Page 50 of A Wrench in the Plan
I saw the anger and frustration in his gaze, matching mine, no doubt.
That fucker was still out there? He was walkin’ around free like he didn’t have to pay for the shit he’d done?!
I hadn’t even realized I was trying to get up until I felt his body press against mine.
“You gotta calm down,” he said in a soothing tone. “You can’t get up. If you keep going, you’re going to tear your stitches.”
With a deep breath, I dropped back onto the mattress.
“You don’t know what he did to her. He fucking touched her, Ev. Ripped her panties off and put his hands on her. He was going to rape her.”
His jaw worked. I could see the anger flaring in his eyes, but he only let it show for a minute before tramping it back down. Just because he wasn’t letting it show now didn’t mean that it wasn’t simmering under the surface. He’d save it for when the time was right, which was what I needed to be doing.
“We’ll get him,” he said coldly.
Pain replaced the anger in his gaze. He was hurting for Cat, and as fucked up as it might have been, I was glad I wasn’t alone in these feelings. In this need to protect her. Avenge her.
My hand wrapped around the back of his neck, and I sighed as I pulled his head to mine. I held his eyes, willing that pain to leave him, even knowing there was nothing I could really do to take it away.
“You were… there was so much blood,” he choked out, his eyes falling closed as they began to fill with tears. “You weren’t responding. I thought you were—”
“Hey,” I said, tilting my head and pecking a kiss against his lips. “I’m here. I’m breathing. I’m okay.”
Swallowing hard, he nodded.
“Come on,” I urged him, scooting my ass over at a turtle’s pace.
“Don’t hurt yourself,” he warned, eyes sharp.
I choked out a short laugh, wincing at the spearing pain in my side.
“Need you close.” I patted the bed. And when he shot me a look that said it wasn’t a good idea, I rolled my bottom lip out in a pout.
He rolled his eyes but carefully crawled into the bed with me. My head found a place on his chest as his arm wrapped around me.
The guilt dug at me.
“I kissed someone,” I whispered.
His body tensed, but he didn’t pull away. His chest rose and then fell with a deep breath. I opened my mouth to say more, because simply saying I kissed someone wasn’t saying much.
“Don’t,” he said, stopping me. “You don’t owe me an explanation. You don’t have to tell me about it. I’m secure with what we have, with how I feel about you, and I get it. Just don’t shut me out, okay?”
“And how do you feel about me?” I was a coward, keeping my head against his chest so I wouldn’t have to look at him. I was desperate to know the answer. But I was also scared.
The door pushed open and I knew I wouldn’t be getting an answer. I tried to hold back my sigh of frustration.
Dad walked in. He looked dead on his feet. The moment he laid eyes on us two big dummies trying to fit in this little bed, he smiled like it was good to see something normal in this fucked up situation.
I rolled my eyes at him much like a kid does when they were embarrassed by their parent.
But there was a small smile teasing my lips.
And I tried my hardest to hold onto that.
“One good thing about Agent Palmer is that he’s sent the local PD away. He said it’s his case, so hopefully he’ll be able to help us out. LT’s not sure if we can trust him, and I’m not either.” He took in a deep breath, releasing it slowly. I could see everything weighing down his shoulders. “Also, Plugs and the prospect got patched up, and they’ll be out of here soon. Anyway. I just wanted to let you know so you wouldn’t worry.”
I had completely forgotten that Ev had said there were two other people that had come in with gunshot wounds. My head was a mess. It wasn’t that I didn’t care about them. It was that, right now, I could only handle so much. I was glad they were okay and none of us had gone the way of the grave.
