Chapter 16
Anna woke to a silence that was deep and unnerving. It took a long moment to figure out exactly where she was and why she was on her couch with a blanket over her. As soon as she jolted to a sitting position, she remembered. The pain in her arm kicked in. She leaned back and took several deep breaths, waiting for the throbbing to calm down. Her arm was in a sling, but some of that support had shifted. The bandage was solid and should do for the night. It was definitely dark out. And it sounded like she was alone. She got to her feet, made her way to the downstairs bathroom, used the facilities and washed her hands. She stared at her face in the mirror and saw drops of dried blood, her ashen complexion, and the great big bags under her eyes. “Wow, a beauty you are not.”
With her left hand she awkwardly grabbed a washcloth, wet it and did a half-assed effort to wipe her face clean. She wasn’t sure how the blood got up there. No way could she manage a shower tonight. She wasn’t sure why she had awakened. That was one of the reasons she hated drugs as much as they did her. They never worked as well or as long as they should.
She opened the bathroom door and stepped out. Lights were on in the kitchen, but no sound came from there. As she walked into the brightly lit room, she noticed that half a pizza was gone, and several more beer bottles, opened and emptied, were on the table. So the guys were either out front at the vehicles or in back with the animals.
Dear God, she hadn’t brought the dogs in. She opened the door and listened. But she couldn’t hear anything. She wanted to call the dogs, but she’d been through enough scary shit lately and didn’t want to bring any attention to herself. Then she heard voices, laughter and a door shutting. She sank back against the doorjamb, relieved, closing her eyelids as she realized Flynn and Logan were in with the cats. Her phone buzzed. She glanced at it and got her second good news of the day. The reptile center had room for her snake. She would contact them to arrange for the transfer.
She beamed at the guys as they walked toward her. “Thank you for looking after the animals. The snake has a new home as soon as I can make it happen.”
“That’s great news,” Logan said.
“What the hell are you doing up and outside?” Flynn snapped. “You’re injured. You should be back in bed—your own, not on the couch.”
“Thank you, Flynn. How are you, Flynn? It’s so nice of you to be concerned about my condition, Flynn. But please take it upon yourself to be anything but an asshole.”
Logan howled with laughter. “Oh, my God, you two are so perfect for each other.”
Both Flynn and Anna turned to glare at Logan. He snickered, but it subsided. Flynn motioned to her. She turned around and went back into the house. She decided she would follow his silent command because she felt tired enough that she needed to go sit down again, not because he told her to. She found a chair she assumed they hadn’t been using at the kitchen table and collapsed into it. She eyed the pizza, wondering if she wanted a piece.
“You want some?” Logan asked, his gaze following hers.
She smiled. “Would you mind putting it in the microwave for a few seconds for me?”
“Not at all.” He picked up two slices from the two different boxes, plunked them on a plate and popped it in the microwave.
She sat back as the aroma of pizza filled the room.
Flynn asked, “You want a beer? Although it’s probably not a good idea with the painkillers.”
“I’m not much of a beer drinker anyway. Thanks. Now if there was tea …”
Logan hit the button on the teakettle as he brought her the pizza. “Hot water coming up.”
She stared down at the pizza, smiled brightly and said, “Thank you. Nice to know you’re housetrained.”
He chuckled. “I am. I don’t know about this guy though.”
She turned sideways, glancing at Flynn. “He’s got more of the junkyard dog thing going on.”
Logan howled again.
Flynn glared at him. “Enough already. Shut the hell up.”
Logan subsided slightly, but his eyes twinkled as he looked from one to the other. “I guess now that you’re safe, I can go home to my own house?”
“Do you have your own?” Anna asked in interest. “I thought you lived at the compound.”
“I do. And my father is close by. He has a huge house with my own suite of rooms in it.” He gave her a sheepish grin. “Seems silly to buy my own when he’s got an apartment for me, plus, I do live at the compound.”
“Nice, no bills anywhere.” She shook her head. “Damn nice.”
He laughed. “There is just my father and me,” he said. “I don’t really want to move out and lose the relationship we have.”
“I wouldn’t either,” she said softly. “If you have any relationship that you care about, you do what you need to nurture it.”
“My thoughts exactly. Besides, I’m never around to look after a place, so thankfully people at both locations take care of things for me.” He grinned. “And I’m a lousy cook.”
“But you have Alfred. I would love to have an Alfred of my own,” she said in a wistful tone. “My God, he’s perfect. He does all the organizing, looking after the house. He cooks. He cleans…” She shook her head. “We should all have an Alfred.”
“No argument there.”
Flynn looked over at Logan. “Your dad has several Alfreds. And our counterpart in Africa, Bullard, has Dave, who’s damn near a clone of Alfred. And in England, one of our friends we stay with, Charles, has a second Alfred clone. There’s just something about that type of gentleman.”
“Gentleman. Yes, Alfred’s very much that. He’s almost like an old butler.”
“The compound does have staff members who come and handle things. It’s well over 25,000 square feet. Way too big for any one person to clean.”
“That’s gotta be a nightmare,” she said. “I understand the compound is high-security conscious.”
“Absolutely.”
Flynn’s phone rang just then. He pulled it from his pocket, looked at the number and sighed. “Levi never sleeps.”
*
“She’s fine. She has stitches in her bicep, and the arm’s in a sling. Still looking a little pale and chalky, but she’s got antibiotics and painkillers. We’re at her place. A good night’s sleep and she’ll be that much better tomorrow,” Flynn said. “Any update on what the police found?”
“Not yet. We will touch base in the morning. Just wanted to hear Anna was safe. Katina’s beside herself here.”
“Tell her Anna is fine.”
“She’s gone to bed. I’ll knock and let her know. They can touch base in the morning too.”
After that Levi hung up.
Flynn turned back to Anna, who was looking for her purse.
Logan said, “I wonder if I left it in the car.” He grabbed the keys and headed out to the car, returning a moment later with her purse.
She gave a cry of thanks. Opening it, she pulled out her phone. “Of course, it’s been turned off.” She turned it on and found messages and dozens of missed calls. “You know I’m really sad to have missed all these. But it does my heart good to think people were actually checking that I was okay.”
“Just like Flynn here, you have a family you aren’t even aware of. And over time, it’ll just get bigger and stronger,” Logan said. He pulled his long length to an upright position. “If you guys think you’re good for the night, I’ll head home and crash.”
Anna got up and ran over, throwing her good arm around him.
Gently he hugged her back, dropping a kiss on her forehead. “Now you be good. I don’t want to see you back in the hospital anytime soon.”
She beamed up at him. “I plan to never go back. Of course I might end up having to send Flynn so he knows what it feels like.”
Flynn spoke from behind her. “As if.”
She stepped back and said to Logan, “Thanks for looking after me so well.”
They followed him to the front door and stood on the porch until he got into the truck and drove away.
Flynn closed the door, reset the alarm and said, “Come on. Let’s get you upstairs to bed.”
She looked around her. “What about this mess?”
“Tomorrow’s another day. I can do the dishes in the morning. Right now, you’re ready to crash, and I can’t say I’m very far away from that myself.”
He waited for her to climb the stairs, making sure all the lights were out downstairs, and then trailed up behind her. At her bedroom he stopped in the doorway. “You’ll be okay for the night?”
She scrubbed her face with her left hand. “I’m just realizing how awkward this will be. I can’t get my shirt off with my arm like this.”
He saw the tears in the corners of her eyes and felt like a heel. “Come on. Let’s get you ready for bed.” He pulled back the bedding, took off her shoes and socks in seconds, and helped her out of her pants.
She looked at him and said, “You are very experienced at this.”
That startled a laugh out of him. “Not as much as you may think. Now let’s get that shirt off.” He studied the sling first, then gently lifted her arms so he could pull it over her head. As if dealing with a baby, he carefully pulled one arm out of her T-shirt, then over her head and off her injured arm.
“What do you want to sleep in?”
She pointed at the dresser. “I have an oversize cotton T-shirt I like to use.”
It was lying on top of the dresser. He grabbed it and came back to her. “Honey, the bra has to go.”
She glanced down and winced. “Yeah, it so does.” She stood, turned her back to him and said, “Unhook it please.”
He did, and as she leaned forward, it managed to drop off her arms. Then she put her good one in the air, and he dropped the big T-shirt down over it and her head, followed slowly by her right arm. Gently he eased her sore arm back through the sling.
She turned around. “Damn that hurts.”
“It’ll feel much better in the morning.”
She shook her head. “I doubt it.” She kicked her dirty clothes off to the side and sat down on the edge of the bed. “I should brush my teeth, but I’m so damn tired.”
“But you’ll feel better. Come on. Let’s get it done, then you can go to bed.”
She let him lead her to the bathroom, where he put toothpaste on her toothbrush, ran it under the water and gave it to her. Then he grabbed the washcloth, doused it with warm water, and while she was brushing her teeth, he gently dabbed at the dried blood in her hair. His goal was to let her sleep without having this pull and tug through the night. He rinsed the cloth in more warm water and some soap, and when she was done with the toothbrush, he gently washed her face.
She smiled. “I feel like a two-year-old.”
Using the same washcloth, he finished the job by washing her injured arm and both hands. “Sometimes we all need to be looked after. Now into bed with you.”
She made her way back to the bed, crawled underneath the covers and lay down. She looked up at him expectantly. She wasn’t at all sure what she wanted, but he tucked the bedding up higher, bent down and kissed her on her forehead. Then he reached for the light.
“Wait.”
He looked down at her. “What do you need?”
A flush stained her neck and cheeks a beautiful rose pink, but her eyes were direct and her voice clear when she answered, warm and lovingly, “You.”
“Honey,” he started to protest. He wanted her, but she was injured, so this was not a good idea.
She patted the side of the bed. “To sleep with me. Maybe just hold me until I fall asleep,” she confessed. “It might hurt too much to do anything else. If you could see your way to sleeping beside me tonight …”
He lowered his head and kissed her passionately, thoroughly, just enough for her to know he was there any time she was ready. “Absolutely. Just give me a minute to grab my stuff in the other room.”
She nodded and shifted more comfortably, her eyes closing.
He went to the spare bedroom, where he had always stayed, then returned to hers. Exhausted, he prepped for bed. He’d planned on a shower, but there really wasn’t a need tonight. He washed his face, brushed his teeth, and when he went back into the bedroom, found her almost asleep. He crawled in on his side. She turned to him instinctively, and he wrapped his arm gently around her, tucking her ever-so-slightly closer. But she moved in like a homing pigeon, nestling close to his chest.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
He reached up and stroked her back gently. “My pleasure. There’s nowhere I’d rather be right now.”
With a happy smile she fell asleep.
He followed soon after.