February 27th
10:44 A.M.
“How about we go for a walk around the grounds? It’s finally stopped snowing,” Thunder suggested as he leaned his shoulder against the door jamb to the woman’s room.
She never closed the door, he’d quickly noted that and made sure that any room they went into, he kept the doors wide open. To her, closed doors probably felt like being locked in, she needed the visual reminder that she was free, just like she’d needed to sit on him yesterday afternoon.
When she’d suddenly freaked out, he hadn't known what to do to help. One second, she’d been sitting staring out the window, the next she was on the floor, positioning her body the same way she’d been lying when he first found her.
It hadn't taken him long to realize she was having a flashback. But knowing what was wrong and knowing how to fix it weren't the same thing. Although he’d kept talking to her, hoping his voice would help ground her, it hadn't seemed to work.
Then she jumped to her feet and started pawing at his waistband. Thinking she believed she was back in that cage and that it was Dr. Gardner standing over her, of course, he’d tried to stop her. Because she wouldn't or maybe couldn’t speak, they had no idea what the man had done to her, and he wasn't going to let her touch him when she didn't really want to.
Only she had wanted to.
Needed to even.
As soon as she met his gaze, and let him see that need shining through, he stopped fighting against it. Somehow, he understood she wasn't asking for sex, she was asking for the only way she knew people interacted.
It was becoming more and more clear to him that she’d been young when she was taken. And if she’d still been a kid, she’d never learned how to be an adult. All she knew of adults was sex, so it probably wasn't a great shock that she’d chosen such a method to calm herself.
And it had worked. As soon as he was buried inside her, her eyelids began to droop, and she curled into him and promptly fallen asleep. Slept for hours, long after he’d grown soft, but he hadn't moved her, allowing her to seek comfort the way she chose, because she deserved that right.
It wasn’t like it was a hardship for him either to have a beautiful woman on his lap, one he respected, liked, was attracted to, one he’d been working hard to show she could trust, and who had given him the most precious gift when she sought his comfort.
Even though she’d been embarrassed when she’d woken up, he’d made it clear that she had no reason to be. She was in charge of what she needed, and he’d told her several times that he was there for her, whatever she wanted from him, he’d gladly give her.
Now he wanted to give her the freedom to enjoy some fresh air.
At his suggestion, her eyes lit up. It hadn't taken a genius to figure out that she hadn't been outside much, if at all, since she was abducted and sold. The way she kept sitting near a window, staring longingly out, made that pretty clear.
“Make sure you rug up, it’s still cold out. You should have everything you need in your wardrobe,” he told her, then left her alone to get herself ready.
He’d barely made it back downstairs and into a coat before she clambered down the stairs to join him. Dressed in a coat, beanie, scarf, mittens, and boots, with her jeans and sweater, she looked adorable. She’d also twisted her hair into two braids that hung down her back, and he liked seeing her enthusiasm for something as simple as a walk outside, even as it made him sad that it was something she’d obviously been denied for a long time.
Outside, he wandered slowly. They weren't walking anywhere in particular, just enjoying the winter sunshine. It wouldn’t be long now until the snow began to melt and the flowers bloomed. The promise of spring, of fresh, new beginnings was in the air, but would this woman still be there when the days grew warmer, and new life began to sprout?
Because he didn't like thinking about her leaving, he talked to her about the grounds, anything to fill the silence, and he couldn’t deny that he hoped sooner or later he might be able to get her to say something back to him.
“None of us are gardeners, so most of the land is wild,” he said as they headed for the trees.
The house was set in a clearing, even though nobody knew where they lived, and they had their enhanced skills and a top-of-the-line security system, which gave them a last lineof defense. No one could approach the house without being spotted.
“There’s a vegetable garden we’ve been planting, and an orchard, too. In a few years, we should be able to grow most of what we eat, even with four more mouths to feed since Rose, Cassandra, Whitney, and Indigo moved in.”
While he’d love to add that they'd have more than enough to feed her as well if she chose to say, he resisted that temptation. It didn’t matter how many times he reminded himself that her stay was temporary, Thunder couldn’t stop wishing it wasn't.
“We have a river that runs through the property, a small waterfall, too. The girls can't wait for the summer so they can go swimming. Even though we’ve lived here for six years now, we’ve never bothered going for summer swims in the river, but this summer …”
This summer, everything was different.
This summer, they weren't hiding away, consumed by a need to find the man responsible for what had been done to them and make him suffer for it.
This summer, they didn't believe themselves to be monsters without consciences or lacking the ability to feel emotions normally.
This summer, they were looking to the future instead of miring themselves in a past they’d never be able to escape.
This summer, they were free.
