Page 24 of Protective Assignment
This lodge had its fair share of secrets, more than Cade was sure he would ever know about.But right now, he couldn’t worry about other people’s secrets or problems.
He had enough of his own.
Chapter Fourteen
As River made her way back up to the lodge to continue her work for the day, she tried to push down the guilt stirring in her stomach.
How could she have kissed Cade like that?It was one thing to have a crush, but to actually do something about it?That was something else entirely.If he hadn’t pulled back the way he had, she knew she would have wanted to go further.She would have gone all the way, and that would have tied her to him even more than she already felt now.No matter how much she wanted to be with him, she knew she could not allow that to happen.She had a plan and she needed to stick to it.Even if her heart wished things could be different.
She had to keep moving forward.She had to find Haven in New York and make sure her family was safe, make sure they had been able to leave behind the nightmare they had escaped for good.
And that wasn’t going to happen if she found excuses to hang around the lodge and pretend like she didn’t have a life outside of this place.Regardless of how tempting it might be, she had to get herself and her feelings under control.No more flirtation, no more making out, no more nothing.
She was going to throw herself into her work for the rest of the day and keep herself as busy as she could.Hopefully, Cade would be asleep by the time she got back to their cabin later and they wouldn’t have to talk about what had happened between them.It was going to be over and done with, forgotten.Nothing more than a crazy mistake neither of them would mention again.
At least, she hoped so.
She arrived at the lodge and paused by the water fountain to fill up her bottle.A few people passed by her, but she didn’t recognize any of them.She knew a few new guests had recently checked in to work on their recovery, but the new faces no longer bothered her like they did when she first arrived.She would catch herself hesitating slightly when several new people were around, but nothing like before, when she used to freeze in fear or hide until she was alone.She still found it best to stay out of the way, not to get distracted and focus on her work.
She dumped her bag on the floor to get her water bottle out, and it landed with a slightbang.Beside her, one of the men passing by froze on the spot, and then crumpled to the ground.
She recognized it at once, the way he reacted—the sound of her water bottle hitting the floor had brought a memory or experience to the surface so terrible that it caused him to physically react.She wasn’t a doctor, but she’d seen PTSD before, and this looked like he was having a flashback.
He lifted his arms up to his head, clamping them around his ears as he balled up on the floor beside her.She felt horrible for causing his reaction.She glanced around, checking to see if anyone was coming to help him.When shedidn’t see anyone, she took a deep breath.Well, she wasn’t going to leave him to deal with this alone.If she had to step in, so be it.
“Hey,” she murmured, dropping down beside him.She knew that touching him could make it worse or cause him to unintentionally hurt himself or her, so she kept a small distance between them.The best she could do was to try to bring him back to the present instead of staying in whatever nightmare the sound of her bag clattering on the ground had caused him.
He didn’t react to her, but she didn’t get up.He needed to know that he was safe and that someone was here to help him, not hurt him.
“I don’t know where you think you are right now,” she continued, speaking slowly but firmly.“But the reality is that you’re at the Warrior Peak Sanctuary, with me.My name is River and I work here.That sound you heard was my water bottle hitting the ground.I’m really sorry about that.”
When he didn’t react to her words, she decided to switch tactics.“You can feel the floor underneath you, right?”
He didn’t reply for a moment, but he lifted his head.His eyes seemed glazed and distant, but he wasn’t hiding from her anymore.
“Yeah, there you go,” she continued.“You’re here, right?Now, take a deep breath, feel the air go into your lungs.Now exhale.You’re doing great.”
He followed her guidance, and she talked him through his panic as best she could.Slowly, he began to unfurl from the ball he had pulled himself into.She coaxed him upright again, and she guided him to lean up against the wall as hebreathed deep.She grabbed a paper cup and filled it with cold water and gave it to him to sip while he continued to calm down.Grabbing her bag, she was about to continue to fill up her bottle when she heard a voice behind her.
“Hey, there.”
She turned to see a middle-aged woman with glasses standing behind her, smiling at her warmly.
“Hi,” River muttered.
She was sure she was about to get told off for interfering with one of the guests.She had only been trying to help, but she really didn’t have any idea what she was doing.She didn’t want to cause any harm, but she couldn’t leave that man on the floor in the middle of a crisis without at least trying to help.Especially since it was her fault.
The woman walked over next to the man, asking him a few questions to make sure he was okay.He assured her that he was doing better and she told him to come to her office later that afternoon so they could talk.When he nodded his agreement, she turned back to River.
“I’m Sarah,” the woman introduced herself to River, extending her hand.“I’m the counselor here.”
“River.”She shook Sarah’s outstretched hand.“I’m sorry about that, I didn’t mean to… I mean, I was just trying to help him.”
“No, no, you did a really good job,” Sarah said.“You clearly knew what you were doing.Where did you train?”
River stared at her for a moment, shocked, and then shook her head.
“I, uh, I didn’t train for anything,” she muttered, feeling a little embarrassed to admit it.She was sure a woman like Sarah had probably gone through years of training, andhere she was, standing in front of her, with hardly a clue of how to handle herself without looking like a total fool.
