Page 4 of Dragon's Code

“Kashton?” My voice shakes as I get out the one word, and I know he can hear it through the phone.

There’s a long pause before his deep, soothing voice comes through the phone again. “Where are you? I’m coming right now.”

Tears sting my eyes and immediately start to stream down my cheeks. “I don’t know where I am.”

“You’re in Athol, Massachusetts, honey,” the nurse says quietly.

He must hear, because the next words he says are, “I’m coming right now. I’ll be there in a few hours. Do not go anywhere.”

“Kash, you can’t just…”

“The fuck I can’t. I will be there as fast as I can. Do you need anything?”

His insistence breaks something inside of me, the wall I was using to hold the emotions back, and I immediately start to sob. “Just get here as soon as you can.”

“I’ll be there. Do you have any protection?”

“They have a deputy stationed outside of my room since they don’t know who took me or where they are. I couldn’t help in that regard.”

“I’m coming, Athena.”

True to his word, like he always is, Kashton arrives sixteen hours later. How he did it coming from Brazil, I’ll never know, and frankly don’t care. Having money definitely helps in those situations.

He enters my room slowly, quietly. He takes in the sight of me in the bed. He moves closer. Kashton doesn’t seem to know what to do or say now that he’s here.

“Athena,” he murmurs as he approaches.

“Kashton,” I whimper in response.

The sight of him makes my chest ache and the tears start coming all over again. He immediately kicks into gear and he grabs tissues and then sits next to me on the bed.

“Do you want to cuddle?” he asks quietly.

I sniffle and nod, unable to form words. He properly gets into my bed and I plaster myself to his side and lay my head on his chest. He wraps his arms around me. I can feel his tentative touches.

“Kashton, I’m not going to break. I’m not broken. You can just hold me.”

The tension slides out of his body and it’s just like it always is with the two of us. Comfortable. Safe. Loving.

We sit together while I cry. He doesn’t try to calm me down or try to get me to stop. He just holds me, his hand gently stroking my hair.

Words start pouring out of me before I even really know it. I tell him everything. Every detail. He doesn’t ask questions. He doesn’t prompt me. He just continues to hold me.

Eventually, I fall asleep, finally feeling safe in his arms.

When I wake up, I’m alone in the bed again. I sit up still feeling raw and like I got hit with a semi-truck.

I slowly make my way to the bathroom. It’s still hard to walk, but it feels better than it did a day ago.

When I come back, the nurse is changing my bedding. “Oh, hi, honey. How are you feeling?”

“Sore, but okay.”

“Your friend went out, but he promised to be back in a little bit. He wanted to make sure you didn’t think he ditched out on you.”

“Thank you.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to call your parents?” the nurse asks.

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