Page 76 of Keep Me Safe
The other man, who I couldn’t see, responded, and Juric’s gaze drifted back to me. Sticks and gravel crunched underfoot as the other man went, leaving me alone with the pair of unflinching eyes I hated.
He put a hand under each arm and drew me forward, up into his embrace. I wanted to fight, but I was too weak. It took everything I had just to remain standing. When he pulled a hand away and saw it was wet with my blood, he frowned. Some sort of decision was made, and he bent, putting one arm around my back and the other behind my knees so he could scoop me up.
“Don’t,” I groaned in pain.
He ignored that and carried me in his arms, sloshing through the forest. I struggled to stay conscious and lucid, but every blink made my surroundings change.
“It’s not that much farther,” he said.
When I blinked again, we were beside the Mercedes. He set me on my feet and leaned me against the car, but as he reached for the door handle my knees gave out and my body crumbled.
“Shit,” he gasped. Rough hands grabbed me to stop my collapse.
I was aware he was holding me, but he’d done worse things, so I wasn’t going to waste what little energy I had left fighting him right now. I simply had to survive until rescue could get to me.
He sat me in the passenger seat, and his hands were unsteady when he unscrewed the cap to the water bottle before passing it to me. He’d been so controlled and confident yesterday. It was like my escape had unraveled him, just a little.
I drank and drank, until the water bottle was empty. He started the car and blasted the heat on high, but it did nothing to remove the chill. My bones felt like they were made of ice. I expected him to produce handcuffs or another needle, but all he did was stare at the steering wheel, looking puzzled.
What the hell was going on? I folded my arms around my body?—
Everything went black.
I came to, curled up on a plush rug. The tile floor beneath it was hard and cold, but I didn’t mind. I was warm and it didn’t hurt anymore. I felt... good. Happy, even.
There was a noise that took a moment to identify. A shower running. I pushed up on my hands, so I could sit and take in my surroundings.
This wasn’t the tiny bathroom in the basement—it was large and open. The all-glass shower had a seat in it. My head was foggy, dulling the alarm I should be feeling. Where was I?
Juric leaned against the counter, watching me intently, his face filled with something that might pass as concern.
“Are you in any pain?”
I ignored him and put a dirt-caked foot underneath my body, pulling myself up with a hand on the counter. Which was not a good idea, and he was ready when everything blurred from moving too quickly.
“Where am I?” I recovered and tried to back out of the arms that trapped me.
“Where we were before.”
I hoped the relief that swept through me didn’t show. He could have moved me while I was passed out, derailing my plan?—
“What are you doing?” I cried.
He unbuttoned my dirt-encrusted pants and peeled them down to my ankles. Then he knelt and urged me to step out of them by grasping my leg above the wadded pants and lifting.
Was this real? What the hell was happening?Independent of my brain, my body complied, eager to get out of the wet, muddy pants.
His voice was hushed. “Can you take off your shirt, please?”
It was so confusing, it would have made me dizzy if I weren’t already. When I didn’t move, he stood, grasped the hem of my shirt ,and dragged the damp fabric up, which clung to me. My body refused to fight him, like my brain was no longer online.
I stood before him again in just my undergarments. I’d been so focused on what was happening, I hadn’t realized there was a large mirror behind him.
“Don’t look,” he said, but it was too late.
The side of my body streaked with blood. Bruises, mud... the purple-yellow swollen cheek. I didn’t care right now. I knew I should, but my thoughts were fuzzy.
He brushed a piece of wet, clumped hair off my forehead. Like he cared about me. I pushed his hand away and had to brace myself against the counter right after. I had to get away from him.
