“Yeah?” He sounded distracted; she wasn't the only one thinking big thoughts.
“Thank you,” Vera said after a moment. “I don't know what happened once I was out, but you obviously came for me.”
“You're safe here, Vera. I'm going to get Susan, I'll be right back.”
Vera watched him go, felt confusion and anger swirling through her. She preferred being confused or angry to being scared, which was the next emotion that swept over her. She was alone, in a strange place, and without Deke in the room there was this ominous feeling in the air that she couldn't place her finger on.
It seemed to be an eternity until Susan came through the door, although it was likely only a few minutes. “Hey, welcome back.”
“I'm so glad to see you. Surprised to see you but glad,” Vera sat up in bed. “I'll love you forever if you help me to the bathroom and say I can have a shower.”
“I will do both,” her friend replied. “But if you can hold it, I'd like to examine you first. How's your head?”
“There's only one little man with a hammer banging around inside, there were like twelve when I first got up.”
“You had some sort of blow to the head?”
“It smashed my head into the floor,” Vera relived the moment just by mentioning it. “Guess I got off easy compared to what I thought was going to happen.”
“It definitely could be worse.” Susan told her. Vera remained still while she did the exam, breathed in and out, although she didn't understand exactly why she needed her lungs listened to. It was her head that was the problem. “I think that you'll be fine in a few days. You need as much rest as possible. Nothing strenuous, which includes wild sex with Deke. Sorry.”
“Thanks,” Vera scrubbed her hands over her face. She'd thought of something after Deacon had left the room. It was something she didn't want to think about, but it needed to be addressed immediately. “Don't take off those gloves, I need you to check and see if anything was done to me.”
“Done to you?” Susan's eyes widened. “Vera, do you think that you were sexually assaulted?”
That was the million dollar question. “I'm not sure. I'd like to be sure.”
“Okay, I can do that exam. No problem. I'll also get you a round of antibiotics to be on the safe side. I'm going to need you to lie back and...” Susan stopped speaking, cocked her head to the side. “Did you hear that?”
“I didn't hear anything.” Vera listened now, listened as hard as she could. “Wait, I did hear something.”
“Stay there,” Susan pulled off the gloves and walked over to the window. “Or on second thought, get your ass over here now.”
Vera got out of bed, walked over to the window. The floor was bare wood, cold against her feet; she reached the window and looked out. The last thing that she expected to see was Deacon and Houdini brawling in the back yard.
“Jesus Christ,” Susan exhaled the words, her face nearly pressed against the window. “That shouldn't be hot but somehow it is.”
“Oh God, we've got to stop them.” They were friends, they shouldn't be fighting. Why were they fighting? Was this a result of how angry Deacon had been when he left the room? Was this why he hadn't come back? There were too many questions, too few answers.
“No,” Susan reached out and took her arm. “Your man has been through it today. He found you unconscious and laid out on your bed like you were in a coffin. Let him have this, let him release some of the steam inside of him.”
“He's not my man,” Vera protested but the second that she spoke the words she knew that they were a lie. For better or worse she was head over heels in love with Deacon Hawke, even though it didn't make an ounce of sense. Perhaps she really was losing her mind.
“Yeah and bears don't shit in the woods.” Susan let out a laugh. “Just enjoy the show. If they don't find a natural stopping point soon we'll go down and help them out.”
“They're going to tear each other to pieces,” Vera spoke in a small voice. Violence had never been her thing, unless it was fake. Give her a good bloody movie or a video game where she could shoot things into tiny pieces and she was a happy woman. But this? Watching two men who she knew and liked going at one another gave her an uncomfortable feeling.
The more thought she gave the feeling, the more that she realized it wasn't disgust. No, it was the polar opposite of disgust. The fight was arousing her even as irrational anger sparked inside of her. Vera stepped back from the window, needing to look away to try and calm the sudden assault on her senses.
“Vera? What's wrong? Is it your head?”
“I don't know,” Vera admitted. “I'm...” she stuttered and blushed not knowing how to explain what she was feeling inside. “We need to put a stop to this, now.” Maybe stopping the fight was the answer. Maybe just being around Deacon was the answer. She didn't know but she did know that she couldn't just stand there. In fact, it was a little hard to stand at the moment.
“I think that...”
“I'm fine,” Vera cut off whatever concern her friend was about to express. “I just need to get down there and stop Deke. I just want it to stop.” She was no longer sure if she was talking about the fight or the feelings that she couldn't get a hold on. Either way, it didn't matter. She just wanted Deacon. “None of this makes sense.”
“What doesn't make sense?” Now Susan looked confused as well.
Vera had no way to explain it even if she tried, she couldn't try. “Anything! Everything! I just.. I want Deke.”
“Alright, let's go and get him.”
Vera didn't know the way out of the house but it sure seemed like she did, in fact she beat Susan to the stairs and was down them in a flash without regard to her bare feet or the fact that she was only wearing a tee shirt she assumed belonged to Deacon.
“Deke!” Her voice cut through the night air, over the grunts that were coming from the two men. “Stop it, stop it now!” Vera had no regard for her own safety as she bounded down the steps. It never even occurred to her that it wasn't a good idea to throw herself between two testosterone charged men in the middle of a slug fest.
The two men pulled apart, both not even breathing heavily. “What are you doing outside, Vera?” Deacon wiped a hand over his forehead and Vera saw blood smear. And then Vera saw red. It was the emotions running through her. She liked Houdini, but in that moment she wanted to rip his throat out. She would have tried with her bare hands to do just that if Deacon hadn't grabbed her back.
“Whoa. Easy, Tiger.”
Houdini held up his hands. “We were just letting off some steam, Vera, he gave as good as he got.”
“I'd say,” Susan walked over at a sedate pace. “Looks like you could use a doctor.”
“So could Deke,” Vera shouted. She'd never felt such rage, never anticipated that she could feel anything even close to it, but the sight of Deacon's blood had snapped something inside of her. Tears sprang to her eyes.
“I'm fine, Vera, just fine.” Deacon assured her but she didn't believe him. Instead she turned in his arms, her hands moved up and down his arms, over his chest to his stomach and back up. Relief surged through her and she was overcome by the need to be as close to him as possible. She pressed against him, inhaled his scent and then she was sobbing. All of the emotions inside of her had just faded away. It was such a relief she wouldn't have been able to stand had Deacon not been holding her.
He didn't say a word, just held her against him and stroked his hand over her hair. Vera's fingers were going numb from how tightly she was gripping his shirt. “Come on tough guy,” Susan's voice broke the silence. “Let's get you inside and stop that bleeding.”
“She should look at you first, Deke.” Vera went to go after Susan and Houdini but he grabbed her, held on to her tight. “She should look at you first!”
“Vera,” he said forcefully. His grip tightened on her. “I said, I'm fine. What did Susan say about you?”
Vera shifted back to face him, sighed. “She sa
id I'm fine,” Vera replied and looked away from him.
“There's something that you're not telling me. I can feel it.”
“No, there's not. And what do you mean you can feel it?” She replied but wouldn't meet his eyes, instead she focused on his chest. His heartbeat was steady and calm. Hers was racing rapidly.
“You know what I'm talking about, Vera. I think that you've been feeling it too. So, don't lie to me, please.”
“Fine,” Vera spoke softly, chose her words carefully though there was no way to sugar coat it. “I wondered what happened after I was knocked out, if I was... assaulted.”
“We know that you were assaulted. I found you...” he trailed off, his expression hardening. “You're talking about rape. You thought that you were raped.”
“I didn't know and I needed to know. I was knocked out, anything could have happened.”
“You weren't raped, Vera,” Deacon's replied. His expression was about as serious as Vera had ever seen it. She tried to look away but he brought his hands up to cup her face. “You were fully dressed when I found you.”
“That doesn't mean anything,” Vera spoke softly with her face pressed against his chest. “I was wearing a dress when I came home, my favorite dress. It... used a claw to pull the hem up. I heard it rip! I... Fuck!”
Vera felt frustrated, confused. She didn't understand what was going on, why she'd been attacked or why she just felt so much better when Deacon touched her. His hands were on her now and she felt great, amazing even. Her head didn't hurt. It had been threatening to split only moments earlier as she rushed downstairs.
How could touch do that?
Vera sure didn't know but she was going to find out. She stepped back from him, held her hands up in front of her when he frowned. “Just give me a second,” the look on his face made her heart hurt. He thought that she was rejecting him. “Oh, there it is.” Her vision swam, she stumbled to the side.
“Vera, what the fuck?” Deacon's hands were back on her, holding her up.
“My head hurt, really bad like a migraine on steroids. I got a little dizzy. I'm not dizzy now and my head doesn't hurt. It's because you're touching me.” Vera knew exactly how insane the words sounded, though it was no more insane than her realization that she loved the man holding her.
“What else are you feeling?”
“Confused,” Vera replied. “And right now, a little bit cold. Do you think we could go inside?”
“Shit, you've got to be freezing.” He smiled a little. “You look really great, though, I like you in my shirt.”
“I like being in your shirt,” Vera pulled herself up on her toes, brought her mouth to his. The kiss, like all their others, took on a life of its own. She gave herself over fully to it, to him in the hopes that he would understand what she couldn't explain.
Chapter TWELVE
Deacon was careful to always keep his hand on Vera as they made their way back into the house. He'd attempted to carry her but she'd said she could walk, that she should walk to get her body going again.
Susan and Houdini were in the kitchen. She was stitching him up and from what Deacon could hear he was talking her ear off. He was sure she could take care of herself when it came to the notorious horn dog; he wasn't so sure that Houdini would be okay. He'd caught the way he looked at her when they first met.
“Deke?” Vera spoke from next to him, her grip tight on his hand.
“Yeah, Baby?” He tugged her hand gently so that she'd turn towards him. “What's wrong? Is it your head?”
“No, it's fine. I just... forget it.”
“Not a chance,” he told her even though he secretly dreaded the conversation that would emerge from whatever she had to say. “Tell me.”
“Is there something I don't know?”
It was a loaded question. There was a lot that she didn't know, things that he wasn't sure she was ready to hear. If he laid all of his cards out on the table right now, there was a chance that she would bolt. Who could blame her if she did? “What do you mean?” Deacon asked instead to buy some time to come up with an explanation.
“With Susan and Houdini, is there something I don't know?”
“I'm not sure, maybe.” Relief surged through him. “C'mon, let's get you upstairs. Find you some pants.”
“I was thinking of warming up another way but if you'd rather find me pants...” she trailed off and shrugged her shoulders.
“You think that you're up for that?” Deacon wasn't sure that she was. She looked tired despite the time that she'd been out.
“Not sure, but there's only one way to find out. Unless...” she trailed off, shook her head. “It's fine if you don't want to. Pants sound good. Really good.”
“You think I don't want you,” Deacon felt it, felt it through his entire being. “That's far from the truth.”
“You're scared that you're going to hurt me,” she looked up at him. “How is it possible that I know that? I mean, it's not just that I think it's what you think. I know. How is that possible?”
“Don't you believe that some people just have a connection that defies logic?”
“Do you?”
“Not until this,” Deacon admitted. He might have grown up hearing the stories but he'd never believed it could happen to him, not until now. Not until Vera.
“So, what does it mean? Are we...”
“Together? Is that what you want?”
“Don't you know?”
He did know, or at least Deacon was pretty sure that he did. It was written in the way that she was looking at him even if he couldn't feel it coming off of her in waves. All that he knew was there was nothing he wouldn't do for the woman in front of him, nothing at all.
“Deke?” Now she looked nervous, confused and sad.
“We're together, Vera. It's me and you from here on out.”
“It's crazy,” she grinned up at him, “but that works for me.” Her hand gripped his tighter and tugged toward the stairs. “I'm not getting any warmer down here.”
“I think I know the first step in warming you up,” Deacon leaned in and brushed his lips against her temple. “I think it's shower time.” He didn't want any trace of the bastard on her skin, anywhere. Suddenly, like a kick to the face, it dawned on him that there had been no scent in her apartment that shouldn't have been there. Not a single trace of whoever had attacked her.
That was impossible. How had he not noticed it before? Her apartment hadn't had a trace of anyone out of the normal. He'd been so focused on her, stretched out like she was dead, that he'd never even realized there was nothing. How the fuck was that possible? Anger rose inside him again, strong and vicious. He heard Vera inhale sharply, focused on her and realized that she was feeling what he was. There was panic in her eyes, her grip on him was almost numbing and painful.
Some of the anger was directed inward, after all there was no way in hell the attack on Vera had been random. Whoever had attacked her had to know that he'd react, they were likely counting on it. He just couldn't figure out why or who it could have been though the field was narrowed with The Old Man being outside, narrowed greatly because there was no one in the pack who would go after a woman, especially not a woman steeped in his scent. He could smell it on her now underneath the scent that was purely her. It had to have been one of The Grievers. Had Josiah left his wedding bed to go and torment Vera? He'd kill whoever it was.
Killing a member of the pack to protect Vera could be the end of his life, at the very least it would mean banishment. Exiled from the pack and everyone else he knew for the rest of the days, but it would be worth it to keep her safe.
Deacon was pulled back to reality and the woman, his woman, when she pushed lightly at his chest. “C'mon,” he drew her close to him. They didn't say anything as they made their way upstairs and to the bathroom at the end of the hall.
It took a moment for him to figure out how to get the shower on while still holding her hand. She didn't want to let go. He couldn't b
lame her, but he also knew on some level that she needed to let go and realize that she was always connected to him, she would always be, even if they weren't touching.
“A little cold water would be good,” she eyed the steam rising from the spray of water.
Deacon adjusted the taps. “How's your head?”
“It's good.”
“Do you trust me?” Deacon asked. She met his eyes, frowned but nodded. Her mouth dropped open when he released her hand. “Keep looking at me,” he kept his voice soft. He didn't want to spook her. She looked ready to collapse. “You're fine.”
“It hurts,” she whispered the words, reached out for him. “Deke, please.”
“We can't always touch, but we're always connected. Always. Like I said, do you trust me?”
“Yes, I trust you.”
“Good, now just relax. What do you feel?” He pushed all the happiness he could muster at her; simple emotions would transfer best, or at least he thought that they would. No one had ever really explained to him how it worked. When he'd asked his mother, she'd told him that when it happened he would just know.
“I feel...” she still looked so confused. “Happy?”
“You telling me or asking me?”
“I'm telling you,” she replied with a smile. “And my head doesn't hurt as badly as it did before. I really do feel a little like I'm going crazy Deke.”
“You're not.” Deacon assured her as he reached down to pull off his shirt. There was blood on it and blood on his hands. There was blood on Vera's hands and a tiny bit on her face. The sight of the blood against her skin made him remember just how fragile she was. He'd need to be careful with her, as careful as he could be. He'd denied himself the change tonight. The wolf wasn't pleased. If things went too far and it clawed to the surface it could be deadly. Control was going to be key.
The Only Witness: The Center City Series: Book One Page 11
