Page 13 of Rise By Sin

“Amen to that,” I joked as we stepped into he elevator and I hit the button for the top floor, trying hard not to freak out at the memories that were easily finding their way back to me.

“What the hell am I doing? We have to take you to the emergency room, Ava,” Colt panicked. He held me in his arms and I couldn’t stop shaking. I could feel blood pouring down my naked back beneath the blanket I was wrapped in, and my head was pounding hard.

“No! Colt…pl-please. I can’t. No strangers….no one t-touching me….please,” I whimpered as I looked up at him through the one eye that wasn’t too swollen to see out of.

“I need to call Mace. He’ll know what to do. He can catch the guy who did this to you.”

“NO!” I cried desperately as I grabbed a fist full of his shirt collar and looked up at him pleadingly. “No one c-can know. I…I d-don’t want to be a victim Colt. Please…..no one can know a-about this. Please…” Tears flowed down my cheeks, causing the cuts to sting savagely, but I didn’t drop my gaze from Colt. I needed him to understand. I needed him to promise no one but he and I would ever know what a stupid, naïve, little fool I had been that night.

“Ava? You hear me, honey?” I looked up with a start, pulled back from the past that ha dragged me under so far, so fast, and found Deak crouched so his eyes were level with mine.

“Sorry,” I whispered as I took a deep breath and tried to gather myself.

“You’re crying,” he said as he swiped my wet cheek with his thumb.

“Oh fuck.” I swiped angrily at my face to get rid of the tears and looked up at him with a grimace. “Ignore that. I’m okay. Just tired. Sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“You’re in pain and exhausted. I think a few tears are allowed, but don’t worry, I won’t tell a sole about that either,” he winked at me, then before I could even react he had me lifted from my fight and in his arms like he was going to carry me across the damned threshold.

“Deacon!” I cried in shock. “Put me down now!”

“Why? Am I hurting you?” he asked as he paused just outside of the elevator on the top floor of the apartment building. I tried hard to focus only on him and not the hallway around usm terrified of the memories that could come back if I did look around me.

“I don’t need you to fucking carry me. I can walk. I said you could help me, not treat me like some weak damsel in distress,” I hissed.

“Why is a damsel in distress weak? You think it’s weak to need help sometimes?” he asked as his eyes remained locked on mine.

“No, but I don’t need help, and I’m certainly not in distress. I can cope just fine by myself,” I threw back. I tried to struggle from his arms, but he was just so huge. My fight wasn’t getting me anyway, and I’d never felt so small as I did there in his arms. I was far from a petite woman, but compared to him I felt it for the first time in my entire life.

“Ava, stop fighting and tell me if I’m hurting you,” he said flatly. I let out a loud huff of annoyance and glared up at him.

“No, you’re not,” I snapped.

“Good. Then sit still and just let me carry you for this last few steps, yeah?”

“You’re just lucky my gun is in my backpack,” I growled as I realized I had left the bag in the damn car. Fat lot of use my gun and meds would be there.

“Noted. I’ll check you’re unarmed before I ever attempt this again,” He told me with a grin on his handsome, but smug face. Asshole.

“Don’t you ever dare attempt this shit again. The only reason I’m not kicking your ass right now is because it’s been a really long, shitty few hours,” I warned, but it was hardly intimidating when my words were trembling and sounded weak even to me.

“I think you’re the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met,” Deak chuckled as he moved down the hall and stopped before the door of Colt’s place.

“There’s a keypad…” I started to tell him, but he obviously already knew because he typed a code into he pad beside the door, then pressed his thumb to the access pad.

“I crash here sometimes,” he explained as the door beeped and released. Deak pushed it open and stepped inside.

“You’re closer friends than you made out,” I questioned with surprise. In the years I had lived with Colt the only guys he ever had over to our place were Jack and Mason, and that was a rarity. He tended to socialize at the clubs and restaurants he owned and I really knew little of his personal life, if I were honest.

“The alarm’s not set,” Deak told me, capturing my attention as I lifted my head and looked around the darkened living space we had entered.

We both went silent as I indicated for him to drop me back to my feet. I was glad when he did as I asked without argument. He silently closed the door behind him, then I waved a hand towards the kitchen, indicating he should move off to the right, while I went to the left and headed for the bedrooms and Colt’s office. Deacon looked like he wanted to argue, but he stopped himself when I pulled a small knife from my boot and gripped it in my right hand tightly.

All of my anxiety about being back in that place, pain throughout my body, and sheer exhaustion faded and adrenaline took over as I propped my stick against the door, then pressed my back to the wall and started moving stealthily through the apartment. My police training kicked in automatically and I moved through the living room, clearing the space around me as I limped my way through the space and headed for the hallway.

The fact the entire apartment was completely silent was a sign that no one was in there, but that didn’t stop me from worrying who could have already been in there, and it didn’t ease my terror every time I opened a door and looked into each room, that I’d find Colt laid cold and dead before me.

The last door was the master bathroom and as I placed my hand on the cool metal of the handle images of my mother, laid in the bathtub, surrounded by blood stained water played through my mind uncontrollably. I could smell the metallic scent of her blood as it pooled on the yellowing tiles below.

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