Protecting Fiona (SEAL of Protection Book 3) (10 page)

They wanted vengeance for Fiona, something they knew they might never get. But all three men silently vowed to do whatever it took to make sure Fiona felt safe again. Somehow, someway, they’d make her feel safe.

Fiona struggled weakly on the bed. They’d tied her down, again. At least she wasn’t chained by the neck anymore. And she wasn’t on the hard floor. Again, there was something she should remember…but it was gone as soon as the thought flitted through her brain. They wanted to hurt her, they
had
hurt her. They wanted to sell her. They wanted to kill her.

She watched as one of the men standing next to her filled a syringe. His back was turned, but Fiona knew what he was doing. Oh God. Not again. Not more drugs. Fiona wouldn’t beg, she’d done that before and it’d done no good and had only made her feel more pathetic.

“I won’t beg, you assholes,” Fiona flung out recklessly, looking at the two other men in the room. She blinked to try to clear her vision, but continued, even though she couldn’t see them clearly. “You can drug me all you want, but it won’t help. I won’t do what you say, even if I never get out of here, you’ll all pay. I swear to God. I can’t stop you from drugging me, but it won’t help you sell me. I’ll make sure that anyone you sell me to regrets it and comes to take it out on you.”

Fiona’s voice trailed off. The roaring in her ears was loud. She could hear her own breathing, but that was it. Oh God, he really was going to drug her again. She closed her eyes and turned her head as far to the side as she could. She couldn’t fight anymore. They held her down and she felt the prick of the needle in her arm. Shit. Fiona’s thoughts became more and more muddled and she welcomed the nothingness that came over her. She didn’t want to know what they’d do to her this time while she was out of it.

The men sighed. Thank God. Thank God the valium Benny had given her had taken effect quickly. No one said a word. Dude got busy putting another IV in her other arm. Cookie tried to clean up the blood on her body. Benny got to work cleaning the bathroom.

Dude was the first one to leave to go back to his bedroom. Benny and Cookie sat on either side of Fiona’s bed and watched her. She was breathing a bit fast, but otherwise seemed to be calm.

“Holy shit, Cookie,” Benny finally said. Cookie could only nod. They both were imaging the hell Fiona had been through. The fact that she hadn’t backed down, that she still wasn’t backing down, said a lot about her.

“You know, when I saw you get shot from the chopper, for a moment I wondered what the fuck we were gonna do. We had one hostage rescued, you had an unknown other person with you and you were shot. I almost took her out.”

Benny looked away from Fiona’s face and at Cookie for the first time since he’d started talking. “We had no idea she was there too, and all I could think of was that she was expendable and you weren’t. I had my finger on the trigger and I was ready to fire when I saw her stumble out of that bush with you. She half dragged you, half carried you to that ladder. As soon as I saw you were secure, we hauled your ass up as fast as we could. Even at that point I thought about getting the hell out of there. We still didn’t know who she was, and we had both you and the hostage rescued.”

Benny paused, then took a deep breath and continued. “I opened my mouth to tell Wolf to get us out of there when I saw her struggling with your pack. Fiona simply looked up at the chopper and waited. She knew we could leave her there. She didn’t beg, she wasn’t gesturing at us to lower the ladder, she was just waiting…and hoping. God, the hope. I could see it from the chopper. Looking down at her, looking up at us, I made the only decision I could. I lowered the ladder. I could practically
see
her relief.” Benny paused again.

Cookie nodded, knowing how hard of a decision that had to have been. He waited for his friend to continue.

“To know now some of the hell Fiona went through, and fuck, we both know we don’t know the half of it, but to know
some
of what she went through, I feel guilty as hell that I even
thought
about leaving her there.”

Silence filled the room, broken only by the slight wheezing noise that Fiona made as she slept on, oblivious to the undercurrents in the room around her.

Cookie nodded at his friend and teammate. “Believe me, I know what you mean. I had Julie all set and we were one step from leaving the hellhole she’d been held in when something made me take one last look around. I didn’t hear anything; it was just
something
that made me look again. When I think about if I had ignored that feeling, when I think about how Fiona could have so easily have been left there…” Cookie’s voice drifted off.

The men both knew what an extraordinary woman Fiona was. They didn’t blame her for what happened tonight. In reality, they both blamed themselves. They should’ve known she wasn’t better yet, they should’ve been more watchful. But sitting there with Fiona, after watching her anguish and her strength and will to live, they each made a silent promise that nothing would happen to this woman again. No matter where she went, or what she did, they’d keep watch over her. They could do no less.

* * *

Two days later, Fiona rolled over with a groan. Her body felt like it’d been through the wringer. She ached all over. Her head felt a little fuzzy, but she took a deep breath and looked around. She saw Hunter sitting in a chair near her bed. His feet were up on the mattress, his arms crossed over his chest, his head canted to the side while he softly snored. Fiona wondered what time it was and why he was sleeping there.

Cookie woke up from his light doze next to the bed to find Fiona staring at him.

“Hi,” he said softly, not knowing if Fiona was truly aware of her surroundings or not.

“Hi,” Fiona responded. “You look like crap,” she told Hunter honestly. 

He chuckled. “You don’t look so hot yourself,” he bantered carefully. His smile quickly left his face and he sat up. He leaned forward and put his hand on her forehead. Fiona tried not to flinch away from him or blush at his gentle touch.

“How are you feeling?” Cookie asked carefully. He wanted to assess Fiona’s state of mind before he let her do anything on her own so they didn’t have a repeat of her escape out the second floor window.

“I feel weird,” Fiona answered honestly.

“How so?” Cookie inquired, tilting his head to the side while he waited for her answer.

“I feel weak, my mouth feels like I’ve been sucking on cotton for a month, and I have to use the bathroom,” Fiona answered honestly.

Cookie just stared at her for a moment.

“What?” Fiona finally asked. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Do you remember anything about the last few days?” Cookie asked quietly.

Fiona tensed. Oh shit. What happened? What had she done? She merely shook her head and waited to hear what Hunter had to say.

Cookie looked her in the eyes and merely said, “Okay, I’ll help you up and we’ll go from there.”

Fiona wondered what Hunter was keeping from her, but she really did have to use the bathroom, so the questions could wait. She let Hunter assist her out of the bed and help her walk toward the bathroom. She gestured toward the IV still attached to her arm. “Any chance I can get this out? I’m not a big fan of needles and knowing one is imbedded in my skin, even if it’s helping me, creeps me out.”

“We’ll see,” Hunter told her without rancor.

Fiona noticed the door to the bathroom was missing. It actually looked like it’d been splintered from its hinges. She didn’t remember a lot about arriving at the house, but she thought she’d remember a missing door. There was no way she was going to pee in front of Hunter though.

“Do you need help?” Hunter asked.

Fiona shook her head vigorously. “No!”

“Okay, I’ll be right here next to the door with my back turned. When you’re done, just let me know and I’ll come in and help you.”

Fiona shuffled into the bathroom. Not even thinking Hunter would peek, she quickly did what she needed to do, then turned to the mirror. Oh. My. God. She looked like the creature from the black lagoon. She almost didn’t recognize herself. Fiona didn’t think she’d made a noise, but suddenly Hunter was there.

Fiona watched in the mirror as he came up behind her and put his hands on the counter on either side of her hips and leaned in. She could feel him all along her back. He dwarfed her. Fiona really hadn’t noticed before now how tall he really was. Her head came up to about Hunter’s chin. He met her eyes in the mirror.

“How are you
really,
Fee?” he asked quietly.

“I’m okay, Hunter,” she told him quietly. And she was. She was alive, she was safe, she wasn’t in the jungle. She was fucking awesome.

Hunter continued to look at her. Fiona looked down at the counter. She should’ve felt penned in with him at her back, but she didn’t. It felt…good. She could feel his strength and all she wanted to do was lean on him and let him be the strong one for once in her life. As soon as Fiona had the thought, she dismissed it and tried to stand up straighter. She was strong. She had to be.

Hunter took the choice away from her. One arm came up across Fiona’s chest and the other went around her waist. He pulled her back against him. Fiona went willingly. Soon the tears started. She couldn’t help it. She was weak and feeling vulnerable. The way he was holding her, as if she was made of glass, was just too much.

Cookie turned her in his arms and held on to Fiona while she cried. He hated to see her so upset, but he was glad to see the honest emotion for the first time since he’d met her.

He wrapped one arm around her back and other around her neck; he tucked her head into the crook of his shoulder. Fiona shook as she cried and Cookie could feel her tears on his neck. Her arms were curled in front of her and he could feel her fingers clutching at his shirt as if they’d never let go.

“Cry it out, Fee. You’re safe. I’ve got you.” Cookie murmured the words in Fiona’s hair and knew he’d let her stand there all day if she needed it.

“I – I – I don’t know why I’m crying.” Her words were muffled against his neck, but Cookie still heard her.

“It’s relief. I bet you were strong while you were being held, probably wouldn’t let those assholes see you cry, but right now you don’t have to be strong anymore.”

When her tears finally tapered off and Cookie could feel Fiona’s trembles subside, he carefully lifted her in his arms and took her, and her IV pole, back into the bedroom.

Cookie set Fiona on a chair in the corner of the room and kissed her on the forehead. He looked her in the eyes and ordered, “Stay put for a bit, Fee. I’m going to change the sheets before you get back in.”

Cookie waited until Fiona nodded, then turned to the bed and quickly and efficiently stripped the soiled sheets and put on a freshly laundered set. He wanted to give her time to collect herself. After putting clean sheets on the bed he went back to Fiona and helped her out of the chair. He kept his hand on her elbow and assisted her back to the bed, letting her walk on her own. Cookie tucked her in and leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. He stayed close and whispered, “Sleep, Fee. I’ll be here when you wake up again. All is well. I swear.”

“Thank you, Hunter. Thank you for finding me. You have no idea, just thank you.” Fiona closed her eyes and was asleep again in moments, not waiting to hear Hunter’s response.

When Fiona woke up again, Hunter was there, as he promised. She had no idea how long she’d been asleep. She would’ve protested Hunter babying her, but if she was honest with herself, it felt good. Hearing a noise near the door, Fiona turned her head and saw Benny was also in the room.

“Hello, Fiona. Are you feeling better?”

“I am. Thank you for all you’ve done for me.”

“You’re welcome. It’s time for that IV to come out.” Benny was all business.

His attitude actually made Fiona feel more comfortable. She never liked being the center of attention.

Benny made quick work of removing the needle from her arm. Fiona rubbed her wrist where the IV had been inserted.

Another man came into the room carrying a tray with food on it. Fiona’s mouth immediately started watering. She couldn’t even guess when the last time she had real food was. She didn’t think it’d be good manners if she snatched the tray out of the man’s arms, and fell on it in the middle of the room like she was a starved feline, but, oh, how she wanted to.

“Fee, I want to introduce you to my teammates. That’s Dude carrying the tray and Benny took your IV out.”

Fiona wrinkled her eyebrows. “Benny? Dude? Are those your real names?”

Dude chuckled as he put the tray on the bed. “No, Fiona, they’re nicknames. Just like Hunter’s nickname is Cookie.”

Fiona couldn’t take her eyes off of the tray. The soup was steaming and the roll sitting next to the bowl looked like heaven. “Ah…okay.” She didn’t really know what she was saying, the food was taking all her attention.

Benny laughed. “Dude, you’d better back away from that tray, it looks like she’ll fight you for it.”

Fiona blushed bright red and looked down at her hands in her lap. She felt the bed depress next to her but didn’t look up.

Cookie sat next to Fiona, upset that
she
was embarrassed. He put one hand at her waist and pulled the tray so it was in front of him and next to Fiona. “Dig in, Fee, don’t mind us.”