A lump lodged in my throat as she shouldered past me. In one lithe movement, she climbed onto Beth’s chair and reached up into the duct. It took her longer to get the new wire installed than it had taken me to rip the old one out, but she replaced the vent quicker than I had removed it.
She walked to the door and stopped to look at the wire in my hands. Her hand blurred as she snatched it from me.
“If you do it again,” she eyed the vent and then whispered in my ear, “I’ll rip out your tongue.”
My tongue curled up inside my mouth as I tried to swallow. Claire leaned back to offer a disturbing sweet smile and then left. I shut my door behind her and locked it, wrapping my arms around my middle. She terrified me.
The thought of Jared hearing my every movement made tears trickle from my eyes and down my cheeks. “I can’t do this,” I whispered. The sudden need to distance myself from that microphone became urgent, and I grabbed my coat and keys. If I were going to have any type of normalcy again, I had to convince Cynthia.
“Mom?” I called, walking into the dining room.
“In the kitchen, dear,” Cynthia called.
I watched her expression change to concern when she saw my puffy, wet eyes.
“What happened to your hand, Nina?” she said, noticing the makeshift wrap around my palm.
“I want you to talk to Jared, Mother.”
Her concern vanished, and she returned to preparing her lunch. “I’m sorry, Nina. I can’t do that.”
“Then let me have my privacy.”
Cynthia seemed a bit uncomfortable with the topic, but she was never one to be intimidated. “That is between Jared and your father.”
“Daddy’s not here.”
She ignored me. “Jared and I talked for a long time. If it helps, he argued with me at first. He was quite determined. When I reminded him how hard it is for his mother and how hard it will be for you, he couldn’t deny doing what is best for you. This is the easy part. You can’t begin to imagine how hard your life will be if you continue this ridiculous—”
“You have to try. You owe it to me to try,” I begged.
She clicked her tongue. “He won’t listen to me now, Nina. Some things you just can’t take back. Once you’ve made your case, you can’t argue the other side.”
“Mother.” I pursed my lips, but it was no use. The tears fell from my eyes.
“I warned him that if he continued a relationship with you, I would be forced to fire him.”
“You what?”
“Carrying on a relationship with him could get in the way of—”
“You know he’s the only one that can keep me safe! You’re willing to risk my life to prove a point?”
“Of course not! Your father insisted that Jared stay away from you, Nina. You’re just going to have to forget him!”
“Mother, I love him!”
Cynthia’s eyes widened at my words. After a short pause, she shook her head dismissively. “You don’t know what you’re saying.”
I could barely form a whisper. “Look at me.” I let my shoulders hang in defeat. “Does this look like just a crush to you? I’m in love with him.”
“Then stop. This is not what your father wanted for you. Did Jared tell you that? That he was forbidden to get involved with you? I won’t help you go against your father’s wishes.”
“That had nothing to do with me or with Jared, Mother! Daddy didn’t want me to know the truth about him!”
“Nina,” she said, “you don’t believe that.”
I could see my efforts were in vain; Cynthia wouldn’t help me. I escaped her apathetic eyes and fled to my Beemer. The rain poured relentlessly, and I was soaked by the time I entered the car. I sped down the street, the tires creating a wake behind them.
The farther I drove, the less I wanted to return to my dorm. Walking into Andrews would be admitting defeat. Worse, something deep inside of me knew that the second I stepped inside my room, I would begin a life without Jared.
When the street lights began to flicker, the rain tapped against my windshield in tiny crystals. Some of the roads had been blocked off by the flooding, and I was soon corralled onto a dead-end road. Through the gush of windblown rain, a bridge came into view just ahead of my car, arching high into the night sky.
I turned off my car and sat, mulling over the last week. My feeble attempt to gain any control over the situation had ended dismally. I hadn’t considered giving up until that moment.
I pulled my hat and gloves off and threw them on the seat beside me, deciding that the only option I had was to leave. But Jared would follow. He would have to, and I would take him away from his sister, his brother, and Lillian. I gripped the steering wheel as the realization sunk in: I was trapped.
One of my gloves fell to the floorboard, drawing my attention to my purse. Barely peeking out, the sharp end of Jack’s letter opener glinted under the light of a lone street lamp. Without another thought, I grabbed it from my purse and shoved my way out of the car. The rain immediately blasted against me, but I planted my feet on the ground, determined to get Jared’s attention this time. I grabbed the handle of the letter opener as tightly as my freezing hands could manage and held it above me.
“He’ll come,” I whispered.
With a loud cry, I shoved the golden spear into my back tire. It pierced the thick rubber, but not deep enough to do any damage. I used my foot to shove it in the rest of the way, and to my relief it made a loud hissing sound.
Icy rain soaked every inch of me, and my body began to tremble as the biting wind blew against my skin. After a few minutes, I shed my coat and threw it into the seat. My body shook uncontrollably as rain pelted against me.
I waited.
When my sweater was soaked through, I yanked it over my head and threw it on top of my coat. I was down to a long-sleeved cotton shirt, and the rain felt like ice splinters driving into my bones. My teeth were chattering with such force that I opened my mouth to keep them from breaking. A puff of air escaped my mouth as a wind gust sent stinging rain tearing into my skin.
Still, I waited.
Just when I thought I would collapse, a pair of headlights broke through the curtain of rain and came to an abrupt stop behind my car.
“Nina! What the hell are you doing?” Jared yelled over the rain. He took off his coat and stepped toward me, but I backed away. “Do you know what hypothermia is? You’re going to freeze to death!” he said, shoving his coat toward me.
“I l-l-love you,” I said as my entire body shuddered.
“I heard,” Jared said, pressing his eyebrows together. “Let me take you home.” He held out his coat again, but I took another step back.
“Y-you l-listened t-t-to her!”
“I didn’t listen to her! If she fired me, it would make it harder for me to protect you. Keeping you safe is my first priority. Now, please get in the car!”
“H-How would it make it h-h-harder if you’re with me?”
“We can talk about this when you’re out of the rain!”
I took another step back.
“Cynthia controls our funding!” Jared said in a desperate tone. “She funds our surveillance, our weapons—everything. I could still protect you, but not as well. I couldn’t risk it!”
“So you’re j-just going to leave me, we’re g-going b-back to the way things were so you c-can buy more microphones and b-bullets?”
Jared sighed. “That’s not what I meant. You’re too important not to use the best means available, Nina. I thought if I figured out a way for us . . . I was trying to figure something out.”
“You’re j-just s-saying that to g-g-get me to go back there!”
“I wouldn’t do that,” Jared said. He lifted his coat, and I took another step back. His jaws tensed. “I made a mistake! I didn’t want to hurt you! I just needed some time to fix the mess I’ve made!”
I tried to turn the corners of my mouth up into somewhat of a smile. “I th-thought you didn’t
make m-mistakes.”
With a desperate expression, Jared took a step toward me, groaning when I took another step back. “Don’t make me do this, Nina. Don’t make me force you. Please get in the car!”
“I’m not going b-back there,” I sputtered.
The rain poured down Jared’s face and streamed from his chin. “I wasn’t going to take you . . .” He sighed. “I want you home with me!”
I watched him for a moment, trying to read his eyes.
“I wouldn’t lie to you,” he said, reaching for me. “I want to take you home.”
I sucked in a breath and nodded. Jared wasted no time wrapping me in his coat, but it was already soaked through. He lifted me into his arms, and in the next second, I was in his car.
Jumping behind the wheel, Jared cranked up the heater and then rubbed my arms with both hands. “Jesus, Nina, your lips are blue.”
He raced down streets that seemed more like rivers. I had just closed my eyes when he pulled to the curb in front of the loft.
“Stay awake, Nina. Don’t go to sleep.”
Jared took the steps three at a time, unlocked his door and skipped more steps to the loft. He held me in one arm while he turned on the shower, and the steam immediately filled the room.
He lifted my stiff body into the shower and held me against him. I cried out as the water burned my icy skin. After a while, the quivering turned less violent. Once I was able to stand alone, Jared adjusted the temperature to a hotter setting.
I looked up at him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know what else to do.”
Jared grimaced, his eyes glowing steel blue. “Let’s just get your temp up.”
He pulled the gauze from my hand and inspected my wound, wincing before glaring down at me. I watched as he gently scrubbed the festering cut with a washcloth.
“You should have gotten stitches for this,” he grumbled. His jaw tensed as he rinsed the soap away.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, worried that it was resentment in his eyes instead of concern.
“Everything, Nina. I leave you alone for a week, and you’ve got a deep, infected cut in your hand, you nearly broke your arm when you fell off the chair, and you almost froze to death or drowned. I’m not sure what would have happened first.”
“I know. You have every right to be mad.”
“Mad? I made myself believe that, when the time came, I would be better at making you happy than anyone else, but look at you. I’ve made your life worse. You’re worried I’m angry with you? You should hate me for what I’ve done.”
I ran my aching fingers through his wavy, wet hair. He closed his eyes and sighed.
“I’ve missed you,” I whispered.
His expression crumbled at my words. “I’ve been going crazy. When you found the mic, Claire had to restrain me. It’s one thing to know you’re hurting; it’s another to know I’m causing it.”
I offered a weak grin. “You’re going to have to find a new place to hide the microphone. It didn’t take me long to figure it out. I totally outsmarted you. Twice.”
“Outsmarted me? You don’t even have the sense to get in out of the rain.”
“At least I have enough sense to know that we shouldn’t be apart.”
Jared’s eyes tightened in anguish.
I leaned up and pulled his face close, pressing my lips to his cheek. The water poured over us as he pulled me to him, my light kiss making his blue eyes burn with intensity. He kissed me as if I were the air he’d gone without for five days. Neither of us held back, and the agony we had experienced apart fueled every movement. Our lips parted, and he pressed me against the tile wall of the shower. I clutched the back of his shirt in each of my fists and pulled him against me, but I couldn’t get close enough. Jared’s hands gripped each side of my face as he tasted the inside of my mouth.
I reached down and pulled his shirt over his head, exposing the perfection of his bare chest. His wet shirt fell to the shower floor with a slap. I slid my hands down his back, and he moaned in response. His mouth grew impatient then, and he reached down to grab my knee. He lifted my leg and pulled me against him, and I pressed my fingers into the flesh of his back. I braced myself as the intensity in the small space soared to a new level. His lips slowed down, became gentle, and then he pulled away from me after a few soft kisses.
“It’s been a long night, Nina. You need to rest.”
“I don’t think I can,” I said, pressing my forehead against his chest.
Jared kissed my wet hair. “Try.”
When he was satisfied that I was warm enough, he pulled me from the shower and wrapped me in a towel. I nestled against him as he carried me to his bed.
“You’re still shaking.” He frowned.
“I’m feeling much better, really,” I assured him.
The front door slammed below, and Jared kissed my cheek. “Claire fixed your tire and drove your car here. She’s going to help you get into some dry clothes.”
My entire body felt as if it had been sandblasted, steamrolled, and smashed in a garbage truck. I was too exhausted to argue.
Jared left us, and Claire peeled off my wet clothes, sliding a long-sleeved T-shirt that read NAVY over my head.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
She raised an eyebrow. “I thought I was crazy.”
I sighed to form some sort of laugh, and my eyes slowly closed and opened again.
Claire pulled a hairdryer out of a hot pink duffle bag and began to dry and brush my hair. I braced myself for her to do her best to rip my hair out, but she was very gentle, almost maternal.
The high-pitched whine of the dryer silenced, and Claire crouched in front of me. “Okay. You’re done.”
As Jared passed Claire on the stairs, he offered an appreciative smile. He was shirtless, his only article of clothing a light blue pair of pajama pants. In the shower was the first time I’d seen his bare physique, and even through my exhaustion, I was impressed. Every muscle in his body was sleek and toned, and he kneeled in front of me holding a small white box.
“Give me your hand.”
The skin around the jagged cut was opaque and wrinkled from the long shower. Jared spread antibiotic along the fissure spanning the width of my palm, from the outside of my wrist to the bottom of my index finger. It didn’t hurt, but because of residual trembling, I had a hard time holding still.
I raised my hand to inspect it, and Jared rolled his eyes. “Is it okay?”
“Nicely done,” I nodded in approval.
I leaned against the pillow while Jared walked to the other side of the bed. When he crawled in beside me, it occurred to me that my heart should have been pounding out of my chest, but I only felt exhaustion.
Jared pulled me to him and folded his arms around me. I sighed as I relaxed against his chest; he was warmer than the shower. I was still cold enough that his skin was slightly painful against mine, but I leaned in closer, welcoming the burn.
“Promise me you won’t do anything like that again,” Jared whispered, kissing my forehead.
I buried my face into the concave of his neck and shivered. In reaction, Jared wrapped his arms tighter around me.
9. Healing
“Nina?”
I raised my eyebrows, but my eyes wouldn’t open.
Jared brushed the hair away from my face and kissed the exposed patch of skin on my cheek.
I blinked to focus, and Jared’s blurry form came into view.
“It’s six thirty, sweetheart. You have an eight-o’clock class.”
I sat up, immediately grabbing Jared’s arm. “Whoa.”
“Dizzy?” he asked.
“As if you didn’t know.”
He smiled, leaving my side to grab a stack of folded clothes and place them on the end of the bed. “Claire brought some more of your things.”
With my eyes half-closed, I stood up and stretched and then inched up the hem of my shirt to change.
“Er, Nina?” Jared said, grabbing my hand
s. “I’ve always thought you were the most beautiful in the morning. Seeing you standing here in my T-shirt is nearly driving me mad. Would you please stop trying to send me over the edge?”
I grimaced at his infuriating insistence on putting off the inevitable. I’d always been the one to procrastinate when dealing with the intimacy issue. Now that I’d felt strong enough about someone to want to press the boundaries, he insisted on dragging his feet.
Sensing my aggravation, he kissed my nose and jogged down the stairs, allowing me the privacy to change.
“I’ll drive you to school, if that’s okay,” Jared said after breakfast.
“That would be great. Thank you.”
The roads were slick with ice, and the trees and grass were frozen in time under the inch-thick frost. Jared effortlessly navigated the Escalade to Brown’s campus, keeping my hand in his until we pulled into the parking lot.
“I’ll meet you here, then?”
“Er, yeah?” I said, caught off guard.
“I thought it would be best if you stayed with me for a few days.” He shrugged. “Until your hand heals, you’ll need a fresh dressing every night.”
I pressed my lips together, trying not to let myself get too excited. I didn’t want to tip him off.
“Or not. I can call you later,” he backpedaled.
I slid my arms around his middle. “I would love for you to pick me up.”
Jared’s eyes relaxed. “I’ll be right here at one-thirty.”
Initially, the excitement of staying with Jared propelled me through the first half-hour of class, but as the hour wore on, I had a hard time concentrating. Doubt seeped into my every thought, and I found myself watching the clock, anxiously counting down the minutes.
He had left me on a day much like this one, including the perfect morning of smiles and kisses good-bye. Victory suddenly seemed too easy, and I felt sick with worry that he had appeased me long enough to disappear again.
Beth and Kim met me outside, eager to hear the story behind my bandaged hand. The prospect of enduring lunch and another class added to the stress of constructing a detailed lie of the night before had me nearly in tears. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I would go to meet him at the designated time and he wouldn’t be there.
The Providence Trilogy Bundle: Providence; Requiem; Eden Page 16