Page 66 of The Wrecked One

Vanessa was on the porch, avoiding the rain, when we pulled in. She walked around to the side and joined us in the three-car garage.

When the garage door shut, Vanessa opened the car door for me. “Oh, Oliver.”

I stared at her in a daze. She had the same soulful expression that mirrored the one Mom once had in her gaze before those men stole it from her.

“You okay? Is she?”

“She’s just asleep, but okay.” Deep asleep, apparently. I knew I wouldn’t be able to carry her into the house, not with my shoulder feeling broken, right along with my heart.

“I got her, don’t worry.” Malcolm swapped positions with his wife, and I helped ease her over to him despite the burn tearing up my shoulder and arm.

Once he had her, I accepted Vanessa’s hand to get out since I was in shit shape.

“You don’t look so good yourself.” Vanessa hooked her arm around my side for support, helping me walk up the three stairs to go inside.

“Yeah, I’m not so good,” I admitted, not in the mood to suck it up and act okay. Hell, I didn’t have the energy to.

Malcolm found us in the living room a minute later, arms empty. “I put Mya on the guest bed in the last room down the hall. I don’t really think it's a good idea to leave her in those soaked clothes, though.”

“I grabbed a few things for you two before y’all came back, assuming you’d be soaked and dirty.” Vanessa pulled her arm from around my side, and I leaned against the wall so I didn’t collapse. “Do you want to go up there and help her, or do you want me to?”

“I better go up. I don’t want her waking up alone and freaking out about being in a strange place.” I accepted the clothes from Vanessa with my good arm. Well, at this point, it was simply better than my bad one.

Malcolm set a phone on top of the clothes. “A secure line to reach out to your people.”

My people. Were they mine again? Did what happened today force me back onto the team whether I was ready or not? Shit, I couldn’t think about that. “Thank you. Let me know when Dad reaches out, okay?”

“Sure. Why don’t you two rest up there until he’s here,” Vanessa suggested.

“You sure? I’m placing you both in danger by being here, and I don’t?—”

“We’re just fine, and you know that.” Malcolm’s piercing brown gaze shot to my face, his firm nod an unspoken warning not to argue.

“Okay. If there’s a breach?—”

“You’ll be the first to know,” he cut me off again, then shooed me away.

It took me a bit longer than I’d have liked to make my way upstairs. I also knew if Mya was awake, she’d realize I was hurting, and I didn’t need her worrying about me. So, I’d have to do my best to put on a show and hide the pain.

I was familiar with the guest room at the end of the hall. I’d slept in there before, when my father and I’d had too much to drink to drive back home after dinner. Thankfully, it was on the other end of the house, so I hadn’t woken anyone from my nightmares.

The door was open, and Mya was in the process of sitting upright, lowering her feet to the floor while holding her head. “I was running, trying to get away, but I didn’t. They got me,” she said as if in a daze.

“No, we got away.”

This time, at least.

I set the clothes and phone on the dresser before joining her on the bed. It was a firm mattress, so it didn’t sink in from my weight, even if I had the urge to meld right into it and disappear.

She twisted the hem of her white tee, wringing out some of the water onto her wet jeans. Did she remember what happened? That she’d jumped from a plane?

“Are you okay?” I was beginning to worry she somehow gave herself a concussion when she knocked her head against my jaw.

Letting go of her shirt, she clasped her hands together. Open and closed. Repeating the motion as if trying to get a grip.

No, definitely not okay.

“In my dream, I was running, but I was also watching myself run,” she shared instead of answering me. “Not me, maybe not me. I—I don’t know. I was trying to get away, but I didn’t.” She closed her eyes, and I had to remind myself the back of her head hit my jaw not her face, so that was smudged mascara around her eye, not a shiner.

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