Page 68 of Entangled in Them

And hit the ground hard.

***

I JOLTED AWAKE, LURCHING from sleep and instinctively attempting to sit up. My heart pounded, sweat coating my skin. But even though I tried to sit, something was pushing me down. The sensation of not being able to breathe had followed me into waking life, and when I lifted my hands to reach for my throat, my fingers met with a pair of arms.

Confusion and panic filled me. How was that possible? I didn’t understand. I hadn’t gone to sleep anywhere near the water. I’d been in Ryan’s bed, tangled among the limbs of all the men, but I was fighting to reach the surface again, unable to suck in a breath. My lungs burned, and my throat was a narrowed pinprick. What the fuck was going on?

As my dreaming brain separated from my waking brain, I was able to piece together what was happening. Someone was sitting astride my chest, pinning me down, and their hands were wrapped around my throat. In the shaft of light coming from the adjoining bathroom, I glimpsed blond hair and unseeing blue eyes.

Ryan!

I struggled beneath him, trying to wriggle my body enough to buck him off, pummeling at his arms with my hands. But I was a fraction of his size and weight, and no matter what I did, he didn’t budge. Why was he hurting me? I’d never seen this side of him before. I tried to catch his eye, silently pressing the question into his mind. Why? Why? Why? But there was nothing in his blue gaze to even show he registered me.

Only a matter of seconds had passed, but it felt like a lifetime. My lungs were a vacuum, my throat a crushed paper straw I was barely able to sip oxygen through. My heart broke at the knowledge it was Ryan hurting me, though I didn’t think he knew what he was doing. He looked like he was awake, but whatever he was seeing, it wasn’t me.

A body suddenly slammed into Ryan’s side, throwing him off me. The pressure on my chest and around my throat mercifully vanished, and I sucked in a lungful of air, my breathing a wheezed gasp.

Dillon had tackled Ryan, and now the two of them tussled on the floor. They were more evenly matched in size, and Ryan wasn’t wearing his prosthetic, having taken it off before we’d fallen asleep. A set of strong arms helped me to sit, and Kodee’s warm, familiar embrace wrapped around me. In shock from what had happened, I burst into tears.

“You’re okay,” he soothed. “You’re safe now. You’re going to be okay.”

He cradled my face against his bare chest, stroking my hair. The position, sitting on the bedroom floor, reminded me of the night I’d found Ryan after he’d fallen, and how I’d held him while he cried. The memory only made me cry harder. How could Ryan have done that to me? How could he have wanted to hurt me?

Kodee seemed to know what I was thinking. “It’s his PTSD from the war. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. It’s his nightmares. He thinks he’s back in the war.”

Ryan was fully awake now. “What happened? What did I do?” He caught sight of my tear-streaked face. “Jesus, Rue. Did I hurt you? I’m so sorry.”

“Not now, man,” Dillon said, his shoulder propped under Ryan’s arm to help him move. “We’ll deal with this in the morning. Give Rue some space.”

“I’m so sorry,” he said again, but he allowed Dillon to help him toward the door.

“Where are they going?” I asked Kodee, my voice a hoarse whisper.

“To Dillon’s room.”

“What if Ryan tries to hurt Dillon?”

Kodee’s full lips thinned. “Dillon can handle himself. Don’t worry about him.” He reached for a glass of water on the nightstand. “Here. Drink this. Little sips. It’ll help your throat.”

I did as he instructed, and the cool water did help to ease the burning. It was going to hurt the next day, though, and I expected I’d be sporting some impressive bruises for a few days yet.

“Come on,” Kodee said, helping me off the floor. “Let’s get you back into bed. There’s nothing more we can do until morning.”

I allowed him to help me up, and I climbed back into the bed, still warm from all our bodies. His words wound a thread of worry inside me. What was it he planned to do in the morning? How could this be fixed? It wasn’t Ryan’s fault, and yet he’d frightened me. How could I trust being around him, knowing he had that kind of violence inside him?

Kodee climbed into the bed beside me and slid his arm under my head. I turned into him, his big bicep supporting my cheek, twisting to face him.

“This is what happened to you, isn’t it, when I saw those bruises around your throat that day? I’d thought it had been from a business deal gone wrong, but Ryan had done the same thing to you.”

He nodded. “Yes, but I’m strong enough to fight him off.” He stroked my hair away from my face. “It’ll be okay, Rue.”

I nodded as though I agreed with him, but I didn’t. How could this be okay? And I wasn’t only thinking about the situation with Ryan. These men didn’t own me. I was only on loan. At some point soon, the Capello brothers would want me back again so they could use me like their own little singing canary.

I sniffed, holding back a sob, and Kodee pulled me closer. I snuggled into him, my face against his chest, my knee hooked over the top of his thigh, and tried not to think about the two other men next door and how I was currently the person who’d come between them all.

***

I WOKE THE FOLLOWING morning, aware of the pain in my throat and how hard it was to swallow, before I’d even opened my eyes.

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