Page 4 of Full of Wrath

Memphis? Who is Memphis?

And do they have to shout so loud when my head is going to explode?!

Then those eyes come into focus, and things start to come back to me. I dreamed of those eyes. I dreamed of a knight coming to rescue me from danger, only he didn’t have a sword; he had a gun. And there was fire burning through my skin, but it was going to be okay because I was with him.

Wait a minute! Someone was fucking shooting at me!

I try to sit up, but strong hands hold me down and force me to stay right where I am. I bring my hand up to touch the place my head is aching and find a cast on it. What the fuck happened? Where the fuck am I? And who is the hottie with the midnight rain eyes that leave me feeling off kilter and a little feverish?

“Easy, baby girl.”

What now?

I look for some clue from my best friend, but all she does is give me a smile that answers none of the thousands of questions going through my head.

“Wh…where am I?”

What the fuck happened that I woke up with a man with absolutely devastating eyes calling me baby girl and acting like he has every right to do so? I can’t stop my breathing from coming out in ragged pants or my heart from thumping too hard.

“Hey,” the man draws my attention back to him and pins me with those eyes, “breathe, baby.”

I hate myself a little for doing exactly what he says and following his breathing pattern like it is my own.

“Do you remember the party?” I turn to look at Boston and see some family resemblance between him and the man on my other side keeping me from falling apart. The same nose, same chin, but their eyes are completely different. Are they related? Party? I was at a party! “Oh my God! Did they find him? Did they find the kid they took?” My breathing goes erratic again as I relive watching two men try to shove a person in a car. “They took someone?!” Those midnight eyes go even darker as he asks the question. “They…they put him in a car!” My chin is taken in a firm but soft grip. “Don’t try to get up, baby girl. Stay with Sadie and Boston. I’ll be back.” Why does he affect me the way he does? Why do I want to listen to him? I give him a nod and wait for him to leave the room. “Who is that?” I look to my bestie to tell me, but it’s Boston who speaks. “He’s my brother, Memphis. He’s a cop. I called him when we heard the gunshots.” Brother? Gunshots! I…was running through the woods, so worried about Sadie. They were trying to kill me! Someone was trying to kill me! Nothing else being said by them makes it to my brain as I struggle to take in enough air and fight the feeling that I have to keep running. Memories of my night flash through my brain fast enough to make me dizzy. I have to…hide or something. And it can’t be safe to be around me. Sadie is in danger just being here. I make a mad dash out of bed but regret it immediately as my legs go out from under me, my hand stings, and the world tilts as the floor rushes up to meet me. And the last thing I hear is the sound of his name. It follows me into the darkness that wraps around me and echoes through my heart until it’s all I know.

Memphis.

Chapter Five

Memphis

Isit and take in the woman who’s rocked me to my very foundation as she sleeps, her dark eyelashes fanning against her pale cheeks. When she tried to jump up from the bed and run, she yanked her IV out and hit her head again, this time on the floor instead of a rock, but the results were the same. I shouldn’t have left her. I should have just made the damned call while I was sitting beside her. I didn’t think about the worry that would eat at her, or the fear. I should have realized, and now all I can do is kick myself for it.

She was right too. It wasn’t some fantasy brought on by the trauma or something she thought she saw. Not that I thought it was, but the Chief was skeptical. Until he started looking into it. It turns out Trace Kelly, the kid who threw the party and whose house everyone was at, wasn’t around when everyone had been accounted for. And the girl lying in the bed in front of me saw everything.

Chief put a detail on the door and okayed it for me to stay with her indefinitely. I just became the lead investigator in her case. Not sure if that’s a conflict of interest or not. Thankfully, we’re a small town, and if Chief Sinclare is alright with it, it’s a go!

Not that I would have left her. He could have banned me from the fucking room, and I would have found a way back in somehow. I slip my hand closer to hers – the one not in the cast-until we are almost touching and focus on her face. Just the barest hint of skin contact with her has my nerves jumping and warmth rushing through me.

Would it be wrong to touch her while she’s sleeping? Just the brush of a hand. Would that be wrong? It’s not like we don’t know each other. She’s been over to my mom and dad’s house before, hung out with my sister. It’s not like I’m a stranger.

I think back to the first time I met her. She was walking with my sister when I pulled my car over and rolled down my window. She stayed back and didn’t say anything, but she did give me a little wave. I understood right then that I was in trouble. There was no way I should have been lusting after someone my fucking sister’s age. And yet I couldn’t stop my eyes from straying over to her. After that, I stayed the fuck away and made sure I wasn't in the same place.

I might have caught glimpses of her, but I never lingered, never talked to her, tried to never think about her…until she pretty much fell in my arms. Well, at my feet really. Something clicked inside of me when I looked down and realized she was the person in that ditch looking so small and vulnerable. Or maybe it broke free from the cage I had put it in. Either way, I made a promise I intend to keep.

Eyes the color of the forest open slowly and look up at me, disarming me completely. I realize for the first time I’m not just reaching out to touch this woman’s hand; my fingers are entwined with hers. And she’s holding mine back just as firmly.

“Memphis, right?”

How good does my name sound coming from her? Better than I would have ever expected, that’s how good.

“Yeah. That’s me, baby.”

“Am I going to die?”

She sounds tired and scared, and it cuts into my gut deeper than an actual bullet would.

“No, baby. You’re not going to die.”