Chapter 13
LOCKE
I paced the living room of the boat, then let myself outside for some air.
It was cooler out on the open ocean. We were only a few miles away from the wharf, but I’d needed the anonymity of the water tonight. And because I knew I was an obsessive bastard, I picked up my binoculars and scanned the horizon.
The easy waves of a summer night lapped around the sides of the boat.
No storms on the radar or rolling in off the ocean. The air was a little on the cool side, but not enough for me to find a shirt.
Besides, I wasn’t sure I could handle anything against my skin.
Not after that fucking shower.
My catamaran had two showers, one in each hull.
I’d been afraid to be that close to her.
Hell, I’d been hard for a damn hour before I gave up and took a shower to take the edge off.
The soulless crank didn’t do anything to help my head or my damn body.
It wanted one thing, and it wasn’t my hand that was for sure.
Her citrusy scent with that warm beachy undertone was stuck to me even after I doused myself in my own bodywash.
Like an extra layer of skin.
The sounds she made layered over the sounds of the night on the dock made my adrenaline race in my veins. The protective part made me want to go back in there.
To watch over her.
To make sure she wasn’t scared.
I slammed my fist into the side of the couch. Even with the cushion of the memory foam, the pain locked me back in. It pushed aside the overwhelm and the rush of wind and waves that left static in my head.
My skin prickled and I forced myself to go back inside. Hell, maybe a bourbon would get my head back on straight.
That was when I heard the whimper.
I rushed through the galley kitchen to the stairs and down into the hull. I swung open my bedroom door. She was tangled in my sheets, her bandaged leg outside the covers. The pillows where pushed away and she was flat on her back, her hands above her head.
I swallowed.
Fuck.
Just like that night. Helpless, just like Milligan. My head spun for a second and I bent at the waist to drag in a breath.
No. Not like that night.
I’d actually saved her. I hadn’t been late for her.
The muffled moan snapped me out of the syrupy morass of memories. The way she struggled, she had to be reliving it. I slowly moved closer, cognizant of my own PTSD. “Priscilla.” My voice was firm and clear.
She just arched and thrashed. Worried for her bandage, I moved closer and laid a gentle hand on her thigh. “Shhh. He’s gone, Cilla.” I couldn’t get her back in time if she pulled out her stitches again.
I shouldn’t have come so far out.
I should have known.
Fuck.
I sat beside her, bringing one arm down to touch my face. I didn’t know if that was the right move, but maybe grounding her would drag her out faster. “Cilla.”
Her attention swung toward me, her eyes open but blind. Her fingers jerked against my face before her nails burrowed into the denseness of my beard. ”That’s it Cilla, I’m here.” The whimper ripped through me like a knife. I covered her hand on my face. “Priscilla, wake up.”
Her voice dipped. “I hurt.”
The knife dug in and twisted. “Not anymore. Come back to me, Cil. Open those big dark eyes for me.”
She reacted to my voice, her face smoothing, the frown receding. “Safety Locke.”
My chest burned at her nickname for me. “That’s right. It’s Locke. Wake up.”
A tear slipped down her temple as her lids lowered, as she went back under.
Hell.
“C’mon, Cil.”
Her hand dropped away from me.
Was she okay? Just back to sleep?
I flipped the sheets away and checked her wound. The bandage was intact with just a little curling at the edges from the shower and her thrashing. I knelt on the bed, gathering her against me on her good side.
She rolled into me, her cheek going straight to my chest.
To the scars that never quite healed.
The tightness and phantom pain made me still. But her fingers clutched at my neck, at my side as she burrowed into me. Into my warmth. Her skin was cool. She’d swapped the dress for a tank that was stretched and tissue thin.
I averted my eyes and bit back a groan as I settled against the headboard.
Her whimpers subsided and her breath evened as her arm wound around me. She shifted until she half covered me.
My muscles locked and I slowly blew out a breath until I could relax.
I hadn’t touched anyone in so damn long.
I closed my eyes and her coconut scent rolled over me.
My fingers sifted through the choppy strands of silk.
They’d hacked away at her hair either from the docks or the hospital, I wasn’t quite sure.
But it was so damn soft and made me want to tangle deeper.
Not for you.
Never for you.
But then she lifted her face to look at me. Her eyes still not quite aware before her sooty lashes fluttered closed and she buried her face in my neck.
I sat up like that for a damn long time.
The lulling lap of waters against the hull pulled me under.
Into the blood and the bone.
Her pinned down.
Milligan bleeding out.
Both of them, side by side. Milligan’s pleading eyes stared up at me. “Where were you?”
“I’m sorry, Mills. I’m sorry.” My voice was little more than gravel. “I couldn’t get there fast enough.”
Milligan’s storm gray eyes went hard as flint. “She needed me. You understand now, don’t you?”
I shook my head.
Milligan looked at Priscilla, the gash in his neck flooding with blood. “She needs you. You’ll understand.”
Then suddenly I was too far away. I tried to get to both of them, but my boat kept slipping farther and farther away from the docks. The mist rolled over the water to obscure their bodies.
Her screams echoing off the water.
I had to get to them both.
How was I supposed to save them?
I woke with a start, my heart thundering in my ears.
Sun streamed in from the porthole and the skylight.
My arms were full of a warm, sleeping Priscilla.
Sometime in the night, I must have moved around her.
The pillows were scattered behind me. I eased back enough to check on her, but she pulled my arm up between her breasts with a mumbled, “no,” and I had to bite back a groan.
Her silky hair tumbled between us, tickling my chest, urging me to sink in closer.
No, jackass, this couldn’t be good for her leg.
Then she wiggled her butt against my morning situation, and I gritted my teeth as I tried to shift away from her.
She’d be unhappy when she woke up to find me wound around her like a damn vine.
I tried to slip my arm away from her and her soft breasts brushed my skin. Very warm and very naked breasts. Fuck my life.
Do not perv on this woman.
But then she rolled and cried out.
I took that as my cue to hop out of the bed. I grabbed one of the pillows to block the obvious erection tenting my shorts.
Priscilla stretched out on her back, straightening her leg. “Shit, shit, shit!”
“I’ll go get your meds.” I dropped the pillow at the bottom of the bed as I shot out of the room. I grabbed all three of the bottles she’d been discharged with. I’d checked the labels the night before and knew that she needed food with some of them.
I grabbed one of the Rice Krispies Treats from my cabinet. Not ideal, but would put something in her stomach. On the way by, I grabbed a bottle of water from the cooler and raced back down the stairs.
Her fingers fisted the sheets as she slowly did box breaths like I showed her in the hospital.
“Hey, here.” There wasn’t room to kneel beside her in this room. The bed took most of the space.
I sat beside her with the bottle and pills. With shaking fingers she took each pill. “Sorry.”
“Nothing to be sorry for.”
She pulled the blankets up to cover her breasts. “I don’t remember what happened.”
“Nightmare. I was just going to stay until you settled, but must have fallen asleep.”
“It’s okay.”
I set the Rice Krispies Treat on her lap.
She grinned. “Really?”
“Need to eat with those meds.”
She winced as she shifted to sit up. “This is going to be a bitch to heal. Every time I move it’s like a deep pulling burn.”
“At least this time you didn’t pull your stitches.”
“Yeah. I have to change my bandage though.”
“Shit, I forgot the bandages. One sec, I’ll go grab it.”
She nodded as she ripped the wrapper. “Okay.” She took a big bite and sighed. “I haven’t had one of these since I was a kid.”
“I have some decent staples. Once we get out of Salem, we can go shopping when you’re up for it.”
“Away from Salem?”
I stopped near the door. “I’m going to keep you safe, and until you’re healed up, we are going to stay on the water.”
“The doctor said it’ll take weeks.”
“Guess it’s good that you don’t need Dramamine.” I slipped out of the room back up the stairs.
There was only one place I could be sure to keep her safe.
And that was with me.
Even if it killed me.
I gathered up the supplies and returned to find her in a pair of shorts and a sky blue T-shirt. She was a little pale and sweaty, but the pain had eased from around her eyes.
“What the hell are you doing?”
She frowned at me. “Sitting here?”
“No, you got dressed alone. I could have helped you.”
“Definitely not. I’m fully capable of that at least. Bad enough you need to help me shower.”
“Get used to it.”
“So, you’re protector and nurse then?”
“For right now, you got it.”
She folded her arms over her chest.
“Hey, you agreed to this.”
“I agreed to your help, not to tour the world with you.”
“Don’t knock it. You’ll love the views from Maine.”
“Maine?!”
“Yep. As soon as I know you won’t bust those staples and stitches open again we’re heading north.”
“We didn’t discuss that. I have—”
“You have what? You said you didn’t have anyone to help you with recovery.”
She blew out a breath. “No.”
I leaned into her. “Then, this is your option because I’m not letting you get hurt.”
“Why do you care?” She frowned at me. “Why would you do this for me?”