Page 52 of Burn

The door closed softly and I spared a glance at it. Bones was on his way. Blowing out a breath, I focused on Grace to finish getting that bandage off. The bleeding bothered me, along with the fact she fainted. So far I hadn’t found any other wounds, but I also wasn’t seeing any blood from anywhere else.

It took me about thirty minutes to free the bandage without tearing her more, then to clean the wound. It had pulled wide. He had used steri-strips rather than stitches. As tempted as I was to sew her up, I checked the wound from top to bottom, flushed it out, then used fresh skin glue to close it before using what the doctor had.

He’d said something about reducing scarring. Probably a concern for Grace. I had more than a few of my own. Once I had the wound closed and resealed, I checked her pupils. They weren’t reacting fully, but they were reacting.

“Okay, Firecracker, let’s go over everything shall we?” I stripped off her shoes, then her socks. The jeans went next. It kind of killed me how slender she was. The fact I couldn’t quite see her ribs didn’t give me a lot of assurance about her diet.

There was a bruise around her ankle. One that looked like it had been made by a circle of some kind. A shackle? Possibly. There were bruises on her knees and legs. Most looked like something she could have gotten running into something.

Casual injuries, nothing to worry about. I went over her hips and abdomen. There were bruises on her hips—finger-shaped bruises. I just made a mental catalog of every mark on her. When I’d finally assured myself that she wasn’t hiding any other injuries, I pulled out one of my t-shirts and slid it over her before I tucked her into the other bed so I could clean this one up.

Her pulse was steady, her breathing deeper, and her color looked better now that I got the bleeding stopped. Hopefully, she was just sleeping this off. I sacked up the towels that would have to leave with us. Not leaving a blood trail behind was the way to go.

I made the cheap hotel room coffee and killed a couple of protein bars. My phone screen was cracked and didn’t want to respond to half of what I did. We’d need to replace it the following day.

As it was, I checked in with Lunchbox and Alphabet. They’d been watching at the clinic, so they knew about the tracker. The text took a little finagling to send through.

When Alphabet asked how she was doing, I glanced over at her peaceful expression. Then went with the truth.

Me:

She’s asleep. It’s been a hard day for her.

Alphabet:

Let us know when you’re on the road tomorrow. I’ll keep an eye on your six.

I sent him back a thumbs up. We’d brief them on the ambush later. For now, I settled in at a table and cleaned one of my guns while the other sat on the table next to me. Bones might be a while, but I still wasn’t sleeping until I heard from him or he was back.

When I finished cleaning the first gun and put it back together, I started on the second. I had it reassembled and pulled out the whetstone. With care, I went over my knives. I wanted all three sharp.

It was nearing ten when my phone buzzed.

Bones

Took longer than I planned to acquire new wheels. Going to park on the lookout next to the hotel. Get some sleep. I’ll call you at five.

That was all I needed to hear. I packed everything up, got the gear ready to go. Double-checked the doors, then eyed the beds. If I slept on the other one, it put her between me and the window as well as the external door.

Any attack was more likely going to come at us from that direction. I checked my watch, shut off all the lights except asingle one in the bathroom in case she woke up, then I settled on the bed next to her.

I was on top of the covers. Gun on the nightstand and in easy reach. One arm behind my head, I closed my eyes. Sleep was a discipline as much as anything else.

Right now, I needed sleep.

When a hand touched my side, I flicked my eyes open and glanced down at her. She’d moved for the first time since I put her in the bed. She rolled onto her side and pressed up against me.

If I were a good guy, I’d shift her back into her spot. If I were a good guy, I wouldn’t just enjoy the contact. While I wasn’t a bad guy, I wasn’t opposed to her leaning on me.

A little sound escaped her and I shushed her. “Shhh, sleep Firecracker. You’re safe.”

I wasn’t sure if she believed me or she wasn’t ready to wake up yet, but she went back to sleep. When her breathing deepened and relaxed, I closed my eyes again.

Dawn would be here soon enough.

Chapter

Nineteen

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