Page 5 of Lure

“Ditto,” I murmured. I needed to move, to get away from the furnace he seemed to create pressed up against me. The slide of his hand over my abdomen to my hip was light and not remotely invasive.

That was something.

I was so over people grabbing me. Just…

Tears burned in my eyes and I shook my head—a mistake—and squeezed my eyes shut to make them go away.

“Careful,” Alphabet cautioned again after my first wobbling steps.

“Where are we?” I focused on that rather than what could have happened or did happen, shutting all of that away in the same box I’d been stuffing everything else. It was going to burst sooner or later, but I couldn’t afford to fall completely apart.

Not yet.

I will, I promised myself.Later.

Ruthlessly suppressing everything wasn’t healthy, blah, blah, blah. But I needed to be aware of what was happening and the emotional fallout was going to make all this other trauma look like a walk in the park. So yeah, for now, shutting that shit down was the way to go.

“Honestly,” Alphabet said with a long sigh. “Not really sure. I mean, we’re halfway between where we were and a town calledLa Seguridad.” Tiredness marked the words.

I frowned, adding that new snippet of information to the other bits and pieces. Hands on my hips, I continued to pace away slowly.

“Here,” Alphabet suddenly appeared next to me, bottle of water in hand.

That looked frigging amazing. It was also cold and I rinsed my mouth with the first couple of sips then spit it out before I took a longer drink. Closing my eyes, I pressed the bottle to my cheek.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“I’m sorry,” Alphabet said by way of answer, and it took a moment for those three syllables to sink in. Twisting, I finally looked at him.

It was still an almost impossible dark out here, but the muddy little light from inside the van offered a suggestion of illumination. But Alphabet stood between me and the van so it made “seeing” him a challenge.

“For what?” I grimaced. Honestly, he could be apologizing for just about anything really. Holding me captive. Not letting me call or go see about my sister. Maybe the fact that boney boy was a dick. The possibilities were a little wide and varied.

A damp nose brushed against my hand and I glanced down to find Goblin had rejoined us. Another bump of his head to my palm, I gave him a gentle scratch between the eyes.

“For you getting hurt on my watch.” Alphabet turned away. “Shouldn’t have happened.”

“It’s not your fault.” I ran my fingers through my hair, carefully aware of the tenderness along the back of my skull. There was definitely a lump and the hair had matted some. I pulled my hand back and stared at my fingers. I couldn’t tell if there was blood on them.

“I said you would be safe with us,” Alphabet said as he continued to the back of the van. He popped open one of the doors and the muddy light there hit him. The dark stain on his shirt extended down to his jeans and across his neck.

The rusty smell hit me again when the breeze shifted. Alphabet peeled the shirt off of himself. The way it stuck to him as he dragged it upwards and seemed to fight letting go made me grimace.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Gracie,” he said without looking at me. He dropped the shirt to the ground with a plop and my stomach rolled. With the light on him, the stain on the shirt had also smeared his chest.

It was blood.

He was covered in blood.

Goblin let out a low whine and it jerked my attention downward.

“Take a deep breath,” Alphabet said. “We’re both alive and the threat has been dealt with.”

I crouched to pet Goblin rather than waver on my feet. I was already fighting to keep from getting sick again. The water helped and the air helped, but…

Alphabet had wipes in his hands and he was cleaning himself up. “Good girl,” he said, shooting me a look. “Just give me a sec and you won’t have to smell or see it. Then we can get you cleaned up too. How’s the head?”

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