Page 89 of Take Her from You

My phone dinged with an alarm Raphael had set for me before he left—a reminder of the meds I needed to take which were in packets on my bedside table. I dismissed the notification and flipped off the pills that were curdling my gut. If I couldn’t eat, I’d never recover. I wasn’t sick, only injured. Meds were working against me, and I could do without them.

A couple of hours later, I woke from another doze.

And a shitty dream. In it, I’d still been with Kelly. I’d arrived at the house we’d shared with a bag on my back, presumably coming home from deployment, but the curtains had been drawn. Shadows moved behind them, noises filtering through the open windows. Two voices I knew well. My happiness at coming home had been replaced with deep sickness.

Dream-me hadn’t wanted to see, even though I knew I had to bring an end to what she was doing. It meant witnessing it. Giving visuals I’d never lose.

Thank fuck the alarm had pulled me out of the nightmare.

I flexed my limbs and stretched my spine. My leg ached with a dull throb, but I could handle that if it gave me my appetite back. I took up my phone and scanned my messages. Each of the crew had asked how I was doing, and Ben had sent an update from Daisy, which presumably came from her talking to Mia. I wrote back.

Valentine: None of you arseholes better be buddying up to Finn while I’m out of action. That’s my boy.

Almost instantly, two people were typing.

Jackson: How about that, you’re not dead.

After the shit I gave him when he’d disarmed the knife-wielding maniac, I expected much more.

Raphael: Did you take your antibiotics this morning?

Valentine: No, Ma.

Ben: Is that a joke? Daisy will make you.

Valentine: She can try.

Ben: Or I can ask her to ask Mia.

Him saying her name gave me a strange feeling. Of the degrees of separation between us. Where she was only connected to me by my brother’s girlfriend. I didn’t like it.

I squinted at the time, double-taking.

It hadn’t just been an hour or two I’d slept but all the morning and half the afternoon, too. Mia would be back soon. Damn. I’d wanted to be a little better presented.

Tossing my phone, I shoved the tray aside and threw back the covers, grimacing at the warm stink that rose around me. God, I really did reek. A shower was even more in desperate need than ever. I sucked in a breath and swung my legs across the bed.

The knife wound pulsed with an evil, dull pain that sank to my bone. I shuddered, pressing my fingers around the hurt until it eased, then I forced myself to stand. My head swam, but no wonder, considering the length of time I’d been horizontal. Still fucking doing this. Staggering, I limped to the wall, using it to keep me upright on my way into the bathroom.

Light on. Shower on. Fucking pain.

I tugged off my t-shirt and boxers without passing out, and opened the shower door. At best, I had thirty minutes to handle this shite.

Steam rose. I stepped inside.

The water beat down on me and soaked my bandage. My skin stung, the heat doing something strange to my brain. I squeezed liquid soap onto a flannel and scrubbed myself down.

My head rushed. It overwhelmed me until all of a sudden, I couldn’t breathe. I sank to the shower tray, dropped my face to my hands, and blackness swallowed me whole.

Chapter 24

Mia

Heather’s car was already parked outside Castle Braithar, the nurse at the open door. It was a little after three, but I didn’t have the school run today. Tobi was going home with Avery and her family so I could spend longer taking care of Valentine.

“Hey, Heather,” I called.

She lifted her head, her expression fraught. It pulled me up short.

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