RunningWildAmazon

by Reece, Christy

  Not too bad for Aidan was probably agony for anyone else, but since she could do nothing about it, she simply nodded.

  “Okay now,” he growled softly, “let’s take a look at you.”

  Despite the circumstances and in spite of what she’d overheard him say to Cook, Anna felt a wave of longing so immense she had to grip her hands together to keep from reaching for him. Not only was this not the time or place, he was injured. Besides, she was still so weak, even one small kiss would probably knock her sideways.

  He checked her pulse first, which was probably skyrocketing, but he just gave her a narrow-eyed look and said, “Let me see your eyes.”

  He used the flashlight to test her pupil reaction. She had a slight headache, and the light made it worse, but she wouldn’t complain. Aidan’s head had to be pounding.

  “Any dizziness?” he asked.

  “No.”

  “Blurred or double vision?”

  “No.”

  “Nausea?”

  She shook her head. “No.”

  “When we get to back to the States, I want you to go to the hospital for a full checkup and an entire panel of blood work. The drugs the son of a bitch gave you were his own inventions.”

  Revulsion swirled within her at the knowledge that unknown chemicals had been injected into her body. Cook could have given her any number of illnesses or diseases.

  “He really was crazy, wasn’t he?”

  “Way past it. You hungry?”

  After what she’d been through, she was relieved to be able to say, “Starving.”

  “Let’s eat, and then tell me what you remember.”

  He handed her a bottle of water, a bag of chips, and a small pack of cookies.

  Feeling as though she hadn’t had an ounce of moisture touch her mouth in weeks, Anna downed half the water in one long gulp. She then started on her chips, and Aidan did the same. They ate in companionable silence for a few moments.

  Feeling moderately better, Anna sat back against the rock. “How did you find out I’d been taken?”

  “I got a call from Patrick from your phone.” He gave her a nod. “Tell me what you remember.”

  She told him about leaving late and the man in the elevator. “It was Patrick. Even though he was incredibly polite, and there wasn’t anything threatening about him, he gave me the willies. I made an excuse and got off the elevator.

  “I waited a minute or so and then left the building.” She gave a wry grimace. “I thought I was home free. I was a few feet from my car when two men attacked me.”

  He tenderly touched the bruises on her face. “I could kill the bastard again for this alone.”

  “I got in a few punches, but then Patrick showed up and shoved a needle in my neck. I was out for hours. When I woke up, I think I must’ve been on a plane. I remember hearing a drone, but he must’ve seen me move. He stuck me with another needle. The next time I woke, I was in a bed at Cook’s house.”

  “Did he do anything to you? Touch you?”

  “No. Not at all. He was creepy but treated me very politely. When I realized what had happened…I was so scared. I knew you would come for me.”

  “Are you finished with your chips?”

  “What?” She glanced down at the bag she’d crumpled in her hand. “Yes.”

  He took the bag from her and put it away, then held out his hand. “Come here.”

  She went into his arms as if she was coming home. As if she belonged there, forever.

  Aidan allowed himself one second of closing his eyes to savor the feel of her, whole and healthy. In those long hours of not knowing where she was, what had happened to her, he had almost convinced himself he would never get the chance to hold her again.

  His head pounded as if someone were slamming a hammer into it every second, his shoulder and side throbbed, and the ribs that hadn’t had the chance to mend were probably cracked even more. None of that mattered. Anna was alive. That was all that mattered. It was the only outcome he would have been able to live with.

  Her voice was muffled against his chest. “I think those few moments when they forced you to leave and I was lying beside Simon were the worst of it all. I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”

  He shifted a little to look down at her face. Daylight was almost gone now, but this close, he could see the gleam of tears in her eyes. “You could hear us?”

  “Yes. The drug…whatever he gave me…made me unable to move. I was paralyzed, but I was aware of everything. Could hear everything.”

  Fury roared through him. The sick son of a bitch had wanted her awake, helpless to do anything but lie there, aware of what was coming.

  “When you came into the room to check on me, I was screaming…but you couldn’t hear me.”

  He buried his face in her hair. “I’m sorry, Anna. So very, very sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault, Aidan. I should have been able to fight them off. Believe me, when I get home, I’m going back to my self-defense instructors for some major training.”

  Telling her she had been outnumbered and drugged would do no good. Besides, he wanted her better trained.

  “So I think I heard everything correctly. Cook Sr., Simon’s father, was the one who’d been doing this all along. And your friend Simon…”

  “Was innocent.” Aidan shook his head, still trying to get his mind wrapped around the idea of how wrong he’d been all these years.

  “In a way that’s got to be a comfort. The man you believed was your best friend really was your best friend. He didn’t betray you.”

  “Yeah.”

  She went silent, and Aidan figured she was probably asleep. He shifted her onto the ground so he could lie beside her but still hold her. He didn’t intend to sleep. Just because it looked as though everyone had either died in the explosion or had escaped beforehand didn’t mean that was what happened. He wouldn’t let down his guard. Not again. Not until they were out of the jungle, and he could be assured once and for all that no one was coming after her.

  He kept himself awake, thinking about regret, allowing himself to come to grips with all that he had learned. All the preconceived ideas that had been all wrong. He thought about Melody. Now that he knew who had really killed her, how it had all happened, a fresh wave of pain washed over him. And he thought about Simon. Had he known that Aidan blamed him? Or had he trusted Aidan to know he would never have hurt Mellie?

  There were people he needed talk to, arrangements he needed to make. For the first time in over a decade, he actually had a future. And the woman he held in his arms was the biggest part of it. That was, if she would still have him.

  Chapter Forty-two

  Anna woke just after dawn feeling almost normal. The first night after their escape, she had slept like the dead and had woken to find Aidan’s concerned face hovering over her. She vaguely remembered that he had tried waking her several more times, and she had refused. She had still been so weak, and he had insisted they stay in their little hideout for one more day. She hadn’t had the strength to argue.

  This morning, though still a little tired and disoriented, she could feel her energy and stamina returning. Most certainly she would be able to travel today.

  She shifted slightly, and her exhausted mind worked to figure out why she was lying on the surface of the sun. A searing heat encompassed one side of her body. She struggled to get away from the heat source and finally managed to sit up. The instant she was upright, she knew where she was and what was happening. Aidan was the heat source. He was lying beside her, burning with fever.

  Going to her knees, she touched his forehead and gasped. His temperature had to be well over a hundred. His eyes were closed, and though she hated to wake him, she needed to know if he was in pain.

  “Aidan?” she whispered.

  Bloodshot eyes popped open immediately. “How are you feeling?”

  “I’m fine. Much better than you are. You’ve got a fever.”

  “Yeah. Came o
n a few hours ago. I took that Amoxicillin we found. That’ll help some. I’ll pop a couple more aspirin and we’ll be good to go.”

  “You’re not going anywhere until we get your temperature down.”

  He grinned up at her. “You’re cute when you’re bossy.”

  Despite her worry, she couldn’t help but laugh. “And you’re a flirt even when you’re sick.”

  She pulled the nightgown from the duffle bag. Even if the thought of it gave her shivers, she was glad she’d brought the thing with her to use as bandages. She ripped off one of the sleeves. Dampening the material with bottled water, she placed the damp cloth on his forehead.

  “Hold this here. I need to take a look at your shoulder and side.”

  “I replaced the bandages about a couple of hours ago.”

  “How bad?”

  “Shoulder might be getting a little infected. Side looks like it’s thinking about doing the same thing. Nothing a few more doses of antibiotics can’t cure.”

  And unfortunately the bottle they’d found only had a few pills left in it. “What about your head? How does it feel?”

  “Still hard as a rock.”

  Her raised brow told him she wasn’t moving until she got what she wanted.

  A smile tugging at his mouth, he turned slightly so she could examine the lump on his head. The size had decreased, but more blood had crusted around it.

  She dampened another cloth and cleaned the wound, relieved to not see fresh blood.

  “Does your head still hurt?”

  “Not as much as my ass. I’ve been sitting on this hard ground too long. Let’s get up and stretch our legs.”

  Pleased that he felt well enough to stand, considering how he looked, Anna scrambled to her feet and assessed the surrounding area. She’d been so out of it yesterday, she could have been lying in a pit of vipers and she wasn’t sure she would have noticed.

  She could understand why he had insisted they stay here one more night. The place Aidan had chosen for them was actually like a little garden. Wild, vibrant flowers of various colors surrounded the area, while giant leafed bushes gave exceptional coverage. The flat area where they’d slept was covered in low, lush grass. Massive trees shaded them from the worst of the sun, and a large boulder jutted out from the ground to shield them from the inevitable rain. It reminded her of the place where they’d sought shelter a few weeks ago. With everything that had happened, it was hard to believe it hadn’t been that long ago.

  She turned to make that remark to Aidan and stopped. He’d just gotten to his feet and had the oddest look on his face.

  “Aidan?”

  He whispered, “Oh shit,” and fell forward at her feet.

  Anna didn’t know how long she had been working to get Aidan’s fever down. After he’d collapsed, she had rolled him over. First, she had checked to make sure he was breathing and hadn’t injured himself further, then she had taken a look at his shoulder and side. His shoulder wound was red and inflamed. The bullet crease on his side looked angry, too. There was no doubt that the two injuries were the sources of the fever rampaging through his body.

  Getting his temperature down was her first priority. She worked for over an hour, wiping his body with a wet cloth. He regained consciousness within a few minutes of passing out, assuring her that he was fine and just needed an hour or so of rest. A few minutes later, he was unconscious again.

  On the inside, Anna was a mass of volatile emotions, fear being the biggest one of all. This beautiful, heroic man could not die. He had endured so much, lost so much. Had saved her life, as well as so many others. And now that he could actually allow himself to have a normal life, to have it snuffed out like this was injustice in the extreme. She could not allow that to happen.

  Yes, she loved him with all her heart. Yes, she wanted to be with him more than anything. Her wants and needs didn’t matter right now. She put all of those things aside to focus on one thing. This was one of the most selfless, noble men she’d ever known. The world needed more men like Aidan Thorne.

  So she worked endlessly for hours to bring his fever down. Whenever he had moments of consciousness, she fed him little sips of water and talked about nonsensical and ridiculous things. Whether she did that to make sure he knew he wasn’t alone or to keep herself from panic, she wasn’t sure. She only knew that she had to keep up this one-sided dialogue.

  It was late afternoon, she had gone through four bottles of water, and her voice was almost gone from talking so much, when Aidan’s fever finally broke. During the longest hours of her life, in between her diatribe on everything from politics to reciting her master’s thesis, Aidan had done his own share of rambling. Most of it was incoherent, but he mumbled Melody’s name several times.

  She could not imagine the pain he had endured, losing Melody in the way he had. And not only had Aidan heard the bastard who’d murdered her describe in detail what had happened, he’d learned that everything he had believed was a lie. It only made sense that this was at the forefront of his mind and would haunt him in his delirium.

  But she couldn’t deny that, as understandable as his pain was, her own hurt clawed at her like a wildcat, ripping her heart to shreds. She had heard every word he’d said to Cook about her and about Melody. He had said that Anna was just like the other women he’d had sex with. She was nothing special. They’d had a fling, nothing more.

  The rational part of her mind told her he’d said those things in the hope that Cook would release her. That if the fiend didn’t think she was important to Aidan, he would reconsider killing her. The other part, though, one made up of all the gut-churning emotions she felt for this man, told her what he’d said was true. Aidan had never given her any indication that he felt anything for her other than desire and perhaps friendship. He had even refused to consider her suggestion of using LCR to trap Cook. That, more than anything, spoke of a man who was still mired in the past and didn’t want to move forward. Didn’t want to have a new life with another woman.

  She didn’t begrudge his feelings. If Melody had been the love of his life, how could she resent his deep love for his wife?

  Wasn’t it just too bad that Aidan was the love of her life?

  ***

  “You look tired, baby.”

  She had been sitting beside him, seemingly lost in thought. The instant he spoke, a smile of pure radiance brightened her face to an almost ethereal glow. Though she did look weary and worn out, happiness washed away the exhaustion.

  “You’re awake and speaking coherently.”

  “Apparently two things that haven’t happened in a while. How long have I been out?”

  “On and off for about a day and a half.”

  Aidan cursed himself. Almost two days of leaving her alone and unprotected.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I am now.” She leaned over and kissed his forehead and then his cheek. She did it so automatically, he had a feeling she had done that many times over the last two days.

  “Sorry I left you to fend for yourself. You must be exhausted.”

  She turned away and started rummaging in the duffle bag, but not before he saw her face crumple with emotion.

  “Anna?”

  Turning to face him again, a bottle of water in her hand, she whispered, “I’ve felt helpless before, but never like that. I thought I was going to lose you, Aidan.”

  He took the bottle she held out to him and then grabbed her wrist, pulling her forward. She went into his arms, and once again Aidan savored the contentment of having her so close. He was far from well, and they were not remotely out of danger, but they both needed this time.

  “Why’s your voice so hoarse? You been yelling at me and I missed the fun?”

  “Only a few times. We’ve mostly just chatted about mundane stuff. Well, I chatted.” He felt her smile against his chest. “You’re a great listener, by the way.”

  “Thanks. One of my few talents when I’m unconscious.” He squeezed her gently,
noting how fragile she felt in his arms. “I haven’t taken very good care of you.”

  She huffed out an exasperated breath. “No, you’ve just saved my life a half-dozen times, but who’s counting?”

  “We’re even, then. If you hadn’t kept me hydrated and cooled down, I wouldn’t have made it.”

  “We’re not even by a long shot. I’m just so glad you’re better.”

  At some point, he needed to get up and try his legs out. For now, he wanted Anna to rest. He knew she’d stayed awake to keep him safe. She would downplay her heroism, but that didn’t mean he would. He knew what it must have cost her. She was still recovering from all the shit Cook had pumped into her. And yet she had kept watch over him, protecting him. He couldn’t think of anyone he’d rather have at his side for the rest of his life.

  Chapter Forty-three

  Anna slept for several hours. Now that she was sure Aidan would make it, she allowed herself to relax. Still, she kept the small pistol he’d given her right beside her, and she woke several times to ensure everything was okay. Several times when she woke, Aidan was awake, too.

  She’d asked him why he wasn’t sleeping, and with his classic sexy smile, he’d said, “Because watching you sleep is a helluva lot more fun.”

  It was late afternoon when she woke again, feeling about as rested as she figured she was going to be until they were on level ground and far away from here.

  “I need to get up and walk around.”

  Anna scrambled to her feet and held out her hand. “Let me help you.”

  His look was both disgruntled and sheepish. “I’d be insulted if it wasn’t for the fact that I’ll probably need your help.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Because I’m a woman?”

  “No. Because I outweigh you by about a hundred and twenty-five pounds.”

  She doubted the number was one twenty-five but was vain enough to like that he thought so.

  “I won’t tell anyone if you don’t.”

  He took her hands, and between the two of them, they got him on his feet. He swayed for a few seconds, and she knew it was all he could do to stay upright. She also knew he would persevere.