Page 39 of Savior
“Well, if you aren’t going to drink, take a few deep breathes for me at least.” He sounds impatient with me. I take a deep inhale through my nose, catching the unmistakable scent of cigarettes, leather and incense. “What happened? Are you ill?” the gravelly voice asks once again.
“I… I haven’t been feeling well…” I stammer.
His long fingers sweep across my forehead, moving my hair before they press against my skin. “Well, you aren’t hot.” He replies. “At least, not in the fevered sense of the term.”
Raising my hands to my face, I rub my eyes, hoping to clear my vision. When I open them again, the face before me isn’t one I ever expected to see.
“Legion?”
The corner of his mouth curls slightly into a faint half grin. “Ah, I see you didn’t hit your head too hard. I was beginning to wonder.”
“What happened?”
“You fainted.” He dryly replies.
“How did… Where…” Why can’t I form a cohesive sentence? I have so many questions I want to ask him after what Tamra said to me at the party.
“You just left the primary care clinic.” He replies, pushing that bottle of water at me again. He grabs my hand, forcing me to take it. “It’s just water. Drink it. You’ll feel better.” He insists. When I hesitate, he snatches it back from me, tipping his head back as he pours some into his own mouth and swallows. Shoving the bottle back at me, he almost scowls as he says, “See? Just water.” As if insulted by my distrust. I take a few gulps. “Good girl.” He growls. “Now, do you think you can stand?” He offers me his hand, which I take, and he hoists me back to my feet. I realize I’ve been leaning against my own car.
“Did you drag me over here?” I ask, brushing the back of my legs off. I wonder how he knew this was my car. Then again, maybe he just remembered my car from the lot behind the Ametrine Cauldron that day he came to the shop. I was alone that day. My car had been the only one parked behind the shop… But that seems so long ago.
Legion watches me as he removes a pack of cigarettes from his cut, and a zippo. Flicking the pack open he pulls one out with his teeth, before lighting it and returning the pack and lighter to his pockets. He pulls a long drag from the cigarette and lets the smoke billow from his mouth. “You made it this far. I only sat you up.” He looks me over for a moment, a kind of sneer etching across his features as his eyes slightly squint at me. “Worried I copped a feel?”
That didn’t even occur to me. His words immediately make me feel uncomfortable, and I guess my expression tells him so.
“I didn’t… You were only out a few minutes.”
I glance around the parking lot, wondering how he even saw me. “This is a medical complex.” He only continues to watch me. “Were you at the… the meeting?” I gesture awkwardly towards the clinic where they treat substance abuse and hold support groups. He doesn’t answer me. “I’m sorry… I know that’s supposed to be anonymous… Forget I asked…” I stammer, feeling like an ass. “Thanks for helping me.”
“My pleasure.” He grins, seemingly amused by my discomfort.
“I should probably go.” I say, looking around for my bag.
“Your purse is on the hood.” Legion cocks his chin towards my car. “Are you sure you’re alright to drive? Should you not call someone? Keegan, perhaps?” I notice there’s an edge to his words, in the way he refers to Dean.
“I’m fine… I was probably just dehydrated.” I say. Legion nods at the water bottle I’m still holding, then gestures with a flicking motion of his hand for me to drink some more.
“Finish that. Then you may go.” He says, a notable insistence in his tone. My first impulse is to marvel at his audacity, but he’s right. I should at least drink the bottle of water. And probably eat something when I get home. We stand in relative silence as I finish the water, and he finishes his cigarette.
Flicking the butt away, Legion steps towards me, grabbing the purse from the hood of my car and handing it to me. “I trust you feel well enough to drive?”
I pull my keys out of the bag and slide my arm through the straps of the purse, resting them on my shoulder. “You don’t talk like a biker.” I say, beeping my car unlocked. “You never really have.” He doesn’t respond, only looks at me as if he’s considering my words. As if they caught him by surprise. “I mean, you look like a biker… The leather cut over the hoodie… the tattoos. That edge of danger you all seem to have to some degree.” He chuckles at my words now, reaching around me to open the car door. “You seem like too much of a loner to be in an MC. Let alone leading one.” Not to mention, that oddly alluring aura he has.
He doesn’t respond to my remarks, saying instead, “Straight home, Vanna. You don’t have far to go.”
“How would you know?”
Something softens behind his grey eyes as he looks at me, but only for a second. I’d have missed it if we weren’t standing within such close proximity. “The news.” He replies, “I recognized your old rental… next door to the Keegan farm… When that story broke…”
“Oh.”
“What a nightmare.” He stares at me, a slow, slight shaking of his head. “I do hope you are alright, after everything that-”
“I’m fine.” I say quickly. I can barely talk about what happened with Dean. I’m not about to discuss anything with Legion. “We’re both fine.”
Legion nods once, curtly, then gestures for me to get into my car as he holds it open wider. “Be well, Vanna.”
I try not to look at him suspiciously, while sliding into my car. Dean has warned me numerous times that Legion isn’t a friend. That he’s a bad, dangerous man. I have yet to see any real evidence of that, for myself. Once again, Legion has treated me with a sort of polite, though maybe a tad bit gruff, level of kindness.
