AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Dr. Wright puts the gun behind his back, and when he brings his arm back in front of him, his hands are empty. He slides one arm under my knees as the other goes behind my back, and with very little effort, he’s holding me in his arms as he stands.
Heat radiates from his chest, and I press myself against him, trying to soak up all the glorious warmth his body is giving off. He moves quickly down the embankment beside the road, heading straight for the lights I’d been aiming for when Ross arrived.
The lights weren’t houselights, as I once thought, but the entrance to a winding drive between the trees. At the end is a large house. The door is wide open, and the porch light is on.
The professor walks straight inside, using his foot to kick the door closed behind him. The warmth that wraps around me is glorious, but it’s not enough to stop my shivering. Without stopping, Dr. Wright walks straight up the stairs, entering the second door.
With me still in his arms, he manages to turn the light on. It’s a bedroom with a large wooden bed in the middle of the room.
“How long were you outside?” he asks. “Your lips are the same color as your hair.”
“I don’t know,” I try to tell him.
He pauses, then moves over to the bed, setting me down in the middle. He turns, pulling the gun from the waistband of his sweatpants, and places it down on the bedside table before he reaches for the bed sheets. Moving quickly, he wraps me up like a mummy, leaving only a small part of my face showing.
Although my shivers are more like full body tremors, I feel warmer.
“I want to get you in the bath. Water will warm you much quicker than these blankets will, but the water needs to heat up. I’ll be back in a few minutes, so do me a favor, and stay awake, okay?”
Until he suggested it, I’d had no desire to sleep, but now the idea of flopping over and closing my eyes is really appealing. I nod, too tired to attempt speaking.
Dr. Wright presses his lips together in a thin line, staring at me with his hands on his hips. Then he sighs and hurries out of the room.
Wrapped tightly in these sheets, in safety, the energy I have seems to drain from my body. I’m certain that with the way my body is shivering, I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep, but I don’t have the ability to keep myself upright anymore.
I lean to the side, letting my body fall into a mattress that feels like a cloud, and close my eyes.
Seconds later, I’m being shaken.
“Tori? Tori, wake up.”
“Mmmm,” I mumble. All I did was close my eyes. I’m not asleep. My body is pulled upright, and I groan as one side becomes cooler.
“Tori, you need to open your eyes. I’ve got a drink for you.”
It’s an effort, but I manage to do as he asks. Dr. Wright is crouched down in front of me, holding a mug with a straw. He lifts it to my mouth, feeding the straw between my lips.
The liquid is warm and sweet—not what I expected—but the more I drink the hot chocolate, the more alert I feel. Heat from the liquid travels down my throat, into my stomach, and starts warming me from the inside out.
My body is still shivering, but I feel better.
With one hand holding the mug and the other supporting my body to help keep me upright, Dr. Wright barely moves as I drink every last drop of the hot chocolate. Then he puts the empty mug down on the floor and stands.
“The water won’t have reached temperature, but if you’re this cold, having the water too hot will hurt.” I’m not sure if he’s talking to me or himself, as he walks to a door and opens it.
He walks in, flicking on a light, and I can make out the end of one of those old-fashioned bathtubs before he disappears from sight. Moments later, the sound of running water fills the room.
Dr. Wright comes back into the bedroom and starts to unpeel the blankets from me. As the warmth disappears, I try to cling to the blankets, but my fingers are too cold and stiff to cooperate properly.
Once free, he scoops me back up and carries me into the bathroom. The water in the tub is about halfway full. He reaches over and turns the tap off. Combined with the chilliness of this room, getting in is the last thing I want to do.
“I’m going to lower you in, bit by bit. The water is warm, but you’re so cold, it’s probably going to feel like it’s scalding. It will pass.” He leans over, letting my toes dip into the water.
He might as well have poured a pan of boiling water over my feet.
I jerk my feet out, trying to get out of his arms, but he grips me tightly, stepping into the bathtub himself. Before lowering us both down into the water, he ignores my screams as pain unlike anything else I’ve experienced tears through me.
Every part of my body that’s below the water feels like it’s on fire.
