Page 26 of Guarded By Them

Kodee turned to Ryan. “You should rest while you can.”

Ryan scowled. “I’m fine.”

But Kodee wasn’t giving in that easily. “Stop trying to be hard and give in for a while. You heard Timmo. We have a few hours while he goes out and sources what he needs.”

“Why didn’t he do that before we arrived?” Dillon asked. “It’s not as though he didn’t know we were coming.”

“I guess I didn’t tell him exactly what we were bringing with us when I called. He might have thought we had all the materials with us.”

That made sense. I hoped we could trust this man. But what choice did we have?

It felt weird being in a stranger’s house when they weren’t even here. It felt even odder being out in the middle of nowhere.

I shivered. “I don’t know how people live like this.”

Dillon shrugged. “Some folks just really don’t like being around other people.”

“Timmo seemed happy enough to let us stay,” I pointed out.

He raked his hand through his dark hair. “Maybe even men like Timmo get sick of their own company eventually. Come on, let’s check out the bedrooms.”

I knew the main thing on everyone’s mind was making sure Ryan was all right, so I picked a door. It led onto a double bedroom, with a second door that appeared to be an adjoining bathroom.

“This room looks like a spare,” I called out to the guys.

They followed me in, dumping the bags on the floor, and Ryan took a seat on the edge of the bed.

“You can take off the leg now, Ryan,” Kodee said. “We’re safe out here.”

I nodded in agreement. “You’re going to have to take it off eventually.”

He exhaled a sigh but bent to unclick the prosthesis from his stump. He winced as he pulled off the fiberglass casing, and then rolled down the sleeve that held the pin.

“Can we get you anything to help?” I offered. “Ice? Painkillers.”

“Just rest is fine. Painkillers don’t do much for this kind of pain, anyway.”

He lay back on the bed. I hesitated for a moment then kicked off my shoes and climbed onto the bed to lie beside him. He slid his arm beneath my shoulders, my head pillowed on his chest. I wrapped my arm around his waist and hugged him tight, wishing I could take away some of his pain, both physical and mental.

“You can’t fall asleep like that,” Kodee warned.

I offered him a smile. “We’ll be okay.”

There was still bruising around my throat, bruises that wouldn’t fade for a few days yet. I wished more than anything that I could trust Ryan, but how could he promise that it would never happen again? He couldn’t. This fear that he would suffer from a night terror and dream he was back in the war, fighting for his life, would always be there, and that broke my heart.

Ryan placed a kiss to my head. “You know I’d never hurt you intentionally, Rue.”

I smiled up at him, though I was filled with sadness. “I know.”

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