Katie Consents (Ciaran O'Connor Book 3)

by Bailey, Alyssa

  "My arm is probably dislocated." She paused as she tried to calm herself more. "When Stuart yanked me out of the car, I hit the door and that is when it happened." She closed her eyes for a moment to gather her thoughts before opening them to look at Ciarán again. "I wish it were something I could fix myself but it isn't. I thought I could, but I can't. It has been out of the joint for too long." Ciarán let off another string of curses. "I'm dizzy and everything hurts on me."

  "Where is the blood from?"

  "My mouth and nose bled a lot."

  "Let me talk to Liam and the others, I'm sure we can put it back into place if that is what it is. But it will make it worse if that isn't the problem."

  "I know. I'm so nauseated. I can hardly think sometimes. I hear people talking, who else is here with you?"

  "All your brothers except for Andrew, who is working on keeping Jocelyn and Kelli at home and out of trouble as well as keeping the place running; along with Parker and some law enforcement with him. Eight all total and while we were trying to figure out how to storm the place, you just calmly opened the door. What about that?" Ciarán still captured her attention by not breaking contact with Katie's swollen eyes, but he let her chin go in favor of placing careful caressing kisses on her swollen and bruised face.

  She moaned and tried to find a comfortable spot against her husband. "I saw Liam in the window so I figured if I could get out or the door open, then you could get in. Pretty good, huh?"

  "Damn straight, beag amháin."

  Picking up Katie, he resettled her onto the couch to survey the situation in the cabin where a knocked out and tied up Stuart Landau lay on the floor. Shane sat next to her to keep her company and not feel frightened. She looked over at her assailant on the floor and reached for her brother, who gently pulled her into him.

  Ciarán moved to see her in a better light and as he was able to see his wife in full spectrum let out another violent stream of curses, some in English, and some in Irish. Just hearing him made Katie cringe and begin to tear up. The others looked over and saw her for the first time except for Liam, who had spied her in the window. Looking at her in the light of the cabin, he grew silent and had to turn away to keep from following Ciarán in his responses. The others responded in a variety of ways spanning Liam's reaction to Ciarán's reaction. Cián reached out, touched Katie's face gingerly, and crouched down in front of her to begin checking her injuries out.

  "I don't look that bad, do I?" she asked whoever would answer her.

  "No, mo milis, it's just hard to see you hurt," said Cián.

  It wasn't a lie because she was alive and would survive this. He continued to assess her physical wounds.

  "No, a muirnín, you are beautiful," said Ciarán as he took Shane's place beside her. "But you will have a bit of bruising. I'm so sorry I couldn't keep you safe. I didn't protect you, as I should have. Will you forgive me?" Ciarán was heartbroken that he had not kept Katie safe, as though he could have done that better than he had. Quinlan crouched down next to Cián working with him to ascertain the damage.

  "Oh, honey, there is nothing to forgive. You can't be everywhere at all times. You had the skill and the wherewithal to find me quickly. You are the best husband I could ever have and you are going to be the best father to our children."

  Ciarán didn't answer that but as his brothers backed away for a conference; he scooped her up once again and held her close for a few moments. "We are going to have to stay here for some time because we need to sleep and wait for daylight, sweetheart. Are you all right with staying here?" Ciarán glanced over at the man he wanted to kill. He was being protected quite efficiently from that possibility by the other men in the room.

  Katie nodded. "If you are with me. I don't think I will sleep much with my arm, it really hurts, and I'm about at the end of my ability to deal with it. Do you have any pain reliever that I can take? I'm feeling some of the other pains as well."

  Liam overheard Katie and looked over, scrutinizing her again to see what Ciaran was cursing about. Katie was puffy and swollen from the physical abuse she had endured. She appeared overwhelmed and exhausted and yet she was hanging in there.

  Liam did a little more cursing under his own breath and that made the others look over at her as well. She was oblivious to the additional hard stares due to her snuggling in Ciarán's arms again.

  There were sharp intakes of breath, the angry, shocked sounds emanating from around the small cabin from her brothers as Cián lifted her shirt to see her body in angry red and purpling skin. Liam handed the can opener to one of the deputies and walked over to Katie to look at the arm.

  "Are you sure it's dislocated, hon, and not broken?"

  "I'm pretty sure. Will you help me fix it? I was just in too much pain and Stuart wouldn't let me stop to try to mend it. I didn't want his help. It's been out for a long time and I worry the swelling has made it too difficult to put back in."

  Liam nodded. After talking to the others, he had Ciarán lay her in the center of the bed and unwrap her makeshift sling. The loss of pressure caused her to cry out. "I think if we use the pain pills I have left in the backpack I might be able to stand it." Her voice was tremoring and she tried to be brave, but it was obvious she had her doubts but didn't want to say so.

  Liam asked Cián to give her a pain shot and called Quinn back over to help keep her in place when it had taken effect. He made the other men look away as they lifted her torn shirt off her battered body. Ciarán was there for mostly comfort and focus, murmuring in her ear sweet words and endearments in both English and Irish. Liam took his boot off, put his foot under her armpit, and carefully took her arm out away from her body. Her body was so bruised it seemed cruel to even try, but she was determined, so they did.

  "Ready, mo milis? This is going to be painful, but I will go slow and try to stretch the muscle easily. I hope it just falls back into place." Looking around at the others, he gave them a look that said it was going to be painful and they needed to be prepared.

  "Yes, just go." With that, Liam nodded and began to stretch the shoulder muscles. At first, Katie screamed, but Ciarán spoke clearly and sharply into her ear through her scream and brought her back to a place of control, all the while keeping his deep, resonant tone gentle and quiet. She focused on the sound of his voice, not even hearing much of what he said, but held her control and was able to handle the pain through clenched teeth, grunting and profuse sweating. Then, suddenly, her shoulder rotated and slid back into place, just like that.

  Katie groaned and took a ragged breath, "You did it, Liam," she panted. "You did it. Oh, my Lord, how much better I feel, but I think I'm going to throw up, help me up, hurry."

  The men lifted her bodily up and she made it outside before she heaved her pain, misery, fear, and the water she had just drunk out onto the ground. The whole time Ciarán held her hair and supported her body. When she was done, he gave her some water for rinsing.

  He carried her back into the cabin, placed her on the bed against the wall for protection and so he could crawl in behind her after the guys had her put back together. The position would also help stabilize her shoulder when they had re-wrapped it. They used her shirt for stability. He put his extra flannel shirt on her for warmth and modesty. The rest threw down sleeping bags and put extra logs on the fire, and after eating their fill and throwing a blanket over the now awakened but quiet Landau, they fell into a light but restful sleep.

  Ciarán spent a long night trying to reassure Katie when she would wake up crying or yelling. He would remind her who he was, that she was safe and that he was protecting her. Ciarán's hatred of the man who had done this to his precious Katherine had grown to nearly unmanageable proportions. He knew there was going to be a while before she would be able to sleep well. He wondered if he would need to reteach her that making love was not causing pain and that erotic zings were just that, erotic.

  She was not a pain monger or a masochist and that was what this crazy man was looking
for, a lover of pain. More than that, authoritarian did not mean destruction or breaking the person in body and soul. You built them up, worshiped them, and protected them. He drew his sweet wife closer to him and tried to get a little sleep.

  The next morning, the deputies kept watch over Stuart because they were more afraid of what Ciarán would do to him than what he would do to anyone else. Once set, they walked out after leaving the cabin, as it should be left; ready for the next more legitimate user. Liam had called the night before once they had everything secured in the cabin to let the family know that she was found and would be okay.

  Katie saw her family all gathered waiting for her and she had a call from Mom and Da soon after she arrived. Her dad just sat and rocked her while he held her close. Ciarán demanded she go see the doctor, but she had refused. She then allowed Ciarán to call the doctor to come and see her later that day. He already had. She sat and repeatedly thanked her family for helping to find her and while she took another nap, the men sat and talked about the ranch.

  They talked about building new structures and how the family would be growing again thanks to Ciarán and how they were immeasurably thankful that Katherine was all right. They needed the normalcy of talking about day-to-day operations, plans and family to help them deal with what had happened to one of their own.

  It took a while for Jocelyn and Kelli to stop alternating between angry outbursts directed at Stuart Landau and crying in sympathy for Katie. Molly sat quietly in the shelter of Cián's arm, occasionally adding to one conversation or the other, but overall content to be with Cián.

  When Quinn had had enough of Kelli and Jocelyn, he turned to their men and said, "Liam, if you and Parker do not take your women in hand and calm them down, I'm going to and I promise to not be as kind as I'm sure you can be." His look at the two women was distinct enough to need no words to follow. Both men looked at the females in question with clear expectations communicated. Things quieted down a little after that.

  Katie had taken another nap and everyone stayed because no one wanted to leave her. Ciarán was visiting with his siblings and learning a bit about Molly, Cián's friend, but ever mindful of the bedroom where Katie was sleeping. Jocelyn had whispered to Liam and then Ciarán that Cián said she was special to him and so they were taking a particular interest in Molly.

  They knew Cián was never one to spend too much time with any one girl because his focus had been on getting to veterinarian school and getting that degree. Molly, it seemed, was a veterinary tech and had at one time thought about being a vet. Then, after completing tech school, she decided that was all she really wanted to do and so she didn't try to go further.

  Cián and Molly had met when he did a rotation at her parents' veterinarian clinic. The way that Cián looked at his young lady, with her shoulder length, dark auburn hair, her big brown eyes, and creamy complexion, it was obvious he was smitten. Molly, when she would look at Cián, which was so very often, made it obvious she felt the same about him. Ciarán took his eyes off his brother and Molly and glanced at Kelli, who appeared unhappy and irritated again.

  Looking over at Parker, he saw that while he pretended not to notice Kelli's mood, he had a bit of a tight-lipped look, himself. Ciarán shook his head slightly and knew that if Kelli didn't begin to rein herself in, her unhappiness wouldn't end at her face. Parker wasn't raised as strongly as the O'Connor men were, but Parker loved Kelli and that being the case, knew he couldn't let her run the show all the time. He was learning how to pull up on the reins and would do it for her if she didn't practice some self-control.

  Ciarán was leaning in to hear the conversation that Andrew was leading when he heard a scream and immediately knew it was a dream Katie was having. He raced up the stairs two at a time and reached the spare room to see his wife sitting upright in the bed. She was sweating and her chest was heaving.

  "Honey, mo chroí, don't cry. I'm here for you. Shhh, settle, sweetie, it's Ciarán."

  Katie grabbed onto him with her good arm and buried her head into his shirt crying and shivering as though she was freezing or she had seen a ghost. "Ciarán, Ciarán, you have to save me from him."

  "Katie, wake up, who am I? Katie, who am I?"

  "What? Ciarán, you are Ciarán."

  "Where are you?"

  "I don't know. With you, I'm with you."

  "And you are on the ranch. You are at Liam's house. You are safe. Stuart Landau is gone forever."

  Then Katie cried for a while. "My arm hurts."

  "I know, baby, let's get you some pain medicine and something to eat and drink. You look pale."

  Katie nodded her head. "Where is everyone?"

  "Downstairs."

  "I'd like to go downstairs. Do I look too hideous?"

  Ciarán looked down at her with something akin to worship in his eyes. "You are beautiful and there is nothing that you cannot do, mo ghrá."

  Katie, recovered from her nightmare answered, "Nothing? Well, you want to go hiking?"

  Ciarán groaned and Katie fell into a fit of soggy giggles. Ciarán lifted his wife up out of the bed and carried her down to the rest of her family to get food, drink, medicine, and love. Sitting in the security of Ciarán's arms and on his lap, Katie cuddled in and listened to her family enjoy each other's company and release the tension that the last thirty hours had brought.

  The family returned to their normal lives the next day. Nightmares haunted Katie's dreams the first week and Ciarán refused to allow her anywhere off the ranch, as he wanted her to heal. He hoped her mind would heal as her body would but he knew it would take more time. That was no hardship for Katie as leaving the house was a challenge for her. Jocelyn advised Ciarán to leave the house with her often during the day, showing her there wasn't a problem when she did this. He had done this with her after the mall incident. Trust and safety taught slowly. He would do it again. He took her everywhere he went.

  He took her to go for a walk with him to the stables and around the yards. Finally, he drove her to town and back several times, to show her that it was a safe thing to do. What Ciarán wanted to do is wrap her in cotton wool and never let her off the ranch or out of his sight, but he knew that was not healthy for either of them, never mind impractical.

  The nightmares were lessening, much to Ciarán's relief, but every time she woke up screaming, he wanted to separate Landau's head from his body. For comfort, Ciarán could cuddle Katie and rub her belly but if he tried to take it to the next level, touching her breasts or do more than a quick kiss, Katie would get a look of fear on her face.

  It tore Ciarán up, but he didn't know the fear she had experienced or the fear that it left her with, so when he would try to do more than cuddle and she pulled away from him, he would let her. That would trigger a crying jag and her apologizing but Ciarán was determined to get through it. No matter how many times he told her it was nothing to be sorry about and that she would be able to make love soon, it was hard on both of them. Ciarán's mood began to crinkle around the edges.

  A few weeks after the incident, Katie felt well enough and Ciarán felt emotionally recovered enough to allow her off the ranch. Katie wanted to check on her charges at Bhaile Haven and meet the new families that needed physicals. Two were pregnant in the home and Katie wanted to check their progress and get a plan started for them. Jumping into her car, she backed out and onto the road through the main gate. She drove away from town towards the safe house. Getting out, she did all that she had planned to do and got back into her car to go home. It was just as they had practiced before and her anxiety was not too high.

  Driving home, she saw a car stopped on the side of the road. The owners were looking at a map, but Katie didn't know that. In fact, she didn't know anything but that the car was parked on the side of the road. She screeched to a stop and called Ciarán to come get her. She couldn't even describe where she was, but her ability to drive up to and past the car on the side of the road was not there.

  Ciarán had gott
en one of the ranch hands to run him back towards Haven House while they looked for her, finding her about halfway home. Ciarán jumped out and after checking to make sure she was all right, he waved the worker on and he took Katie from the driver's side to the passenger side, buckled her, and jumped in the driver's side to take them home. He knew she would be okay, but she needed help before it became so ingrained that she would never completely recover.

  Ciarán didn't say anything on the way home, but he had a look of grim determination. He was going to take Jocelyn up on her offer to work with Katie to help her overcome the ill effects of the events of the abduction. Katherine had said no, and Ciarán had listened, but this was a sign that his wife needed the help. Ciarán called over to Jocelyn and told her that he would welcome any time she had available. There was no response from Katie and if she were even close to being okay today, he would have had a fight on his hands. He was determined that she was not going to have to deal with the pain and fear forever. He had decided that it was past time for them to take back control and they would meet her fears head on.

  Katie called and gave up her public health job because she just couldn't get back on the road and she needed to do that to do home visits. They offered her a leave of absence and she turned them down, but later called them back at Ciarán's insistence. He would be happy if she never worked outside the home again but he knew she would not be, so he made a deal. If, after Jocelyn collaborated with her on this, Katie felt still could not do it, she could quit. She agreed.

  Jocelyn convinced her to keep the safe house job by driving her to the Bhaile Haven herself. For now, it was just too much for Katie to attempt, but once there or if driven there, she was wonderful. She simply couldn't, wouldn't, go anywhere by herself. The therapy began in earnest. First, it was talk therapy to lay out the fears, where they came from, and what she was sacrificing with those fears. Then they discussed what she was missing in her life by allowing those fears to control her instead of her controlling them.