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“What’s wrong?”
“I can’t scream.”
He flinched. “What?”
“I can’t scream. I tried. Mr. Blackbourne tested my voice. Something’s wrong with it.”
North’s eyes zeroed in on my face. “Try it.”
I rolled my eyes. He didn’t trust me to believe me? I opened my mouth, starting at a normal pitch, and raising the volume. By the time I tried yelling at his level, my voice was done. I swallowed hard.
His eyes widened. “You can’t even talk loud.”
“I can’t match your volume,” I said. “Not even close.”
“Why?”
“We don’t know,” I said. “Because I’m broken. My mother broke me.”
A low growl rolled out from North. “That woman isn’t your mother.”
It was my turn to flinch. “I’m still...”
“And you’re not broken.” He stepped forward. “You’re ... you ...”
“What else do you want to know?”
He glared at me. He mumbled again, formulating half words. He grunted. “I want to know ... if you still like me.”
“Yes,” I said, not allowing myself to hesitate. “Do you still like me?”
“Yes,” he said. His shoulders relaxed. This time when he lifted his hands, palms open, he motioned with them. “Come here.”
I closed the distance between us, glad this part was over. When I got close, he threw his arms around me, pulling me into his body. My arms went around his neck. My fingers dug into his skin as if afraid he didn’t mean it at all.
He sank until he was kneeling on the concrete, dragging me down with him. He held me in his lap, so tight that it was difficult to breathe. His fingers found my scalp, weaving into my hair to clutch and hold my head close to his chest. He buried his nose in my hair. “Baby, god ... Baby, don’t do that to me. That’s the second time you’ve stopped breathing on me.”
“I didn’t mean to,” I murmured against his chest. “He was falling in. I was going to lose him.”
“I almost lost you,” he croaked out. He dipped his head closer, until his lips met with the top of my head. “I already can’t sleep ... I can’t ... Not anymore.”
“Why can’t you sleep?”
“I can’t stop watching you.”
I blinked against his chest, squeezing my arms around his neck. “You watch me?”
“When you sleep,” he said. He smashed his cheek against my forehead. “I watch you breathing. Unless you’re next to me where I can feel you, I end up awake all night watching just to make sure. ”
No wonder he’d been so grumpy, before and after the party. “North,” I said, sighing and pulling back until I could look at his deep dark eyes. “You can’t do that.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to start watching you like that. Sometimes I don’t watch. Sometimes I just turn the device in your phone on so I can hear you breathing. I know ...”
“No, not about watching me. I mean sleeping. You have to sleep.”
He blinked at me. “You’re not mad?”
“I’m mad that you’re not sleeping like you’re supposed to. Do you need me to sleep here?” I asked.
He huffed. He pulled me in close again, burying his lips against my hair. He pulled back again, picking up my hand and shoved it toward his face to kiss the palm. “Sang Baby, I’ll sleep wherever you tell me to.”
~A~
North flicked his phone on for the hundredth time from inside the darkness of Mr. Blackbourne’s car. Sang was still at his house, asleep in his bed, wearing one of his own black T-shirts. He didn’t think all black really suited her that well, but he didn’t own any pink.
He had thought of the pink blouse she’d left at the diner the night he watched her swing that hammer that almost weighed more than she did. She’d told him to hang on to it for her and he did. It was tucked away in a corner of his closet. It wouldn’t have done any good, anyway. It wasn’t the type of shirt to sleep in.
And she’d said she liked wearing his shirt.
“Any word on McCoy?” North asked, breaking the forty minute silence, hoping to pass the time faster.
“Unfortunately, no. There’s been no sign of him at his home and he’s not answering phone calls to his cell. When he woke up and bolted from the school, he went into hiding. Victor has his home under surveillance. We’re monitoring Mr. Hendricks’s phone. There’s been no sign of him.”
North grunted. He hated that Mr. McCoy was out there somewhere. They’d lied to Sang, and he hated lying to her. They said she was safe and she wasn’t. She had enough nightmares, though. Telling her Mr. McCoy had escaped wasn’t an option for him.
He smoothed his thumb over his phone, and out of need, pushed the button again, checking on her. There she was, and Luke was there next to her. If he had to leave her alone now, he needed someone else near her. Even then, he monitored her, trying to catch her body shifting as she breathed.
“Has the doc mentioned what the blood test results were?” North asked, tired of the quiet that seemed to drag out this long drive.
Mr. Blackbourne shook his head. “They’ve tested for every known substance. The drug wasn’t Ecstasy. I’m afraid we’d need a direct sample. You probably should have kept the cup.”
North grumbled. “Well, I guess it doesn’t matter. She’s not going to another party like that.”
Mr. Blackbourne frowned. “I don’t entirely disagree with your feelings about those high school parties, but at the same time, she needs to learn to look out for dangers on her own, not just depend on you to think for her. That could have easily been a drink at school, or somewhere else.”
North flicked the button on the phone again, illuminating his face with her sleeping image. Mr. Blackbourne’s warning didn’t bode well. Despite everything else, they still didn’t know who tried to drug her. He had his suspicions, perhaps Rocky, who seemed interested in getting her to break up with Silas. Luckily, they seemed to have saved her reputation with the football team. Most of the team players agreed that North forced her to kiss him. A lot of them were pissed off at him. He was willing to be the bad guy if it meant Sang wouldn’t have such a hard time at school. If they could get the team to respect her, others might start to back off. Silas had been right. Someone needed to claim her at school because they were starting to notice.
He’d been miffed that Silas took the opportunity without telling him first. However, Silas was a good choice. He was already becoming respected, which meant if Sang was dating him, most of the guys were less likely to try something. They wouldn’t want to face off with Silas.
North suspected, though, if something had to change in the future, he wouldn’t hesitate to claim her next time at school if the opportunity arose. If he claimed her, no one would even get close to her. He’d make sure. Even if he had to take Rocky down himself.
“What do you keep doing?” Mr. Blackbourne asked. “Is someone up? No one’s on assignment tonight.”
“Checking in on Sang,” North replied, and he flicked the phone off again.
“What do you mean? Is she awake? It’s a school night.”
“She’s sleeping.”
"Isn't someone with her?"
"Luke's there."
“Of course he is ...” Mr. Blackbourne paused. His eyes narrowed on the street in front of them as the pieces clicked together. “You’re watching her sleep?”
North grunted. He knew how he would respond.
“If Luke is there, what are you doing? You can’t do that to her.”
“She said I could.”
“What?”
North tilted his head toward him. “She told me I could watch her sleep.”
“Did she say that or you told her you did it and she didn’t protest?”
North twisted his lips. It had been both but it bugged him that he was asking. “It’s fine.”
