Page 3 of Saving Lauren

“What do you want from me?” I whisper.

“Please," he says and he slowly moves closer to me.

I back into the corner even more and try to make myself as small as I can. I tighten my grip on the cloak.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he says and his voice is raw with emotion. I blink at him.

“Please, you can trust me.”

I snort, trust him my ass. I have not been able to trust anybody ever since I woke up on a strange ship after being abducted from my home. But when I look at him more closely, I can see his shoulders slumping. He looks… defeated.

“What do you want from me?” I ask again. The big guy looks up and fixes his gaze on me again.

“I want to help you.” And he scoots even closer to me.

I am in full freak out mode now. I jump up, flattening myself against the wall. “Don’t come any closer,” I yell and I can hear my blood pumping through my body. My heart rate is skyhigh, and I have no idea how to get myself out of this predicament.

I almost feel bad about the look of utter devastation in D’Var’s eyes as he stands up and moves back. The ship must be on auto pilot now, because the other guys have turned around their chairs and are flanking him. The smaller one touches his shoulder, in an effort to comfort him, but D’Var lets out a tortured growl and then stalks away.

Inwardly cringing, I begin to shudder, mixed emotions flowing through me. This is not what I wanted! D’Var is leaving me alone with his two crew members and I have no idea what they want from me either. As much as D’Var’s touch and nearness freaked me out, the thought of him leaving me with the others freaks me out even more.

“WAIT!” I yell and he stops in his tracks.

“Please don’t leave me,” I whisper-cry and he walks right back towards me.

“Never,” he says gravely, he falls to his knees in front of the couch where I am slowly sliding back into a seated position. He is still towering over me, and I am still scared out of my mind but somehow, I feel calmer now that he is near. I inhale deeply and then I look into his eyes again when I exhale in a rush. He is so close I can see how the edges of his black eyes are almost sparkling. Like there’s a complete universe to discover there.

“What do you need, little one?” he asks me.

“I am not little,” I retort. He tugs up one corner of his mouth, giving me an almost smile.

“Then what do I call you? If you are not little.”

“Lauren,” I answer him, feeling very confused again.

“L’Ren,” he says, like he is trying out my name. I giggle.

“No, Lau-Ren,” I say, and he tries again but he swallows the ‘O’ sound. All that comes out is L’Ren again.

I give him a wobbly smile and for a moment I forget to hold tight to my cloak. As a result it slips over one of my shoulders.

“Are you hurt?” he asks me sharply. I blink. Am I hurt? I truly don’t know, I have not been in a position to think about things like that. I blink again, he is expecting an answer. I bite my lip.

“No,” I say, but it comes out more of a question. I am too afraid to look at him, afraid he’ll see the truth and consider me worthless. A broken toy is no fun, after all.

He pulls me up towards a standing position, and I hastily pull the cloak back up.

“Are you hurt?” he asks, while he tilts up my chin so I can look him in the eye. I stumble. “No,” I say again.

“No?” He growls and he pulls the cloak from my fingers. Gently he opens it. His big hands are so tender I forget to be scared when he peels it away from my fingers, gently caressing the bruises at my throat.

“Are you hurt here, L’Ren?”

I swallow. “Yes," I whisper, barely audible. He continues to the bruises on my chest and my upper arms, the cloak falling to the center of my back.

“Are you hurt here?”

I swallow again, and it gets hard to breathe. “Yes," I whisper. He puts my cloak back into place and caresses the side of my breasts, which are purple, blue and greenish.

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