Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76381 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76381 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
“I saw her today,” she admitted.
“Yeah, I may have barged in there when I couldn’t find you. Did it go okay?”
“I think I owe you a bit of an apology.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I kind of do.”
“You have every right to be mad at me. Or to feel distrustful of me. I shouldn’t have kept that from you.”
“It’s not just that,” she said. “That’s part of it, feeling like you’ve been lying,” she said, making my guts twist even if, at the time, I felt like I’d been doing the right thing.
Clearly, I shouldn’t have trusted my gut on that one. First, because she was hurt by the dishonesty. But second, because had she known we went there and that the men were gone, she might have been more aware of the potential for them to show up. Maybe all of this could have been avoided.
“But I think most of the bad feelings were more about my PTSD rushing back and taking over me.”
“I understand that. You were really upset. Can’t tell you how sorry I am about that.”
“I know,” she said, sucking in a deep breath. “I’m sorry for rushing out too.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for,” I insisted.
“We need to be able to discuss things.”
“Sure,” I agreed. “But it’s not unhealthy to take some space first to get our emotions under control before we talk. Things are different with us right now than normal couples. You are still trying to learn ways to cope with your trauma and PTSD. It’s okay if we are kind of tripping through this for a while until we find our stride.”
“Yeah,” she agreed, turning her head to rest the side of her face against my chest.
I reached for the luffa, dipping it into the water to gather some of the soap, and starting to rub it across her chest, down her arms, over her belly, down her legs as far as I could reach.
She went loose against me, her breathing slow and deep. Like I was literally washing away what was left of her anxiety and fear.
Silently, she turned, sliding her legs over mine and nuzzling her face into my neck as I started to wash her back.
We stayed just like that until the water grew cool, making a shiver rack Vienna’s body.
We climbed out silently and dried off.
I snuck out in just my towel, going across the hall to get some fresh clothes, knowing mine could contain blood that I didn’t want tracing back to my crimes.
By the time I was dressed, Vienna was coming in, going to her wardrobe to get a hoodie and then one of her giant cardigans and, finally, fluffy socks.
I tamped down my worries that she was going to go back into her cocoon again, reminding myself that healing wasn’t linear, that it would be okay if she was diving into her nest and books for another few days or weeks after such a traumatic event.
There was a soft knock at the door, making Vienna jolt before Coach leaned his head in.
“Detroit made food,” he said. “Breakfast,” he added with a knowing smile. Everyone was aware that Vienna’s favorite meal was breakfast. Especially the carb-heavy shit like pancakes, waffles, and French toast.
“You hungry?” I asked.
“Starving,” she said, grabbing Vernon, and following me back down into the common area.
I watched as Vienna loaded her plate then steadily worked her way through it all while listening to Colter share some stories about his travels in the military, clearly just trying to keep the mood light.
Eventually, Vienna made her way back upstairs with Morgaine, and I stayed back to speak to Slash about all the shit that had gone down.
Rook, apparently, had been able to track down the movements of Marshall thanks to the cell phones that were found in the van.
Which gave Crow and Raff a direction to move in, but only after picking up Sway and Judge, just to make sure there was no way they would be outnumbered.
“I should be going,” I said, feeling torn in two directions.
“You need to be here with Vienna,” Slash insisted. “Think you racked up enough bodies for yourself today.”
He wasn’t wrong.
I’d taken out Vienna’s abuser.
Now, I needed to be her comfort person again.
When I made my way back into the room, she was under her pile of blankets, but as soon as she saw me, she pulled the covers away to let me slide inside with her, then slid up on my chest like she did every other night.
“Reid?” she called what felt like ages later, when I thought she had drifted off to sleep.
“Yeah, darlin’?”
“Thank you.”
“You have nothing to thank me for.”
“You’ve saved me twice now,” she said, her fingers tracing something against my chest that felt suspiciously like a heart.
“Would save you a thousand times if I needed to,” I told her, leaning down to press a kiss to the top of her head.