Page 90 of Possession

“This will never happen again,” I stress. “I’ll earn your trust. If anyone touches you, they will die.”

She licks her dry, cracked lips and swallows hard. “Thank you.”

I lean in and press my lips to her forehead and leave them there when I whisper. “Let’s get you to bed.”

* * *

Landyn

If anyone touches you,they will die.

Those words cycle in my mind like a news ticker.

Over and over and over.

I don’t know what to think of them. I shouldn’t love it. Such simple words when used individually, but strung together…

They’re menacing.

And spoken by a man who I don’t find at all scary.

I mean, he is when he’s defending me. But not when we’re like this.

He cleaned every cut. Inspected every bruise. Touched every spot on my body and somehow declared that I don’t have any broken bones. Then gave me enough over the counter painkillers to ease every ache Nic inflicted on my body.

“Let’s get this off you,” he mutters.

He doesn’t ask if it’s okay. He grips my dress below my breasts and rips it the rest of the way down the front. When he pushes it over my shoulders, it falls to the counter behind me, leaving me barely covered in my panties and torn bra. Then he disappears into his closet and returns with a T-shirt.

This whole time, he doesn’t look at me like he has before. Certainly not like a man who had me pressed to the wall with his hand between my legs. Focused only on his task, he reaches around me and flicks the clasp to my bra. I’m sitting in front of him in my panties when he gathers the T-shirt and pulls it gently over my head.

It hurts to raise my arms, but I manage to slip them through, one after the other.

The shirt is huge and soft on my skin. I look down to see the worn logo for the Buffalo Bills and realize that despite the fact I trust this man, I know nothing about Boz Torres.

I look up. “I assumed you were from California or Mexico since you work for the Marinos.”

He starts to unbutton his dress shirt but doesn’t take his eyes off me. “There are days I have no clue where I’m from.” He tosses the shirt with my bra and toes out of his shoes. “Do you need anything else?”

Only for my life to be normal.

I shake my head.

He picks me up and pulls me to his chest. Like a bride.

His bride.

Which I guess I am.

I wrap my arm around his neck to hold on. “I can walk.”

He strides straight to the bedroom, puts a knee to the mattress, and pulls the covers down. “You can walk tomorrow. Tonight, you’re sleeping in this bed next to me. I wasn’t shitting you, chica, when I said you’d be glued to my side. Consider us a unit from here on out.”

He sets me in the middle of the bed and I groan as I lean back into the pillows. My side hurts and my head starts to throb.

“Those meds should kick in soon. You can have more in six hours. If you feel like you need something stronger, I can make that happen.”

“I’m sure I’ll feel better by tomorrow.” I watch him unload his pockets onto the nightstand. Keys, wallet, a money clip, and two cell phones. I’m surprised that’s it. My father usually has three or four cells at any given time.

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