Page 6 of Unholy Cross

She looked at them clutched in her hand.Could she trust this man?He might have rescued her, but what were his motives?Taking a deep breath, she wrote down a question and held it up.

“Yes,” he replied after reading.“There were other rooms at this hotel, but I have to protect you, and I can’t do that if you’re in a different place.”

He sat on the mattress, staring at the bruises peeking from under the pajamas.Lifting his hand, he went to move the top over her collarbone, and she shrank back.Lifting her hand to hold the top against her chest.

“I just want to see,” he assured.“I won’t hurt you.”

She searched his face, trying to determine if this was some sort of trap.Although she couldn’t figure out his endgame if thiswasa trap.She saw pain in the viridescent depths of his eyes.Rage.Brokenness.What she didn’t see was subterfuge.He may be a biker, but it wasn’t a biker who had hurt her.It had been a doctor.Someone who, supposedly, was held in high standards.Someone who was supposed to have morals and ethics.The images of both men were a juxtaposition of each other.

Slowly, she lowered her hand.He shifted the material and sucked in a sharp breath.

“Fucking hell,” he muttered, gently brushing his fingertips over each discoloration.“I don’t know if I can handle seeing bruises over the rest of your body.And Iknowthey’re there.Those goddamn bastards.I want to kill them for what they did to you.”

His words should’ve scared her, but oddly, they gave her comfort.

“Can you tell me what happened?”he asked her.“How did you escape?”

What should she tell him?How would he feel knowing he shared a room with a murderer?Probably would be best to yank off the Band-Aid now.If he left, well, at least she was free.She wrote down her answer.That she was attacked.That she was going to be raped if she didn’t save herself.That she killed a man.Did he think she was an awful person?

“You arenotawful,” he insisted.“We don’t know each other, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say you could never be a horrible person.You did what you had to do to survive.You’re resourceful and brave.Never bow your head to that.”

Tears welled up in her eyes at his praise.It had been so long since someone said anything nice to her that it made her emotions go haywire.How pathetic was she?

“Shh,” he murmured, pulling her into his arms.She stiffened for a moment, and then slowly relaxed into his warmth.“Never think of him again.I’m watching over you now, and I won’t let anyone hurt you again.”

Closing her eyes, for a moment she allowed herself to melt into him.Could she believe him?She’d be foolish to trust him implicitly, yet she wanted to trust him.Sheneededsomething to tether her emotions.Pulling back, Lorelei picked up the pen and paper again, and wrote her next question before she held it up for him to read:“How did you know where to find me?”

“I’d been observing Noble Vale for a couple of weeks, working out the coming and going of employees and the weak points of the place.Trying to formulate a plan.And then, there you were, running across the parking lot without shoes.”

Lorelei tilted her head to look up at him, and they stared at one another.He brushed a lock of hair off her forehead.She asked one word:“Why?”

“I came for you,” he told her.“We have a long day tomorrow.Why don’t you try to sleep?”

She glanced down at the bed.Theonlybed, wondering if he expected to sleep with her.

“No,” he replied to her unanswered question.“I’ll sleep in the chair.”

A pent-up breath escaped her, and she was glad he wasn’t like that man she killed ...nope, she wasn’t going to think about him.Cross was right.She did what she had to do to survive.

****

Cross watched as shecrawled beneath the blankets and waited until she got situated.Lorelei’s golden-brown locks draped over the pillow, and he had this itch to run his fingers through them.The picture hadn’t done her justice.She stole his breath, her beauty shining through the ugliness she had no doubt endured.

He clicked off the light and headed for the recliner, settling in the lumpy chair.Not that it bothered him.He had a knack for falling asleep in any condition, a side effect from having to sleep with one eye open during his teenage years.He rarely slept more than an hour or two before waking up to reaffirm he wasn’t back in those dark days.

Because of that hypervigilance, he woke instantly when the door handle rattled.Nothing was by chance, so he rose and grabbed his gun as he made his way silently to the door.Listening intently, he heard muffled voices.Glancing out the peephole, he saw two distorted male figures inspecting his bike.Backing away, he went to the bed and placed a hand over Lorelei’s mouth to stop her cry of fright as she woke.

“We’ve been found,” he whispered.“Grab your clothes and the duffel bag and lock yourself in the bathroom.Understand?”

When she nodded, he went to his boots and shirt and put them on.He didn’t know how Birsha’s men found them, but he couldn’t falter.More than his life was on the line.He had to protect Lorelei at all costs.She was his priority.

It wasn’t long before a lock pic slid into the tumbler, forcefully unbinding the driver pins behind the shear line of the mechanism.Once the last pin was down, the door popped open.Moonlight afforded just enough illumination to watch the two men enter the room.Stepping up behind the second one, he quickly dispatched him by snapping his neck.As the second man turned around, Cross punched him in the nose, breaking it as he drove the fragile bones into the guy’s sinus cavity.He fell, knocked out by the hit.The fight was over before it had even begun.

Cross decided not to kill the second man.He would report to Costello Birsha that Lorelei had a protector now, with an emphasis on how fucking deadly Aera Cross was.That he was willing to kill to keep her safe, but they couldn’t linger in the shitty hotel.They had to leave right fucking now.

He hurried to the bathroom and tapped it.“Lorelei, it’s me.We must go.”

She came out, fully dressed and the duffel’s strap slung across her chest.He was impressed with her efficiency, as well as not breaking down when she saw the two fallen men.She simply stepped over them.

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