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“Where is he? He’s going to come. He’s going to kill me!”
“Shhhh, stellina, no. He’s not here. We looked. And he’ll never get near you again. I promise you that.”Gideon moved, so he was whispering directly in her ear. I could see her body tense at his closeness, but his words did calm her slightly.
In the car, Jaxon took the driver’s seat and Oliver immediately went to the front passenger seat. I slid into the backseat and waited for Gideon to hand Brooklyn in. But when he tried to put her down, she screamed, the sound coming outraw and broken. She clawed at him, trying to make sure she stayed in his arms. He spoke to her quietly again, rocking her almost like a baby, before clumsily sitting down with her in his lap.
Oliver had turned almost completely around in the seat, panic on his face. I could see tears in his eyes and I looked away, choked by my own emotions. Gideon’s neck was covered in scratches, some that were welling with blood now, but he didn’t loosen his grip on Brooklyn. She was curled into his lap, pulling my shirt over her legs, trying to cocoon herself in the fabric.
The silence in the car was practically unbearable. I looked up at Oliver again, who hadn’t turned back around. I realized I didn’t know how his lip got split.
“What happened to you two?”
Oliver didn’t register my question, still staring at Brooklyn. But Jaxon spoke from the driver’s seat as he sped through the warehouse district.
“We ran into two in a loading dock. Somehow, we didn’t see them or hear them before they realized we were there. The lights came on, surprising us, and then they attacked. They weren’t very skilled fighters, so it didn’t take long. Oliver’s face was a lucky punch.”
“Sounds like the same guys we saw, but didn’t approach. Where did you leave them?”
“In the loading dock. Neither of them had much to say.”Jaxon sped through a stop sign and followed the road that spilled into the city.
The words none of us were saying were that Lyle wasn’t in the warehouse, which meant he was in the wind again. There were so many unanswered questions that I could only hope Gideon’s detective friend could get answers out of Missy or one of Lyle’s men.
Chapter
Thirty-Six
Brooklyn
I knew them,by their smells. I could hear their voices, but I wasn’t sure I trusted just that. I had heard their voices in my mind before. But their smells, that wasn’t something that could be faked. My face was pressed against the skin of Gideon’s throat and I just kept trying to breathe, his clean soap smell; faint, but it was there and it was uniquely Gideon.
The further we got away from the warehouse, the more safe I felt, but my levels of despair were raising to tsunami levels. What was going to happen when the Knights found out about what Lyle had done to me, to my body? Would they look at me in disgust and push me away the moment they found out? How could they love my body as they did before, if I couldn’t even stomach the idea of seeing myself in a mirror? What about the lost time, where I had no idea what had happened to me?
The car slid around a corner, and Gideon grunted as we were thrown against the door. I lifted my head slightly to look around the car. I was afraid to have Gideon set me down before we were away from the warehouse. Now that we were putting distance between me and my living nightmare, I was feeling more comfortable.
I started to move, to sit on the seat, but Gideon’s arms tightened around me. Without thinking, I tried to pull away. Gideon’s face came down until his mouth was near my ear, his breath tickling my neck. The feeling caused me to freeze and fear to course through my body.
“Stellina, it’s ok. Just sit still until we get to the hospital.”His voice was whispered and soothing.
“Gideon.”It was all I could choke out without pain to my throat.
“Yes, I’m here. We’re all here. We have you. You’re safe.”He said the words as if it was a mantra he wanted me to remember.
He didn’t understand the anguish in my voice. I knew who I was with. I knew I was away from Lyle for the moment. The pain that I was feeling was more than physical or about my safety. It was knowing that it was inevitable that they would know what had happened to me. My skin itched and felt stretched too far. I wished I could put distance between myself and Gideon, that I could hide in Aiden’s shirt and disappear.
When I heard how Oliver and Jaxon had been attacked, I wanted to express how thankful I was that they were both alright. When I saw them, I knew something wasn’t right, but it was too hard to focus and see the injury on Oliver’s face or the bruising on Jaxon’s knuckles. They had put themselves at risk to save me. I had known they would, but I felt the weight of guilt for what they must have had to go through to find me.
When the bright lights of the city began to flash by the window, my head started to lull to the side, my body was exhausted, drained from being on edge and trying to recover from my injuries. I was jolted awake when the car came to a stop outside the hospital. I could see a doctor and nurse waiting with a wheelchair at the door. When we stopped, they started forward.
“We called ahead, sweetheart.”Aiden’s voice caused me to jump and when I looked over at him, I saw the hint of pain on his face before he controlled it.
His torso was bare, reminding me I wasn’t wearing anything but his t-shirt. I fumbled with the hem of the shirt again and looked at the doctor.
“We can get you a blanket before you get out of the car,”Aiden motioned toward the emergency room entrance.
I didn’t try to speak, just nodded, thankful he understood my worry without me having to explain it. Aiden, shirtless and imposing, climbed out of the car and approached the doctor. The nurse nodded and rushed back inside. A moment later, the woman appeared with a hospital blanket. When she tried to step toward the car, Aiden intercepted her and held out his hand. There were words exchanged, but Aiden wasn’t backing down.
The nurse relented and held out the blanket to Aiden. He turned and came to the side of the car Gideon and I were sitting on. Carefully, he popped open the door and unfolded the blanket.
“Just step out here, sweetheart. No one will see you and we’ll get you wrapped up.”
