“Mia?” He nudges me again, and I know if I don’t look up at him, he’s only going to continue to do the very same thing until I give him my attention. What the man doesn’t know is that he’s had my undivided attention all along.
I take in the dark scruff on his face. It’s only grown thicker as he has stayed by my side constantly. Tattoos peek out from the V-neck of his t-shirt, and although I’m curious, it’s his dark eyes peering down at me that garners all of my attention. They’re filled with a sincerity I’ve never seen before, and it’s what I focused on when he and his team came into that room. The gear and guns should’ve scared me, and at first they did, but then he crouched low and spoke my name, and I swore he was some sort of avenging angel sent to emancipate me from Hell.
And he did all of that and more. I know he doesn’t have to sit with me. He could’ve easily ignored me when I reached for him that first time. He could’ve let the doctors sedate me like they were discussing when I reached for him again only moments after waking to find him gone.
“They’re going to discharge you this afternoon,” he repeats, his voice calming and soft. “Do you understand?”
I nod, knowing what’s going to happen and hating the world for it.
“Your parents want you to go home.”
My eyes dart across the room, finding my dad holding onto my sobbing mother. I think she’s cried more tears since I woke up than I did the entire time I was gone, and that’s saying a lot since my face was constantly wet.
“Is that what you want?”
My head shakes violently.
“Where do you want to go?”
I cling to him again, but he nudges my chin with his strong hand when I try to bury my face in his chest.
“Where, Mia? Where will you feel safe?”
My throat is drier than I realize when I open my mouth to speak. It takes a few tries before I’m able to speak. Short of my screaming fits a few days ago; I haven’t spoken at all.
“With you,” I finally manage. “I want to be with you.”
Silence fills the room, but I don’t have to look at my family to know they are staring at me. Sensing eyes on me was one of the first skills I honed after being abducted. Drawing attention to yourself always meant bad news, and even now, in the safety of his arms and under the scrutiny of his dark eyes, terror once again fills my blood. My heart begins to race, and I’m thankful that the monitors have been removed because otherwise, everyone in this room would know how scared I was becoming. They’d see my weakness and use it against me.
“Shh,” Ryan coos as he places his warm palm on my neck and urges me against his chest. I go willingly, knowing that I’m safe in the cocoon of his arms.
“That’s not going to happen,” Max hisses after a long silent moment.
“She needs to be with her family,” Pa adds.
“I can take care of her,” Ma says on another sob.
I love my mother dearly, and I know her heart is in the right place even though it’s broken into tiny shreds, but the incessant crying is driving me up the wall. She doesn’t have a clear picture of what happened to me, and I never want her to, but I listened to constant crying for weeks. Every day was filled with the tears and pleas of broken women who had no other recourse to survival other than weeping the time away. I’ve had more than enough of it.
The tremors start in my hands, and before long, they’ve made their way into my arms and down my spine until my body is shaking uncontrollably. My teeth chatter as if I’m stuck in the tundra with nothing to protect my skin from the freezing temps, and I doubt I’ll ever be warm again.
“Jason misses her and is expecting her home,” Ma whispers.
“Fuck him,” Max spits, and if I weren’t a shivering mess, I might have smiled at his outburst.
I don’t miss Jason at all. I don’t miss his arms around me or the huge rock he put on my finger months ago. I don’t miss the way he’d parade me around his friends and at parties, showing me off like a prized cow rather than the love of his life. Before he even proposed, I had begun to feel like I was just another steppingstone, just another expectation from his bosses at the law firm he’s been trying to make partner at for the last three years. Established men in law were supposed to be married, and having a couple of kids to pose for the Christmas card was an added bonus.
“She’s going to New Mexico.”
“Abso-fucking-lutely not!” Max yells. “She needs to be home with her family.”
“You want to talk about what your family needs?” Ryan seethes, but I hear his jaw snap forcibly shut when I twist his shirt in my hand. “It’s not a discussion. It’s what she wants.”
Chapter 3
Scooter
“You’re going to love New Mexico,” I tell Mia as we load into the shuttle. “The weatherman is predicting a dusting of snow later this week. I know that’s probably hard to think about considering it’s over seventy degrees here in Florida, but we’ll need to grab you a jacket at the airport.”
Her brother rolls his eyes before focusing out the window.
For all the protesting Max did at the hospital, he hasn’t said a negative word since we left yesterday. He didn’t even complain about sleeping on the couch in the hotel room we got last night a mile from the airport when we discovered that all flights to New Mexico were full. It didn’t keep his eyes from glaring at me when I climbed in bed with Mia and let her wrap herself around me.
One snide comment about that shit, and I would’ve knocked his damn head off. The man doesn’t know me, but he’s well aware of the reputation of the Cerberus men. He should know that I don’t take what’s going on with Mia lightly, and even though she’s still gorgeous even with her broken arm and bruise-covered face, I’m not an opportunist willing to compromise her mental health for a little grinding.
Even though there will be nothing more between Mia and me than offering her the comfort she only seems to find with me, I’m not bitter or even agitated with her neediness. I feel inadequate most days when even my arms around her doesn’t seem to be enough to keep the nightmares at bay.
Last night was worse rather than better as I’d hoped. I figured the quiet would soothe her, but the room is darker, and the lack of activity just made it easier to hear the sporadic noises that accompany a hotel. I would’ve gotten the presidential suite at the most expensive hotel in town if I thought it would ease her even a little.
She refused the clothes her mother brought her, and she somehow ended up in my sleep pants and t-shirt. I offered to stand guard outside of the bathroom door while she showered because she began shaking like a leaf again when I suggested the warm water would feel amazing. She dragged me inside the bathroom and locked the door, so I stood with my back to her, steam filling the room as she took a three-minute shower. Thank fuck, Max had left to go grab food because I probably would’ve gotten my ass kicked for that.
Warmer than I’m used to air hits us in the face when we climb out of the shuttle. Max hovers near his sister, but she stays at my side. I know it grates on him that he’s not the one she’s leaning on, but he needs to realize that she was abducted thinking he’d been dead for the last ten years. So not only does she have to deal with what happened while she was here, but she also has to wrap her head around the fact that her twin is back amongst the living. Just that alone is enough to make nearly any sane person crazy.