Page 125 of The Quiet Witness

Ghost kicked out a paw, smacking her right in the hip. “Hey!” The dog whipped its head up, blinking furiously. “You’re messing up my focus here.” She scratched him behind the ears, smiling as he leaned in to the touch. “Sorry, didn’t know you were asleep.” She returned to reading. Kicking out her own legs over the couch when the couple in the book separated. Ghost moved away with a dramatic sigh.

And that’s just before the big battle, of course, pfff.

The porch light snapped on, spooking Kate, as she had temporarily forgotten she was in the middle of nowhere, with no one but Lucien’s fierce dog for protection. But if Ghost’s waggling tail was any indication, it was Lucien who’d step through the door in…

One… two… three.

The lock clicked, and the door was flung open, it hit the wall with a crash. Lucien peeked in, his green eyes landing on the hand she held over her heart. “Hey you… sorry. The door kinda fell out of my hands.” He grinned sheepishly, crossing over the threshold. “Didn’t think you’d be up still.”

It’s not like I’ve been waiting for your ass to come through the door.

“Heyyy, yeah I couldn’t sleep.” She raised the book for him to see, watching as he grinned at the title. “What better way to kill time than curse at two fictional characters.”

He dropped his bag beside the kitchen counter. “Couldn’t agree more, miss obsessed with romance.” His voice… the regular dry humor was present, but her eyebrows raised as she took in the slight hunch in his shoulders. Ghost jumped off the couch, nose lifting as he smelled the air.

Off, something is off.

Up in a second, she crossed the room toward him. “Are you alright?”

A metallic tang stopped her in her tracks. Transporting her back not to the foster family lined up at the Christmas table but to Isabel. Shaking off the attack on her senses she whispered, dumbfounded. “You’re bleeding.”

The dark blue t-shirt he was wearing had darkened, only some patches of the actual color remained, and where his short sleeves ended, blood caked to his muscled arm.

Oh, Gods, what has he gotten himself into.

Lucien wandered over to the kitchen counter, reaching over to pull out a chair, but she beat him to it, yanking it out of its place with a screech, he slid into the chair with the same ease as always, all the while she couldn’t tear her gaze away from the darkened cloth.

There was so much blood.

“Don’t worry, not all of it is mine.”

“Don’t worry?!” Her voice rang out in a high pitch but she caught a glimpse of his answering wince. Lowering it for him, she mumbled. “Right, just the words I need.”

He fixed her with a look that told her she was ‘blowing this way out of proportion’.

Ignoring it, she grasped onto the bloody rag that was his t-shirt and pulled it over his head while he heaved a deep sigh at the fussy treatment.

Guess he hoped I was upstairs. Bad luck there.

She scanned his reddened abdomen, but there were no wounds, nothing but a faint sheen of red clinging to his ripped form. Where was all this blood even coming from?

Moving to his back she got the same answer. He hadn’t stumbled in here, that meant his legs were fine. So… only a deep cut across his shoulder. Still oozing scarlet.

Kate felt the weight of his stare on her while she assessed his condition. Not once did she raise her chin to meet it. Terrified of betraying the thoughts racing through her mind.

Because what if he had been shot or stabbed in a place that meant he’d hang between life or death? Could I even take him to the hospital? It could have worked with me driving the car, would have. But it meant he’d be questioned, could he weasel his way out from under that? And, if he… died. It would mean freedom for me…

The question was, if that was still what she wanted, if she still clung to that promise like a child held onto a stuffed toy.

Kate stilled at the realization. But… seconds, she was letting precious seconds pass by. Her shoulders dropped an inch, letting out a sigh of relief to see that the wound wouldn’t become life threatening. She strode into the kitchen, opening and closing the cabinets to find the red box, but it was nowhere to be found. “Where do you keep the first aid kit stashed?”

He didn’t answer, she stopped in her tracks to glance back at him, half expecting to see him slumped over the counter. Instead, his half lidded eyes were still trained on her, tracking her venture through the kitchen. They came to rest on her throat, tracing the movement when she swallowed heavily.

Her hand started fiddling with the hem of her shirt, leaving red traces behind on her pink t-shirt, uncomfortable beneath the intensity of his gaze.

It’s not like him to watch me like this. How could the person who had made her laugh so loudly in the car. Make her feel like prey waiting to be pounced upon?

Kate dropped her hands to her sides. Done, she was done with twiddling her fingers, there were bigger issues at hand, anger flared up in the pit of her stomach. “Hey!” She snapped her fingers in front of him. “You wanna stare at me all evening or want me to take care of that wound? What did you even do? Grapple with a lion?”