Page 115 of Savage

“He’s here.” The trembling starts in my legs and spreads to my whole body. My gut twists and I feel as if I might be sick.

Not here. Not now.

“Who’s here?” Tank asks.

“My father, he was here.” My teeth chatter. Cold creeps into my bones as fear worms its way through every fibre of my being. “He was at the door.”

“You’re sure?” I nod. He smooths a hand over my cheek and says, “Wait here.”

“No. You can’t go out there. Tank, he’ll kill you. Please don’t go out there. Please?” I claw at him, desperate to keep him from leaving me alone.

“Babe, there’s nothing out there. The alarm hasn’t been tripped,” Tank glances at the little plastic security console on the wall beside the door. The red light isn’t flashing methodically the way it normally does. He pales, and his eyes are wide as he glances down at me. “Fuck. I forgot to turn it on before we went to bed.”

“I saw him. He was out there. He was standing right there.” I gesture wildly to the door. “He’s going to kill us, Tank, he’s—”

“Shh,” he says, pulling me firmly into him and tucking my head against his chest. He rests his chin on the top of my head, and I feel his Adam’s apple bob as he speaks. “Listen, I read about people seeing things … hallucinating when they go through withdrawal.”

“I didn’t imagine it, Tank.” I shrug out of his embrace and glare at him accusingly. “He was here. I saw him. The dog was barking.”

“Yeah, because you’re flippin’ out, Babe. You scared the shit outta both of us.” He exhales, and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “I need you to go back to the bedroom and wait for me. I’m goin’ outside to check on things.”

“No!” I shout. “Please don’t leave me. Please, Tank, please?”

“I have to, darlin’.”

“Tank—”

He takes my face in his hands. “Ivy, you gotta calm the fuck down. There’s no one out there. We’re a million miles from anywhere, and sleepin’ or not, I woulda heard a car comin’ up the drive, but I’m just gonna go out and double check for myself. I’m taking my gun with me. I need you to head back to bed. When I’m done out there, I’m gonna need your sweet arse to warm me the fuck up. Got it?”

I nod, even though I have a very bad feeling about this. “Yeah, okay.”

“I’ll be right back,” he says and takes his gun from the table, where he left it when we came home earlier. He grabs a pair of jeans from the back of the chair that he’d hung out to dry this morning, and slides them on and heads out the door.

I wait a moment, watching him out on the deck before I pad softly down the hall. My legs tremor as I climb into bed. I shake all over. I bury my head in my hands and attempt to calm my breathing and the sick twist of fear in my belly.

I hear the sliding door leading out to the deck open and close, and heavy footsteps pound down the hall towards me.

Oh God, I want to be sick. Please don’t let Tank be dead. Please.

“Jesus, fuck, it’s colder than a nun’s cunt out there,” he says, and I uncover my eyes and practically leap at him. His skin is freezing, but I don’t mind because I’m too warm and prickly with panic.

“Hey, not that I’m not grateful for the warm welcome, but you need to calm down, babe. Your heart’s racing a hundred miles an hour.”

“Did you see him?” I ask, my voice pitched high with fear.

He slides his hands into my hair and leans down to kiss me. “Nothin’ out there but the icy cold wind, Ivy.”

I sit back on my heels. “But I—”

“It’s a side effect. It happens.” He takes off his jeans and climbs under the covers. “I set the alarm, I got a gun in the bedside drawer, and a hunting knife strapped to the underside of the bed. We’re safe as houses.”

I glance at him, annoyed that he’d had weapons stashed in this room, probably all over the house, and I didn’t know about it.

What I would have done with that information a week ago.

“Now get your arse in here,” he says. “My balls are fuckin’ freezin’ off.”

I rub my hands up and down my arms to ward away the goose bumps that have broken out all over my body, and then I climb under the covers. Tank rolls me on my side and pulls me against him. He’s freezing, so different for him, but I hardly feel it because the chill in my bones has already struck me to the core.

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