AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I didn’t really havetime to look into her statement. The new woman stepped closer, tipping her head as she studied me. “Geez, what happened?”
Gabi bit her lip, bouncing on her toes. She shot me a questioning look, and I ducked my head to avoid it. I couldn’t relay what had happened. It’d make me panic, and I was already really freaked out with this much activity. After so long alone on the streets, it was overwhelming to be surrounded by so many people.
Luckily, Gabi answered for me. “From what I heard, she warned Viktor that someone was going to betray them and they came after her for revenge. We found her in front of the construction site of the new tower. She didn’t want to be brought to a hospital, so we brought her here instead.”
“Woah. Are she and Viktor a thing or something?”
My shoulders lifted considerably. There wasn’t a chance that a man as good looking as that would be interested in me, homeless or not. Even if I was in a position where I wanted that kind of attention, I wouldn’t waste my breath hoping for something like that.
“No. He was trying to help her, gave her a phone to call him, and she used it to warn us instead. He is doing what is right, trying to care for her. How is she?”
An unfamiliar voice drew my focus off my lap. I recognized the man from the club, the biggest one in the group. In the daylight, he had short hair like Viktor and icy blue eyes. His nose was a little crooked, like it’d been broken at one point, and he had a scar above his eye, but he didn’t look angry like he had at the club. His focus, while momentarily on me, turned to Gabi and he seemed to only have eyes for her.
“Dmitriy! I thought you were going to the construction site.”
“We are. I wanted to see if she could tell me any more about what happened. Kozlov denies any involvement and I want to make sure I do not have multiple enemies to worry about.”
The new woman shivered. “I swear, hanging out with you guys is bad for my health. You can’t seriously think you’ve got multiple groups of people trying to kill you. Right?”
Dmitriy just gave her a flat look before turning his attention back to me. I swallowed hard, ducking my head again, and Gabi came to my rescue.
“She’s nervous around men, Dmitriy. Once she’s clean and comfortable, I’ll see if she feels okay answering some questions. Maybe with Viktor. She seems more comfortable around him.”
I waited for him to get angry for putting him off, but he only grunted in response. “You will stay here today. It is safer.”
The other two women groaned in response, and the new one started whining. “Seriously? I wouldn’t have come over if I knew I’d be trapped here. I’ve got things to do, you know.”
“You are free to leave. It is Gabriella who I was talking to,” he growled.
The women each made noises of protest, not liking the idea of their friend being forced to stay here. But when I looked at Dmitriy, he gave Gabi a significant look, his gaze dropping to her belly. She pressed a hand there momentarily before bobbing her head.
“Okay. I’ll stay here with Rosie. I’m sure she’d like the company.”
He seemed pleased with her response, coming to kiss her forehead before he left, the doctor following behind him with a wave. Gabi was smiling after the sweet gesture until she noticed her friends watching her. She wrinkled her nose and shrugged.
“He's been overprotective since I got pregnant. It’s fine. I planned on staying here today anyway. The MWC is coming over later, too.”
Britney snorted, shaking her head. “I still can’t believe you have a club. What do you guys even do?”
She pursed her lips thoughtfully. “Well, we used to drink vodka and complain about our husbands, but now that we’re all pregnant, we’ve mostly just been talking about prepping for the babies. And complaining about how possessive they’ve gotten.”
Their conversation was relaxed, and no one brought up what happened to me. It made me feel a little better, so when they finally turned their focus on me, I was a lot less stressed out than earlier.
“So, Rosie. Are you feeling up for a shower?”
I nodded quickly. “I– I can do it myself…”
Britney shook her head. “No offense, but no. You can’t. You’re on a lot of pain meds, and just looking at your face, I know the damage is pretty severe. You could get lightheaded and pass out without some help. Don’t worry. No one is going to talk crap or anything. We’re here to help.”
It was embarrassing, but Britney didn’t wait around for me to flounder. She swept into the bathroom while Gabi and the woman who introduced herself as Amber helped me walk slowly to join her. While the water warmed up, they helped me strip out of the clothes I’d been given. I saw a look pass over Amber’s face when she dropped them on the floor, but she didn’t say anything about it. I still blushed, staring at my bare toes as Britney aimed the showerhead away and Gabi stepped into the tub to help me inside. She didn’t seem to care that her clothes were getting wet, helping me sit down when I started to weave on my feet.
It was more exhausting than I thought, and after the initial embarrassment wore off, I was glad that they were there. I wouldn’t have been able to do it on my own. Britney sat on the edge of the tub, scrubbing out my hair, while Gabi ran a cloth over my arms and legs. Amber was on soap duty, pouring more and switching out cloths when necessary. Together they helped me get clean for the first time in months and even though I was trembling and in pain, I felt tears well in my eyes with how grateful I was.
“Okay. Looks good. We’ll let you get your privates by yourself, then rinse. Gabi, get her back. I’m going to prep her meds. She’s looking really pale.”
Britney disappeared out of the room while Gabi and Amber took over. By the time I was done, I was on my last reserves of energy. It took both Amber and Gabi to get me on my feet and I had to lean heavily on Amber when Gabi released me to wrap a towel around me.
Once the water was shut off, we could finally hear Britney arguing with someone outside the bathroom door. We all frowned at each other, listening closely.
