“Oh, I’m anything but fine,” he said, his voice lethal and quiet. Standing, he cupped my jaw and pressed a kiss to it. “I’m going to run you a bath, and then we are going back to bed.”
I nodded numbly, feeling so confused on what was going on right now. The adrenaline of the moment was leaving my body.
“Shower,” I suggested as he examined my face and then went to go turn it on. I looked down at the bed I was on and wondered if I would get blood on the sheets. I hoped not. I would feel bad about that.
When he walked back in the room and grabbed my hand, I followed. He pressed a kiss to my forehead and offered me a questioning, concerned look, no doubt wondering if I needed help because I was like a zombie right now. I shook myself and waved him off, and he strode back into the other room after a moment of hesitation, leaving me to strip down. I knew the door wasn’t locked, but the closed door allowed me the feeling of privacy to process my emotions.
Except as I stood under the hot water, no emotions came. I scrubbed my body and hair, trying not to get sick as lumps of something fell onto the floor. I eventually had scrubbed every part of me so well that my skin was raw and red.
I stepped out, shaking slightly, as I wrapped a towel around me and walked towards the mirror. Almost immediately, I found myself leaning over the sink because I was going to puke, a piece of… something still in my hair. I couldn’t touch it, couldn’t look at it, so I gagged over the sink and let out a small sob, realizing I had nothing to throw up.
“Hey, hey.” Yates was there then, immediately spotting the issue, removing it and pulling me into his chest, whispering softly in my ear. I wasn’t positive if it was helping or not, but eventually the shaking stopped and my eyes felt heavy.
“Yates…” I gripped onto him. “I really don’t feel well.”
“I know, bunny.” His voice was pained, the only hint of emotion I’d heard so far, and it was in reference to me. “Just close your eyes; we will talk when you wake up.”
That sounded like a good idea.
I felt him wrap a robe around me before letting my towel fall, my nudity not bothering me in the least in contrast to everything else around me. I melted into the man as I felt an emotion run through me that was unexpected.
Thankfulness.
Yates had saved me. I wasn’t positive if the man had really been there to just deliver a warning or not, but he’d threatened me, and for the second time… Yates had saved me.
Except this time, instead of me calming him down, assuring him I was okay, now he was calming me down. Holding me. Comforting me. What an odd relationship the two of us had. I whispered his name before the darkness of unconsciousness closed in around me.
* * *
The numbness that had kept me from panic cracked the moment that my eyes opened to afternoon sunlight hitting across my face.
Panic. Anger. Gratefulness. Love. And so many other complicated emotions surged through me, causing my breathing to hitch as I realized that I had watched a man die.
No. Not die. He waskilled.I watched Yates kill a man.
It was terrifying, and yet… I didn’t find myself scared of Yates. Or disgusted. Just surprised and in shock. Not at his action as much as the result. A dead body on the ground of the security office, his brain blown out everywhere around me.
A sick feeling worked its way into my stomach as I sucked in air and sat up, realizing that the warm pillow under my face was actually a chest. I clutched the robe I was wearing a bit tighter before turning to look, finding Yates already looking at me from where he lay shirtless and in a pair of sweatpants, leaning against his headboard. The look on his face was relaxed, but his eyes held a dark edge, the man choosing not to say anything as he probably waited for me to either freak out or cry again.
“You got his brains all over me,” I accused. In true Dahlia fashion, I’d said the first thing that popped into my head.
Silence hung between us as surprise and then amusement broke onto his face, a strained chuckle coming through his lips as he looked skyward. “Only you, bunny. Only fucking you would find a reason to argue with me after I killed a man in cold blood in front of you.”
I offered him an incredulous look. “It was in my hair, Yates.”
Yates tugged my waist so that I leaned against his chest once again, curled into his side and looking up at him, his fingers gently resting on my face. “I apologize, bunny. Next time I kill someone, I’ll make sure to give you a heads up.”
“Aheadsup? Not the best reference, probably.” I couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled out of me, making me realize that it was possible there was a reason these men and I got along…. Besides the all-consuming, intense attraction, and history. I was clearly mental.
His smile grew at my poor attempt at a joke before his entire face softened. “I was worried about you earlier. Your reaction made me think… well, I didn’t know how you would react when you woke up.”
“You saved me again,” I mumbled and then shook my head. “I feel so stupid. I realized something was wrong once we got closer to the guard house, but by then he had already grabbed me.”
“I know,” he whispered, the momentary lightness once again swallowed by the dark void that seemed to surround him right now. Unlike the man who attacked me, the void wasn’t absent of emotion; rather the opposite—it radiated with an intensity that reminded me of a black hole, and I was pretty sure I was getting sucked into it. It would explain why I was suddenly accepting things like him killing a man so easily.
Then again… they had nearly done the same thing to Greg, so maybe it was the surprise that was getting to me? Or the brains in my hair. That would do it.
“How?” I swallowed. “How did you know where I was?”