Page 74 of Fast Fury

“No,” Abby said, adamant. “I just want to go to my room.” She gave Kai a pleading look. She just wanted to get away from all of this and be alone with him to get her bearings.

“I’ll take you up as soon as we give our initial statements,” he promised, squeezing her tight.

He held her to him while the police questioned them, warming her with his big body. It seemed to take forever, but finally they finished and were allowed to go—and only because he was DEA.

Kai started carrying her from the scene with rapid strides. “We’ll get an update once your boss is out of surgery. For now, I’m getting you the hell out of here.”

Abby nodded, glad to be leaving.

Several people came up to them as Kai carried her from the pool area. Security guards. Police officers. Kai snapped at them that they’d have to wait, and walked faster.

Guests and staff all moved out of their way as he headed for the main building, shock on their faces. Abby hid her face in Kai’s broad shoulder again and curled into his chest. She hated the stares, the horrified eyes on her. She wanted to be alone with Kai.

She didn’t know how long it took to get up to her room, but finally they were there. A staff member ran ahead and unlocked her door for them. Kai gave him instructions to tell the police and security services he would call them up to the room to answer more questions when she was settled, and not until. Then the door closed behind them, locking out the rest of the world.

Abby expected him to set her on the bed but he walked straight through to the bathroom, shifting her in his arms so he could reach out and start the shower. She didn’t move, needing the comfort of his hold almost as much as she needed air to breathe.

He seemed to understand that, because he waited a minute, then walked straight in with her, both of them fully dressed. She gasped as the warm water hit her chilled skin.

“I can’t—s-seem to—catch m-my—breath,” she said between gasps.

“It’s shock,” he answered in a low voice. “Totally normal. Just let the shakes roll through you. Don’t fight ‘em. Slow your breathing. In, out, one at a time.”

She tried to do as he said, but the hitching in her chest made it hard to control her breaths. “C-cold,” she whispered.

“I know. I’m gonna get you warmed up right now.”

Kai set her down on the small bench seat built into the shower wall, adjusted the spray so that the water sluiced over her body, then hunkered down in front of her to take her face in his hands. He scanned her face, settled his gaze on hers, then lowered his hands to grasp hers.

Abby looked down. They were covered in dried blood. Walter’s blood.

She shuddered, sucked in a breath and forced it out slowly.

Kai squeezed her hands. “That’s good, sweetheart. Nice and slow. Let your muscles relax.”

Focusing on his calm, steady presence, she willed her body to go lax. She was safe now. Kai had her, wouldn’t let anything else happen to her.

“Good girl.” Reaching up beside him for the soap set into a nook in the wall, he washed Walter’s blood from her skin. By the time he was done her breathing was more even, but she was still cold, occasional shivers wracking her.

He set her clean hands in her lap. “Let me get a better look at you,” he murmured, reaching for the sodden hem of her lavender dress. The soaked fabric clung to her skin as he gently peeled it up her body. “Lift your arms.” He eased it over her shoulders and head, tossed it aside before stripping off his own shirt.

Abby sat there, docile as a doll as he undid her bra and dropped it. His hands were warm and sure as they stroked over her shoulders and arms, her ribs. The scrapes and bruises all over her throbbed, but the cuts on her legs stung the worst.

He grasped one ankle and raised her leg, watching her face. She couldn’t quite control her flinch and looked down at where his fingers were probing. Thin trickles of blood ran down her calf to her ankle, turning to pinkish rivulets that dripped off her foot and swirled down the shower drain.

Raising her calf slightly, Kai angled her leg and squeezed two fingers on either side of a cut. She bit the inside of her lip at the swelling burn, hands gripping the edge of the bench.

Easing back on his haunches, he raised his hand to show her the tiny ceramic fragment he held between his thumb and forefinger. “All done. They’re not too deep. I’ll clean them and get a bandage after you’re dried off. I don’t think you’ll need stitches, except maybe for this one. We’ll see how it goes.” He stroked his thumb along the cut he’d just pulled the debris from, his touch gentle, soothing. “Can you shift around for me?”

“I’m fine.”

“Then turn around and let me see for myself.”

Abby turned a little, giving him her back. Every bruise and scrape throbbed and stung now that the adrenaline rush had disappeared. “That woman killed Hani?” she asked softly.

His hands stilled on her back. “Yes.” He smoothed his palm over her spine in a soothing caress, pressed a kiss to the top of her right shoulder. “I stopped at security to update them about everything when I got here. I was on my way to meet you when they called me back to look at some surveillance footage. It was her. Heading for the conference rooms.”

So she’d followed Abby and her boss outside from there. “Who is she?”

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