Thirty-One
Bay
By the time I warmed up Hale’s breakfast from the meals that Ellen had left in the refrigerator and took it up to him, whatever pain medicine he’d taken had knocked him out.
Not sure how long he would sleep, I decided to wait a little bit before taking the food back down to the kitchen to keep warm.
Finding the kitchen would have been a little difficult because I hadn’t gone there from this room before and the place felt like a labyrinth, but Slash had led the way. He was a dog on a mission and wanted to be fed his breakfast as well. I’d handled that before I did anything else.
Placing the tray I had brought up on the dresser that sat on the opposite wall as his bed, I picked up the coffee I had made for myself and went over to the sofa to wait.
He hadn’t said I was to sit in here with him all the time, but we hadn’t talked about that before he said he was hungry.
I hadn’t considered he would be asleep by the time I returned.
Curling my feet up beside me, I took a drink from the cup and studied the room while Slash made himself comfortable beside me.
Hale’s bed was centrally located and could not be any more masculine with the black cowhide cover and cream fur quilt folded at the end.
The wall behind it was stone with backlighting breaking up the darkness of the colors.
The chandelier that hung from the ceiling was made up of bound branches that formed a circle and had over at least two dozen pillar candles sitting atop it.
The dresser, which perhaps was more of a chest when I looked at it from this angle, had four iron doors and was encased in what I thought was teakwood.
Above it hung a flat screen that took up the majority of the wall and looked more like a cinematic piece of art than anything.
There was a door that was open on the side of the bed where he was sleeping.
I hadn’t looked inside the en suite, but from here, I could see more stone and marble.
I was sure the bathroom was just as impressive as everything else.
My gaze went back to the bed, where Hale slept.
I tried to wrap my head around all of this.
How I had gotten to this place, all I’d been through in less than a week, and now here I sat, playing nursemaid to the man who had caused all my trauma.
Hearing him talk to his daughter had once again humanized him.
Taking away yet another layer of the monster I’d believed him to be.
His phone began to ring, startling me and Slash, whose head snapped up from where he’d laid it on my lap. I jumped up, hurrying over to silence the sound. I didn’t want it to wake him, but I also couldn’t answer it. When I finally reached it, Hale’s eyes were opened, but not fully.
“See who it is,” he muttered.
I glanced down at the screen.
“Ransom,” I told him.
“Answer it. Tell ’im I’m sleeping and see what he wants.”
I stared at it for one more second before sliding my finger over the screen, then lifting it to my ear.
“Um, hello?” I said, feeling very uncomfortable with this.
“He sleeping?” the deep voice asked over the line.
“Yes. Well, he is, but he wants to know if you need something.”
Hale’s eyes were closed, but the corner of his mouth lifted in a half smile. Why was that funny?
“Just calling to see if he’s cooperating or being difficult,” he replied. “Noa was worried about you.”
“Oh, well, uh, we are fine. He woke up and was hurting, so I gave him the pill that the doctor had left. He hasn’t eaten yet because he fell asleep while I was getting breakfast.”
Ransom grunted, much the same way his father had. “All right. Call if things change.”
“I will,” I assured him. Then the call ended, and I placed his phone back down beside him.
“Did you eat?” Hale asked, still not opening his eyes.
“No,” I replied. “But I did feed Slash.”
“Eat mine,” he said groggily. “I’ll eat something else when I’m not so fucking drugged.”
I glanced over at his food, and it did smell delicious. “Okay,” I agreed.
“Snow,” he said as I was walking over to the food.
“Yes?”
“When you want something, go get it. Don’t wait for permission.”
This Hale was different. I wasn’t sure just how to take him. The change had happened so quickly much like it had in the vehicle back in DC when he’d abducted me.
“Okay,” I finally agreed.
Taking the plate of food that Ellen had prepared for him, I went to sit back down and eat.
But my eyes kept finding it hard to stop looking at the man sleeping in the bed across from me.
He had been shot by drug dealers. He’d abducted me, made me strip naked and bend over so he could look in my butt.
And yet…I didn’t hate him. Not even close.
Perhaps the insanity was contagious, and I was coming down with it.
“Thanks for feeding Slash,” he mumbled.
Other than Hale waking up to eat, have me walk with him to the bathroom and turn my back while he urinated, and drink some coffee, he had been asleep. The doctor had said to give him the pain medicine every four hours, and it was keeping him down for the most part.
My cheeks still heated as I thought about standing so close to him while he used the toilet. It’d felt way too intimate, and yet he’d acted as if it was normal. I wasn’t a trained nurse.
The doctor had to know the criminal activity Hale was involved in. I mean, he had cleaned the shot wound and stitched him up here. At this house. Which meant he did this often.
I realized I was chewing my thumbnail and stopped. I heard faint footsteps and looked toward the door.
Than had come by to take Slash out for a run since Hale wouldn’t be able to do it, and they had yet to return.
He had said he might take Slash home with him for a while.
Give me something less to do. Although I enjoyed Slash’s company.
He wasn’t a chore at all. I was hoping he had changed his mind and was here to return him.
There was a brief knock on the door, and then it opened. Ransom and Noa came walking in, carrying a white paper bag. They glanced from Hale to me before Noa moved closer to me.
“How’s he been?” she whispered.
“Fine. Sleeping a lot,” I told her.
She smiled. “Good. I was hoping that was the case since we hadn’t heard from you.” She looked back over her shoulder at Hale. “We are here to give you a break. Go shower, eat, whatever you want or need to do. We’ve got him for a few hours.”
I did want a shower and to put on actual clothes.
“Okay, um, thanks,” I said, although that seemed odd to be thanking them for taking care of their family member. I wasn’t an employee.
She seemed to think the same thing with the amused expression on her face.
“It’s us who should be thanking you for doing this. I was hoping when he woke up, he’d want to get a nurse and free you.”
I didn’t want to admit I wasn’t mad about that. I’d not hated today. And I felt useful.
“It’s fine. I don’t mind,” I said, then glanced over at him quickly before making my way to the door.
His son was here, and he would be okay without me.
Also, I needed to clear my head of all the new things running through it and get myself straight. For example, I hadn’t been lying. I hadn’t minded helping Hale today. Even in pain, the man had a way about him. One that I was drawn to. Dangerously close. I had to back up.