AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m going to clean you up, and then I’m taking you to bed, okay?”
“Okay.” She nods, but the word sounds just as brittle as she looks.
What’s happening to you, baby?
I keep that foreboding question locked in my throat, strangling me with doubt and fear. My worried questions remain bottled as I take a washcloth and clean her skin, taking extra care with her wounds. She flinches from time to time when I pass the cloth through them, but at least she’s no longer shivering. I wash her hair gently, methodically, while doing everything in my power not to demand answers. Once her shoulders relax and that droopy look in her eyes increases, déjà vu hits me hard. A memory filled with a similar pain edged on her face, telling me she needs to lie down and rest, and forget the world around her. I pull her out of the bath, drying her as meticulously as I can with a towel, and then take one of the complimentary hotel robes to keep her warm. It looks ridiculously big on her petite frame, and I’m shocked yet again at how blind I’ve been these past few days to not see that my girl was suffering.
I pick her up and lay Valentina on the bed, her body melting into it instantly, confirming that this is exactly what she needed. I lie behind her and wrap her in my arms, and she leans into me, a sigh passing her lips.
“Let me call the doctor,” I plead once more, but she just shakes her head.
“No doctors.”
I bite my inner cheek in frustration, but I don’t insist. Not yet anyway. When she’s better, I’ll approach the subject again. I have to. What I encountered when I walked through this room was something I never thought to find in a million years. Valentina has always been a fighter. But the woman I encountered had no fight in her to give. She looked lost and broken, and a part of me knew exactly how that felt.
I kiss the top of her head, my hand caressing her back as she starts to fall to her slumber.
“Don’t leave me, Carter. Not yet. This will all be over soon,” she hushes, stabbing my heart with her choice of words.
I tug her chin up so she can face me, but she’s too out of it to look me in the eye.
“What does that mean?” I croak.
“Not yet,” she mumbles sleepy, the darkness pulling her under.
She nestles her head on my chest, and in seconds, she’s given in to her slumber. I hold her to me, my embrace a bit too forceful, but I’m unwilling in letting her go. I’m not sure how much time passes, but every ticking second taunts me that I’m going to lose my mind if I don’t find out what’s wrong with her.
Reluctantly, I unlatch myself from her grip, taking great pains not to wake her up. I go to the small living room and immediately text Quaid and Logan for them to get their asses over here STAT. While I wait for them to arrive, I go out onto the balcony and smoke the minutes away while I slowly go mad, trying to decipher what I walked in on earlier.
I’m on my fifth cigarette when both Logan and Quaid arrive at the same time. Logan looks broken and shattered, while Quaid looks like he tried to find the answers he needed at the bottom of a bottle. It’s not even noon, and he’s already drunk.
“I’m just here to pick up my stuff,” Logan says.
“You’re not going anywhere,” I bite back.
“If you texted to finish what we started this morning, then believe me, you’re in for a world of pain because I’m fucking awake now.”
“This should be good. Let’s see a rematch, but count me out. I’d rather see you two assholes go at it than participate again,” Quaid counters, falling onto the sofa and spreading his arms over the headrest.
Logan scoffs, but the scorn in his eyes is directed at me and not the two hundred pounds of muscle slacking on the sofa.
“We’ve got bigger problems than going at each other’s throats.”
“You don’t say?” Quaid mocks with an exaggerated smirk.
“I don’t have time for your games, Carter, or your drunk ass, Quaid. I’m packing my stuff and getting on the first plane out of here. This was a mistake.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” I command with the same fire that’s breathing inside him.
“Fuck you, Carter!” he snaps, pointing me an accusing finger. “Everything was fine last night, and your fucking jealousy ruined it all.”
“I know that.” I grind my teeth, not really interested in reliving seeing Val in Logan’s arms after what looked like a night of hot sex. “But that’s not why you’re not going anywhere.” I explain my crisp voice beginning to waver.
Logan’s brow pulls together, but his stance is still hostile. I pull another cigarette, chain-smoking my way out of this nightmare.
“This is a no-smoking room,” Logan mocks.
“Not the worst problem I have,” I say, lighting up anyway.
