Anya
His blood was everywhere. It soaked through my shirt and ran down his arm. He must be in shock. Nobody could bleed like that and keep breathing.
“I’m so sorry,” I gasped. He listed to the side as he tried to stand then put his arm out and caught himself against the brick wall.
God. He was huge. If he went down again he’d fall like an oak tree and take me down with him. I looked up and up, my eyes traveling over the hard muscles of his chest. His shirt was ripped in front and three ugly gashes cut through the skin. How was he not bleeding out?
“He stabbed you,” I said. My heart pounded so hard I nearly choked on it. “I never even saw a knife. We have to get you to a hospital.”
“No!” His voice was deep, commanding. It sent a shiver down my spine, and I froze. “No,” he said again, softer, though the words ripped out of his throat. “No hospital. It’s not as bad as it looks.”
“The hell it’s not.” His brown eyes flashed at me. His pupils were large as he looked at me with an intense gaze that made my heart pump even faster if that was possible. I don’t know what made me do it, but I reached up and ran my fingers along the square plane of his jaw. He swallowed hard and a muscle jumped beneath my fingertips. He was so warm, almost hot to my touch. That couldn’t be good.
He doubled over and started to cough. The sound he made stopped me cold. It sounded more animal than human. He clenched a fist against the wall.
“Look,” I said. He shifted his weight and drew himself away from me. I couldn’t believe he was even able to stand upright by himself. He did though. Slowly, he straightened his back. I still couldn’t get over the size of him. He was taller than any man I’d ever seen. Like, NBA player tall. But he was broad-shouldered with thick, muscular arms like a bodybuilder. “What were you thinking?”
He blinked hard then fixed those brooding, dark eyes on me. “I was thinking you were about to get hurt.”
I held my purse in front of me. I’d tucked my .38 Special back inside of it, but it was still there and he knew it. “They were the ones who were about to get hurt. I’ve got a concealed carry permit. I never leave home without Martha.”
“Martha?” He raised a brow and his full lips curled into a smirk. How the hell could someone who’d lost as much blood as he had muster sarcasm? I took a step back and crossed my arms in front of me. I swear as I looked at him, his color started to deepen. He looked almost normal.
“Yeah. Martha. She never leaves my side.”
“Smart girl,” he said. “But those guys were more dangerous than average. In fact, it’s not really safe for you to stay out here. They’ll be back. We need to get you someplace safe.”
“Me? Safe? What about you? I’m serious. We need to get you checked out. I owe you that much for trying to save me. My car is just over the bridge. I’ll drive you.”
He pushed himself off the wall. His step faltered, then he righted himself. As he stood over me, my knees felt weak. Not only was he the biggest guy I’d ever seen, but he was also the most drop dead gorgeous.
“And how do you know I’m not just as dangerous as those three thugs we chased off?”
I cleared my throat. “Well, I don’t. But you risked your life for me just now, even though it wasn’t necessary. Plus, like I said. Martha doesn’t leave my side.”
He nodded and came toward me. One second, he was sure on his feet; the next, he swayed and put a hand on the wall to steady himself. “Slow down there, cowboy,” I said as I hooked my arm around his waist again. He was about as solid and thick around as a tree trunk. We took a step together and he managed to right himself.
“Over the river,” he said. “That’s where your car is?”
I nodded as we came out of the alley and looked both ways. Adrenaline coursed through me and I wanted to reach into my purse and get to Martha.
“Good,” he said. “It’ll be harder for them to track … uh … the further away the better.”
“Right.” We crossed the footbridge over Blackfoot River. I’d parked under a streetlamp in the park about a fifty yards away. I suppose that hadn’t been the most intelligent thing to do. But, it was broad daylight when I got into town. I hadn’t planned on staying here after dark. Time had just gotten away from me as I sipped my drink at the Bluelight Lounge. They’d hired me as a cocktail waitress just this evening, almost on sight. I’d never dreamed it would be so easy getting a job there. It meant everything was coming together. I’d get the answers and the closure I needed.
“What’s your name?” my would-be knight in shining armor asked.
I hesitated for a fraction of a second. Was it smarter to lie or tell the truth? After all, I didn’t know anything about this guy except that he took a knife to the gut trying to save me. I let out a breath. I supposed the truth was at least the minimum of what I owed him.
“Anya,” I said. “Anya Parker.”
“Anya.” My skin tingled at the sound of my name on his lips. “Anya.”
We came to my car. His steps seemed surer as we stopped at the passenger side. I clicked open the lock and he leaned forward to open the door. Only the slightest wince crossed his face. He took his time sliding into the seat as I went around the other side.
He had two hands on the dashboard and sweat broke out on his brow as I clicked my seatbelt and turned the key. “Are you sure you’re going to make it? Maybe I should just call 911.”
He shook his head. “I’m sure. I really just need someplace warm and quiet to crash.”
I drove out of the parking lot and headed east.
“I can take you home if you don’t live very far,” I said.
“What about you?” he asked. “Tell me you don’t live in Blackfoot.”
I shook my head. “Nope. I just had business here today. I live on the other side of the river. For now, anyway. I’m don’t plan on staying here longer than I need to.”
“Good.” He cocked his head to the side and stared at me. The man had an unsettling way of looking at me as though he were about to eat me. I can’t deny it sent a thrill through me that I knew could lead to even more bad judgment.
“Why good? Do you have something against Blackfoot?”
“Other than the violent crime rate you mean?” He doubled over into another round of coughs that sent alarm bells ringing through me.
I made another turn. “There’s an urgent care about a mile from where I’m staying.”
“No doctors,” he said again, more forcefully this time.
“Look. I think you’re in shock or something. You’ve lost an awful lot of blood. Why don’t you just let me make the decisions for a while until we get you looked at. I’d feel really bad if you died on me after all.”
His nostrils flared as he leaned back into his seat. He put a protective arm over his torso and my heart lurched. This guy was in real pain and I felt slightly responsible. I knew better than to walk around downtown by myself at night. Even if it was in a little Podunk town like Blackfoot.
“You need to keep moving. Get as far away from Blackfoot as you can.” His voice took on that deep, commanding tone that sent my blood humming. My instinct was to say yes to him, as absurd as that was. His words felt almost hypnotic.
“Look at the road. We just crossed out of the city limits, okay, buddy?”
He shook his head. “No. I mean go back to wherever you’re from. Those b … those guys are going to come back and try and finish what they started. I’m telling you. You need to trust me.”
“Well, that means you’re not safe either.” My heart thundered almost in my throat. I believed him. I don’t know why, but I did. But the simple fact was, this guy needed medical care, and I meant to make sure he got it.
“What did they want with me?” Maybe it was a stupid question to ask. Maybe I was in some form of shock too. He made a low, rumbling sound in the back of his throat that startled me enough to take my eyes off the road.
He sat straighter in the seat but white-knuckled the dashboard. The air between us seemed charged. Despite his protests, I made a sharp left turn and pulled into the parking lot of the St. Luke’s Hospital just inside the Danforth, Indiana city limits.
“I said, no hospitals.” He banged his fist against his thigh and turned toward me. “I’m fine. I told you it’s not as bad as it looks.”
“You let the doctor be the judge of that, okay?”
“Look, you don’t know me. You have no reason to trust me other than the fact I stuck my neck out for you. And I’d do it again in a heartbeat. But you need to believe me. You’re not safe here. Not in Blackfoot. Not in Danforth or wherever the hell this is. Those guys are going to come back.”
“How do you know?” My fingers trembled as I turned off the car ignition.
“The same way you knew it was safe to trust me enough to let me get into your car, Anya.”
I blinked hard. “If you’d wanted to hurt me you’d have tried it by now. That is, if you were even physically capable. Now please, be reasonable and get yourself checked out. Even if the wound isn’t that deep, who knows what kind of germs that asshole had on that knife blade?”
He gave me the sexiest smirk that sent my blood humming. “You plan on pulling Martha out again if I refuse?”
I pulled my gun out of the side compartment of my purse and pointed it down while I smiled at him. The safety was still on, but he got the point just the same. “Maybe you shouldn’t tempt me.”
“Smart girl,” he said and opened the passenger door. He walked around the front of the car and opened my door like a gentleman. He stood impossibly upright. Blood still caked the front of his tattered shirt.
“Now will you promise to be a good boy and go get checked out?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, giving me a salute. I found it odd the gesture didn’t cause him pain as he lifted his arm. I must have given him a strange expression because his own face fell and he brought his arm in front of his chest again.
I stepped out of the car and let my eyes travel up to meet his. “You never told me your name.”
I stood between him and the streetlamp. His eyes glinted in the shadow I cast then darkened as he looked at me. “Cullen James,” he answered.
Cullen. I repeated his name over in my head. I liked the sound of it. Too much. It sent a zing of heat straight down to my toes. I shook the stars out of my head and closed the car door. I would stay in this just long enough to get him checked in with the ER nurses, then I’d leave. God, even the thought of that made my heart plummet. I wanted to stay with him and I couldn’t understand it.
I tucked Martha into my back pocket and took a steeling breath as I pointed toward the red emergency room sign. I took a step forward, intending to give him my shoulder for support again. Sure, he looked tough, but he was hurting. He had to be. I don’t know what made me do it, but I stepped to the side, removing him from the shadows. What I saw next nearly drove me to my knees.
His blood still stained the front of my shirt. His own white t-shirt was soaked red beneath his leather jacket. And yet, under the glare of the halogen streetlamp, those deep gashes I’d seen across his chest were all but gone. Only three jagged, silvery lines crossed his pecs and slashed down over his stomach.
I put a hand out and touched him. He flinched as my fingers grazed the pink, puckered, freshly healed flesh. Cullen’s face dropped; his brown eyes glinted then darkened, turning almost black right in front of me. I took two staggering steps backward and lost my balance.
“Anya, wait,” he said. He moved so fast, lunging forward in a blur to catch me under the elbows before I hit the pavement. People don’t move that fast, not in a blur like that.
My knees still felt like rubber. I acted on instinct. I pulled Martha out of my back pocket and pointed it straight at him again.
“What are you?” I said in a voice that didn’t sound like my own.