Eliana (8 page)

“The drive wore her out.”

He set the plastic bags on the table, then shucked his boots and coat. “Got all kinds of stuff at the gas station. Popcorn, licorice, milk, coffee…”

Kon watched in amazement as Dane unloaded a pile of goodies. Since this room had a small kitchen with dishes included, they’d be able to make whatever they needed. Dane had ensured they would be full of food and… “Beer?”

“Thought it might pass the time.” He popped the top of a can. The beer fizzed.

Eliana jerked at the sound. A trigger; Kon caught an image of a middle-aged man, her stepfather most likely, guzzling beer as he groped her. She pulled away from Kon and lurched unsteadily to her feet. “I’m going to my room.”

“I’ll get the door,” Kon said. He went outside and through Eliana’s room. As soon as he unlocked the adjoining door, she brushed past him.

“Thank you.”

He moved out of the way just as she slammed the door shut.

* * * *

Eliana shivered, reluctant to admit she was cold because Kon’s arms were no longer around her.

Stupid. I don’t need him
. Except he’d been so warm and comfortable, she wouldn’t have minded staying there awhile longer.

A hot shower—not nearly as nice as the one in her previous room—warmed her up. When she came out, a pile of food had been left on the table: coffee, tea, a carton of milk, a roll of chocolate-covered doughnuts, three kinds of candy bars, and a bag of sunflower seeds. A foam container held a Monte Cristo sandwich and a plastic tub of jelly. Suddenly hungry, she put the sandwich on a plate and in the microwave to heat.

The most amusing item on the table was a plastic snow globe stamped WYOMING on the bottom. When she turned it upside down and then righted it, plastic snow fell around a picture of a cowboy riding a bucking horse. She was touched by the gift, loathe as she was to admit it. No one had gotten her anything for the sake of being silly before.

She changed into her flannel nightclothes, glad to have pajamas rather than a nightgown—another one of Kon’s eerily correct guesses about her preferences. Settling in bed with her dinner, she flipped through the TV channels, avoiding any and all mentions of the weather, until she landed on the local public station—and Kon.

The station was in the middle of their spring pledge drive, evidenced by the phone numbers scrolling across the bottom of the screen. Kon held a microphone and strode across a small stage before a studio audience, giving a lecture about energy healing.

Eliana paid less attention to Kon’s words than to the faces of the audience. The women—and several of the men—seemed as entranced by his appearance as she was. He was as beautiful on screen as he was off.

A polite knock came from the adjoining door. Eliana sighed, not wanting to see either Kon or Dane, but said, “Come in.”

Kon entered alone, wearing a T-shirt and plaid pajama pants. The simple outfit did little to dull his appearance. “I just wanted to see how you…” His voice faded as his gaze landed on the screen. “Oh. That old thing.”

She pointed at the TV. “That’s where I’ve seen you before. You’re famous.”

Kon shrugged. “Not really. I just did the one show. I didn’t expect it to take off like it did. Now there are books and CDs to go with it. I use the royalties to support my clinic.”

“Clinic?”

“Alternative healing for those who aren’t able to afford it otherwise. Some of my colleagues offer massage and acupuncture. I do sessions like that.” He waved at the screen.

On the show, Kon stood next to a woman lying on a massage table. He asked the woman if she had any aches or pains, and she replied that her shoulder had been bothering her for months to the point that she could hardly move her arm and that none of her doctors could find a cause. Kon asked her to demonstrate her range of motion. She tried, but as soon as she lifted her arm her face contorted into a mask of pain which couldn’t have been faked. In a soothing voice, Kon asked her to relax. At first he did nothing more than place his hands on either side of her shoulder; then he gently began to manipulate the arm, moving it in a greater range of motion. Little by little, the lines of pain in her face eased.

Eliana turned to the real-life man. “Is that for real?”

His face mirrored the compassion of his on-air persona. “Do you want to find out?”

She turned her head away from him, unable to meet that sympathetic gaze. Part of her craved his touch and not just because the constant pain was wearing her down. Another part wanted him to go to hell—but most of that was because she didn’t want to fall for a man she’d be saying good-bye to in a couple of days. “Fine.”

“Lie down on your back, then.” She did, and he arranged her, exquisitely careful of where and how he exerted pressure. “This will hurt a little, but you’ll feel better at the end, I promise.”

She shrugged, so used to pain that more wouldn’t matter. Kon took his time, feeling around her hip and leg and then manipulating the joint to test the range of motion. And for a while it
did
hurt the way he both dug his fingers deeply into her abused muscles and moved her hip. Teeth clenched, she did her best not to let the agony show.

“Are you all right?”

“Fine.” Damned if she was going to cry uncle. It wasn’t the pain that bothered her as much as the encroaching memories.

“Want to tell me how it happened?”

“None of your damn business.”

“It is, if I’m trying to make you feel better. One of my teachers said every illness and injury has a spirit and story behind it. It helps to find out what it is, because then we can work with it. My friends in South Dakota will tell you the same thing. The hospital only treated the broken bones and organs, not the emotions.”

She let out a long, slow breath. Kon was a slick one, urging her to say things she’d only told the cops and social workers. “My little brother had just gotten off the bus in front of our house. I heard gunfire, and I told him to hurry. But when he got to my arms, he…” She pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes. “His back was sticky. As soon as he reached me, he went limp in my arms. I held him and screamed and ran toward the house, but they shot me. They shot my sister in the head. She’ll never walk or talk again.”

“Who were they?” He bent her knee and gently eased her leg over her chest. It hurt but was bearable.

“My stepfather was involved in a bad drug deal. He didn’t pay up, so they shot us in retaliation. The police never caught them. My stepfather disappeared. He probably crossed the border into Mexico. My siblings were put into foster care, but I was eighteen and in the hospital for weeks.” Kon dug his fingers into a particularly bad area. Pain jabbed her hip and leg and spread all the way up her side. “Damn it, that hurts.”

“Just a little more,” Kon said. His hands were warm, tingling, where they touched her. She felt the heat and agony siphon away as if down a drain. Then, finally, release.

The relief nearly brought tears to her eyes. She breathed deeply, something she hadn’t been able to do for months. If the man could make her feel this good, she was willing to let him do almost anything else to her. “How did you…?”

“It’s what I do.” He moved his hands with unnerving accuracy, stopping as if by magic over the very spots her stepfather had hit or kicked her on the nights his manhood failed. Kon’s hand paused over her belly. “You were pregnant.”

Her breath caught.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have.” He folded his hands in his lap.

Eliana stared at him, thoroughly unnerved. “How the hell do you know all this? You were holding back on that show, weren’t you?”

“Some things aren’t meant to be so public.” He met her gaze. “What I have is like intuition, only deeper. I’ve trained to be very aware of movement and what it means. Beyond that, there’s an energy running through each of us. Qi, prana, or whatever you’d like to call it. I can sense if a part of someone is off-balance and, if I’m able, how to fix it. This,” he said, tracing the thick scar through her shirt, “is an outward sign you’ve been hurt, but there is unease inside as well. The trauma is caused by more than a bullet.”

The idea that such a thing could be possible intrigued her. She stroked her belly where once life had dwelled within. “I was pregnant twice. The first was a miscarriage at three months. The bullet ended the second along with the chance for any more.” She’d been under too much stress to develop much of an attachment to either child. Under the circumstances, it was probably better they hadn’t been born, but a fair amount of guilt and sadness remained.

“Were you willing?” He rested his hand atop hers.

She shuddered. “If I didn’t, my stepfather would have gone after my sister. At least I wasn’t related to the bastard.”

“Brave girl,” Kon murmured. “Such a fighter.”

“Bravery had nothing to do with it. I couldn’t leave my brothers and sisters alone with him.” She wondered where her remaining siblings were. Since she was of legal age, she could have sought custody, but she had no job and no prospects. It had been wrenching to let them be swallowed up by the system, but at least they would have food and shelter. “Tell me the truth. That night you found me— That man—”

“He’s gone. You don’t have to worry about him.”

The continuing vagueness irritated the hell out of her. She sat up and grabbed his chin as if he were a stubborn child. “Stop it. I want the truth, and I want it now. That man wasn’t a man. You know what it was, so tell me.”

His face softened into the compassionate expression she couldn’t stand. “I don’t want to frighten you.”

“Nothing scares me. Nothing.”

“Not even a blizzard?”

She took a deep breath, working hard to keep from punching him. “Tell me before I have to beat it out of you.”

For a brief, nerve-racking moment, she thought she’d misread him, that threatening him was the absolute worst thing she could do. Then he smiled, small, enigmatic.

Her heart raced. The idea was preposterous, yet she had a sudden, alluring image of Kon naked and on his knees, offering his body for whatever punishment she decided to give.

Embarrassed, she pushed him away. “I’m sorry. It’s been a long day. Thank you for whatever it is you did.”

“You’re welcome.” He bent down and kissed her forehead. Her skin burned as if the heat had gone from his hands to his mouth. “Don’t be afraid to wake me if you need anything.”

Kon left. On television, announcers clamored and cajoled for donations. Eliana turned it off. She fell asleep, unable to shake the sensation that Kon remained spooned protectively behind her.

Chapter Ten

Morning light peeked through the dingy hotel curtain. Kon stared at it, trying to recall a dream about Eliana. His groin was tight, cock hard and aching, but there were no definite memories, only a vague, pleasant feeling that Eliana had been in his arms all night.

“Present for me?” Dane fondled Kon’s cock, then thrust the covers aside for easier access. Kon hardly had time to draw a breath before Dane licked the length of his shaft and swallowed it whole. The luscious sucking, along with Dane’s murmurs, took Kon to the brink. Kon shuddered as he spent himself within the moist heat of Dane’s mouth—but it wasn’t Dane he was thinking of.

Dane braved the weather to fetch a hot breakfast, returning in about a half hour with boxes of pancakes, eggs, hash browns, sausage, and toast. Kon had the notion of serving Eliana in bed but didn’t want to disturb her. He’d crossed enough boundaries the night before; no need to push his luck. He settled for sliding a note under the door saying breakfast was available when she wanted it. Then he poured mugs of coffee and joined Dane at the table and ate, paying little mind as Dane verbally outlined his next porn story.

The snow didn’t let up until late afternoon. When Kon peeked out the window, he couldn’t tell the cars from the snowdrifts. Everything was still. No cars, no people, no movement save for smoke trailing upward from the diner. There had to be nearly two feet on the ground. There wasn’t much for the three of them to do besides…

He knocked on Eliana’s door and poked his head inside. “Want to build a snowman?”

Her cheeks darkened. “I don’t know how.”

Kon traded a grin with Dane. Ten minutes later, bundled up in coats, boots, and gloves, the three of them went into the courtyard near the empty pool. Kon tested the snow and found it the perfect texture—not flaky and not too wet. He and Dane set to work shaping a huge snowball that reached their knees.

“Have some.” Dane held a snow-covered glove to his lips and gestured for Eliana to do the same. She did, and Kon’s heart melted at the childish delight he sensed from her. Poor thing, to have missed out on such a simple pleasure.

Rolling the snowman’s base, however, was not a simple matter. The snow’s depth coupled with the shape of the courtyard made it difficult. Both men were sweating from exertion by the time they deemed their base large enough.

“Dig up some sticks,” Kon called. When Eliana shook her head in confusion, Kon waved his arms. Realization dawned, and Eliana puttered around the courtyard beneath the trees, jamming her cane into the snow. Kon and Dane set to work on a second and third snowball, grunting with effort as they lifted the heavy objects atop one another. The balls weren’t exactly round, but Kon didn’t care. They were
big.

By the time Eliana had found suitable sticks, Dane had packed additional snow around the balls to keep them stable. Kon lifted Eliana at the waist to make it easier for her to jam the sticks in. Dane handed her some stones, which she arranged to give the snowman a face.

Kon set her down. “Good job.”

“You two did all the work.” A mischievous smile curved her lips. Kon didn’t know why.

Then her snowball smacked him in the face. He licked the snow from his stinging lips and bent down to grab a fresh ball.

Laughing, she dodged his retaliation as well as she could. Dane stood apart, lobbing snowballs at both of them until Kon and Eliana joined together in pelting him back.

Then Eliana tripped. She grabbed at Kon’s coat, but her weight pulled him off balance, and they went down together in a snowdrift.