40. Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty
Luna
Lily came home today even though I begged Dan not to tell her last night. He told me that’s not how they operate, and I understand. I just didn’t want to ruin her trip. I know she’s trying to pack as much “hearing” time in as she can. And there’s nothing better than a child’s laugh.
Khloe stayed in California with Tank, Kelsie, and their son.
The two of them have been fussing over me all day. They tried to get me down for breakfast, but I didn’t go. So they brought it up to me. I both like and hate that.
I don’t want to be a burden to them.
But I also don’t want to leave the safety of this room.
I sit at Kelsie’s vanity and close my eyes, imagining what it would have been like to grow up here.
Lily brings in a stack of sheets.
“After we get your bandages changed, I’ll change your bed.”
“Oh, that’s okay. I can do it.”
Dan steps into the room.
“No, ma’am. I’ve got it,” Lily says, bustling around, pulling the curtains back wide to let the sunlight in.
Dan snaps and points for me to lie down.
He goes over the instructions Doc gave him yesterday to Lily.
She listens as she sets everything up.
When she gets the bandage off, they both wince. “Oh, honey, this looks like it hurts.”
Dan leans in for a closer look. “It’s a little better today,” he says encouragingly.
I glance down. It’s not better. It actually looks angrier.
“Run downstairs and get her a snack. She needs to have something on her stomach when she takes her medication.”
He doesn’t hesitate and turns to do her bidding.
“I hate that I’ve been such a bother. Maybe Carson can move my van up here.”
“Don’t be silly. You are just fine where you’re at. There is no hurry. Dan and I enjoy looking after our family. You are not a burden.”
Before she gets the bandage on, the twins knock on the doorframe, sticking their heads in. “Are you decent?” Carson asks.
His mom waves them in. “She’s dressed. Come here. You can help me with the tape.”
Carson crawls up on the other side of the bed beside me as Cole looks over his mom’s shoulder.
“Ouch!” he says as Carson reaches across me for the tape. “I got shot once.”
His mom’s eyes widen, and Carson draws his fingers over his mouth, telling his brother to zip it.
“I mean not shot. It was like a paintball gun or something. You know, I can’t remember right now.” He starts to back out of the room. “I think I’ll go see if Dad needs a hand.”
Dan pushes him back into the room. “I brought an assortment,” Dan says, setting a tray at the foot of the bed filled with snacks.
Cole immediately helps himself. “Oh, these are good.” He tosses me a package of cookies, and they land in the center of my chest.
“Be careful, or you’re not going to get to visit her,” Lily scolds him gently.
Carson’s focus is on my wound. “I think she needs a little more antibiotic over here,” he says, grabbing a pair of gloves from the supply the Doc left.
Lily hands him the cream and sits back, letting him take care of it. She watches, making sure he does it right.
I stare at the ceiling, unsure what to do with all this attention.
“Much better,” she praises, holding the bandage in place as he tapes around it.
“She needs to take these three times a day,” she tells him after removing her gloves.
He takes his off and then accepts the bottle. His brows pull together as he reads it.
“They’re just a precaution,” Dan adds, doing his best to ease his son’s concerns.
Lily helps me to sit on the side of the bed. “I’ll go make a pitcher of fresh iced tea, and maybe we can go sit outside and enjoy it. It’s a beautiful day,” she says more to herself than anyone else.
She leaves the room, her husband following close behind her.
Carson slides over to sit beside me, his brother still at the end of the bed where all the snacks are.
“Here, let me open them for you,” he says, taking the bag of cookies from me. “Unless you want something else.”
“No, these are fine.” I pass them over to him. “I trust Cole has good taste in snacks.”
“You know it,” he mumbles with a full mouth.
I chuckle, wincing when I do.
Carson places his hand over my shirt where the bandage is. “Are you okay?”
I wave him away. “I’m fine. It just pulls a little when I laugh.”
“Don’t make her laugh again,” he orders Cole.
Which only makes me want to giggle more.
“You stop,” I tell him.
“Both of you stop,” Carver says from the doorway.
“Where have you been?” Cole asks him.
“I’ve been searching for that fucker’s camper. Maybe it will give me some clues …”
Carson immediately cuts him off with a look.
“Clues to what?” I ask, standing up.
All three of them look away from me.
“I think I hear Mom calling,” Cole says, standing.
I rush to the door, pushing it closed so that no one can get out without moving me first, and I know none of them will.
“Tell me. Clues to what?”
Carson walks toward me and takes my hand. “It’s club business. Nothing for you to worry about.” He brushes hair away from my face, tucking it behind my ear.
“No one leaves this room until I know.”
Carver apologizes to Carson. “I’m sorry, man. I wasn’t thinking.”
“I want to know.”
Carson pulls me away from the door and helps me to sit on the bed beside Cole, and then he kneels down in front of me. “The girls that are missing …”
“No.”
Cole wraps his arm around my shoulders as Carson speaks. “He told us he sold them.”
“Sold them?”
Carver lowers himself to the other side of me. “I’m going to find them,” he tells me. “Don’t you worry your pretty little head over it.”
“Is that what he was going to do with me?” I ask, looking him directly in the eye.
“Yeah,” he says, shaking his head like he doesn’t quite believe it himself.
“So he really was planning on taking me in Cheyenne?”
The three men exchange a look because I’m a hundred percent spot on.
“We got what information we could out of him, but Dad shot him in the thigh, and he lost a lot of blood, so he kept passing out on us.”
“Selling women is his profession?”
Carson places his hand on the side of my face. “Was. He won’t be selling anyone else.”
Suddenly everything comes rushing back to me. “He told me Dan was letting him camp on the other side of the stream. He said his camper was over there. He tried to get me to go fishing with him.”
Carver stands up. “I’ll go check it out.”
Cole rises too. “I’ll go with.”
As soon as they’re gone, Carson closes the door. He gives me my antibiotic and then encourages me to lie back, crawling up beside me.
He pulls me into his arms, and I rest my head against his chest.
“Do you think you want to try coming home today?” he asks quietly.
My eyes fall closed.
My nonanswer is my answer.
He gives me a little squeeze. “That’s okay.”
Cole comes back a little later, and they hang out in the room with me. He said they found the camper and that Carver was going through it with a fine-tooth comb over at the warehouse.
At least I was able to help out. I hope he finds something that will lead him to the missing women.
After they leave, and I’m settled in for the night, I hear Dan and Lily talking in their room across the hall. If it was a personal conversation, I would close the door to give them privacy, but they’re talking about mundane things.
“Did you turn the dishwasher on?” Lily asks.
“Yep.”
“Kelsie and Tank are talking about building a house in that spot she loves to the south.”
“They are kind of outgrowing the church,” he says, and then he laughs. “RayRay will be over here all the damn time. He’ll be able to throw a rock and hit our house.”
“Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?”
“It does, and you know Khloe’s going to love it.”
“Maybe we can extend the path over to their new house. You know I have enough rocks.”
“Plenty of rocks, just not enough time.” He laughs.
I lie in bed with my hands curled under my face, listening to them talk about something Mom and I never got to have.
A few minutes later, Dan hovers in my doorway, squinting into the room to see if I’m awake.
I lie perfectly still, closing my eyes.
His footsteps pad across my room, and I hold my breath. He comes to the bedside and sets something on the nightstand. Then he makes his way over to the window and jiggles the lock, making sure it’s secure.
“Good night, Luna,” he whispers before pulling my door halfway closed, leaving it open just enough that the light from the hallway cuts across the floor.
As soon as I hear him go back to his room, I let out a whoosh of air, tears springing to my eyes. He was just checking on me, making sure I had everything I needed.
I stare at the bottle of water he left on my nightstand … and I cry.
Because for a moment I was afraid. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get my dad out of my head, and now Tim’s there too.
“She’s tucked in like a bug in a rug,” I hear Dan say to his wife.
“Good. Is she asleep?”
“No.”
He knew.
And that’s how it goes for the next week.
Every night he comes into my room. The first couple of times I held my breath, but now I treasure every second of it. It makes me feel special.
Safe.
Last night he kissed his fingertips and then pressed them to the top of my head. I cried for two hours straight because it felt so fucking nice.
Dan is slowly making me feel safe in bed again.