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Leaning over the toilet, she started dry-retching. There wasn’t anything in her stomach to come up.
When it finally stopped, she sat on the bathroom floor, trying to calm her breathing.
Her friends loved her.
She wasn’t a burden.
He was a psychopath who had manipulated her. Hurt her. But she didn’t have to let him win.
If only he’d get the fuck out of her head and leave her alone.
She dragged herself off the floor and brushed her teeth, staring at her gaunt, pale appearance.
Fuck. She looked like hell.
She was letting him win.
And she felt so fucking angry at herself.
After she’d woken up from her faint, she’d just wanted to run. To come back to her apartment and hide.
So many people had been calling and texting since then and she’d ignored them all.
Because all she could hear was him. All she could feel was him touching her.
Shame and fear clung to her, making it hard to breathe as she stumbled out of the bathroom. She had to get to her safe space.
There was more knocking on the front door, but she ignored it and made her way to the side of the bed. There was about two feet between the edge of the mattress and the bed. That’s where she wedged herself.
She’d put the blankets and some pillows down here for when she tried to sleep. She couldn’t lie in the bed, she felt too vulnerable.
Tell Jake what happened.
She closed her eyes and leaned her forehead against her knees.
But what if it wasn’t Steven who’d been arrested?
One shuddering breath, then another.
Open the door to Jake. Tell him.
Getting to her feet, she stumbled to the door.
She could do this.
Jake wouldn’t judge her. He might scold her for not telling him. For not being more careful with her own safety.
Old-Hannah shriveled at the thought of letting Jake down. What if . . . what if he was disappointed in her?
Then you just suck it up.
Another knock and she made up her mind. She forgot to check how she looked or that she might want to see who it was first. She just opened the door.
Well. Hell.
She definitely should have checked first.
7
Fuck.
He tried to hide his reaction to her. But Raid couldn’t help the slight flinch.
How did she look this much worse in just a few days?
“R-raid?” She stared up at him in shock.
He frowned. Why was she surprised? Then he realized she hadn’t looked through the peephole to check who it was. “You should always look first before you open the door.”
It was her turn to flinch. And he was surprised at her reaction. He had kept his voice soft but firm.
Still, not so firm that she should physically flinch away from him. Like she thought he might hurt her.
“Baby, what’s going on?” he asked quietly.
“I, um, I thought you were Jake. He was here earlier.”
He quelled any hurt that she might want Jake and not him. Because this wasn’t about his feelings. This was about her.
And right in that moment, he would do anything for her.
“Yeah, he was here, but he called me because you weren’t opening the door and he was getting worried about you. He was going to get Molly to come over so they could do a welfare check.”
“W-what? He was?” Her eyes were wide with shock.
Did she not realize how much the people in this town cared about her? And how worried and concerned they were?
“Yeah, baby. Everyone is worried about you.”
“Because I got a bit dizzy?”
He frowned. A bit dizzy?
“You fainted, darlin’.” And right now, she looked like she was close to passing out again. “You weren’t just dizzy. And I think everyone’s concern goes beyond that.”
A grimace this time. “I don’t want to cause anyone to worry.”
“I know you don’t.” Christ, she looked so fragile. This wasn’t happy, sweet Hannah. And it wasn’t frosty, stay-away-from-me Hannah.
This Hannah was so delicate, she was almost brittle. And he was scared that one wrong touch or move would break her.
Which meant he had to tread carefully. It was going to be a tough balancing act. Being firm yet gentle.
But he’d figure it out because the last thing he wanted was to harm her.
“You got something to eat, darlin’?”
She gave him a startled look. “W-what?”
He put his hand over his stomach. “I missed lunch and now I’m starving. Pretty sure I’m in danger of fading away.”
She blinked. Then she glanced down at her watch. “It’s five to one.”
“Yep. And lunch is at twelve on the ranch.”
“So you’re fifty-five minutes late to eat, and you’re starving?”
“I’m always starving. Doesn’t matter what time it is. So you got any food, or do we need to go get some?”
“Go get some?” she repeated, looking like she wasn’t following at all.
His poor baby.
“Yeah, baby. Food. For a man who is starving.” He leaned against the doorway. Sure, he could force his way inside her apartment. But this was about far more than low blood sugar. Even if she hadn’t been acting oddly leading up to this, it was clear to see something more had happened. “What do you say?”
