by Maya Banks
“Y-y-you p-promise?”
Cade took over then, his expression one of utter gravity. “We only want to help you. You’re hurt. You need medical attention. Let us help you.”
She closed her eyes, and for a moment, Merrick thought she’d passed out. But then she opened them again, wide and troubled.
“Okay,” she whispered. “My hands hurt.”
Cade reached for one, being careful not to move too suddenly. He grimaced as he inspected the deep cuts. “I suppose they do.” He gingerly pulled a sliver of glass from one of her fingers and flung the shard away.
She started to shift, but grimaced. It seemed her every movement caused her pain. Impatient and unwilling to watch her suffer, Merrick simply reached in, curled his arms underneath her and plucked her from the cabinet.
Her entire body went rigid, but he didn’t give her an opportunity to protest. He started for the back door where he and Cade had come in.
“I’ll call Hank’s manager and have him come in and do cleanup so Hank won’t have a mess in the morning,” Cade said as he followed behind. “I’ll make sure we have someone out to replace the broken glass.”
Merrick carried his slight bundle to the Hummer and eased her into the back seat. He climbed in beside her and tossed the keys to Cade. He wasn’t taking any chances she would get any crazy notions and bail out of a moving vehicle before they got to Dallas’s clinic.
She wilted into the heated seat and sagged precariously to the side. The man sitting beside her caught her and eased her into his side so she could lean on him.
The two men scared the daylights out of her, and yet, at the same time, there was something about them that made her stupid. It was evident she’d lost all sense because she was blindly putting her trust into these two men. Two huge men who could easily snap her like a twig if they had a mind to.
And here she was alone in a vehicle with them. They could take her anywhere at all. No one would know differently. She didn’t even know who she was, so how would anyone else know?
Despair filled her heart, aching and heavy. His grip tightened around her as they sped down the damp streets. The rain had stopped, but the cold was settling in for the long haul.
She began to shiver, not because she was too cold, but because she no longer had any control over her composure. She tried to stop shaking, but it seemed the harder she tried to make it stop, the harder she shook.
The man beside her cursed and then pulled her onto his lap. He wrapped a huge leather jacket around her body and put both his arms around her in an effort to keep her warm.
The jacket smelled heavenly. Warm. Spicy. So very masculine. It reminded her of something. She frowned. The fleeting remembrance was gone before she could place it. But it felt so very familiar to her. Comforting. It was a good memory that had been triggered, and those were so few and far between that she wanted to weep for losing it.
For just a moment, she forgot her paralyzing fear. Forgot that this man could harm her, that she shouldn’t trust anyone. She felt…safe. Here in his arms, pressed to his massive chest.
She could feel the steady, reassuring beat of his heart. She absorbed his calm like an addict needing a fix.
None of it made sense. She was sitting on the lap of a guy who looked like he could be a drug dealer or, at the very least, a gang member.
He was a mountain of a man, solidly muscled, bulging arms and a massive chest. Both arms were tattooed, and his hair was long and unruly. Everything about him screamed dangerous, and yet his touch was gentle, his words were soothing, and he looked at her with kindness and compassion in his eyes.
“What’s your name?” she found herself whispering.
He stiffened. In surprise? Then he touched a strand of her hair, trailing his finger downward.
“Merrick. What’s yours?”
Pain flashed through her head. She raised a hand to press into her temple in an effort to alleviate the excruciating pressure.
“I don’t know,” she said in agitation. “I don’t know!”
“Shhh,” he soothed. “It’ll come back. You’re just scared and under an enormous amount of stress. You’re cold and hungry and in shock. I’d be surprised if you did know your name at this point.”
Relief took hold. He was right, of course. Everything would be better after she recovered. Once she got warm and had something to eat. Maybe even some sleep. Then she’d know who she was and who had done this to her.
C H A P T E R T H R E E
DALLAS CARRINGTON STEPPED OUT OF the exam room, a grim expression on his face. Cade pushed off the wall where he and Merrick had been waiting. They’d put in the call to their friend, and he’d met them at his clinic in a matter of minutes.
Though Dallas ran a walk-in clinic in a poorer neighborhood, he also acted as Merrick’s personal physician and often traveled to Merrick’s fights. He’d monitored Merrick’s recovery after his knee injury a year ago.
Cade, Merrick and Dallas had gone to high school together and had remained steadfast friends since their childhood.
“The son of a bitch who did this to her should be shot on sight,” Dallas bit out in a pissed-off tone.
“Tell us,” Merrick growled.
Dallas ran a hand through his hair and blew out his breath. “Hell, this is a mess. I probably shouldn’t tell you anything, but this is hardly an official medical visit. The problem is, she doesn’t have a clue who she is or what happened to her. She’s deeply traumatized, and since she consented for you two to bring her in, I’m considering you the closest things she has to relatives.”
“She really doesn’t know who she is?” Cade asked skeptically.
Dallas nodded. “It’s deeply upsetting to her, and it sets off another round of panic every time she tries to remember. Now, I don’t know a lot about amnesia. It’s mostly bullshit you find in fiction novels or movies. I’ve never actually seen a clinical case of it, though I’ve read a few case histories on the subject. I don’t know if hers is because of a head injury or if it was trauma-induced and her mind has shut down in order to protect her from the horror of what happened to her.”
“What exactly happened?” Merrick demanded.
Dallas held his hand up. “I’ll get to that. If it’s memory loss caused by an injury to the brain, then it could be permanent. Hard to say. If it’s trauma-induced, it could be temporary. Hard as hell to say since there really isn’t a medical diagnosis for not wanting to remember.”
“It all sounds damn crazy,” Cade muttered.
“Just get to the part where you tell us what happened to her and how badly she’s injured,” Merrick cut in impatiently.
“Someone beat the hell out of her,” Dallas said bluntly. “That’s the least of it.”
Cade shot him an incredulous look. “What the fuck? That’s the least of it?”
“Your girl has been through the ringer,” Dallas said quietly. “This bastard beat the hell out of her. He raped her. And he shot her. Twice.”
Merrick’s jaw dropped, and then his eyes narrowed to menacing slits. “He shot her? I didn’t see any sign of a gunshot, but then hell, she was a mess. It would have been hard to see over all the other blood.”
“I had to sedate her to examine her,” Dallas said. “She was hysterical the minute I touched her. Look, the law requires a rape kit and for me to report this. I mentioned that to her, and she went ballistic. I was afraid she was going to hurt herself. Oddly enough, she had less issue with me examining her than she did with me reporting this to the police. You even mention the cops and she goes batshit crazy.”
“Yeah, we know,” Cade said grimly. “It was the same when we told her we wanted to take her to the hospital and call the cops. She flipped out, said no hospital, no cops. We were barely able to convince her to let us take her here. I don’t want to abuse her trust by throwing her under the bus.”
Merrick’s arms came over his chest. “Don’t report this, Dallas. At least not yet. Did you find anything when y
ou did the rape kit? Anything that could be used as evidence?”
Dallas slowly shook his head. “It wasn’t recent as in the last day or even two days. And really, it could have been nothing more than rough sex, but given everything else going on with her, I highly doubt that was the case. There was vaginal bruising and tearing but no semen. He either wore a condom or it’s been long enough that there’s no viable semen sample. No DNA trace that I could find, and I was careful. I’d love to see the bastard who did this to her hang.”
“You and me both,” Cade ground out.
“And the gunshot wounds?” Merrick demanded. “What did he do, beat the hell out of her, rape her and then try to kill her?”
Dallas nodded. “That’s my guess. And before you completely discount her fears of going to the police, there’s something you should know. The bullet I dug out of her shoulder? Looks like a nine-millimeter hollow point. Now, it’s not to say there aren’t a lot of assholes floating around using that caliber, but it’s a pretty standard police issue. Could explain her irrational terror anytime the word cop is mentioned.”
“Holy shit,” Cade breathed.
“Yeah,” Merrick muttered. “Christ, what the fuck are we supposed to do with her?”
Dallas sighed. “Well, right now, what she needs is a place to rest and recover. She needs to feel safe. She’s scared out of her mind. She’s been traumatized and brutalized in the worst way a woman can be victimized. The other bullet only grazed her head. I gave her a few stitches, and that’ll heal up good as new. The shoulder is another matter. She needs to be in bed. She needs hot food, and she needs someone to take care of her. Now I can call a shelter and see what arrangements I can make, but if they get wind of her injuries, they’re going to turn it over to the police faster than you can blink.”
Merrick scowled. “We’ll take her home with us.”
Cade whipped around to stare at his friend. “Are you out of your mind? Merrick, think about this. What the hell are we going to do with her? You have a fight to get ready for. If you win this, you’re next in line for the title shot. You can’t afford any distractions.”
Merrick glared hard at Cade, his expression murderous. “Are you really going to leave her in some damn shelter to fend for herself? What if the asshole who did this to her comes looking for her when her body doesn’t show up like it should? He left her for dead.”
Cade didn’t like it any better than Merrick did, but this spelled trouble with a capital T. The woman was jumpy as a frog. She wasn’t going to like going home with two big-ass men who likely scared the shit out of her just by looking at her.
“Maybe you should go check in on her before you make your decision,” Dallas suggested. “Let me know what you decide. But hurry, if you don’t mind. I need to write some prescriptions for painkillers and antibiotics, and I’m also going to give her some sedatives so she can sleep. She’s wound tighter than a spring, and when they’re that wired up, you have to give them something to make them sleep.”
Not waiting for Cade, Merrick barreled through the door to the exam room, leaving Cade to follow.
As soon as Cade laid eyes on her, he knew he was an absolute goner. All of his earlier bluster left in the blink of an eye. Looking at her now, he could well understand Merrick’s fierceness when it came to her.
She was curled onto her side, her injured shoulder wrapped and her arm lying limply over her hip. Her knees were drawn protectively to her chest, and she was dressed in one of those skimpy hospital gowns that didn’t cover much of anything.
Both hands were bandaged where she’d cut them breaking the glass.
He’d never seen a more vulnerable-looking female in his life, and it hit him right where he lived. It was damn hard to breathe when his thoughts were doubly occupied with murdering the son of a bitch who’d abused her so terribly and also the overwhelming compulsion to surround her with support, tenderness and whatever the hell else she needed to get back on her feet.
Merrick looked back at him challengingly as if to say, what now? Cade only sighed and nodded his agreement. There was nothing else to do for it. She was going home with them.
C H A P T E R F O U R
WHEN CADE PULLED TO a stop outside their house, Merrick gently took the woman in his arms and positioned his coat over her body to shield her from the cold rain. He ducked out of the backseat and made a dash for the front door. Cade had gone ahead and was holding it open.
“Take her into the living room,” Cade directed. “I’ll build a fire, turn up the heat, and I’ll see about getting her something to eat. We have some soup somewhere.”
Merrick took his precious bundle into the living room and eased her onto the couch. The sight of her, barefooted, in the soaked hospital gown and the bandages covering parts of her body, made his gut clench.
She was such a tiny, fragile-looking thing, and he couldn’t imagine what would possess a man to hurt such a woman. Any woman, for that matter. It made him irrationally angry, and he had to control his expression because he didn’t want to set her off again.
“I’m going to get you something to wear,” Merrick said gruffly. “I’m also going to get you some blankets so you’re warm. Are you hungry?”
She slowly nodded, the shadows deepening under her eyes.
“When was the last time you ate?” he asked in a more gentle tone.
Her eyes saddened. “I don’t know. It feels like forever.”
“Do you know how long ago you were…hurt? What’s the last thing you remember?”
She looked down, staring at her bandaged hands. “Two…three days maybe. I woke up on a riverbank. I was cold. At first I didn’t really hurt. I just felt numb. And everything was so blank. Can you possibly understand what it’s like to wake up facedown in the mud and not remember who you are or how you got there?”
Merrick frowned, his gut tightening harder. “No, I can’t.”
“And fear. Most normal people would call for help. Go to the police. Try to do something. But all I knew was that I had to hide. It’s the only thing I know. I may not know my name or what happened to me, but I know that I can’t let anyone know about me.”
Her tone was pleading, like she was begging him to agree with her, like she didn’t want him exposing her to anyone else in any way.
He pushed himself upward, his gut tied in knots from all the clenching. Hell, he was ready to put his fist through a wall, but he had to be careful to be ultra sensitive and non-threatening. She was maintaining control by the thinnest of threads, and he didn’t want to do anything to send her plummeting over the edge.
The problem was, he wasn’t a sensitive guy. He used his fists and his body to make his living. How the hell was he going to know what to do with one tiny woman who needed care and understanding?
“I’ll be right back,” he muttered. “You need clothes and blankets. Cade’s going to get you something to eat.”
He went to Cade’s bedroom since Cade was smaller in build than Merrick. He confiscated a warm sweatshirt that was bulky enough it shouldn’t hurt her shoulder. He also snagged a pair of sweats with a drawstring waist so she could keep them on.
After rummaging in Cade’s drawers, he went to his own room to get a pair of thick, warm socks she could wear on her feet.
When he returned to the living room, Cade came out of the kitchen wearing a frown.
“We don’t have shit here that’s suitable for her to eat. I need to go out and get the prescriptions filled anyway. Dallas wrote them in my name, so I’ll get them filled and pick up something hot for her to eat. I’ll only be gone half an hour provided the meds don’t take too long. I’d hope at this hour there isn’t a high demand.”
Merrick nodded. “I’ll get her changed and warmed up. But hurry. It’s likely been three days since she’s eaten.”
Cade glanced at the woman and swore. He snagged his coat from the chair and stalked out of the living room. A moment later, the kitchen door banged, leaving Merrick to stand in si
lence with the woman staring nervously up at him.
Merrick sighed. “Look, there’s no easy way to do this. I don’t want to frighten you, but the chances of you being able to get into these clothes without my help are zero. I swear to you I won’t hurt you. I’ll try not to look. I’ll be as quick as possible so it’s over with and you can rest and be comfortable.”
She curved her arms over her stomach, her hands gripping her arms. He could see the distress radiating from her. Her pupils widened. Her pulse rate kicked up, as did her breathing, and sweat beaded her forehead.
Hell, she was on the verge of a full-scale panic attack, and he had no idea how to offer her more reassurance than he already had.
“You can turn your back. I can untie the hospital gown from the back, and it will slip right over your arms, and then we’ll try to get this zip-up sweatshirt on you without hurting you.”
She licked her lips and swallowed hard, almost as if she was battling her fear and anxiety. That she was making such an effort not to melt down made Merrick respect her resiliency all the more.
She may be fragile-looking, seemingly helpless and in need of a lot of TLC, but a weaker woman would have likely already died. She certainly wouldn’t have broken into a gun shop to try to find a place to sleep and hide for the night. Nor would she be holding her ground against someone as big and scary-looking as Merrick.
Slowly she sat up and then turned so her back was presented to Merrick. She let the blanket slide down and immediately began to shiver.
Cursing, he hurried forward and began to work the wet gown off her. But it was soaked through and sticking to her skin like glue. Hell, it was ruined anyway.
He pulled a pocketknife from his jeans, flipped it open and then cut through the tough knot at her neck. Once it loosened, he gently pushed the gown forward, baring her slender back.