32. River
CHAPTER 32
RIVER
I woke up with a silent scream clawing its way up my throat, disorientated and terrified. Once my breathing was under control and I remembered where I was, I blinked my good eye open and found Bane and Montoya watching over me like sentinels guarding the gates of hell.
Bane gently cupped my face, his thumbs sweeping away the torrent of salty tears spilling down my cheek. His deep voice whispered soothing platitudes that calmed my ravaged soul. His plush lips pressed kisses across my face until I was shivering from the sweet intensity of his singularly focused affection.
“Can I kiss you?”
I snorted through my snotty nose and tipped my head to the side as I regarded him. Hadn’t he been doing exactly that?
“You know what I mean, angel. A proper kiss.” He sighed, his hot breath ghosting over my dry lips. “It’s been too long since I’ve tasted you, River…”
My tongue darted out and wet my lips, and his eyes hungrily tracking the motion. My body responded to his proximity, and my heart ached. Was I ready to reconnect with him this way? My head said no, but my heart and body were on a whole other page.
“Please don’t overthink this, baby. I love you.” He rested his forehead against mine, the move sending shockwaves of electricity through me. “Yes, I fucked up, and I probably will again, but there is nothing more I want in this world or any lifetime that is to come than you. I think it’s always been you, angel, even when I didn’t know what a love like this felt like. Even when I fought the way my heart ached and my body begged for you. There is nothing without you.”
Fuck me. His sweet words and silver tongue weaved a spell over me that I didn’t want to fight. I could spend days wallowing in the pain of betrayal or stoking the anger his broken promises made me feel, but I wasn’t certain that was what I really needed. I wanted to drown in him. My safe harbor. My heart. My everything.
My right hand surged forward, circling his neck as I pulled him closer. Bane’s lips sealed over mine and it felt like coming home. His tongue licked and teased across the seam of my lips, begging for entry. My lips parted, and his tongue surged forward and wrapped around mine. I sighed as his taste exploded across my tongue.
A groan rumbled in his chest as he took control and nipped my lips before sucking on my tongue. I reveled in the light teasing he gave me before he fucked into my mouth and owned me. The blood in my veins turned to quicksilver, and Bane stole the air from my lungs so he could sustain himself. We lost ourselves in each other, a perfect symbiotic relationship.
The world around us faded away until there was nothing but a single pinprick of light left, just us and the lust burning between us. I didn’t think I’d feel like this ever again after what the Mitchell brothers stole from me, but somehow my heart, body, and mind had aligned and set me free.
A throat clearing made Bane jump, and he pulled back. Montoya stood at the end of my bed, cheeks flushed and a smirk on her face. “As much as I enjoyed the show because, boy.” She waved her hand in front of her face like she was fanning herself. “Jordan has an update that I don’t think you’ll want to miss.”
With a grumbling moan, Bane stepped away from me and folded his arms over his chest. My lips twisted into a smirk at the deep rouge tinging his cheeks. “I…” He shook his head. “Don’t ever do that again,” he bit out, but his words lacked heat. “Where’s Jordan?”
“Coming.” She smirked. “I sent him to get coffee from that place down the block, to give you…time.”
“Seriously?” Bane rolled his eyes and retook his seat.
“Seriously,” she parroted.
Bane turned back to me. “Are you comfortable?” He took my hand in his and ran his thumb over my knuckles. After I shook my head, he grabbed the bed control and raised me up so I could at least feel like I was part of the conversation.
Montoya hid a smile behind her hand. “I’m glad you two sorted shit out.” I tipped my head to the side and waited. Chuckling, she glanced over at Bane, who seemed very interested in a loose thread on his jeans. “Let’s just say he was a bit sulky when I got here.”
A smile tugged my lips as Bane scowled at her. I was starting to see that the bond they shared wasn’t a threat to what I had with Bane. The more I thought about it, the more they seemed like siblings.
“Ah, here is the man of the hour,” Montoya said as the door opened and a guy I’d never seen before stepped into my room. His dark eyes twinkled as she lurched forward, reaching for one of the cups he had balanced in a carrier in one hand as he tried to close the door behind him.
“Get off,” he grunted as she crowded around him. She lifted one of the cups and sauntered back to her seat. He rolled his eyes, then handed one to Bane. His eyes dropped to me. “I, um…shit. I didn’t get one for you, sorry.”
My chest ached as I held in a laugh and shook my head. Using Bane’s phone, I tried to put him at ease.
It’s ok. Water is the only thing I want right now.
Jordan snorted, his lips twitching. He circled the bed and leaned against the wall opposite me and took a long swallow from his drink.
“Montoya said you had an update?”
“Yes, I’ve found a few interesting things.” Jordan straightened up, looking all business while dropping the playful persona. “Once I found the right security room and gained access to their CCTV footage, I scrolled through everything from today, all the way back to River’s previous stay.”
I glanced up at him in confusion, not really understanding the relevance, but before I could ask, Jordan continued. “Bane said someone took your things. Your clothes were likely destroyed, but the nurse, Sharon, mentioned her colleague took it by mistake, right?” Unable to speak, I nodded. “I don’t think it was an accident.” He raised his fingers like speech marks to emphasise his words.
“What makes you say that?” Montoya asked.
“Well.” He rubbed his hands together. “It didn’t take long for these guys to appear on the footage. One of them was here earlier today, talking to a nurse. The conversation didn’t last long, but it was intense, and resulted in her storming off. He waited around for a bit, then walked a circuit of the building while noting the cameras. After confirming with the guard on duty who she was—Kirsty Ambrose—I got him to look up her shift pattern and it turned up two things. One, she was on a lot of shifts with Sharon, and two, she was working the night you were brought in, too.”
“So you think she’s guilty by association.” It wasn’t a question, but Jordan nodded anyway. “She’s here on shift today?”
“Yes, on this ward.”
“Fuck.” Montoya looked at Bane, and the silence stretching between them was suffocating. You could have heard a pin drop as they had a conversation that consisted of frowns, nods, and head shakes. No actual words passed between them, but by the time Montoya left the room like her ass was on fire, they’d come to some kind of understanding. Bane worried his bottom lip between his teeth.
“Want to share with the room what you’ve decided?” Jordan asked as he took the seat next to Bane.
“Sorry.” Bane sighed and ran his hand over his face before his eyes flicked to me like he was making sure I was still here. “We’ve worked together for so long that sometimes we forget other people can’t understand us.” Jordan gave a semblance of a smile while he waited for Bane to continue. “It seems too convenient, but I’m not prepared to take any risks in case everything you’ve found is exactly as it looks, not just a case of her being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“What’s the plan, then?”
My head was pounding, and I found it difficult to focus on what they were discussing, but I caught what I thought were the Cliffs Notes. Montoya was going to speak with Sharon about her colleague, and then the nurse in charge. I was to be secretly moved to another room, because Bane was convinced these guys were going to come after me to finish what they’d started.
Personally, I thought they were blowing everything out of proportion. I had Bane and Montoya in the room with me, and Jordan on the door. My room was better guarded than Fort Knox, but Bane was adamant this was happening and no one could convince him otherwise. Especially after Sharon confirmed that Kirsty was the one who had my bag. The fact no one knew if it was a genuine mistake or not seemed irrelevant. The decision had been made, and that was that.
The three of them spent hours talking through their plan and discussing any variables that could fuck everything up while I drifted in and out of consciousness, making my own plans. When Montoya and Jordan left to get something to eat, finally leaving me alone with Bane, the opportunity I needed finally presented itself.
“Shift change is about to happen, so we’ll move you to the other room while everyone is distracted. The only person who will know where you are is?—”
“N-no,” I ground out. The painkillers I was on were strong and kept knocking me out, but with adrenaline surging through my veins, I felt capable of anything. “I-I’m…n-not…going.”
“Excuse me?”
“Y-you…he…h-heard me.”
“River, what the hell?”
Bane paced the room, looking strung out and exhausted, but so was I. I’d spent my life fighting, even when I was physically broken and mentally checked out, waiting for death. Now, when I had the chance at a life I could have only dreamed of months ago, I wasn’t about to sit back and let others put themselves in the firing line. I was ready to fight for the life he’d promised, and I wasn’t about to let him stop me.
Exasperated, I ignored the burning pain in my throat and the ever present searing ache that echoed through my bones and pushed through. “I-I’m the…o-one they…w-want…”
“I know, but I promised you?—”
I held up a trembling hand, halting him, rubbing my throat as trepidation slithered across my skin and sunk like lead in my gut. “I-I’m the one t-they… raped… and the o-one t…they w-want…to…”
Tears shone in his hypnotic eyes as he sat on the side of the bed. He pulled his knee up, so it brushed my thigh. That single point of connection rocked through me, grounded me, and finally allowed air into my lungs.
“I promised I’d keep you safe, River.” He swallowed, the sound audible in the near silence of my room. “I won’t make the same mistake again.”
My hand wrapped around his, where it was clenched into a fist on his knee. “I-I know, a-and…y-you’re…k-kee…ping it. B-but, I…n-need…to…d-do this.” Sweat coated my forehead and the top of my lip. My whole body shook as I waited with bated breath for Bane’s response. I could see the war raging inside him. I just hoped he’d remember the promise he made to fight my demons at my side as a partner, an equal.
“You need this?” he asked tentatively. I nodded and stroked my fingers over his knuckles, unable to take the pained look in his eyes anymore. “Jesus fucking Christ.” He shook his head. “The things you do to me. I can’t say no to you, even when I know I should.” Resignation laced his every word. “How much did you hear?”
“M-most of…it?” My breath caught as his shoulders slumped in defeat, and he brushed a kiss to the end of my nose. Unclenching his fist, he slid his hand into my hair and pulled me close enough for his lips to brush mine.
When he spoke, his words reverberated through me and into my bones. “If I let you stay, you must do exactly what I tell you. I could be wrong about them coming for you, but my gut tells me…”
The smile that lifted my lips felt unnatural, the antithesis of everything I was. I’d spent my life broken and wearing my fear like armor to keep everyone away. I’d made myself an island, because it was safer that way. But now I wanted to be strong, even in the face of death. I didn’t want to face the future without fighting for it. “Your g-gut is n-never wrong.”
“It’s not. I must be mad,” he muttered, and kissed me until all I could think about was him. I knew what agreeing had cost him, so I did the only thing I could; I gave him every part of me. I kept nothing back, because this could be the last time I got to kiss him. The last time his taste burst across my tongue. There were no secrets hidden in the shadows. I laid myself bare as his tongue licked into my mouth, and his arms wrapped around me, chest to chest, hearts thundering, each beat perfectly synced with one another. Two bodies, one soul, together locked in a final embrace as we stood at the edge of the battleground to fight for our forever.
“I love you.”
“I’m just here to take your vitals,” a nurse I didn’t recognize whispered as I stirred awake. She wrapped a blood pressure cuff around my arm with quiet efficiency. Taking her at her word, I closed my eyes and pretended to drift back to sleep. But then it hit me—this was her. Kirsty.
My mind raced, tension ratcheting higher with every passing second. I hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but after Bane had kissed away my ability to think and the painkillers had kicked in, exhaustion had overtaken me.
Streetlights framed the edges of the window, casting a ribbon of light that danced with the shadows in my room. When the door snicked shut, I let out a weighted breath. Fear pricked at my skin, cold and sharp. It felt strange knowing I wasn’t really alone. Bane, Montoya, and Jordan were lying in wait nearby, ready. The only company I had at the moment was the steady thudding of my heart in my ears and the waves of nausea rolling through my gut.
The piercing wail of an alarm shattered the stillness, sending my heart rocketing into my throat. Instinctively, I knew this was it. They were here. Bane had warned me they’d likely create a diversion to draw everyone away from this part of the ward. Judging by what sounded like a herd of elephants storming down the corridor, he was right.
Every muscle in my body twitched and coiled tight as adrenaline flooded my veins. I stayed perfectly still, feigning sleep. Playing the part had never been hard for me before; faking it came second nature after years of survival. My chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm, but inside, I was drowning.
Low male voices murmured outside my door, and I knew—this was the moment. Sink or swim. Live or die. One monster was dead, another behind bars. These three were the last ones haunting my life.
The plan was simple: stay still, pretend to be asleep, and don’t engage. Easier said than done. When the door clicked open, my mind went blank, every memory of their touch rushing over me like a tsunami. The cold air hit me as they entered, and I caught their reflections in the windowpane. The Mitchells. They wore white coats, and had their heads lowered as they moved silently into the room, surrounding my bed. It was an echo of the last time they came for me.
The one closest to the door pulled a syringe from his pocket, flicking it like in the movies. My breath caught as he grabbed an IV line and injected the liquid. I held back a laugh that threatened to bubble up and give my ruse away. Little did they know, none of the lines were attached directly to me.
I would not die at their hands.
When they finished, they turned as one to watch the heart monitor, waiting for it to flatline. But it wouldn’t. It never would. Before suspicion could creep in, chaos erupted.
Bane burst from the bathroom like an avenging angel. Jordan and Montoya swept in from the corridor. Wherever they’d been hidden, they moved fast, precise. Each of my assailants were apprehended in less time than it took to blink.
Bane took down the one nearest me with brutal efficiency, kicking the back of his knees in and driving him to the ground. The violent swiftness of it stirred something in me—something my body had no right feeling right now. His knee pinned the man to the floor as he cuffed him and began reading him his Miranda rights.
Jordan and Montoya hauled the others up and dragged them out, leaving no room for escape.
“Well done, angel. I’ll be back in a minute,” Bane said, his eyes meeting mine as calm settled back into the room. His lips twitched into a grin that made my heart stop. He was glowing. “I love you.”
A true smile lifted my lips as they left. I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to feel, but the tears that slid down my cheeks were different this time. They weren’t from pain, despair, or fear. They were cleansing, a baptism of hope.
I was finally free, and it was all because of Bane.
My safe place.
My protector.
My home.
My heart.