by KB Anne
I smiled to myself. It seemed that Ben had accepted me or at least planned to tolerate me for Christian’s sake. He was lucky to have to great guys like Ben and Coda around.
I pushed open Christian’s door, the pile of goodies balanced in my arms. “Miss me?” A Snicker bar teetered dangerously off the pile. Before it crashed to the floor, I rushed over to his bed and dumped my cache of baked goods and candy. I stepped back and narrowly avoided crashing into Dr. Wynn. “Oh sorry,” I giggled. “I didn’t realize anyone was in here.”
Christian’s face lit up.
“Good morning,” Dr. Wynn said. She clucked her tongue as she examined the pile of food I dumped on his bed. I couldn’t tell if she was mad or amused by the load of goodies. “I see you found the café.”
“Yes ma’am, I thought he might want some munchies.” I flashed my best “sorry” shrug.
She clucked her tongue again. “Christian seems to suffer from amnesia. He claims he has no idea where the bruised ribs, contusions, and lacerations came from.” Her eyes narrowed, but his face remained impassive. “Do you know anything about them?”
“No ma’am,” I replied, pulling a loose thread from the bottom of his blanket. “Christian hasn’t told me anything, and like I said last night, I found him in this condition.”
She cast a stink eye in my direction. I took a step back and studied the black and white floor tiles. “Christian, you need rest,” she said, “and if you need pain management, use it. There’s no need to play the hero in this hospital. Martyrs don’t impress anyone here. Do you understand?”
Lady, you have no idea.
“Yes ma’am, I’ll get some sleep.”
She slipped the clipboard under her arm. “And your pain management?”
“And my pain meds,” he conceded, “if I need them.”
“Good,” she said. She turned back to me. “Make sure he does what he’s agreed to.”
“I will.”
Christian peeked his head out behind her and stuck his tongue out at me.
When Dr. Wynn left, I rushed over to the bed and tossed him a wrapped muffin.
He caught it in the air. The plastic wrapping crinkled as he examined the packaging. “Blueberry, my favorite!”
I removed the wrapping from my own muffin and took a bite. I let the sweetness hit the back of my taste buds. “Not bad, but I know someone who makes them waayyy better.”
“Oh yeah?” he said before taking a bite. “Who?”
“This guy I met a week or so ago. He used to hide in the corner of the class wearing black and being all antisocial.”
He swallowed his mouthful. The red gash on his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down, a constant reminder of his torture. “And now?”
“And now he bakes the best muffins in the entire world, wears pink, and wants to protect everyone.”
“I don’t wear pink,” he denied.
“But you do want to protect everyone?”
He shrugged as he tossed the muffin wrapper on his tray. “Well, not everyone.”
“Christian, we can’t beat the Organization if we don’t talk about what happened to you. We need to be honest with each other.”
“You heard the doctor. I need my rest,” he said.
“Christian…,” I started to push, but the dark circles under his eyes stopped me. He looked exhausted. “Fine, get some sleep, and we’ll talk about it later.”
His crooked smile cropped up because he thought he won this round. “I’ll need a goodnight kiss though.”
It was only midmorning, but I didn’t correct him. I eased onto the bed. His eyes brightened in anticipation. “Is that so?” I asked as I bent over. The machines started beeping again. I closed my eyes and softly kissed him. He pushed up to extend it, but I broke away. It was one of the toughest things I’ve ever had to do. “Go to sleep.”
Disappointment filled his face. “Later,” I said. One little word with so much promise.
“Sweet dreams, Sunshine,” he whispered with his eyes closed.
I laughed at his term of endearment for me. “Sweet dreams, Goth boy.”
“Oh, they will be.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Christian’s chest rose and fell at the slow, even tempo of sleep. I marveled at this boy who had changed my life and my heart so completely over the past week. I always considered guys to be complications, and I always thought my life was complicated enough, but Christian proved some complications were worth it.
I hated that he was lying in a hospital bed fragile and weak, so different from the boy, the man, I had come to care deeply about—a man who always seemed so sure of himself. A force to be reckoned with. A hero, my hero, but not here, not now. The Organization made sure of that.
The shiner over his right eye reminded me of a rotten grapefruit, and some bastard split his lip. A nasty shade of yellow outlined the worst bruises on the parts of his black and blue body I could see. Bright red welts etched his skin like a tattoo artist tagged every square inch of skin that didn’t have a bruise. My fingers barely touched the raised marks as I traced them across his arms and chest. I imagined him tied to a post, and the General brandishing a whip.
He refused to admit it, but I knew the Organization tortured him to get to me. The General wouldn’t stop until I was in his possession, and he’d use anything and anyone to get to me. In order to beat him at his own game, I needed to think like him and, when necessity warranted it, act like him. I needed to exploit my only link to the Organization. I needed Jude.
“Are you staring at me?” He raised his good eyelid.
“What?” I blinked, returning back to the present.
His finger circled the top of my hand, a mesmerizing sensation that made it all but impossible to think. A devilish grin appeared on his swollen lips. “You were dreaming about our first kiss again, weren’t you?”
My face grew warm at the memory. The moonlight. The crackle of the fire. His strong arms wrapped around me.
“Shall we replay it again?” He raised his eyebrows up and down, but there was nothing vaudeville about Christian Evergood.
I was tempted. Oh, I was tempted, but we were in a hospital, not at the cabin. “And get me kicked out of here? No way. Dr. Wynn and the nurses warned me that you need to stay calm and rest.”
“I am calm now, but…,” he grinned, pulling me closer, “if I don’t get my way, I might get upset.” Electricity shot up my arms, clouding my brain and my judgment.
I shifted closer to him. “We wouldn’t want that to happen now, would we?”
“No, we wouldn’t.” Mischief danced across his bruised, but still beautiful face. I slowly leaned in. A loud buzzer went off and I pulled back.
“I’m fine,” he growled his eyes smoldering.
I hopped off the bed and into the chair. I whispered, “The nurse.”
“Oh, right.” He closed his eyes. A few seconds later, Nurse Ratched from the night before bustled into the room. Glad to see she was back on duty—Not. Her rubber soles squeaked across the tile floor. I raised my head and rubbed my eyes as if I was asleep. She looked at Christian then me. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. I shrugged. Christian pretended he was asleep while she took his vitals, examined his IV port, and hung a new bag of fluids. All the while, her hawk eyes didn’t leave mine. I was careful to keep an innocent, yet puzzled look on my face. On her way out, she pointed at me reminding that she was onto my tricks.
As soon as she disappeared, I hissed at him. “You’re going to get me kicked out of here.”
“We wouldn’t want that to happen would we?” he teased.
“No, I wouldn’t, but maybe you’re trying to get rid of me. Decided enough is enough?”
“Fat chance,” he replied. “If you’re looking for an excuse, you’re not going to find one from me.” He repositioned the bed to a sitting position. He folded his hands together across his chest and smiled at me. “So, what were you thinking about before, and don’t say nothing, because I know y
ou too well.”
I was about to argue with him, when he raised a warning finger. “In class, you always chew on the corner of your mouth when you’re preoccupied or mad at someone. It’s your tell.”
I released my cheek. He paid way more attention than I realized, but I didn’t want him to believe he had complete control over me. “The only person I ever got mad at is lying in a hospital bed.”
I pretended to swat at him but grabbed his hand instead. He brought it to his chest. The steady thrum of his heartbeat reassured me he was okay. “I had to keep my cover, but you made it very difficult. Luckily, I embraced my inner asshole. Now, kidding aside, what were you thinking about before I woke up?”
I debated my next move. I was sure I could distract him with a make-out session, although Nurse Ratched would kick me out of the hospital for sure, or I could tell him the truth. “I was thinking about Jude.”
He straightened up in the bed. Anger flashed through his eyes, and something else—jealously, definitely jealously. “Jude, who’s Jude?”
I sat down on the bed to reassure him. He relaxed a bit, but he was still tense. “Do you remember the guy who helped carry you back to the truck?”
He flinched at either a real pain or the memory of it. “Not really.”
“Well, his name is Jude and I ran into him when I was chasing Demon.”
He scratched his arm just above the IV needle. “Chasing Demon? I’m confused. How much pain medication am I on?”
“Hardly any. Part of the pain management plan is that the patient needs to inform the staff when he’s in pain.”
“Superhero, remember?” His crooked smile returned. “How did you find me anyway?”
“Little Miss and I rode down to the barn. I saw Demon in the paddock and your keys on the ground. With a little help from Demon, I figured out where you rented the horses and decided to go there first.”
“Because horse stables often kidnap their customers?”
“No, the horse stable was your only contact with the outside world. I figured you used a credit card instead of cash.”
His eyes widened. “I did use a credit card! But it still doesn’t explain how you found me.”
“The stable is a front for the Organization.”
Doubt etched his forehead, so I continued presenting my case. “Remember how you told me that some fanatical groups have deep pockets?”
“Sure,” he said, “but how did you know the stable was a front?”
I repositioned myself closer to him for both our sakes. “At first, I didn’t, but it was my only lead. I hitched the horse trailer to your granpappy’s truck and took the horses to the stable.”
His eyes grew wide again. “You drove the trailer?” I nodded my head. He returned an appreciative nod. “I’m impressed. Driving a trailer’s not easy.”
“How I drove the trailer is not important.” Leave it to Christian to congratulate every move I made to save him, but he refused to discuss his own torture. “By the time I got to the stable, it was late. No one was there to take the horses, so I went into the main lodge for help. While I was inside, Demon got loose and ran into the building.”
He laughed. “That horse is something.”
“I’ll say. So much for my cover. I sprinted down the hallway after him. That’s when I crashed into Jude and asked him for help.”
His shoulders tensed up. “Why would you do that?”
“First of all, I had no idea whether the Organization was there or not. And second, I recognized Jude from test day—he was a recruit.”
He grabbed my shoulders and squeezed. I could feel each of his fingers press into my skin, as if to confirm that I was actually sitting in front of him. The heart rate monitor started beeping out of control. “Did he recognize you?”
I put my hands on his chest until his heartbeat slowed down. “Christian, there’s no need to panic. Calm down.”
When his heart rate returned to normal, I continued. “Jude didn’t recognize me right away, but then he did. I needed to keep him with me until I found you or I could get away. We followed Demon all over the ranch. I know it sounds crazy, but I think Demon led me to you.”
My eyes watered at the memory of Christian hanging from the cross—bloody, beaten, broken. He pushed a few strands of hair behind my ear. “I’m okay,” he whispered.
The warmth of his touch returned me to the present. “Jude helped me carry you back to the truck. I asked him to leave with us.”
He held a finger to my lips. “Let me get this straight, you asked a complete stranger, a recruit for the Organization no less, to come with you?” His eyes were wide, and his brows were raised in suspicion.
“I didn’t want him telling the General about us, and I thought Jude might be useful.” I pulled his hands to my chest and begged for his understanding.
Christian’s features remained hard. “He was recruited for the Organization. He obviously has qualifications that deem him ‘worthy’ of their notice, and therefore, he can’t be trusted.”
My heart felt heavy. I eyed him sadly. “I was deemed ‘worthy.’”
He exhaled. I took it as a weakening of his resolve. “Listen, he decided not to come with me, but I told him to meet me Thursday at Ripley’s Believe It or Not in Gatlinburg at eleven. Even if he doesn’t join us, I need to pick his brain for information about the Organization. Without him, we have nothing, zip, zilch, zero. We need his help.”
“I don’t like it.”
“Neither do I, but we don’t have another option. We can’t hide in the mountains forever.”
“Sure we can.”
“They know your name, they know where the barn is, and even if they haven’t found the trail to the cabin yet, they will eventually. They almost killed you. It’s no longer our safe haven.” A tear fell down my cheek. I swiped it away before he saw it.
“I guess it’s not,” he said with reluctance. “But where can we go?”
“Whatdya mean where can you go?” a male voice asked.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Ben and Coda stood by the door with sheepish grins on their faces, rocking back and forth from their toes to their heels.
I shifted away from Christian. “How long were you standing there?”
“Long enough to know you’re in trouble and you need a place to stay,” Coda grinned. Christian and I glanced at each other.
“You’ll stay with me,” Ben said. “My parents are in South Dakota for a powwow. They’re away for a few weeks.”
“Rebecca would love to see you again,” Coda cooed.
“In that case, I might have to reconsider,” Christian laughed.
“No seriously,” Ben said. “Stay with me. It’ll be like old times. Besides, there’s no place safer for you than the Qualla Boundary.”
“That’s true,” Christian agreed. He gave my hand a reassuring squeeze. “He’s right Starr. It’s the safest place for us.”
Dr. Wynn pushed open the door and saw the four of us engaged in a serious conversation. “Everything alright in here?”
“Yes ma’am, we’re just keeping Christian company,” Coda said.
“Hmmm,” she said. “Mr. Evergood, how are you feeling this afternoon?”
“Great!” Christian straightened himself up. “Doc, when am I getting out of here?”
She flipped through his chart. “Your vitals are improving. You’re not taking extra pain medication other than what we give you intravenously. You’re eating and drinking. You’re able to hold a conversation, I’d say in a day or two, if you promise to take it easy.” She scribbled some notes in the chart and closed it.
“A day or two? How ‘bout today?” He winked at her with a reckless grin. His behavior reminded me so much of Frank, I pinched myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. His charms were useless on the doctor, though.
“Not a chance. Maybe tomorrow, if you promise to take it easy.” She sat on the edge of the bed and studied him for a minute. “Memory any better this aft
ernoon?”
“Still foggy,” he said. He played with a loose fringe of the hospital blanket.
“Still foggy, huh?” Her gaze narrowed. “Do I need to contact the police so you can file a complaint?”
“No. Just a case of misunderstanding.”
“Misunderstanding did quite a number on you. I’m bound by law to keep quiet, but if you wind up here again, I’m calling the police.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“I’ll check on you tomorrow morning. If you want to get out of here, you have to rest,” she said to him, but I knew we were all included in that warning statement before she left the room.
Ben walked over to us. His large frame towered over the hospital bed. “Christian and Starr, I would like to invite the two of you to stay at my house for as long as you want.”
Christian glanced at me and raised an eyebrow. I nodded.
“It’s settled then,” Ben said as he shook Christian’s hand, before extending it to me. “I’ll drive you to my house tomorrow afternoon. Coda’s got the truck.”
“Thanks Ben.”
The gravity of Ben’s formal invitation was broken the moment Coda spoke. “We’d love to hang around and chat, but they really work us hard around here.”
“Hey,” Christian said, “before you go, I have a favor to ask.”
Coda scurried to his side. “Ask away.”
“Well,” he said, glancing over at me. I smiled back to reassure him. “Starr and I left the cabin rather unexpectedly. I was wondering if….”
Ben raised his hand. “Say no more. We’ll ride up after work and grab your things.”
“Would you mind taking any perishables too? I don’t know when I’ll get back up there,” he said. What little color was left in his face drained out. “No, never mind. Forget it.”
Coda flexed his biceps. “We can take care of ourselves.”
Christian shifted around to sit up. His face pinched. “No, don’t. Please don’t.”
Ben gently pushed him back against the pillows. “Rest. It’s fine. We’ll go up the back trail.”
Coda spun in a circle. “Well, it’s time to get this party started.” Ben punched his shoulder. He ducked and jabbed at Ben’s gut on their way out the door. In the wake of their absence, the room was silent. It was hard to imagine how Christian managed all those months in Webster without the sure and steady Ben and the wildly entertaining Coda.
