Page 48 of Rescuing Nathaniel

Now she stripped out of her clothes, eternally grateful she wasn't in a hospital gown, the last thing she needed was any more reminders of her captivity. At least she hadn't been given a shower while the traffickers had her, so there were no bad memories associated with it, and she could just enjoy this moment to herself.

Yesterday’s shower had been with a nurse by her side, and the day before that had just been a sponge bath since her doctors wanted her to stay in bed while she rebuilt strength. But today she was going to take her time, enjoying the warm water caressing her skin, and scrub every single inch of her body until the feel of the ship and the jungle were washed away.

Turning on the water, she adjusted the temperature, then stepped under the spray. The hot water pounding against her skin felt so nice, that Ava tipped her head back so it got her face as well and stood there, enjoying the moment.

Since this was the hospital and not her apartment and she didn't want to waste too much water, she eventually reached for her shampoo, which had also been in the bag her friends packed, and washed her hair. She did a second pass after, and then two goes with conditioner. The last shower with the nurse’s assistance had been short so this felt like the first proper shower she’d had in weeks, since before she was abducted.

Thankfully, the wound on her neck and the bigger one on her stomach were covered with waterproof bandages so she didn't have to worry about them. Grabbing the bright pink loofah with the unicorn head that she’d gotten as a gift from Teresa at Christmas, she poured a generous amount of body wash onto it and began to scrub.

She scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed, and even then she didn't feel completely clean.

Better though.

Much better.

When her gaze landed on the little cut on the inside of her elbow, with the marks from her nails still around it, Ava found herself staring at it. Nathaniel’s touch had been so gentle when he’d held the tissues to the bleeding wound, and there had been so much concern in his chocolate brown eyes.

If it wasn't for her parents ruining things, would he have come back to see her again?

Would he have answered her calls? Her texts?

As much as she’d like things to be different, she’d accepted that she couldn’t make Nathaniel want to be there. She just had to be grateful that he’d saved her life and focus on the future. She wasn't sure what exactly her future looked like, well not entirely. But she knew she wanted to go home, knew she wanted to get back to Prey so she could start helping bring this trafficking ring down. Beyond that, she’d just have to wait and see.

Turning off the shower, she stepped out and grabbed a towel. They weren't as big and fluffy as her ones at home, and they were the neutral white you found in hospitals and hotels instead of the pretty soft shade of blue of her own, but they’d get the job done.

Just as she’d twisted her hair into one towel and was wrapping the other around her body the door to her bathroom opened.

Uh oh.

She’d spent too much time luxuriating under the hot spray and now her nurse had come to check on her.

Oh.

Not her nurse.

This one was a man, and not one she’d seen before.

Immediately something felt off. Even if he’d been a woman, or she’d been a man, it wasn't appropriate for a nurse to come barging in on a patient in the bathroom unless they’d pressed the buzzer indicating they needed assistance. And she found something about his eyes unnerving. They were cold and hard, not warm and sympathetic like she was used to seeing.

Was it possible …?

No.

Of course not.

How would the trafficking ring even know she was there?

Only as the man grabbed at her, not even bothering to speak a word, she knew that possible or not it was happening.

The trafficking ringhadfound her, and they were there to get her back. Why they would bother, she wasn't really sure. They had to know she’d already talked, but maybe they felt like they’d made an investment in her, possibly already sold off all her organs since they’d done numerous tests on her while they had her on the ship.

A hand clamped over her mouth as she was sucking in air to scream bloody murder, while the fake nurse’s other arm wrapped around her chest, pinning her arms to her sides.

She was lifted off the floor and carried back into the bedroom. In there she saw a gurney, and she realized this man intended to knock her out and pretend to be a hospital worker taking a patient for some test or other. No one would stop him, no one would ask questions, and she’d be spirited away back into the hands of the people she’d just escaped before anyone even knew something was wrong.

There had to be a way to stop this from happening.

If she could fight off a Navy SEAL, she could fight off this man too. Granted, Rex had been trying to be gentle with her and hadn't wanted to actually hurt her, but still, she’d gotten away from him.

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