Page 126 of Corrupting Ivy

I hung up, and I grabbed the shopping bags and food, then walked back into the hotel room. The darkened room unnerved me. “Ivy?” As I set the bags on the table, I felt a flash of something shoot through me. “Ivy?”

Did she leave?

Would she do that?

People experiencing shock or overwhelm have been known to do many things out of character… but would she? Was she that broken, she’d pick up and disappear like she did after shooting Billy?

A soft moan filled my ears as a shadowy lump moved on the king-sized bed.

I exhaled and rubbed my eyes with the heel of my palms. When my heart returned to a slow steady rhythm, I walked to the side of the bed where she lay. Her wet hair covered her soft sleeping features, and I couldn’t resist the impetus to touch her. I brushed a lock away and tucked it behind her ear as her eyelids fluttered open.

“I don’t know what it is that you do to me, but if I could find the weakness inside of me, I’d drown it so I’d never have to feel again.” My gaze bounced between her red-rimmed green eyes.

“Then I’d have to revive you. Because it’s better to feel pain than nothing at all.”

It wasn’t pain I felt. It was something I couldn’t put my finger on, but it set off alarm bells ringing in my ears. This was a dangerous road I’d taken with her, and there was nothing I wouldn’t do to stay on it.

Ivy closed her eyes and tucked her hand under her cheek.

I watched her for a moment longer, then bent down and kissed her head before walking back over to the table and ate my only meal in the last twenty-four hours.

After finishing the mountain of hotcakes and bacon, I stripped and ducked under the cold shower water. The soothing chilly flow ran down the purple bruise appearing on my ribcage and washed away the blood that I’d missed along my waist.

I scrubbed with the hotel bar soap, leaving my skin with a grimy feel, then rinsed. I’d leave my hair for when we got home. Stepping out, I dried off and threw my towel on the counter.

When I walked back out, Ivy was still in the same position I’d left her in, laying on her side facing the window on the edge of the bed. I crawled in beside her, wrapping my arms around her tiny frame. She placed her hand on top of mine, draped over her and interlaced her fingers with a quiet sigh.

I kissed her bare shoulder, pressed my chest to her back, then closed my eyes and let sleep overtake me.

I sucked in a deepbreath, the smell of charred flesh in my nostrils. My pulse raced as I struggled to wipe Mr. Grady’s nightmarish face from my mind.

Randall stirred at my back, his arm wrapped around my side. I interlaced my fingers through his and tucked his arm between my breasts, clutching him tight to my chest.

He pressed his lips to my shoulder.

“I’m okay,” I said, reassuring him even though I was the one needing the comfort.

Was I okay, though?

I stared into the darkness where the blocked light from the outside world tried to invade ours. Randall pulled me tighter against him and nuzzled his nose against my neck.

The unsettled chaos inside of me quieted the tighter he squeezed and, with each warm breath that hit my back, I felt more at peace.

It felt good to be taken care of, to be wanted, especially by him.

“We should get going,” he said, placing another kiss on my shoulder.

I’d slept hard, and the wet pillow beside my lips proved as much—until Mr. Grady.

When would the nightmares from Billy’s screams start? Would they? What if Randall wasn’t here beside me when they did?

I didn’t want to face the future like that without him.

Flipping the sheets off of me, I slid from the bed and used the restroom. When I came out, drying my hands on the fluffy white towel, Randall was dressed in clothes I hadn’t seen before. He handed me a bag, his eyes on my naked breasts.

“I bought you some clothes last night. Figured you’d need new ones.”

My heart swelled.

---