“Ow!” I jolt back reflexively, but I don’t move as Travis catches me in a vice grip. I’m stuck. “You bastards!” I hiss. I can do nothing but stand here in shock and dismay, all the while feeling helpless against the stinging sensation in my arm. God knows what kind of drug is getting ready to run the gamut through my veins this time. The prick of the needle and pain subsides only when Quinn pulls it out of my shoulder.
“You sorry sons of bitches.” My lip curls in contempt as I narrow my eyes on Travis with a mixture of anger, pain, and betrayal while my head grows fuzzy.
I blink my eyes several times, trying to shake off the effects of the drug before I lean my forehead into Travis’ chest. Whatever this shit is, it’s working damn fast. I claw and clutch onto Travis’ shirt, grasping at straws to stay upright and alert, but I’m failing miserably. I’m so tired; my eyelids begin to flutter, and then they finally close as my consciousness begins to dissolve into a sea of oblivion. The last thing I remember is Travis bending down to scoop me up into his strong arms.
Travis
After Quinn injects Jules with a healthy dose of sedative, I’m met with a string of heated expletives. As the drug begins to take effect, I can see her trying to fight it, but it’s useless. Now that she’s going down for the count, her anger has quickly faded, and in its place is the look of utter betrayal.
She clutches at the fabric on my shirt, holding on tightly as her eyes begin to flutter closed. She lets a few choice words slip from her lips before she passes out and goes limp in my arms. Immediately, I scoop her up to hold her in my arms, and then I give Quinn a death glare. “What the hell did you do that for?”
He stands in front of me unaffected, as if it was no big deal he just rendered my girl unconscious. Still biting the needle cap between his molars, he speaks through his clenched teeth, “I couldn’t think with her freaking out. She needed to settle down, T.”
Taking the cap out of his mouth, he carefully inserts the needle back into its plastic sheath and then shrugs his broad shoulders. “We’ve got plans to make, and she was slowing us down.” He feels for her pulse, and then continues, “Trust me, she needed to check out for a while.”
His assessment of her emotional status is most likely correct. She was in emotional overload, and if I wasn’t emotionally attached to her, I’d probably have done the same thing.
“She is going to be pissed off when she wakes up, man,” I warn Quinn.
“If I don’t have at least five women pissed off at me at any given moment, it means I’m doing something wrong.” He turns around and throws the used needle on the kitchen counter, and then turns back to me with his hands on his hips. “Look, she's going to be pissed off either way. Rather her be pissed off later than now. We’ve got other pressing matters to take care of, wouldn’t you say?”
As much as I hate to admit it, he’s right. I don’t have time to pamper her ass. I shake my head and close my eyes for a moment, not looking forward to the thought of her wrath when she wakes up.
“You just poked a sleeping tiger, dude,” I mumble under my breath as I sidestep Quinn, making my way to the larger bedroom on the left. When Quinn lets out a round of successive chuckles behind me, I add, “You think it's funny now, but just you wait and see when her fury falls on you. You won't find it so amusing then.”
I gently lay her down on the full-size bed and grab a blanket from the small closet to lay over her. Her hair has started to come undone from its ponytail and is all over the place, with pieces of pine straw matted in. I sit on the edge of the bed for a minute, smooth out some of her tangled hair, and remove the debris. She looks so peaceful like this. I’m really dreading the impending fallout once we have a minute to catch our breath. I don’t even want to think about what will happen if she doesn’t want me.
I sit back for a moment and look upon her with admiration. I still can’t believe she killed a man to defend me today, and she was ready to do it all over again with Mitchell, and then again with Quinn. I shake my head in disbelief. The sheer strength of this woman is off the charts. My heart hurts for her, though, and all the pain she’s been through, and I cringe to think about the trials and tribulations she has yet to go through.