Page 35 of Rectify

“No, I need . . . I need to . . . ”

“Natalya, I need to hold you. Will you just let me do that?” She’d refused his every offer of comfort, but he wasn’t backing down again. And he’d use any weapon in his arsenal that he needed to.

“Okay, okay,” she replied, relaxing against him.

Aedan ran his hand up and down her back. “It could be hours before we know anything. Besides, it will be dark soon. So why don’t we go sit in the car?”

She pulled away from him and pushed the heels of her hands against her eyes. “I can’t. I can’t think.”

“Then let me do the thinking for you.”

She shook her head.

Okay, time for him to step in. He couldn’t just stand by and let her suffer.

“Natalya, there is nothing you can do. Being here is just stressing you out more. We’re going to go sit in the car before you collapse right in front of me. No arguments.” He made his voice firm.

Steering her over to his car, he opened the door to the backseat, gently pressing her to sit. He crouched down in front of her. Clasping her hands between his, he frowned as he realized how icy they were. He rubbed them, trying to warm them.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were cold, Lovely?” There was a bit of a breeze coming off the lake, but she shouldn’t be this chilly.

“I, um, didn’t notice. It doesn’t matter.” She squirmed around on the seat as though she couldn’t sit still.

Aedan pulled off his jacket and placed it around her shoulders, over her own coat.

“I can’t just sit here, Aedan.”

“The alternative is to go back to Rogan’s house. Believe me, I’m tempted to drag you back there and give you a sedative to help you sleep.”

Her jaw dropped as she gaped at him. “You wouldn’t.”

No, he wouldn’t forcibly drug her. But she didn’t need to know that.

“You’ve changed.” She watched him closely.

Did that upset her? Would she rather have the old Aedan back? He pushed those thoughts to one side. Now wasn’t the time.

“We both have. You can’t tell me you thought I would be the same man.”

“No, I guess not.”

He ran his hands up her legs, then clasped them behind her back. “I have no idea what you must be going through, Natalya. But until we know the worst, you have to just believe that everything will be all right.”

“It’s so hard!” she cried. “I can’t go on if anything happens to him. I can’t.”

He pulled her against his chest and hugged her tightly.

“Scoot over, baby.” As she slid over, he sat beside her and pulled her close to him. “Why don’t we talk about something else?”

“Like what?” she asked dully.

Aedan ran his hand through her thick hair. “What did you do after you left Diego?”

She was silent for so long he didn’t think she was going to answer. Maybe he should just drive them out of there. Waiting here was getting them nowhere.

“I didn’t want to stay in Matamoros,” she suddenly exclaimed. “There was nothing for me there anymore. Just a few cousins and an uncle who I barely knew. I’d saved up a little bit of money which got us over the border. I had to wait for the paperwork for Mateo and we stayed in this really awful motel. When all the paperwork finally came through, I immediately bought us two bus tickets and we made our way to Hondo.”

“You went there because of your cousin?”

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