AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But she shook her head. “No, I want…” Her voice broke, going hoarse. She looked up, her eyes begging. “Come with me?” she whispered, pleadingly.
I nodded immediately. “Of course.”
The nurse standing by, waiting to assist, said, “I’ll find you something to change into, sir. You have blood all over your clothes, anyway.”
As she took off, I stripped down as well and took Julianna’s hand before helping her into the shower. She grabbed my wrist when I went to close the curtain, but when I looked at her, she eased her grip and nodded.
My heart broke. She was scared but still trying to be brave. My brave fighter.
I helped her rinse off and soap up and rinse again. Once the water was off, I found a towel to wrap around my waist before scrubbing her dry with another. She just stood there, shivering. The nurse and I dressed her in warm socks and a hospital gown as quickly as possible before leading her to the bed, where they had to redress her wounds that had gotten wet. Her fever had spiked to a hundred and six, so they set her up with an IV full of medicine and fluids.
She had scrapes and abrasions and bruises all over, but the knife slashes on her stomach were the worst of it. I was grateful for that, and yet still worried out of my mind, because I knew her true injuries were ones that couldn’t be bandaged.
While the nurse fussed over her, getting her more water, I stepped back into the bathroom to pull on the scrubs they’d found for me to wear. After I was clothed again, I paused a moment to look at my face in the mirror.
It felt strange to look at my reflection and see the same face I’d always seen. Everything felt different now. I should’ve looked into the mirror and seen a stranger. But it was still me, which was so freaking bizarre.
When my hands began to shake because the reality of what had just happened to her started to set in
, I quickly left the bathroom, unable to deal with that just yet.
Julianna’s father had arrived while I’d been changing. He and I shared a brief glance and respectful nod before I turned my attention to my girl.
“You look like a doctor,” she said, blinking at me. Her voice was getting stronger, less rough. I swear she’d been drinking water by the gallon since we’d found her, so maybe that was helping.
I wiggled my eyebrows suggestively as I approached to sit in the chair across the bed from where her father stood with his arms crossed over his chest.
“A sexy doctor?” I asked, taking her fingers when she held out her hand to me. The ends of them were bandaged in white gauze.
The corners of her lips tipped up in a smile, the first hint of a smile I’d seen from her in three days. “Of course,” she answered, her bruised eyes sparkling with mischief right before she added, “almost as sexy as Dr. Hamilton.”
Gasping as if hurt, I pressed my hand to my chest. “Oh, baby doll, you wound me.” But honestly, I was grateful she was able to tease.
Closing her eyes, she kept smiling as she gripped my fingers. “As if.”
I kissed her scraped knuckles and blew out a shuddered yet relieved breath just as a tap came to the door.
“Sorry for the intrusion.” The two detectives—Wilson and Hall—stepped into the room, nodding respectfully to Julianna. “But we were wondering if Miss Radcliffe was able to make a statement now.”
Julianna’s father and I immediately protested, but Juli waved her hand. “I want to get it over with.” But she tightened her grip on my fingers, letting me know she wanted me to stay.
So I sat there and listened to her entire account.
And while the officers began their questions, I fought the urge to tell them to fuck off every time she had to pause because her voice went too hoarse. She winced while she swallowed and had to take another drink, continuing. They didn’t have many questions because she was pretty detailed and chronological about the series of events, a fact that made me increasingly sick to my stomach and equal parts awed.
I had one badass girlfriend.
After her abductor had waited for her to crawl fully out of the storm shelter where he’d kept her with no food or water for nearly three days, she’d fought him with nothing but her willpower. She’d been feverish, half frozen and nearly starved to death, shaky from fatigue and exposure, and he’d been twice her size, brandishing a knife. She explained how she’d had to let him get in close first and then preoccupied him with removing her coat before she’d fought back. I don’t think she was even sure how she’d accomplished it, but as I took a moment to try to imagine what it’d had to feel like for her attacker’s breath to waft across her face while his lifeblood poured through her fingers, I shuddered, not sure if I would’ve been able to do what she’d had to do to survive.
I glanced to the side because the haunted look in her eyes as she spoke made it twice as hard to listen to.
Once she’d realized he was dead, she’d had to search his pockets for his cell phone and call for help. When they asked her why she hadn’t called 911 first thing, she shook her head.
“I don’t know. I just…I wasn’t thinking. I only wanted Colton, except I couldn’t remember his number. I couldn’t remember any number except my work number. So I called there, knowing they could get him. I…I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“You did just fine, baby doll,” I murmured, kissing her knuckles. “You did perfect.” She’d gotten help and that was all that mattered.
The detectives didn’t stay too long after that. They could see on Juli’s face how exhausted she was. But they did stay long enough to tell her the name of her attacker and confirm that the story he’d told her about his mother’s death matched what they knew about him.
