Text (Take It Off) (13 page)

I recoiled like I smelled something foul.

“What the hell kind of question is that?” Nathan said, jerking up from his chair and taking up position beside the bed.

“A necessary one,” the police replied, gauging Nathan, no doubt taking in his rough appearance and scars. His eyes slid to me. “How do you know this man?”

“I already told you that,” he said, and I knew he was restraining his temper. Nathan seemed to have a bit of a short fuse.

Before things could escalate
, I explained quickly about how Nathan and I met.

“So you are friends with the man suspected of kidnapping women?”

“No,” Nathan said slowly, like he was talking to an idiot. “Like I told you before, we play a weekly poker game together. He’s an acquaintance.”

“You provided us with his home address.” The other officer spoke up.

Nathan shrugged. “I’ve played poker at his house.”

“Will other men testify to this?”

Nathan rattled off
about four names and a phone number of some guy named Patton. When he was done, the muscle in the side of his jaw was ticking. It reminded me of a time bomb ready to explode.

“No
,” I said quietly.

All eyes turned toward me.

“No?” the officer asked.

“He didn’t rape me.”

Nathan dropped onto the bed beside me. It was as if he was so relieved he couldn’t stand. I gave him a watery smile.

The police officer looked at his partner. “We’re not looking for a rapist.” The other partner nodded and wrote something in a no-nonsense black notebook.

They said it like it somehow made everything I’d gone through okay. Like what I suffered was somehow less now because my body wasn’t violated like they assumed.

It really, really made me angry.

This wasn’t just about me. It was also about Mary and whoever else came before us. “He was going to,” I said, and once again all eyes turned to me.

“How do you know that?”

“He made his intent pretty clear,” I hedged.

Nathan was sitting very still and staring at the floor. I glanced at him, feeling unease curling through my limbs.

“Maybe you should wait outside, Mr. Reed.”

“No,” I said, reaching for his hand. I didn’t want him to go. This was hard enough to say out loud
. Knowing Nathan was here and that he somehow understood something about pain made it easier.

Before the officers could insist
, I opened my mouth and let it pour out. “He held me down,” I said. “He… um… he took himself out.” I paused, looking at the officers, hoping they would understand. Both of them wore a disgusted look so I knew they understood perfectly. “And he tried to shove it in my mouth.”

Nathan glanced at me. “The truck?” he whispered, harsh.

I nodded.

He ripped his hand from mine and hooked it around the back of my head, pulling me into his chest. He still smelled like pine trees
, and I let it fill my senses.

“Is that all?” one of the officers asked.

I lifted my head, anger on my face. “Well, aside from being kicked, slapped, punched, shot at, groped, and thrown into a thirty-foot hole in the ground, I guess that about covers it.”

“We meant no disrespect,” the second officer spoke.

“Yeah, I know.” I relented.

“I think we have all we need for now. We’ll leave a card. If you remember anything else
, please contact us.”

“Wait,” I called. “Did you find him? Is he in jail?”

The officers exchanged a long look. I knew what that meant.

“I’m afraid the suspect is still at large.”

Why did they keep calling him the “suspect?” He was frickin’ guilty as sin. “You have to find him,” I implored.

“The department is doing everything we can, ma’am.”

“It isn’t enough!” I shouted.

“We’ll let you know when we’ve apprehended the
—”

“Suspect
.” I spat the word for him. I hoped he realized how disgusted I was by the police department’s incompetence.

He had the grace to flush as the second officer let himself out the door. Before following behind
, he turned back and cleared his throat. “I should probably caution you, ma’am,” he began. “You need to remain precautious and alert until he is in custody.”

I nodded, the hair on the back of my neck rising just a little.

And then I was alone with Nathan. I looked at him. “What a bunch of idiots,” I muttered. “If you hadn’t found me, I’d probably be dead by now. They certainly wouldn’t have found me.”

He grimaced. “I had to show them where the hole was.”

I covered my mouth with my hand and giggled. It was terrible, but if I couldn’t laugh, I might start screaming. The sudden burst of laughter caused me to wince in pain.

“Easy,” Nathan cautioned, placing a hand on my shoulder an
d pressing me back in the bed. “You need to rest.”

How the heck was I supposed to rest when
that man
was still out there?

Nathan

I spent the night watching her sleep. Sometimes I saw her face twist in fear and pain; sometimes I would hear a low whimper.

I knew that sound
, and I imaged my face likely looked a lot like hers—except much uglier—when I slept. I was thankful for the meds in her IV because I knew once she got home, she wouldn’t get much rest.

Nightmares would likely plague her.

The police were a bunch of idiots. They had no idea how to talk to people who’d been through hell. They had no idea how to search the woods. Shit, I had to leave the hospital and drive out there to
show
them where the hole was.

It
made me angry. Leaving her lying there, all black and blue, with her face in a permanent grimace, was surprisingly hard. It was only after I made sure a police officer stayed behind that I left for the mountain.

Where I got angry all over again.

When I first found Honor, she hadn’t been in the hole. Lex pulled her up. The rope ladder was still lying in a heap on the ground. One of the officers shined a large light down into the hole… and I felt sick. It was a muddy, dark pit.
She spent fifteen hours down there.
The thought replayed over and over in my mind until I had to turn away.

Even still, the sight remained. The rain finally stoppe
d but had come down so hard there were several inches of water just sitting stagnant at the bottom. It was likely ice cold. He would have left her down there to freeze, to fear, and then he planned to come back to kill her.

Maybe it was a good thing the cops couldn’t find him. He was safer that way. Of course, his safety was the very last thing I cared about.

Once I showed them the scene of the crime and answered a million other questions
and
showed them my Wrangler with the ruined tires, I finally went back to the hospital where I took up residence beside her bed.

It really wasn’t that uncomfortable. I
’d slept in worse places.

She was being released from the hospital soon, and the police still hadn’t brought in Lex. They weren’t going to. Enough time passed that he was likely long gone or in a place no one knew about, plotting out some sick plan.

It was hard to say. People who weren’t right in the head were very unpredictable. I glanced at Honor, who wasn’t doing a very good job of resting.

I wouldn’t rest easy
, either, if I were her. She was basically a sitting duck.

“You don’t have to stay
, you know,” Honor said, turning her head to the side to look directly at me. “You’ve already done so much. If it wasn’t for you—”

I held up my hand to halt her words. “Don’t say it,” I replied.

A smile played on her lips and a mischievous little light came into her eyes. “Say what?” she asked innocently. “That you look like you need a shower?”

I glanced down at my rumpled clothes and muddy boots. “So you’re picturing me naked over there?” I quipped. “Here I thought the reason you seemed so anxious was because you wanted out of here.” I sat forward, bringing my face closer to hers. “If you wanted to see me naked
, you should have just asked.”

She actually blushed.
But even embarrassment wasn’t enough to keep her mouth shut. “Oh please,” she said and rolled her eyes. “Do those corny lines actually work on women?”

I grinned and sat back. “I don’t know.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You don’t know?”

“Nope.”

She pursed her lips. “Do they work on men?”

I laughed out loud.

“What?” She shrugged. “I watch the news. I heard all about how the military lifted the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy.” She leaned closer to me like she was telling me a secret. I wanted to grab her face and kiss the shit out of her. “I can legally ask you that now.”

Then she actually wagged her eyebrows at me.

I bit back a smile and leaned forward once again. Our faces were mere inches apart and our lips were lined up for a kiss…

“I’m not gay
,” I whispered.

“No judgment here,” she said. “I need a good shopping buddy.”

Honor moved to sit back, but I gently grasped her wrist and pulled her back. “I’m not gay,” I repeated again, my voice even lower, as my mouth hovered oh so close to hers.

Everything about her stilled. Her little pink tongue darted out and wet her bottom lip
, which was still just slightly swollen from whatever happened to it. I’d never been so insanely tempted to lick someone as I was now.

“You’re not?” she whispered.

I shook my head and leaned a fraction closer. “Nope. I’m willing to prove it.”

She made a small sound in the back of her throat, kind of like a purr.
I liked that sound. I liked it a hell of a lot.

I let our lips hang there, almost touching, drawing out the anticipation of the kiss…
Usually, I would instantly go for it, but this was different. Honor was different. I wanted a chance to feel every single thing. Every ounce of desire, every single thread of anticipation. She wasn’t something I wanted to hurry up and get over with; she wasn’t something I wanted to use to pass the time or to make me forget.

I wanted more than that from Honor.

I wasn’t sure why.

Or how.

But I knew down to my bones that didn’t make it any less true.

Just when I couldn’t take the distance any longer
, the door to the room opened. We sprang apart, looking at each other with a little bit of shock and disappointment written on both our faces.

“Honor!” called a woman from just inside the door.

“Mom,” Honor replied, finally looking away from me and toward the woman moving into the room.

She wasn’t a large woman, maybe five
feet four, with chin-length dark hair and brown eyes. She wore a pair of loose, black knit pants with a long-sleeved white T-shirt and a red zippered fleece vest. “Thank God you’re okay,” she said, setting a medium-sized multicolored bag on the end of the bed. She placed her hands on her hips and studied Honor and all her bruises. “You should have called earlier, young lady.”

Honor rolled her eyes. “I was a little busy,
Mom.”

“You’ve been here all night
,” she replied, still gazing at her daughter steadily.

I didn’t really care for her tone.

I cleared my throat. “She’s been medicated. She just woke up a while ago.”

Her mother turned to me. “Are you the one that pulled her out of that hole?”

My lips itched to smile. “Technically, she was already out of it when I found her.”

“You’re a Marine?”

“Yes, ma’am.” I stood, holding out my hand. “My name is Nathan Reed. Nice to meet you.”

Her mother slid a cool hand into mine and shook it firmly. “How much food does someone like you eat?”

“
Mother
,” Honor admonished.

Honor’s mother turned toward her daughter. “What?” she asked like it was a perfectly reasonable question. “He’s huge.”

I grinned. “I like pie.”

Her mother looked at me. “What kind of pie?”

“Apple,” Honor answered.

I grinned wider.

Her mother looked between me and her daughter. Then she hugged me. It caught me off guard, and I looked over her head at Honor, who seemed to be just as shocked as I was.

I wasn’t sure what to do so I patted her back awkwardly. She pulled away and looked up. “Call me
Mom. Welcome to the family.”

Honor made a strangled sound in the back of her throat.
I didn’t say anything at all. I was too busy feeling like all the wind was knocked out of me.

“Mom” acted like she hadn’t just shocked everyone in the room silent and grabbed the bag she put on the bed. “I stopped by your house and got you some clothes and some shampoo.” She gave Honor a long look and then said, “I should have brought conditioner.”

Honor laughed. “What will the nurses say?” She gasped and put her hand to her mouth.

To my surprise
, her mother’s eyes filled with tears, and then she hugged Honor. I knew the power that her slight arms were capable of, and I winced thinking of Honor’s ribs. Over her mother’s shoulder, I saw the look of pain register, but she didn’t say a word.

“I’m just going to go unpack what you need in the bathroom,” Mom said, taking the bag and disappearing in the adjoining bathroom.

She shut the door behind her.

Honor and I looked at each other. “Her name is Mona.”

“She told me to call her Mom.” I smirked.

“She must like you.”

“How about you?” I said, sitting down on the edge of the bed before I could stop myself. “Do you like me?”

She shrugged. “You’re okay.”

“Just okay, huh?”

She wrinkled her nose. “Eh,” she said.

If her ribs weren’t broken, I would’ve tickled her until she changed her answer. I settled for just looking at her, taking in her rough appearance. Even still, she was beautiful. I couldn’t imagine how much more so she would be when all the leaves were out of her hair and her eye was no longer swollen shut.

The atmosphere around us changed, becoming charged, more electric.
The pull I felt to her was undeniable, kind of like I was an alcoholic and she was my favorite drink. Except alcohol wasn’t a very good habit…

I had a feeling Honor would be very, very good.

The sound of something being dropped echoed through the wall by the bathroom. Without taking my eyes off Honor, I said, “I should probably go.”

Tension crept into her features, tightening her lips and creating a barely there wrinkle between her eyes. “I’m sure you want to shower.”

“Showering is overrated.”

She smiled.

Her smile did things to me… made me feel lighter somehow. Like all the sticky cobwebs of the past were being swept away. “I’m not leaving here without your number.”

I wasn’t sure, but it seemed some of the tension in her face eased.

“You got something to write on?”

I glanced around the room
. There wasn’t even a pen in sight. “I’ll get something from the nurse.”

Her mother was coming out of the bathroom when I left the room, going in search of a pen. I didn’t really want to leave, but it seemed like I shouldn’t stay either. Technically, I wasn’t anyone to Honor. The only reason the nurses let me in the room at all to begin with was because I
was the one who brought her in… and because I can be damn intimidating when I want to be and no one dared tell me to leave.

But now her mother was here. She was being discharged and would likely go and stay with her family where she would be cared for a
nd safe. There was nothing left for me to do… but go home.

To an empty house.

The thought twisted my stomach, but I told myself to man up. At least she was giving me her number. I would call her. I would ask her out.

Honor didn’t know it yet, but she was about to become a fixture in my life.