But that wasn’t going to actually stop him from doing it.
You’re not keeping her, though, are you?
Jared took hold of her hands, warming them between his. “Why are your hands cold?”
“I told you.” She couldn’t look at him, her gaze roaming around the room. Which told him that she was uncomfortable.
That she didn’t want to answer.
“Angie. Tell me.”
“I have poor circulation because . . . because your father used to beat me. Sometimes brutally. Over time that affected my nervous system. It’s left me with all sorts of lovely things that I now have to live with.”
Mother. Fucker.
God, he wished that he’d been the one to end that fucker’s life.
“What does that mean? What do you need?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. It doesn’t mean anything.”
“What other repercussions are you living with?”
She pressed her lips together, staring down at her hands.
Fine. She didn’t want to answer? He’d figure it out. Even if he had to get North to hack into her medical files.
“North, find her a blanket.”
“I don’t need a blanket,” she protested, trying to tug her hands from his. But he continued to hold her gently, not ready to let her go.
“North.”
“Here.” North held out a blanket and Jared wrapped it around her.
“What is happening right now?” she whispered.
What was happening was that he was losing his mind. He wasn’t supposed to let her close . . . to want her.
He should be calling Zander right now to come get her.
And yet he couldn’t do it.
“What’s happening is that we are going to bathe you, get you dressed in some clean clothes, which I’m certain that North has arranged, and feed you. Because you look like a stiff wind would knock you over.”
“Why do people keep saying that to me?” she grumbled.
“Perhaps it’s because you’re too thin,” North said.
“North,” Jared reprimanded, sending him a look to let him know that he meant it.
And if North kept pushing, he would punish him. It had already been days since he’d come . . . which was probably the reason why he was also in such a mood.
Wait. Was Angie the woman he’d come home smelling of? She had to be.
Fuck, all of this explained so much.
“Were you eating before you grew ill?” Jared asked.
