Chapter 28
T he knocking on the door made her freeze with fear.
She ran to the bathroom to vomit. Then she heard him coming.
Get out. Get out.
But she didn’t move.
He grabbed her and she didn’t fight back. His face grew monstrous. Dark and mean.
You’re mine, Indie.
Did you think I wouldn’t find you?
Do you really think I’d let you go?
Help!
He laughed. No one is coming. No one cares about you. They know the truth. The thing your mother has always known.
That you’re not worthy of love.
Indie woke up with a gasp. Her side burned as she moved, sitting up.
Shit .
That hurt so much.
A whimper escaped and she bit her lip to hold in the sound. No way did she want anyone hearing her and coming to investigate.
Although who would be awake at this time? Even Spencer, who had been unbelievably attentive, wouldn’t be awake at two in the morning.
They were all asleep and she was here . . . falling apart.
Tears dripped down her cheeks. She needed to feel somewhere safe and closed in. The only problem was that the walk-in wardrobe was freaking enormous.
Biting her lip, she got out of bed.
Spencer would have a heart attack if he could see her. She wasn’t supposed to get out of bed without one of them with her. Which was nuts. She’d been sneaking off to the toilet without ringing that darn bell he’d given her ever since she’d gotten home.
Nothing bad had happened.
They were being ridiculously overprotective.
Well, Spencer and Slade were. She’d barely seen the other two during the ten days she’d been here.
A stab of sadness went through her.
Obviously, they no longer wanted anything to do with her.
After using the bathroom, she looked at herself in the mirror. The bruises were all fading, but they looked even worse than before, if that was possible.
Thankfully, she only had one bruise on her face where Billy had slapped her. As she walked out of the bathroom, she glanced over at the wardrobe.
She tried to resist.
She really did.
But in the end, she found herself in the large wardrobe, staring at her backpack which sat in a corner. Spencer had offered to unpack it for her and she’d nearly bitten his head off.
It was silly, but she didn’t want them to know that she’d kept mementos of them.
Opening it up, she searched through it, pulling things out. First was Rock’s jumper .
Maybe she could steal another one? One that still smelled like him. She put the jumper on. It fell around her like a dress.
Then she drew out the next items. The photo of her and Spencer. The hat from Slade which she put on. The algebra test she’d managed to pass with Quaid’s help. And his favorite book, Treasure Island .
But she still didn’t feel right and the memory of that nightmare had her shaking within seconds. She put her thumb in her mouth with a whimper.
What should she do?
All she wanted in that moment was for someone else to take charge. So that she didn’t have to think.
You could find one of the guys.
A strong longing filled her, stealing her breath.
But she couldn’t rely on them. This wasn’t going to last forever. Sure, she’d never felt more cared for than she had in these past ten days.
However, at some stage she was going to have to leave. The doctor told her it would be about a month until she started to feel a lot better.
She took her thumb out of her mouth and put her hand on her stomach. Shouldn’t she have felt the baby move already? More worry flooded her and she felt ill.
You are not going to throw up.
You need to find somewhere smaller.
With her mind made up, she grabbed the book and photo and slowly stood. That was harder than it should have been. But once she was on her feet, she headed out of the wardrobe and toward the bedroom door.
Only, there was something missing.
Her gargoyle. Turning back, she walked to the nightstand, pulling him out of the drawer and tucking him under her arm. There. That was better.
Opening the door, she would have screamed if she didn’t have her thumb in her mouth .
Because sitting on the floor opposite her door with his back resting against the wall was Rock.
He had a book in his hand, a blanket over his lap, and a pillow behind his head. He set the book to one side as she stared down at him.
Standing, he studied her with his head tilted to one side. “Okay?”
Was she okay?
Yeah, not at all.
She was aware that she was sucking her thumb once more, but she simply couldn’t find the energy to care.
“Need something?” he asked in a quiet voice.
As usual his voice was raspy and he spoke slowly.
Did she need something?
Should she tell him? Or she could show him?
Only problem was that she didn’t have a hand free. Somehow, Rock always seemed to know what she was thinking because he slowly took the book and photo from her, leaving her holding her gargoyle. She let out a small noise of protest but he held his free hand out to her.
Oh yes.
She clasped hold of his hand and walked out into the living room. Nope. This place wasn’t going to work. She needed a small cupboard.
With him following, she headed into the kitchen. Her stomach growled.
“Eat?” Rock asked.
She stared at him blankly.
He nodded as though he understood her. But how could he when she didn’t even know what she was saying?
When she was simply confused and didn’t know what she wanted.
Rock set down the book and photo on the bench before heading to the freezer. He returned with a large tub of ice cream .
Her stomach grumbled again. Especially when she saw it was mint chocolate chip.
Although that did confuse her. Because she was the only one that liked that flavor. No one else liked mint ice cream.
So why did they have it in their freezer?
She mentally shrugged. She guessed it didn’t matter.
Rock spooned some ice cream into a bowl. Just one bowl before he put the lid on and walked off. Should she eat it? What if it wasn’t for her? What if he now liked mint chocolate chip?
When he returned, he frowned slightly. Grabbing the bowl, book, and photo, he led the way over to the sofa.
The white sofa.
He gestured to it in a clear command to sit.
She eyed the sofa. Yeah, it wasn’t a good idea to sit there. So she decided to sit on the floor against the corner of the sofa. That felt cozier, safer.
But as she moved carefully onto the floor, Rock let out a pained noise.
“No.”
No? She gazed up at him in confusion.
“No.”
He set down the stuff he was holding onto the coffee table and reached for her. Then he paused before touching her, grimacing and tilting his head to the side.
Indie nodded. She’d learned to understand his gestures over the years. Although she usually talked more. Moving slowly, he put his hands under her arms and lifted her. He watched her closely and she worked hard to keep her face blank.
It pulled a bit on her ribs but not so much that she would stop him.
He settled her into the corner of the sofa, taking a blanket off the back to tuck around her legs. Then he grabbed the ice cream and sat next to her. He held the bowl in his hand and scooped some up.
To her surprise, instead of eating it himself he held it to her lips .
He waited patiently as she slid her thumb out and parted her lips so he could put the spoon in.
Maybe she should tell him that she could feed herself. But she didn’t really want to. She liked having him do it.
He silently fed her bites of ice cream until it was all gone and she was feeling content.
She rubbed her tummy. “Button liked that.”
Rock raised his eyebrow and she smiled.
“I did too. Sleepy now.”
Rock nodded and stood, holding out his hand to her. She slid her hand into his. She loved the feeling of his warm hand around hers.
But when he tried to lead her back into her bedroom, she dug her feet in and let out a noise of protest. Her thumb was back in her mouth and when he turned she shook her head.
Rock studied her.
“No,” she said around her thumb. “Cupboard.”
He seemed more confused than ever as she glanced around. “Smaller wardrobe?”
He nodded and stepped past her. That’s when she glanced down and saw the title of the book he’d been reading on the floor.
Pregnancy and New Mums .
Why was he reading that?
You know why.
She tugged her hand out of his and reached down to grab the book, ignoring the noise of protest he made. When she turned the book over, she saw that bits of text had been highlighted.
Indie glanced up at Rock, noticing that his cheeks were red. He was embarrassed?
Over trying to help her? Over being prepared?
He shouldn’t be.
Indie slid her thumb from her mouth, forcing herself back into the here and now.
“You’re reading this to help me and Button?” she asked.
Rock nodded .
Warmth unfurled inside her and she had to blink back tears.
“That might be the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me.”
He stared down at her, then shook his head.
Moving slowly, so he didn’t scare her, he placed his hand over her belly. Not touching her, just resting it an inch in front. She glanced up at him, wondering what he was doing.
“Touch?” he asked.
“Y-yes,” she said. “You can. Any time.”
Urgh. Why did she add on that bit? Was it too much? It was, wasn’t it?
“Shh.” He tapped her forehead with a finger on his other hand before rubbing her belly softly. “Mine.”
Indie’s breath caught in her throat. She lowered her gaze to her belly. There still wasn’t much of a belly there even though Spencer had been doing his best to feed her.
“Do you think it’s too small?” she asked worriedly.
He grunted and she glanced up to find him shaking his head at her.
“No? Okay.” He was no expert but the certainty on his face eased her worry.
“Good. You?” he asked.
“Am I good?” she asked.
He nodded.
“Not sure about that,” she said, surprising herself with her honesty. “I had a nightmare and I wanted to . . . when I feel scared I like to find . . .”
“Small,” he said.
Yeah. He remembered.
He took hold of her hand again and tugged her along. She kept hold of the baby book. She should really be doing some research, right?
She wasn’t sure why she hadn’t thought about reading up on her pregnancy. Maybe because she was too scared about what she might learn .
But burying your head in the sand won’t help.
To her surprise, he led her to a small room that didn’t have any furniture in it. Was this meant to be an office? But there was a wardrobe that was far cozier than the one in her room. She sighed in satisfaction as she followed him in.
He had switched on the light and she glanced around. It was a simple wardrobe with hanging space on two walls.
Settling into a corner, she rested her back against the wall. Shoot. She hadn’t thought about how uncomfortable this was going to be on her poor body. She shifted around, letting out a noise of discomfort.
He held up a hand to her in a clear gesture to stay before putting down Treasure Island and the photo. She set the pregnancy book down as well. Then she watched him walk out as she hugged her gargoyle tight.
Where was he going?
She didn’t want to be alone.
Come back!