Fever

by Carnal, MJ

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  I finished up my shift at The Hole and walked upstairs to my apartment. My feet were killing me and I was so ready to lay my head on my pillow and crash. Timber had wanted to stick around until after closing like he normally did, but I insisted that he didn’t need to and was just going to go to sleep when I got upstairs. He was reluctant and I’d had to practically bulldoze him out the front door.

  Desperate for a shower, I stripped down and hopped under the hot water, feeling it relax my muscles. As I hung my head down between my shoulders, I heard a creaking sound on the wood floors that seemed to come from right outside of the bathroom. Lifting my head, my heart began beating quickly. I stood as still as possible and strained my ears to try and hear any other sound. When I got nothing but silence and a few minutes had passed, I tried to let my body loosen up again. It must have been the wood ‘settling’, as my dad used to tell me when I was a kid and noises had freaked me out. I was just reaching for the bottle of shampoo when something made a clattering sound just outside of the shower curtain. My heart kicked into overdrive and I officially freaked out.

  “Hello?” I called out.

  There was no response. I was shaking like a leaf and wishing that I didn’t live alone at that moment. I pulled the curtain back just a smidge to peek out and see if there was someone in there with me. The room was empty, but something caught my eye. On the floor, near the sink, was my hair brush. I would have thought it had simply slipped off the pedestal sink, except I knew for a fact I had put it on the built-in shelves above the toilet. Even if the brush had fallen from where it had been, there was no way it would have landed where it currently sat. Poking my entire head out of the curtain, I spoke again.

  “Hello? Timber, I swear, if this is you playing some prank on me, I will remove all of the skin from your testicles. This isn’t funny.”

  My apartment door suddenly shut with a loud bang. I screamed at the top of my lungs and grabbed a towel as quickly as I could. My eyes scanned the bathroom for a weapon to use but the only thing I saw was my plunger. Picking it up by the wooden handle, I wrapped the towel around myself and snuck through my small living space, turning on every light as I went. I was dripping wet and desperate to get out of there. I’d never been so scared in my entire life.

  Hanging on the closet door was my pink silk robe that hit me mid-thigh. Not thinking twice, I threw it on, my hair soaking the material on my back and making it stick to my skin. I tore out of my apartment and down the stairs, through the bar, and out the front door. Not even realizing I’d forgotten my shoes, I ran the two blocks to Timber’s apartment and started banging on his door. I was all but screaming at him to open up and let me in. I turned my back to the door and scanned the parking lot, terrified that someone might have followed me. When Timber finally opened up it startled me. I swung my arm that was still apparently holding the plunger and was about to clock Timber when he grabbed it from me.

  “Kat? What the fuck? What’s the matter?” His voice was groggy, as though he’d been asleep. He stood there shirtless and in boxer briefs. I flung myself into his arms, and he picked me up and carried me inside.

  “Lock the door,” I said with a shaky voice.

  “I always lock the door, but what in the hell is going on? Start talking, now.” He sat down on the couch with my legs still wrapped around his waist and my arms around his neck. He brought his large hands up and cupped my cheeks. “Kat… now.”

  Tears involuntarily started streaming down my face. I was still trying to sort through the fear. “After the bar closed, I locked up like I always do and went upstairs. I was going to go to bed because I was so tired, but earlier in the night Mel had spilled a drink on me and I wanted to clean off first. While I was showering I started hearing noises.” Timber’s arms tensed. “I called out and asked if there was someone there. I thought maybe you were there and trying to sneak up on me or something.”

  “It wasn’t me, Kat.”

  “I know. I wondered if maybe I was just hearing things and freaking myself out, but then something in the bathroom fell. It was my brush. I’d put it in a different spot than I normally do and there’s no way it fell from where it was to where I saw it.”

  One of Timber’s hands fell away from my face and he ran it through his hair. “Was there someone in your apartment? Did you see anyone?”

  I shook my head no. “I was still in the shower when I heard my front door slam.” My body was shaking so fiercely that my teeth began chattering. “Timber, there was someone in there with me.” A sob tore from my chest.

  “Fuck!” He growled. Gently lifting me, he set me down on the couch and began pacing. “Did you see anything else? What else did you hear?”

  “Nothing, there was nothing else. I jumped out of the shower and pulled on my robe and ran here.”

  “Jesus Christ, Kat, you’re not even wearing shoes! Why didn’t you call me? I would have come to you.” He was now yelling.

  “Why are you m-mad at me?” I stuttered, and shook harder.

  Timber let out a low frustrated rumble and came to sit in front of me on the coffee table. “I’m not mad at you. I’m pissed off that something could have happened to you and I wasn’t there to protect you. Do you know how crazy that would have made me if I walked out of that bar tonight and you’d been hurt?”

  His eyes were wild. I could see that he was genuinely upset about not being able to save me from whoever it was in my room.

  “What’s worse is you show up here, barely dressed, barefooted, and carrying a plunger, of all things, as a damn weapon. Didn’t you think to grab a knife? Or better yet, do you own a gun?”

  “Would you really have wanted me to have accidentally attacked you with a knife when you opened the door just now?” The thought made me queasy.

  “I wouldn’t have let you hurt me, but that’s not the point, Kat. A plunger isn’t going to hurt someone. I’m more worried that that’s the first thing you grabbed, or that you didn’t trade it out for something more useful before you left.”

  I was growing more and more upset that he was scolding me for my weapon of choice and not comforting me after what I’d just been through. Standing up, I tightened the tie around my waist and made my way to the door.

  “Where the fuck are you going?” Timber demanded.

  Turning on my heels, I shot daggers at him with my eyes. “I’m not going to sit here and listen to you berate me for grabbing the closest thing I had in reach. You weren’t there, Timber! I did what I had to do to get out of the apartment as fast as I could.”

  He flew up and came at me like a freight train, picking me up and pinning me against the wall. “You aren’t fucking leaving these four walls, do you understand me?” His breathing was erratic. “I’m going to head over to the bar and make sure that it’s secure and the doors are locked. I need to have a look around to see if anything was taken or is out of place.”

  “No!” I yelled. I put my arms around his neck and clawed my way up his body until my legs were once again around his waist. “Don’t leave me here alone. Please… stay here. I don’t want to be alone.”

  His blue eyes searched mine. I knew that he wanted to be the one to take care of making sure all was well at my place, but I saw the resignation on his face. Sighing deeply, he held me tightly and walked me into his bedroom. Setting me down on his dresser, he reached over and pulled open a drawer, grabbing a long shirt and pair of boxers. He handed them to me and said, “I’ll be out in the living room making a phone call to Beaver. If I’m not going to go check on things, then I need to at least send someone to lock up Ed’s place. Get dressed and climb in bed. I’ll be back in a minute.”

  Timber turned and shut the door behind him, leaving me with some privacy. I dressed fairly quickly and found a comb on the dresser to brush my hair with. It was already halfway dry and frizzy. Feeling completely exhausted, I did what he had told me to do. Shutting off the li
ght and peeling back the covers on his bed, I laid down on the side the furthest from the door. My head still felt like it was going a million miles an hour, while my body was ready to drag me under. Just as I was closing my eyes, I heard the bedroom door open. I glanced over my shoulder and saw Timber’s silhouette standing in the doorway, and watched as he walked over to the bed. Sliding in beside me, he pulled me to him and wrapped his arm possessively around my middle. I felt him bury his nose in my hair and breathe in deeply. Knowing that he was here holding me, my brain started to shut down and I began to drift off. Before I was completely gone, I heard Timber whisper, “You’re safe. I’m not going to let anyone hurt you.”

  I passed out.

  Chapter Eleven

  Timber

  I ended up not getting an ounce of shut eye. Kat tossed and turned all night, whimpering in her sleep. I’d stroked her hair and tried to settle her exhausted body. Each time she’d get worked up, I’d held her closer, and she had sighed and sank further into me.

  I’d had so much anger bubbling beneath my surface that I swear I’d felt my skin crawling. I’d spent hours watching her last night and I couldn’t wrap my mind around someone wanting to hurt that little small little person in my bed. She weighed next to nothing and clearly couldn’t defend herself. And to top it all off, I’d found out that she had been sexually assaulted. No, she hadn’t come right out and said those words to me, but I wasn’t stupid. Nobody gets that excited while being touched only to completely shut down and then fight like a wounded animal trying to escape. When she had begun shoving me away and yelling at me to stop I had stepped back from her. She had been shivering even though it wasn’t cold, and I had known it wasn’t because of what I was doing to her. She’d been scared.

  I’d said her name several times, but it had been clear that she wasn’t with me. Her eyes had been clouded and I couldn’t pull her from whatever hell she was in. The last time I’d felt that helpless was when I was in Iraq, when Holt had been bleeding out and I’d had no way to stop it. I’d felt like my mind was spiraling out of control watching her, but when I tried approaching Kat she began screaming. I had no idea what made me think of this, but when I called out ‘Katherine’, she snapped out of it. The anger she’d directed at me was so tangible I could have tasted it. She hadn’t even realized that I had called her by the name she so despised, but it penetrated to whatever place she was at in her head. She’d gone from terrified and helpless to fiery and ready to fight me. For whatever reason, I’d felt like this was something I could handle; this side of her I could work with. It hadn’t taken long for her to do exactly what I was expecting from her. She’d taken off and ran. I’d let her go for about a hundred yards so she could wear down. I’d been surprised when I’d wrapped my arms around her and found she still had a lot of fight left. Kat was strong, but I was stronger.

  When she’d settled into me and finally let me hold her, I’d felt that was the defining moment for her – when she had realized I wasn’t going to hurt her. To have her run to me instead of Beaver or Ed last night spoke volumes. Kat found safety with me. Thinking about that brought me back to watching her sleep. Looking at her now, one would never guess that she was nearly as broken as I was.

  Kat started stirring. When her stunning hazel eyes opened and she looked at me, I reached up and touched her face. Every one of her features softened. I traced my finger from her temple, across her cheek bone, then down to her chin. She was holding perfectly still, allowing me to explore her. When my finger lightly moved over the curve of her upper lip, her mouth opened slightly and her tongue darted out, tasting my skin. My eyes widened at the sensation and I couldn’t control the tightening in my briefs.

  “Careful, Kat. I need you to trust me, but I can only maintain so much control here.”

  Her sleep filled voice said, “So don’t have any.”

  I shook my head. “No, you’re not ready for that.”

  “How do you know what I’m ready for?”

  I sighed and rolled over onto my back. “It’s what I did in the Army, Kat. I read people. Aside from shooting guns, I was trained to analyze other’s reactions and know my surroundings.” Turning my head to look at her, I said, “And you aren’t ready.”

  She rolled her eyes in frustration. “You know nothing.” She got up and started climbing over me to leave the room.

  Grabbing her hips, I pulled her down so she was straddling my lap. I felt her push down slightly to grind on my dick. I grunted and her breathing picked up. I could feel the heat of her through the thin cotton separating us. “I know more than you think, now quit tempting me. I’ll be all about testing limits with you, believe me. But after what happened last night, you’re not ready. And I’m not in the right mindset to control myself. If I took you right now it would be hard and rough. The need to claim you is running rampant through me, and I won’t do that to you. The first time I take you, it will be slow and sensual. I need you to know I won’t hurt you.”

  I heard a small gasp come from her perfectly shaped lips. “I know you won’t hurt me.”

  “Do you?”

  “Yes,” she simply stated.

  “We’ll see, won’t we?”

  Kat wiggled a bit more to create friction. I had to stop this now before it got even more out of hand. I picked her up by her hips, moving her off of me, and slapped her on the ass. “Go cook me some more of those fabulous eggs, woman. I’m going to need a cold shower.”

  She yipped and walked out of my room, giggling. I ran my hands down my face, releasing a frustrated growl. Fuck, she’s going to be the death of me.

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  After Kat and I had breakfast, we headed over to The Hole so I could have a look around. Beaver was planning to meet us there and I wanted to ask him if he had found anything out of the norm. When we walked in, everything was seemingly the same. There weren’t any broken bottles or glasses, all of the tables were the same with the chairs turned upside-down on top of them, the liquor bottles were still lined up neatly behind the bar, and there wasn’t a hair out of place. I scanned the room, hoping that my eye would catch something amiss, but so far I saw nothing. Growing more and more aggravated, I stepped away from Kat and moved towards the hall that cased the stairway to Kat’s apartment. I had come to the conclusion that whoever had been here had been here for one thing. And that one thing was following behind me up the stairs.

  As I opened her door, Kat tried to take a tentative step around me. My arm shot out to prevent her from moving any further.

  “No, I want to make sure the place is secure first before you go looking around.”

  She peered up at me with frightened eyes. “Do you think that someone could still be here?”

  “It’s a possibility, but highly unlikely. I think when you ran out, they did too.”

  She stayed in the kitchen while I made quick work through her room and bathroom. The closets were empty and there wasn’t anyone under her bed. When I stepped out of the bathroom, I gave her a nod that she could go ahead.

  “Start in here. You said your brush had fallen on the floor. Show me where you normally keep it.”

  She came in and I stood off to the side as she explained where she kept everything. I listened and did some work in my head. Kat was right. There was no way the brush would have landed where it had been lying if it had fallen from the shelves. We even tried tipping it off one of them just to see. It never once landed near where she’d found it. That meant that someone had, in fact, been here with her, while she had been showering. My blood was already simmering from last night, but being here and knowing she had been naked and helpless while some fucker was digging around in her stuff, probably biding his time until she got out, made me so angry that my hands were shaking.

  As calmly as possible, I said, “Kat, I need you to go check out your room.”

  The room was an open floor plan, so I could see her as she went over to where her bed was
. She started opening drawers in her dresser, pulling out a change of clothes. I hadn’t even thought about her still being in my clothes. If I had my way, I’d keep her in them. The shirt was baggy on her, and you could barely see the boxers peeking out from under it. Her legs were milky white and smooth. The only bit of color was the tattoo on her thigh. I watched as she pulled out a pair of shorts and a tank top, but when she opened another drawer, she paused.

  “Timber.” Her voice was a bit higher than normal with an edge to it.

  “What is it?” I strode quickly to her.

  “My underwear, they’re all gone.” Her eyes met mine.

  I looked down in the empty drawer. “Is this normally full?”

  She nodded. “It’s usually so full I can hardly close the drawer.” Kat’s eyes were darting around. “Oh my God, my body spray is gone too.” She placed her hand where I assumed it normally sat on top. “Shit, I’m going to be sick.”

  She darted to the bathroom and I heard her vomiting the breakfast we’d just had. I followed her and pulled her hair back out of her face, rubbing her back while dry heaves racked her body. If I hadn’t been sitting here taking care of her, I’m pretty sure I’d be bent over this toilet doing the same thing. I felt absolutely disgusted that someone had her personal belongings. It’s not like some pervert had come in here, took a pair of underwear and left. No, he stole all of them. This person also took her smell. The fucking smell that I loved on her, and now someone else had it.

  Kat sat back when she seemed to have nothing left. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. I reached over and found a wash cloth to wet down and handed it to her.