AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Did she? She didn’t think so, but her stomach felt all wiggly, and her mouth was suddenly bone-dry. “Okay.”
He picked her up and hooked her legs around his waist. When he’d offered to carry her, this wasn’t exactly what she had expected, but…she felt safe. Secure. And she didn’t need to walk, which was probably for the best right now.
Darien carried her into the hallway, the others trailing behind them. Loren was so close to Darien, there wasn’t really anywhere else to look but at his face.
Her eyes drifted to the small tattoo below his ear. Yup, that was real, all right. She couldn’t believe this was happening. She was being carried by Darien Cassel; she felt like pinching herself.
Darien stopped at a private change room with a frosted window in the door. “Ivy?” he called. “Joyce.”
Ivy stepped around him and into view. “I’ve got her bag.”
Darien’s eyes found Loren’s. His eyelashes were so dark, they almost made his eyes look kohl-lined. “Ivy and Joyce will help you get changed.”
Slowly, he lowered her. She hadn’t realized how tightly her legs were gripping his waist, her knees catching on his belt and pockets as he placed her on her feet. Ivy immediately linked her arm with Loren’s right, Joyce coming to the other side to take hold of the left—the one Darien was still holding onto.
He hesitated, his fingers tightening slightly on her wrist.
After another second, he let go, his touch leaving little bursts of heat on her skin.
Ivy and Joyce helped her into the small room. With one last glance in Loren’s direction, Darien shut the door.
The light in here was mellow—easy on the eyes. Loren sat down on the bench that was anchored to the wall, her legs still shaking like a newborn deer’s, even now. She placed her hands on her knees, trying to still the tremors.
“This is so embarrassing,” she muttered. Even walking that short distance had sprinkled her vision with stars.
“You’ve been in a coma for almost two weeks,” Ivy said. She set down the bag and unzipped the main compartment. “Embarrassed is the last thing you should feel right now.”
“She’s right.” Joyce sat down on the bench beside her. “It’s normal for your energy levels to be low, and your body weak. You’ll be back to normal in no time.” Her ‘normal’ wasn’t much better, but she would take it over this any day. Joyce took out a juice box, stabbed it with a straw, and passed it to her. “Drink as much as you can. Your blood sugar is low.”
Loren drank the whole thing—a blend of different berries—in several long gulps, watching as the serpent-entwined rod that was tattooed on her forearm shifted from a glaring red to a soft blue.
Joyce took the empty carton from her. “Better?”
She nodded. “Yeah, a bit better.” The stars were fading now, thank gods. She watched as Ivy started pulling clothes out of the bag and set them on the bench. Her favorite hooded sweatshirt, a lacy bra and underwear, stretchy black pants, a pair of socks. “Please tell me you have deodorant in there.”
Ivy smiled. “Sure do.”
“I probably smell.”
Joyce laughed, her gray eyes twinkling. “Your body has been kept in a magical state of limbo. Trust us when we say you don’t smell.” That was a relief, though she still had to resist the urge to smell herself. The first thing she’d do when they got to wherever they were going was shower and brush her teeth.
Ivy passed her a stick of deodorant anyway. “Tah-dah!”
Loren popped off the lid and put on several swipes. “Thanks.” As soon as she was done, Ivy put it away again. Loren recognized her toiletry bag, her hairbrush, her cell phone and charger. There was even a romance novel with a bookmark in it. Pretty much her whole life was in that bag, and these people had managed to pack it all up for her.
“You’re all so kind,” Loren said. “It’s…”
“Not what you expected?” Ivy smiled, one inky brow tilting up.
“I guess so. And I didn’t really expect the…leader of the Seven Devils to carry me around like I’m a stuffed animal.”
Ivy’s smile grew; her features looked so much like Darien’s, though she smiled a lot more than he seemed to. “Neither did we.”
“Does he do that a lot?” Her stomach fluttered.
“Only when he needs to. And when you don’t mind, of course.”
“And we’re…friends?”
