Chapter 47 #2
Liam tugged on his boots and tied the laces as he stared at me. “You really want to go home that badly?”
“Yes…no….” I glanced at Myles, still peacefully and obliviously sleeping, wrapped around me like an octopus. “I don’t know. I just needed to get away from all of the bad. It was too much and unending. Home is the one place, despite what happened to my mum, where I feel safe.”
He pulled what looked like a lined snow pant down over his boot and moved on to the next.
“The harsh reality is that there is no safe space. Not anymore. If the Curators didn’t find you, it would’ve been your father or maybe even Nash’s father who would’ve hunted you down.
Not to mention who else might be after you.
” I shivered despite the warmth of Myles’s body.
“Besides, it doesn’t matter where you are or what you do.
Life is not fair, and it will continue to throw punches until you fall. ”
“Are you going to say that it’s not how I fall but how I get up that counts?”
“Not anymore,” he said with a humor I’d never seen before in his eyes. “I’m going to go get dinner ready, and then we should take a look at your injured ankle.”
“How did you know about my ankle?”
“The way you were dragging it. You left a distinct pattern in the snow. Anyone else other than us tracking you would’ve considered you an easy target the moment that happened.
” My eyes went wide. I figured the most dangerous thing I would have to navigate on the trail was a bear.
“Just keeping it real. Anyway, we’ll leave tomorrow for a place nearby, so you can forget your mission.
” I opened my mouth to ask where we were going, but a sharp pain radiated up my leg at the same time Myles moved beside me.
It didn’t matter where we were going. I was at their mercy at this point.
Even without the injury, they had raced to find me, and if I’d been trying to outrun them, I still would’ve failed.
Myles mumbled and snuggled closer, and the butterflies that had been dormant since the attack stirred in my stomach. Liam left the tent, the zipper loud as he closed us in together. Myles’s eyes flew open at the sound.
“Is everything okay? Snowflake yer awake,” Myles said and gripped me so hard that I couldn’t breathe.
“Don’t do that again. Don’t run away. Ya scared me.
I cannie be without ya. I’ll hang from yer legs to keep ya from runnin’,” he said, pressing soft kisses along my shoulder to my cheek like he hadn’t seen me for months or years rather than a few days.
“I swear I would forget to breathe without ya.”
I smiled. “You’re a little dramatic, but I love that about you,” I said, rolling my head to the side so I could look at his face.
The dim light penetrated the taupe-colored tent, making his eyes look more caramel than amber.
The shade suited him. Then again, I think he could put a paper bag on his head, and he would still captivate my heart.
“It’s not dramatic. When I saw ya swept away by the water ma heart stopped. If we didn’t get ya back alive, I…I….” He cupped my cheek with his hand. “Why’d ya take off? Was it the painting?”
I could easily throw Nash under the bus and say that it was his fault and dump everything at his doorstep, but it wasn’t true.
Some of it definitely was. He loved to stir the pot of drama, whether he wanted to admit it or not.
But I couldn’t do that to Myles and the guys.
More now than ever, I understood that they had to stick together to stay safe.
Blaming Nash would create a rift between him and Myles, maybe even with Blake.
As much as they loved Nash, they’d be torn, and I didn’t want that.
I didn’t come here to tear friendships apart no matter what Nash accused me of.
This place was a different world, something from Dr. Who, perhaps. Whatever it was, it was dangerous, and what Axel and Vicky had done ripped the pretty wrapping paper off to show the reality of what lay beneath.
I shook my head. “Maybe I wouldn’t have felt so overwhelmed if everything had been spread out, but the attack and what Vicky pulled with the picture…
.” I rubbed my eyes. “I was so humiliated. Everyone not only saw me naked, but they saw all the bruises. That was so personal. I never wanted anyone to see those, and now there is a permanent reminder on everyone’s phone.
I wouldn’t be surprised to find out it’s already circulating the dark web. ”
“We won’t let that happen. It was already pulled from the chat, and we have a computer guy pulling anything that shows up online.” He nuzzled the side of my neck, making me smile. “But ya have nothing to be ashamed of, even if it feels that way.”
“Thank you. Anyway, it was all weighing so heavy, and I just wanted to paint and feel close to my mum, but when Nash found the painting and the paint brushes destroyed in the garbage…I was just done. I didn’t want to leave you.
Every step further away, the more uncertain I became.
I’m sorry. I never meant to scare you, and I definitely didn’t think that you’d come after me. ”
“I’ll always come for ya, Snowflake.”
Myles kissed my lips softly, and I closed my eyes and soaked in his sweetness. I couldn’t believe that someone who had been so badly abused, as I’d seen with my own eyes, was still so kind. I felt it in his touch, and I wanted to cling to him, especially with how he looked at me.
“Don’t be sorry. I can’t believe everything that’s happened in a few short months. But I’m here for ya, and so is Blake. Don’t fear to lean on us too.” He gathered me in his arms, and I buried myself in his chest.
I may not need a man to stand on my own, but being held by Myles allowed me to drop the shields I had built and relax, even for a little while.
“I need a favor if I’m going to stay,” I said.
“Name it. Anythin’ and it’s yours,” he said, his voice rumbling against my ear.
“I want you to teach me how to fight.”
“To fight?”
I pulled back enough that I could see him clearly. “Yes.”
“But, I’ll take care of ya, and so will any of us,” he said, and I kissed his lips.
“I know, but I don’t want to be the damsel you need to save, and you can’t always be with me even if I did. It’s simply impossible. Please. I never want to feel the way I did when Axel locked the door. I want to learn to defend myself, to fight. No, I need to.”
His eyes looked sad, but he slowly nodded.
“Aye, I can, but I fight dirty. Street fighting style, so if ya want a well-rounded set of skills, then Liam can teach ya to box, and Nash knows MMA. They’ll help, but I’m not sure ya want to train with Nash.
He’s not the type to go easy on ya. He broke me damn nose, the fucker. ”
I sucked in a ragged breath. More time with Nash seemed like a death sentence, but if he could help me, then it wouldn’t matter. “No, it’s fine. As long as I’m never helpless again, I don’t care, and I trust you. If you say he can teach me skills, then I believe you.”
“Alright, when yer ankle is healed, we’ll set it up. But know this…even if ya can take down a grizzly, I will always jump in front of you if there is danger, and there is not a damn thing ya can say to stop me. I love you, Snowflake.”
I kissed him and knew that nothing would ever tear me away from him again.