Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
CARTER
We get out of the vehicle and give Heather a minute to wrap herself in the blanket. She doesn’t want to be touched, so we have to let her walk on her own even though we know she’s in pain. Right now, her emotional state is worse than her physical one, so that takes precedence.
She holds the blanket up off the ground so she doesn’t trip, and I walk on one side of her with Killian on the other. Knox follows behind us as we enter the hotel and move quickly to the elevator.
Killian nods to a man in a business suit staring at Heather, and I snap.
“Remove your eyes from our girl before I remove them for you.” I pull the knife out of my pocket to show him in case he has any doubts.
“Psychotic asshole.” He complains, but does as he’s told.
This time she doesn’t complain about having guards, and I hate it because the fucker, Noah dimmed her light and deserved to suffer.
I didn’t want to kill him with a single gunshot to the head.
I wanted her to watch him suffer as she had, but I had no choice.
We step into the elevator, and she sighs audibly as the doors close.
“I’m going to take a shower as soon as we get into the room. Is that okay?”
I glance at Knox, and he nods.
“That’s fine. The doctor will be here soon, though.”
He smiles at her, trying to lighten the mood.
“So maybe not one of your hour-long showers.”
Normally, women are not supposed to shower after rape for evidentiary reasons, but those don’t apply here.
“Knox, can you stand in front of me? I don’t want to see people. I can’t explain it, so please don’t ask.”
He moves from behind her to the front.
“No explanation needed, Tesoro. If you need it, that's all we need to know.”
The doors slide open, and we walk into the room.
The mood is somber, and I think all of us are dealing with the unknown. We don’t know what the future holds. All I know right now is that our girl wants to die, and I’m far too selfish a man to allow that to happen.
Heather goes to the bathroom for her shower, and we sit in the living room decompressing. Kill grabs three glasses and a bottle of whiskey and pours us all two fingers full.
“Fuck this day.”
It has been brutal, and I don’t see it getting much better. I’m relieved we found her before it was too late but hate that she’s hurting.
“What are we doing with the chop shop after all this is dealt with?” Knox asks.
Killian surprises me because he has always loved it and been unwilling to let go of it.
“Torch it. I don’t fucking care. After Heather’s family is dead, I want to take her away from here. Somewhere she has never been. A place with no bad memories. She deserves that. Kansas will always represent the past for her.”
“Where?” Knox asks, and Kill shrugs his shoulders.
“Do I get a vote on this?” Heather asks, walking into the room looking fucking radiant as always, even with multiple bruises and welts on her face.
“You get more than a vote, Killer. Where do you want to go?”
She takes a seat beside me, grabs the glass from my hand, and gulps what’s left of it.
Placing the glass on the table, she closes her eyes and sighs softly, as if she’s picturing where she wants to be.
“Someplace warm. The sun is shining and there’s water. Maybe I get to have my toes in the sand. I’ve lived so much of my life in the dark. I want to soak up the sun.”
Jesus Christ. This woman’s words hit me directly in my heart. I want this for her. If she wants the goddamn sun, I’ll yank it from the fucking sky for her.
“Then we will go somewhere warm. Somewhere the sun shines every day.”
Popping her eyes open, she gazes at me seriously.
“It’s just a fantasy, Carter. An impossible fantasy. Sometimes it rains.”
I shake my head.
“Then we will get on a plane. We’ll run from the rain. And chase the sun. If you want a cloudless sky. We will give that to you.”
Her lips lift into the smallest smile as Killian grabs a fourth glass and pours us all more whiskey. Heather holds hers up, and for a mere moment, she looks like she’s ours again.
“To sunny days and cloudless skies.”
Killian’s phone interrupts the moment, and he fishes it out of his pocket and answers it.
“Bones?”
“Okay. I agree. When should we expect her?”
“Thank you.” Kill says and disconnects the call.
“He is flying in Athena’s personal physician because he thinks it’ll be better for Heather to see a female doctor. And apparently she’s well-versed in handling trauma.”
“Wow. That surprises me.” I say, and Killian laughs.
“Me too. I thought he was an asshole, but maybe not as much as before.”
Heather sits uncomfortably in her seat. She’s in pain, and I’m grateful she doesn’t deny it.
“Since the doctor won’t be here for a while, do we have Advil?”
Kill grabs it for her while Knox stares at her, his eyes filled with concern.
“What hurts, Tesoro?”
“Everything. My ribs and the brandings are the worst.”
Knox rises to his feet.
“Come lie down. I want to take a look, if that’s okay.”
Heather gets up from the table with a huff.
“May as well get it over with.”
We follow her to the bedroom, and she gets onto the bed.
“Did you not see this when I was naked and chained?”
Knox drags a hand down his face, probably thinking the same thing I am. I wish there was a way to scrub that fucking visual from my mind.
“No. Out of respect for you, we kept our eyes on your face. It hardly seemed like the time to ogle you.”
Heather takes ?a deep breath and exhales slowly as Kill comes in with water and the medication. She takes it and hands him back the glass.
“If you want to see it, that’s fine. This is the moment where everything changes between us.”
She lifts her shirt and I know I’m not alone in my struggle to hold back a reaction. Our poor girl went through hell with that fucker.
Knox balls his hand into a fist as he stares at the cross on her abdomen with the word ungodly written across the middle.
“Tesoro. This looks infected. I’m so fucking sorry he did this to you.”
She pulls her shirt down, covering it and turns away from us.
“I’d like to be alone now. Can I be alone?”
We walk to the door honoring her wishes, but I stop before exiting.
“Little Heathen, what he did to you changes nothing between us. You’re still the most beautiful girl in the world, and once you’re healed, we can cover that up. It’s temporary.”
It feels like I’m leaving my heart in the bedroom. Walking away from her is unbearable, but I have no choice. The only thing that matters right now is what she needs.