Page 55 of Deserving Maisy
“But you aren’t safe with me,” she said so sadly, Stone moved back to see if she was awake and lucid. But she wasn’t. Her eyes were still shut and she was lax in his arms.
On the one hand, he liked that she wasn’t hiding anything from him, and everything made much more sense now that he knew more about why he was taken. But he couldn’t reconcile the woman he’d come to know with someone who apparently was greedy enough to go along with a plan to kidnap a man and force him to marry her for money.
But as soon as he had the thought, it occurred to Stone that it was possible she hadn’t had a choice. Had Jason planned everything without her knowledge? Maybe…but then again, she’d gone along with it. Had stood in front of him and vowed to love and cherish him as if they really were madly in love. And she’d had plenty of opportunities to tell him the truth.
Nothing made sense, but Stone wouldn’t get any more answers to his questions tonight. Maybe not even tomorrow.But eventually he and Maisy were going to sit down and she’d tell him everything. She owed him that much.
“You need to get up, Maisy.”
Sighing, Maisy shook her head and tried to block out Jack’s order.
“Please,Stellina. I need you to concentrate. We need to go.”
She couldn’t resist him when he used that pet name. She loved it. Almost as much as she loved him. No, that was a lie, she couldn’t love anything more than she loved Jack. She rolled over and forced her eyes open.
The room was dark, but with the light coming from the bathroom, she could see her husband sitting next to her with a worried look on his face.
“There you are. I need you to get up. Can you do that?”
Maisy nodded, then clumsily she sat up and tried to shift her legs off the side of the bed. She felt uncoordinated and the room seemed to spin around her.
“That’s it. Let me help you. Lean on me. Good girl.”
His praise felt good, but then she frowned. She didn’t deserve praise. She was a horrible person, but didn’t remember what she’d done to feel that way.
“I’m going to help you to the bathroom, you need to pee before we leave, but first, drink this.”
Blinking, Maisy saw Jack holding a large bottle of water to her lips.
“It’s warm, but it’ll have to do.”
For a split second, she panicked. She didn’t want to be forced to drink the water. She felt as if she was drowningwhen Jason did that…but then the man next to her came into focus. It wasn’t her brother, it was Jack. Her husband. And he wouldn’t hurt her. Not like she’d hurt him.
That thought made her frown, but she reached for the bottle of water anyway.
Jack held it steady for her as she drank but didn’t tip it up, forcing her to take more than she was comfortable with. The second the water hit her tongue, she realized how dry her mouth felt and how thirsty she was. She gulped the water down as fast as she could.
When Jack gently took it away, she whimpered.
“I know you’re thirsty, and water’s good to flush your system out, but I don’t want you getting sick. You can have some more in a bit. Come on, let’s get you to the bathroom.”
She should’ve been embarrassed that he had to help her undo her jeans and get her underwear down, but this was her husband. He knew every inch of her body intimately.
Maisy’s eyes widened slightly when she heard Jack swear quietly, his gaze narrowed on her hip. She looked down as his fingers gently brushed over a large bruise, and she frowned, but she couldn’t recall how she’d hurt herself.
With a tight jaw, Jack helped her sit on the toilet. She refused to let him wipe her, but had to hold onto him again when she stood so she didn’t fall on her face.
Once her pants were fastened, Jack turned her toward him and held her close as he stared at her with a serious expression. “We’re leaving, Maisy. Now.”
She felt as if she was floating, watching them from above. “Okay.”
“I need you to understand what I’m saying. We’regoing to the airport and we’re leaving Seattle, and not coming back anytime soon.”
She nodded and said again, “Okay.” Then thought about what he’d said for another moment. “Good. You need to leave. Did you find your people?” Maisy wasn’t sure what she meant, but she knew it was important.
“Yeah, I did.”
“I’m glad. I bet they were worried. It probably feels good to be worried about. Be free, Jack. Don’t come back. Ever. You aren’t safe here. Martha wasn’t either, and now she’s in the yard. I don’t know for sure, but that’s what I think. She wasn’t safe, and I didn’t know until it was too late. Butyouknow, and you can leave.”
