AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Pulling off the annoying finger glove thing, I started to get up. My head whooshed, and I instantly saw black spots in my vision.
“Whoa!” I heard someone say. Strong arms caught me, laying me back in bed. I growled as those damn spots took over. A while later, I woke up again to that annoying beeping.Groaning and swatting at the air, I grumbled, “Shut up.”
A musical laughter sounded, and I opened my eyes to see Quinn. He cleaned up, and his pretty boy look had returned. This time, he was in his usual detective’s get-up.
“Micah?” My voice sounded even worse now.
“Yeah. Hey, partner,” he said, smiling and getting up to stand beside me. He reached onto the bed and squeezed my hand. His warm touch felt nice on my cool skin. “Sorry, I left you here for a bit. I was in another patient’s room.”
He looked sheepish, flustered, and even maybe tired. I looked at his hand on mine, noticing little red welt marks. He blushed at my gaze, removing his hand and running it through his blond hair. The smell of expensive spices wafted over to my nose.
I’m sure I smelled like a bag of sewage. Not only had I fallen off a damn staircase but into a pile of human remains.
Looking down at myself, I realized some poor sap had to give me a sponge bath. And I felt strangely uncomfortable about that. What if it was the moody nurse from before? Him seeing my body naked made me feel…flushed.
My hair on the otherhand had been haphazardly thrown up in a bun, with some half assed rinse.
“How’s she doing?” I said, watching Quinn look almost shy.
“Oh,” he said, blushing. “Yeah, she’s…she’s, uh…” he trailed off, tipping his hand back and forth in a “she’s okay-ish” motion.
Honestly, it wouldn’t be the truth to say she was okay. That woman had been through hell and made it out alive. But that just meant her body survived. It wouldn’t be known for a while if her mind did.
“She was tortured for months,” he said. His tone was sad, his eyes almost haunted. I knew this brought up memories of his sister. I reached my hand over to pat his big, burly chest.
He looked up, and his blue eyes had a smile in them, but the pain was clear as day. He was definitely thinking about his little sister. What she must have suffered. Death was a mercy for her in the end.
“She’s been burned.” he trailed on, absent in how he spoke. “Raped.” he continued, that sad tone nearly a whisper. “Beaten and cut.”
I cringed. Jesus, I really hoped she could find a way to live a normal life.
“Her bones had been broken and rehealed incorrectly…” I realized he was spitting out facts that were not just about the patient but facts from the coroner’s report for his seventeen-year-old sister.
Tears were freely streaming down his face, his beautiful, solid, and protective walls broken. The very soldier he was, and he was shattering before me. Wincing at the damned pain from my body, I ignored it, spinning my body to embrace him. He was a tortured soul, my partner, and my friend.
“Her name is Ivy. Not Penelope…she’s not Pen—” A sob he tried desperately to hide had cut off his words.
His body shook as he finally embraced me back.
My heart broke. I wanted so badly to help him.
“Tell me about Ivy,” I said, trying to get him out of his head. “What is she like? Have the drugs worn off?”
It worked. He pulled back from the hug, a slight smile pulling at his lips.
“She’s the most full-of-life person I’ve met with all she’s been through, but she is still a fighter.”
“Is that fighting spirit what gave you those love marks?” I teased, pointing to his hand.
“Very funny…she’s not…I wouldn’t.” He blushed.
“I know, I’m only teasing,” I said.
“She is an adamant young lady, though,” he said with a chuckle.
I wondered more about Ivy. How could someone still be a person after that? I certainly broke in two with my own trauma as a teenager. One of the reasons Quinn and I had such a close bond was that I very well could have ended up like Penelope or Ivy. It had been chance or maybe dumb luck that I’d gotten out of there.
* * *
