
