Page 45 of Hacker Salvation

“What’s wrong?”

She shook her head and grabbed my hand. We walked back through the bedroom to the master bath. I tugged her into my arms and kissed the top of her head before I worked the thin white T-shirt up her body. Blood coated the sleeve and the back of her shirt.

“Join me,” Annabella whispered as she worked my shirt over my head.

I wrapped my arms around her, pulled her into my body, and gently kissed her lips. Her lip and eye were still swollen. I wanted to kill the dumb bitch again for hurting her. I pulled back and placed a kiss on her nose. “Get undressed, Beautiful.”

Annabella worked her jeans down her legs. I couldn’t hold back a growl when I saw the bruises on her legs. Her body was black and blue from top to bottom.

When she finished removing her jeans, I quickly discarded my jeans and boxers. I grabbed her hand and led her to the shower.

I pulled Annabella under the waterfall shower head. The water rained down on us. I kept her wrapped in my arms, not wanting to let her go. A sob broke out from her throat. I ran my hand up and down her back as she let out the frustration from the past couple of weeks.

I grabbed a washcloth and put some soap on it. I slowly worked to wipe the blood off her body. It was a mixture of hers and her dad’s. Her heart beat against my chest as I worked to get the blood off her arms. Our embrace wasn’t sexual. It was healing from the day of turmoil. I was desperate for her to be in my arms.

The sob that escaped Annabella was heart-wrenching. “I d-didn’t think you w-would find me.” I pulled back and ran the cloth down her chest. She whimpered under the touch.

“I will always come for you.” I turned her so her hair was under the spray. Then I grabbed the shampoo off the ledge and worked my fingers through her hair. She leaned her head forward and rested it on my chest. I rinsed the shampoo out and repeated the process with conditioner. I worked the lather up and down her body, stopping to kiss each bruise as I washed away the nightmare of the day. Once I washed and kissed every bruise on her body, I reached and turned off the water. A big, fluffy towel sat outside the shower, and I wrapped it around Annabella.

“Thank you,” she told me quietly.

I grabbed the other towel and tied it around my waist. Then I snatched a small towel off the shelf and helped dry Annabella’s hair. “Sit down on the toilet, and I will comb your hair.” When she gave me a puzzled look, I said, “I had a twin sister I would do anything for. I know how to brush and braid a girl’s hair.”

I found Annabella’s brush on the counter and slowly ran it through her blond locks. Her hair was long and reminded me of the times I’d done Addie’s hair growing up. My heart hurt at the thought of Addie. She had been so excited to find our mother, and the woman didn’t really want anything to do with us.

“All done. Stay here.” I ran back to the bedroom and got one of my shirts from my bag. I came back and helped Annabella slip the shirt over her head. “You can finish up in here. I’ll be in the bedroom.” I left Annabella to brush her teeth.

I grabbed a pair of boxers from my bag and put them on before I climbed into bed and waited for her to come out. “Come here, Beautiful,” I said when she finally emerged.

She walked over and climbed into bed with me. I rolled on my back, and Annabella snuggled up next to me, lying her head on my chest. She slowly ran her hands along my ribs. “Can you believe my dad is alive?”

I pulled her in closer to me. “How do you feel about finding him?”

She let out a chuckle. “It would have been nice to find out about him when I opened the paperwork Nate printed off for me.”

“Do you think you’ll talk to Nate again?”

Annabella didn’t answer right away. “I will. I’m still mad at what he did. But we’ve been friends for years. In a few weeks, I will have lunch with him, and we can talk it out.”

“You’re a forgiving person. What do you think about coming back to Ft. Lauderdale for the weekend with me? We can try to get Addie to come too. Aaron mentioned we could send the jet to pick her up.”

“I would love to go, and I can’t wait to meet your sister.”

20

John

Ireached down and picked up the chubby-cheeked baby tugging at my pants. Jessica and Brock’s little boy, Jared, was six months old. Annabella and I had flown into Ft. Lauderdale for the weekend to spend time with friends and stop at Club Sanctorum for a night.

Jared reached up and tugged on my hair. Annabella reached over and pulled the little boy from my arms then rocked him back and forth. I couldn’t believe we had been together for nine months already. She had just finished filming another movie and had a couple months off before the next one.

With her time off, she was helping me set up Blackwood Security in Los Angeles. We already had a list of clients who wanted to use our services, and we couldn’t wait to expand. But this weekend was about catching up with friends.

Brock leaned down and kissed his little boy on the head. “Your sister has been picking up more cases to help us out.”

Addie used work to deal with her anxiety. Our mom hadn’t reached back out to her or me since visiting nine months ago. “She does that when she’s stressed. Annabella and I are going to go visit her on Monday. I’m going to try and talk to her and see what’s going on.”

“Maybe we could send one of the guys up there and see if she falls for them,” Brock joked.

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