Page 33 of Her Noble Protector

“I can come out there.”

“That would be too much. She’s got to ask.”

“I hate that. I just want to come out there. Do you know what she did for all of us? Do you know how damn much she did?” She sounded so fierce. “Raiden, I want to be there for her, ya’ know?”

“I know, sweetie, I know. I’m going to try to get her to talk to you today. It’ll come from my cell; be ready for it, okay?”

“Absolutely.”

“You doing okay? This is the first time Nic’s gone on a mission.”

“Hell yeah, I’m doing okay. I’m a SEAL’s woman. I was born for this.”

Raiden grinned. He didn’t quite believe her, but he grinned. “Camilla, that wasn’t quite what I meant. Lisa isn’t the only one who went through hell seven weeks ago. I know damn well you were brave and fierce and protected those kids. But you had a trauma too. So how are you doing?”

Her voice went soft. “Nic’s been taking care of me. He made me come stay with Carys. I’ve landed gentle.”

“Cami—”

“Now I want to be there for Lisa. You arrange the call, and I’ll be waiting. Got it?”

“I got it, Cami.” He hung up, shaking his head. Yep, Nic got a good one.

Now it was time to get some exercise. What he really wanted was a run around the neighborhood. Just twenty miles, was that asking for too much? But it was. He needed to stay here. So time for some physical training. He went to work.

Crunches.

Push-ups.

Squats.

Planks.

Lunges.

After three hours he was really feeling it. He hosed off and changed clothes. Then he noticed a light come on in the house. Not a soft light like a bed lamp, but an overhead light. It was in the master bedroom. Maybe Lisa was taking a shower.

* * *

Lisa blinked back tears as she looked around the master bathroom, then she slowly turned and saw the state of her bedroom. She should have never turned on the overhead light. Even from the bathroom door, she could see some of the shards of glass from where her lamp had crashed to the floor. Clothes were strewn everywhere; so were open bags of chips and cookies that had to be weeks old, because she couldn’t remember how long it had been since she could choke down cookies or chips.

Just like in her living room she saw dishes, only they were upside down because they’d spilled over, so there was dried oatmeal on the floor. She covered her eyes as her back hit the doorjamb and she slowly slid down until her ass hit the floor. Quiet sobs wracked her body. She did everything in her power not to make any noise, not wanting Raiden to hear her. She would die if he heard her and wanted to come inside.

She didn’t know how long she stayed there. It really didn’t matter. What mattered was that she needed to figure out a way to get Raiden to leave. She had to make him leave. She tried to stand up, but she couldn’t, not even using the doorjamb as leverage. She couldn’t get up; her legs just wouldn’t work.

How was she going to make Raiden leave if she couldn’t even get up off the floor?

A trickle of cold air hit the back of her neck—the air conditioner kicking in. For just a second, one brief moment, it felt like she was back in Alaska. God, wouldn’t that be a dream? Back in Alaska, before she’d ever thought of going to Mexico, before another bad dream slammed into old nightmares, causing her to go crazy.

Lisa took a deep breath and pulled her head up off her knees and tried getting up again. This time she managed to get to her feet. Ignoring the mess, she hit the switch on the overhead light and shambled out. She veered to the guest bedroom; at least it wasn’t as dirty.

“I have to get rid of Raiden,” she murmured as she shuffled toward the clean bed. At that thought her gut clenched. If he left, she wouldn’t be safe. She’d have to lock herself back up in her bedroom again. Her hands balled up into fists and she took a swing against the bedroom wall.

“Lisa! What’s going on in there?”

Dammit!

She took another swing, not caring that her knuckles hurt.