Chapter 12
The room filled with florescent light and Celine slammed her eyes shut against the painful brightness. Fear gripped her in a tight fist and she twisted on the bed, pulling her knees up to her chest into a tight ball.
Open your eyes. Where was she?
“Celine, sweetheart, look at me.” A rough voice penetrated the fog around her brain and Celine peeked into the concerned brown eyes of Aaron Speirs.
No, how could he be here? She must be having another dream. “Not real.”
Aaron barked orders over his shoulder. “Give me something to stop the bleeding, dammit.” Then he turned back to her, still the same soft expression on his features. “I am real. You were unconscious. My team and I rescued you. You’re safe.”
The cold and shock gripped her on the inside, leaving her shaking. A bone deep kind of cold like she would never be warm again. It was too much to take in. “The girl in the blue burka. She was just here.”
Another voice, this one different yet distinctly female, filled the room, “I think she was having a nightmare.”
Celine looked past Aaron’s shoulder. A nun in a black robe, her face uncovered and filled with sympathy, gave him a hand towel.
“Celine, this is Sister Mary Catherine, she's been tending to your injuries.” As if scared he might break her, Aaron gently touched her right arm.
Celine jerked at the contact and he yanked his hand back, a flash of pain flickering across his gaze.
“You ripped out your IV. I need to stop the bleeding.” He nodded toward her arm and Celine glanced down to see blood oozing out of her arm.
And that she was naked from the waist up.
She swallowed and stared up at Aaron as tears filled her eyes.
His gaze held hers as he gently answered her silent plea and raised the sheet.
“I'm – I'm sorry.”
“Shh, you don't have anything to be sorry for. You woke up in a strange place, scared and alone,” he said.
He looked at her with such understanding her chest squeezed and another wave of tears welled. Celine bit her lip, afraid to talk and not sure what she would say anyway.
“I’m going to take off these restraints. We were trying to make sure you didn’t wake up and accidentally fall from the bed until the drugs wore off.” He offered her a tight smile; one that didn’t reach his eyes at all.
“Okay,” she said.
His movements hesitant, Aaron pulled the Velcro bands from her wrists. His fingers brushed her skin for a whisper of a second and then he eased back. Celine felt the loss of that contact immediately.
Sister Mary Catherine came around to the other side of the bed and placed the stack of gauze near her hip. “I'm going to put pressure on the wound and then wrap it and get you cleaned up. Okay?”
The Sister waited for Celine’s nod of approval before tending to her arm.
Her wrinkled hands moved with efficiency.
The nun discarded the dirty gauze and then opened a metal cabinet right behind her and pulled out a gown.
All the while Aaron hovered protectively to her left, not getting too close or too far away.
His presence helped take the edge off her frayed nerves and she silently prayed he would stay.
“Sir, would you mind stepping from the room while I help her change?” Sister Mary Catherine said.
Aaron stood, hesitating at her side.
Celine went cold. “No!”
He froze.
“I want him to stay.” Her panic didn't ease until he was back at her side, holding the demons at bay.
Sister Mary Catherine clucked her tongue and said, “My dear, I can change you, it will only be a few minutes.”
“He can do it.” Her mind was in a fog, unable to grasp anything that was real and only able to latch onto one truth – Aaron made her feel safe.
“I’ll help her. You can go now,” Aaron said, this time more insistently. If Celine didn’t want anyone but him in the room, he was going to make damn sure every one of her wants were met from this point forward.
The nun pinned Aaron with a hard stare and Celine was thankful the woman's wrath was not directed at her.
“Fine, but I will be back in five minutes to clean the floors and change the sheets.” Sister Mary Catherine dropped the new gown on Celine's legs and quietly left the room.
“Celine, are you sure you want me here?”
“Yes, I want you. Just – don't leave, please.”
“I'll do whatever you need me to do.” He took her hand in his, her skin warming in his grip, his touch flooding her senses with the overwhelming sensation of protection.
“Can you help me sit up?”
He put an arm behind her and helped ease her up into a sitting position.
A wave of dizziness rolled around inside her head as if she’d spun on a tilt-a-whirl.
She grabbed his other arm and he held her, strong and steady.
She waited until the dizzy spell passed, held the sheet to her chest and then swung her legs around to dangle off the bed.
Everything about this room was sterile: the walls, the florescent lights, the silver medical devices.
Everything except for her blood covering the floor.
Careful to miss the drops, she eased one and then the other foot onto the floor, but the room tilted again. Strong, warm hands circled her waist. “I’ve got you.”
“Thank you.”
“You're welcome,” he whispered, his rough voice tickling her ear. “Can you stand up on your own?”
Celine closed her eyes with the delicious sensation. “I think so.”
“Okay, now what do you want me to do?”
He looked to her for instruction. Celine knew the second she dropped the sheet, he’d see her fully naked. Memories of rough hands danced around her periphery and she lifted the sheet out from her chest, staring down at the glaring marks there. “You’ve already seen me.”
He cleared his throat and a tremor worked through him. “Yes. I had to check and make sure you were stable enough to transport.”
She swallowed the lump forming in her throat.
He’d seen the bruises left by her first captor then.
He must be disgusted. She was disgusted.
And then someone had drugged her – when?
How long had she been unconscious? Had she been raped while she was out?
The tears returned and she slammed her eyes shut, trying to assess her body.
She couldn’t feel any terrible pain down there, but her whole body hurt.
How would she know? Would she ever know?
?? Somehow. not knowing whether or not she had been violated was worse than if it had happened while she was cognizant.
To be so defenseless; so full of questions…
“Celine, I’m sorry. I had to check for life threatening injuries. Do you want me to call the nurse back in here?” Aaron’s voice was harsh and low and filled with hurt.
She kept her eyes squeezed tight and jerked her head to say no. As ashamed as she was for him to see the marks of an aggressor who rendered her powerless, she didn’t want him to leave.
She couldn’t handle being alone.