Page 38 of Shadows Relived
Callen lay on the bed and watched her move: smooth, nurturing, strong. Even when she was wrangling a half-asleep Lucas, who refused to wear socks, she looked beautiful. Her hair was a little messy, her shoulders tight with stress, but every motion was confident. Careful. Fierce.
He didn’t deserve someone like her. Not even close.
Later, when she had tucked the kids into one bed, curled into one another like sleepy puppies, with the television playing a muted cartoon loop, Meaghan sat beside him on the second bed. She peeled back his shirt with careful fingers, wincing at the angry red gash beneath the bandage.
“Let’s take a look at you.”
He winced as she helped him sit up and eased his shirt over his head. The gauze she’d wrapped around him earlier was stained, dried to the skin in places.
She winced with him. “This is going to suck.”
“Just don’t faint. It’ll still be four hours until someone else gets here for the kids.”
“I’m not the one who got shot, soldier.”
“Still bleeding,” she murmured, reaching forthe kit she’d bought at the drugstore. “You need stitches, but we’ll make do.”
He hissed as the antiseptic hit the wound. “Hellfire, woman. Are you trying to kill me?”
She smiled grimly. “If I wanted you dead, I wouldn’t be so careful.”
She redressed the wound carefully, her hands gentle but sure. She used a fresh disinfectant pad to clean the angry gash, and he bit down on the inside of his cheek, squeezing the edge of the mattress.
“Talk to me,” he rasped, wincing at the pain. “Keep me distracted.”
She dipped her head, focusing on the wound. “Did I ever tell you that when I was eight, I wanted to be a park ranger, rather than a teacher?”
He blinked at her, not sure she had ever shared that with him when they were younger. “Really?”
She smiled faintly. “Yeah. I liked the uniform.”
He laughed, but it came out as a cough.
She pressed a palm to his chest. “Breathe, Callen. Easy now.”
“I’ve seen no one handle pressure like you,” he whispered. “You kept those kids safe. Kept me safe.”
Her hands stilled, then resumed the work. “You brought them out. You got us through it.”
“Only because you were there,” he whispered
She glanced up, her eyes shining even in the motel’s dim lamplight. “Don’t say things like that when you’re bleeding.”
“Too late.”
The moment stretched as her fingers lingered at hisside, warm and trembling just slightly.
“You shouldn’t have to do this,” he mumbled.
“You think I’d let anyone else touch you right now?” she shot back, voice low. “After everything?”
She finished wrapping him up and settled beside him, careful not to jostle his side. For a while, they just sat there, her head against his shoulder, his fingers lightly curled around hers. The kids snored softly on the other bed. Outside, the swamp hummed with night sounds, muffled by the hum of the A/C.
It wasn’t peace. But it was close.
And Callen would take it.
He exhaled, letting the pain settle into something bearable. The motel room buzzed with faint neon and the dull thrum of the air conditioner. Outside, a car passed on the road, tires splashing through leftover rain.
