Page 8 of Unraveled Love

Shawn?

He came to save me? He was here?

Oh God. He had to get to safety.

“No!” I screamed and clawed at the hands holding my shoulders.

“You’re okay. You’re okay.” Warm, wet hands slid down my shoulders, and I was swept into equally strong arms. My naked, wet body pressed to Shawn, and I was inhaling that scent of his I loved so much.Finally.I was safe.

“It’s me, Shawn. I’ve got you, Addi. Just hold on.”

Oh God. He had. Shawn hadsavedme. I clung to him, recognized the scent of him, and slowly the memories and visions dissipated to a dull roar, still clinging at the edges but making reality clearer.

“It’s okay. You’re okay,” he murmured against the top of my head, pressing warm, firm lips to my wet hair and squeezing me so tight it was a wonder my ribs didn’t shatter. “Sit here,” he said, and I was placed on a cold hard surface. He stepped between my legs and wrapped a towel around me, holding me to him with his hand at my lower back while he tucked the towel in between us.

“Shawn,” I cried as I clung to him. My head hit his shoulder as another violent sob racked my body. I was freezing cold, skin prickling while he wrapped me in another towel and started drying my hair.

“You’re going into shock, Addi. I need you to take deep, slow breaths, and all you have to do is listen to my voice. You’re safe, and Luca got you out with only minor injuries. That’s the most important part of all of this, and everything else can wait. But I swear to you, nothing like this will ever happen to you again.”

I attempted to do what he said, but uncontrollable shivers kept coming, one right after another. My fingertips buzzed and my arms trembled as I slid them down his body to his hips so I could wrap myself around him. I clung to Shawn, needing him, hating the weakness coursing through my body when everyone else I’d seen was strong.

“Shawn.” I croaked his name; there was nothing else to say. Terror and pain and memories kept coming at me. The blood I’d stepped over. The gun at my head. The ropes. I yanked my hands off Shawn and rubbed my wrists. They were raw from whatever those men had used.

“Hey.” Shawn’s hands came down on mine, pulling them apart. “Right now I need you to get into a robe and you need to get some clothes on. I can help or give you privacy, whichever you want, but you’ll feel better once you’re dry, and once we can get some food in you.”

The very thought of being alone sent another shiver racing down my spine. “I don’t want to be alone.”

“Then you won’t be.” His hands slid to my hips, tugging me forward. My legs wrapped around his hips on instinct and then he grabbed something, draped a thick, white robe over his shoulder, and carried me into the bedroom. Once there, he set me on my feet next to the bed. I wobbled as he finished drying me with quick and sure movements.

It wasn’t sexual. There wasn’t any part of his touch meant to arouse me, and yet every brush of him moving the towel against my body, every burn sent warmth suffusing the cold that had been growing in my veins, spreading.

“Lift your foot,” he whispered as he knelt down next to me. Soft cotton shorts, loose and lightweight, were tugged up my legs, and then he stood. “You okay?” he asked.

I wouldn’t be okay for a very long time. Not after today.

But Shawn wasn’t asking about my long-term mental state, so I nodded, and he showed me a tank top in his hands.

“Thank you,” I mumbled, taking it from him. I couldn’t summon embarrassment about needing his help. Someday it might hit me that I’d collapsed in a shower like a terrified toddler and clung to him like an octopus, but that day wasn’t today.

Once I had the tank top on, he lifted the robe. “Put this on. We’ll go get some food for you. Luca ordered once we got here.”

“How long was I in there?”

“The shower?” Shawn asked. “We showed up thirty minutes after you got here. I came to you as soon as we did.”

I’d lost thirty minutes to the shower? No wonder it had been ice pricks on my skin. “You’re soaked,” I murmured. He’d hauled me out of the shower fully dressed, and afterward, I’d stuck to him. He might as well have showered fully clothed.

“I can take care of me—after we get some food in you.”

The thought of eating while my stomach was so knotted made me cringe. There was no way I could eat at the moment, and yet I had no idea how long it’d been since I had eaten. “I’m not hungry.”

“Then sip on broth, but whatever they gave you will flush out of your system quicker if you’re hydrated. Once you’re ready, we need you to tell us what happened, from your point of view.”

Oh God. How had I forgotten? I grabbed his arm and shook him. “Charlie—how is she? Is she okay?”

He pulled me to his side and kissed my temple, walking us back toward the living room. “She’ll have a minor concussion. That’s all. She’ll be back to work in a few days, and she says to tell you hello. None of what happened is your fault, so don’t take that blame on your shoulders.”

He was wrong. Everything that had happened was all my fault because it had everything to do with me. It would be pointless to say it though.

---