“Jade.”
I can’t look at him, I can’t even move a muscle.
“Jade.Sweetheart.”
Suddenly he’s in front of me. Onme. Unbuckling me, dragging me forward out of my seat.
I’m dizzy. My stomach is violently clenching, hard enough to make me groan. Ryker rocks me against his chest, holding me in his lap. Cradling my head against his shoulder.
The air feels thinner. I try again to inhale and suddenly there’s a mask being pushed toward my face.
“It’s oxygen,” Colt tells me, moving carefully.
Ryker’s hand smoothes across my back and his voice breaks through my fog, but it’s not directed to me. “We need support waiting at the safe house. Medical and counseling. I want a forensic for her, if she wants it.”
Colt replies, “Copy.”
Forensic.The word plows through me. Knocking my heart down into my stomach.
I splinter into a million terrified pieces. At the time of the crash, when they grabbed me, I was in Agile Security & Rescue sweats. I wasn’t when I woke up.
I knew this. Thought about it before. Someone changed me into the dress, but seeing myself like that is too much.
Too. Much.
We’re in the air, but it feels like I’m drowning, every breath a labor, even with the oxygen flowing against my face.
Ryker’s arms tighten protectively, his own breathing growing deep, heavy like he’s breathing for me. “Do you want something to take the edge off, baby?”
“Yes,” I gasp, still trying to inhale when it feels impossible.
Thane’s talking to someone through his headset about getting professionals to the safe house and Colt’s pulling out supplies from his medical bag.
They’re efficient. No hesitation and not a single question, because they all understand what that photo means.
“You sure you want medication?” Colt asks me to verify, and I love that he’s giving me a choice. Letting me keep my power. They all are.
“I can inject you or give you a pill.”
“Yes,” I choke on a sob, unable to say more. Ryker’s hand shifts slightly on my back. He applies a steady pressure.
“I’m giving you a pill,” Colt decides. “I don’t want to distress you any more.”
Thane hops into action, producing a water bottle and I’m swallowing a chalky pill in the next instant.
Within a few minutes, the worst of the shaking seems to ebb. A fraction of the thoughts soften. When Colt sees me melting into Ryker’s arms, he grips my shoulder gently.
“That-a-girl. Just rest.”
CHAPTER 22
Safe House Four
The house is crawling with people, silently taking care of business, only one of them watching me as I pace.
His name is Scout. They brought the former SEAL here on purpose because of what his girl went through.
Some kind of hell like Jade’s.
