Page 10 of Blood & Heartache

She still sobbed, gripping my shirt as if her life depended on it. What in the world was going on in that brain of hers? Why was she trapped in this memory?

The sound of someone entering the office had me looking up to find Ryker and Luca. Luca looked as if he’d been sleeping, wearing only sweatpants and hair mussed. Ryker, on the other hand, seemed ready to go out at a moment’s notice, still in his slacks and suit jacket. That had me glancing at the clock to notice somehow more time had passed than I realized, and it was almost midnight.

Ryker came to stand next to the bed, but Luca crawled over to us. He gestured for me to lean back as he bent down to whisper something in her ear. I couldn’t make out the words, but almost instantly, she went limp in my arms. Concerned, I reached up to check her pulse, but it was beating strong and steady under my touch.

“What did you do?” I demanded.

Luca leveled me with a flat look, almost as if he wasn’t going to tell me what had just occurred. “Her father told me a trigger phrase that snaps her out of the past and the demons she faces there.”

“You couldn’t have just told me what it was over the phone?” I snapped, anger welling up inside me. “Do you know what kind of torture she was going through trapped in her own mind?”

Dropping his gaze, Luca took in her tear-stained face and the marks from her nails digging into my skin. “She has the right to know about it before I tell all of you. I was going to wait and have that conversation with her later, but it seems that I might have to rethink that.”

Looking past him to Ryker, I could see my anger reflected in his eyes. “I’m surprised you’re willing to let that happen.”

“It’s not like I have a choice. I can’t make him tell me if he doesn’t choose to. Besides, I respect the fact he wants to talk to her about it first, but in hindsight, I didn’t consider the problems it might cause to wait,” Ryker explained.

“Too late now to be sorry,” I pointed out. “If Luca is the only one who knows this information, then he will remain here the rest of the night in case more nightmares occur.”

Luca’s head snapped to me. “What?”

“You wanted to be the only person who knows the information to help her if she falls into another nightmare. If you choose not to share this phrase, then you’ll be with her until the morning so she can get some peaceful rest. Clearly, none of you have noticed the bruising under her eyes from lack of sleep, but I did. She got a few hours of sleep before this nightmare took over, and no matter what I did, she couldn’t wake up from it. This leads me to believe that for the past few nights, she’s been trapped in her own nightmare for most of the night. Now that we know how to put a stop to them, that’s what Luca will do,” I clarified.

Both men looked at me rather shocked.

“What?” I asked, feeling that I’d once again made a mistake in how to handle a situation.

Luca actually grinned at me then slapped my arm much harder than was needed. “Nice to see you can use that backbone you have. I knew you had it in you. It seems you just needed to have the right thing to stand up for. I’ll stay, but you’re gonna stay too. It will be less awkward for her to wake up with us both than just me, who she didn’t invite.”

His reasoning made sense, and I didn’t want her to wake up to find I’d abandoned her. “Very well. I’ll remain here with you until she wakes up.”

“Good, now I think we should get her into something more comfortable or at least out of these pants. She did a lot of walking, and I don’t think anyone has checked her wound,” Ryker said as he headed to the bathroom.

Concerned, I looked down at Astin then over at Luca. “Wouldn’t it be a violation of her privacy to remove her clothes without her consent?”

“Normally, I’d agree with you, but since we’re going to put her right back into clothes, I think we’ll be in the clear,” Luca assured me. “The fact that neither one of us will touch her bra or panties also helps our case if she’s upset when she wakes up.”

Still feeling like this was a gray area of the rules, I was hesitant to help when Ryker returned with pajamas. It was a simple silky, oversized, button-down, long-sleeve shirt that we could easily put on her without too much difficulty.

“Atticus, you hold her, and I’ll get her shirt off, then we put the nightshirt on so we’ll leave her exposed for as little as possible,” Luca instructed.

This was a good compromise. I realized her sleeping in the clothes she’d worn to the funeral couldn’t be comfortable, but I also wouldn’t give her a reason not to ask for my company again either. Pulling her blouse up from where it had been tucked into her pants, I slid my hands along her skin, pulling her up into a sitting position.

Luca got behind her and worked one arm free then the other before releasing the buttons that held up the shirt’s high collar. Leaning forward against me kept her hidden from the others, only her back being exposed to us.

Once the shirt was off, Ryker handed over the sleepshirt which was much easier to get on with how oversized it was. Settling her back on the bed, I averted my eyes as I unhooked her pants, tugging the shirt down before I worked them off her hips. Carefully, I pushed them past her bandage, where I saw traces of blood making Ryker’s fears a reality.

“Do we ask for the doctor?” I questioned as I folded the pants and set them on the bench at the foot of her bed.

“Let’s take a look at it first,” Luca interjected. “It might just be that she was too rough on it. We should only bring in the doc if she’s ripped her stitches.”

Knowing Luca had superior medical knowledge, I moved aside so he had room to work. Ryker handed over the caddy with the medical supplies the Family doctor had collected for us. The bullet hit the middle part of her thigh, closer to the inner part of her leg. To repair the damage, they had to make the incision larger to get to the offshoot of the femoral artery the bullet nicked. Thankfully, it had been a small opening, but it was one reason we were so worried. It had only been four days, and they’d wanted to keep her longer at the hospital than the two we’d managed to get out of her. Astin refused, arguing we had the private doctor to look after her at the manor.

We didn’t tell her, but he was staying in the guest wing of the house to ensure he was close by if anything should happen. Our biggest fear was her bleeding out internally and not saying anything to us. It was probably why Jace and Ryker were being Neanderthals about making sure she was taking it easy.

When Luca removed the gauze she’d had taped over the stitches, it was clear that it had been irritated and bled, but no sign of any real damage.

I let out a sigh I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. Astin had no idea how much she was pushing me out of my comfort level, making me her best friend. Caring about someone the way I was starting to with her was complicated and created a large amount of anxiety I’d never dealt with before. Although I had to admit, it all seemed worth it when she asked to spend time with me—just me.