Rise (The Phoenix Series Book 1)

by M. K. Cunningham

  Picking her up, she screams out in pain, “Stop, please. It’s too much!” I have no idea how long she has been laying in the cold shower, but her body has become so stiff that I can only imagine the agonizing pain she is in. From the time I left until I finally broke the door down, it had to of been a good hour. Turning around, I rush her out of the bathroom and into her bedroom.

  Laying her down on her bed, I strip my long sleeve, black shirt off along with my ripped jeans. Skin on skin is the best way to get the body restored back to normal, so that’s what I’ll do.

  As I press my warm body against her freezing body, Greer beings to hyperventilate. She attempts to move her body against mine to get me off her, but I proceed to stay where I’m at. A single tear escapes her eye and slides down her cheek before she passes out. My heart breaks even more at the sight of her giving up.

  I fear she believes I’m her kidnapper.

  ***

  Easton never left my side or Greer’s once I got her into bed. Once I had gotten her body temperature restored to normal, Easton did a check up on her. Physically, besides the bruising and whatnot from her capture, her body was fine. Mentally, we had no idea. Summer had come back in as I was laying next to her trying to warm her up, and she began to freak out so she left the room. After collecting herself, she came back in and stayed with us as well.

  From here on out, all three of us made a promise to not let Greer out of our sights and that one of us would always be with her at all times until we knew she one hundred percent.

  She had slept a good day before waking back up just for a few seconds. In the middle of the night, Easton had come in and placed an IV in her because of dehydration. Looking at her body, in the moonlit room, she was so skinny it was sickening. From the time she was taken, until now, she had lost a good twenty pounds. Every time I tried to feed her she would throw it back up within a few minutes. Her body rejected everything we fed her.

  I wanted so bad to touch her. Not being able to was killing me inside but, I didn’t want to rush it. Instead, I lay by her, waiting patiently for her to come back to us. As the night went on, I eventually fell asleep.

  Waking up, I look over to find her side of the bed empty. Panic rising once again, “Greer?”

  In a weak voice, “I’m right here.” Following the direction of her voice, our eyes met once I spotted her on the floor, squished between the dresser and the wall on the opposite side of the room.

  With a frown on my face, “Baby, why you over there? Come back to bed.”

  Shaking her head from side to side as she was holding onto her knees that were near her chest, “I’m good here.” Looking away from me, she places her head on her knees.

  Sliding out of bed, slowly, I crawl my way to her. At this very moment, it reminded me of the time I found her in the woods and she tried hiding from me. Right then, I stopped where I was and didn’t’ move an inch. She was terrified of me.

  Looking closer at her, she was shaking, “Greer, please come back to me. You are safe, you have nothing to worry about.” Kneeling, “If it’s too much, I’ll sit in the chair and you can have the bed to yourself.” Saying those words, they hurt. I was the one person I didn’t want her to fear yet here we are.

  ***

  A week has passed, and I’ve only seen Greer a handful of times. After the night I found her in the corner, terrified of me, she told me she couldn’t be around me until she was ready. Summer was the only one she could stand to be around, even Easton was booted.

  Once she was asleep, I’d stop by the house and check in on her. Summer was great about updating me every night. Not wanting to go home, I’d stay in her room to watch over her for a bit before heading downstairs to crash on the couch. I wake every morning before she gets up and head to my house to shower, get dressed and go back to work. I repeated this routine every day. Rem has been staying with Greer ever since because I know she needed comfort and I knew Rem could do that.

  I’d been at work all week working Greer’s case. I went in early and left late every day. I’ve been craving her touch, even the slightest, so being distracted was a great way to rid my mind of it.

  It was approaching ten thirty and I was the last one at the office besides the night janitor. Sleep was starting to catch up with me since I was lacking so much of it lately. I wouldn’t get to Greer’s place for another forty-five minutes if I left now so I started packing up for the night. Looking over my shoulder, I notice the janitor standing a few rows behind me, glancing in my direction every now and then. Something about him rubbed me wrong but I always ignore it thinking I’m just on edge because of everything recently. Getting up out of my chair, I turn around to find him gone. Glancing around, he is nowhere to be seen. Ignoring it, I turn around to push my office chair in.

  Grabbing the papers off my desk, I turn to head for the door and I bump right into him, knocking the papers to the floor. “Shit, sorry man. I didn’t see you standing there.”

  Bending down, I start picking up the papers and soon he begins to help me. Picking up a picture of Greer, “She is mighty pretty. She in trouble?”

  Looking at the wrinkled hands holding the picture of her, “Something like that.” After breaking my hold on his hands, my eyes slide up to observe his face. He has the slightest smirk on his face that quickly fades once he notices I have spotted it. There is something so familiar about him, but I can’t seem to put my finger on it. Glancing down at his shirt, he doesn’t have a name tag on, “I’m Williams.” Extending my hand to his, “I haven’t seen you around here. You new?”

  Looking down at my hands, he pauses for a brief second before grabbing it to shake, “Yeah, just started a few days ago.” His shake is firm. As I attempt to pull away, he grabs on tighter to keep me in his hold. Now I’m becoming pissed. Something is off, and I can’t seem to put my finger on it and the way he is acting isn’t helping one bit. “Roy, nice to finally meet you.” Just then, he releases his grip, stands up and proceeds back to the vacuum a few feet away.

  Picking up all the papers, I turn to him, “Nice to finally meet you?”

  Not looking at me and starting the vacuum, “yeah, I’ve heard about you and wanted to meet you.” Just then he looks up at me, nods and goes about his business. Dismissing me.

  Shaking my head, not knowing what to say after that strange encounter, I walk out and head to my truck.

  After what seemed like the longest ride, I finally make it back to Greer’s house. Pulling up to the circle drive, I shut the truck off and stay in there for a little bit. I’m trying to shake off the feeling I had before walking into the house. I don’t want to bring anything negative in and sure as hell don’t need anyone seeing the stress and concern on my face. After a bit, I finally get out and head inside.

  Summer greets me at the door, which is how our night always starts out. Walking into me, she hugs me tightly and won’t let up. Hugging her back, “Summer, what’s wrong?” Not saying anything, I peel her body from mine and place my hands on each side of her cheek, staring into her eyes, waiting for a response.

  Teary-eyed, “Thane, I don’t know what to do anyone.” Sniffling, “It’s been almost a month, and nothing has changed.” Looking down at her feet, I can tell she’s at a loss for words.

  Tilting her head up, I want her to keep her eyes on mine. “What do you mean?”

  With a shaky breath, “Her state of mind is still the same. I’ve never seen her so out of it and every time I leave the room I fear for her. As in, I don’t think the night in the shower was an accident.” Her sniffling had turned in to sobs, “I don’t think she wants to be here anymore. This time around, it’s so much different.” I held her tight and tried to hold back tears myself but in the midst of it, one had escaped.

  After five minutes of trying to calm Summer down, I make my way up the stairs and down the hall to Greer’s room. Her door is shut like it is every night. Before grabbing the handle, I take a deep breath and release it. I need to shake this uneasy feelin
g away.

  Extending my hand out, I reach for the handle and pull down and release it slowly back up so it doesn’t make a loud thud noise to wake her. Pulling the door open, I slowly but quickly walk in and close the door to keep the hallway light out.

  Walking up to the bed, I stand over her, staring at her from head to toe. The bruising around her face has dissipated along with the swelling. All that is left is a hint of yellow just above her right eyebrow and lip. Her eyes are red and swollen, which I can only assume is from crying. She is laying on her side, covered up with a white sheet that reaches to her stomach and slides up the front of her chest where she has a tough grip on it. Kneeling, so that I’m eye level with her, I reach my hand out to brush a loose strand of hair that slid over her eye, but I stop. I don’t want to wake her up and I know touching her is off limits until she makes the first move.

  Standing, I make my way to the sky-blue chair in the corner of the room, opposite the bathroom, and sit down. Starring at her, with sadness in my eyes, my eyes give way to the dark.

  ***

  Waking to the sound of Greer worried me. At first, I thought I was dreaming but realized that I had fallen asleep in the chair in her room. This was the first time I have done this and panic rose. My intention was to not scare her, let alone let her know I have been sneaking in her room every night.

  Slowly opening my eyes, I peek around to see where she is. Looking to the bathroom door, that I had fixed before disappearing from her for two weeks, it was closed, and the light was on. Now was my time to get out of here before letting her see me.

  As I slowly got up and walked across the bedroom floor quietly, I opened the door and started walking out. Shutting the door, I hear Greer behind me, whispering, “you’re leaving?”

  My heart stopped at the sound of her voice. It’s been so long since I’ve heard it and I missed it so much. Without turning around, I stayed where I was, in a soft voice, “I didn’t mean to doze off.”

  Closing my eyes, I tried to picture what she looked like at this very moment. If I turn around, I’d want to go straight to her and make love to her, but I knew I couldn’t. She had fallen asleep in her white silk robe that stopped at her thighs with nothing else on. Her burgundy hair was down and scattered all around her face.

  Listening to her every move, she began to walk closer to me. Slowly, she finally reached me. With shaky hands, she placed them on my shoulder, “You can stay.” Taking a gulp, loud enough for me to hear, “I know you’ve been in here every night this week.”

  Turning to her, looking into her eyes, “How?”

  Smiling, but not reaching her eyes, “I don’t sleep much. I’ve been awake most of the nights you’ve come in except for last night.”

  Reaching my hands out to touch her face, I pause, realizing what I just about did. Racing my eyes back and forth across her face I begin to lower my hands. As I do, Greer grabs them swiftly. “It’s ok, I’m getting better.” With that sentence, her eyes drop to our hands and never came back up to meet mine.

  Peeling a hand from her grip, I brought it to her chin, lifting it up so she can look me in the eye. “Greer, I…” Hesitating, I knew what I wanted to say but had no idea if it was the right time to tell her.

  Placing her empty hand to mine, rubbing it in slow motion, “What is it, Thane?’

  “I…I love you. I’ve loved you for quite some time but haven’t had the nerve to tell you. Seems like every time I wanted to tell you, something always came up and it never became the right time.”

  Greer tried to slide her hand away from mine, but I grabbed hold of it, not wanting to let her go just yet. She had looked away from me once again and as I lean to the right to see her expression, she’s crying. “Baby…it’s alright. You don’t have to say anything in return. I never once expected you to. I just had to get it off my chest.”

  With that, her legs gave out and she collapsed to the floor. She was slumped over and had her hands in her face. “You can’t.”

  Bending down, “Yes, I can…and I do.” Taking her hands from her face, she looks at me with red, swollen eyes. She stays quiet for the longest time.

  “Thane, you can’t. I won’t allow you to. The last person that loved me, died. I won’t allow that to happen to you. Especially since he is still out there.”

  Leaning into her, my lips briefly touch hers, “Don’t worry about him. You will never see that sick bastard again, trust me.” With those last words, I kissed her, deeply. In return, she kissed me back with so much passion I didn’t know if I could control myself anymore. I’ve already broken my rule by kissing her, not truly knowing if she was ready for it.

  Just then, Greer places her hands on my chest and slowly works her hands down until they reach the bottom of my white t-shirt. Grabbing hold of the hem, she slides her hands underneath and slowly makes her way up my chest, torturing me with each touch. Deeping her kiss, I welcome her tongue.

  Placing my right hand on her ankle, I lean into her until she is forced to lay back on the floor. Once I have her where I want her, I slowly began to move my hand up her outer thigh while I slowly give her passionate kisses from her mouth to her neck.

  Greer begins to tense as my hand moves its way up, so I stop where I’m at and don’t go any further. Leaving my head placed at her neck, I tilt up just a bit to see her facial expression. It is that of fear. Immediately I place both of my hands on each side of her and lift myself up to stop what is about to happen.

  Grabbing my left forearm, she stops me. “Please, keep going.” Just then, a tear escapes the corner of her eye.

  Shaking my head, “No. You’ve been through too much and still need time to heal.” Just then, she places her other hand on my other arm to keep me from going anywhere.

  “I need this. I need you.” Shaking her head slightly, “I need you to push me through this. I can physically see you, so I know you aren’t them.” Taking a deep breath then looking into my eyes, “I want you, but we need to go at this slowly.”

  Leaning my forehead into hers, “You have me completely, there’s absolutely nothing I will not do for you. I’m not going anywhere. We have all the time in the world, let's take this slowly.”

  CHAPTER nineteen

  thane

  I find myself lying in bed, staring at Greer, while she sleeps. I love the way she sleeps, she looks so peaceful and has no worry on her face. I want to give that to her when she is awake, but she doesn’t make it easy. Something is stopping her from opening up to me and I have yet to figure it out. Just when I think I have it, she shuts me out.

  We have made progress this last week. She finally stepped out of the confinement of her house and here we are, at mine. Four and a half weeks after we got her back from her abductors and she is finally here. Summer has been pushing her to get out and she finally agreed. With some liquid encouragement and some weed, we were successful.

  The vibrating of my cell phone interrupts my thought process. I lean over and see that the Captain is calling me. Getting out of bed, I go into the hallway and answer the phone.

  “William’s, you need to come in.” He sounds like it’s urgent, and I find it odd that he would call me on my day off.

  “Alright, I’ll be in within the next half hour.” The line goes dead.

  Turning around, Greer is still asleep in my bed. I don’t want to leave her, but I have too. I throw on some clothes and leave a white rose from my garden on the pillow with a note.

  Called into work

  Be back as soon as possible

  T

  As I approach the building and make my way into the Captain’s office, all eyes are on me. “Williams, Greer Robinson’s DNA was scattered all over that building. For the brief moments that you were alone, did you happen to see her in the building when we raided it?”

  I knew the Captain already knew the answer to that question, but he had no proof of it. He was trying to get me to rat on myself, which I had no intentions of doing.

  Standing s
traight with both hands behind my back, interlocking my fingers. “No sir, every room I encountered was empty. The few that I did see, they were already being apprehended. Like I mentioned when we were there, I thought I saw someone or something in the brush out by the timber, but it ended up being a deer that we had scared.”

  Inside, I was grinning from ear to ear. Captain knew I was lying through my teeth, but he couldn’t prove it which made me even more satisfied. If he didn’t want to learn the truth about Greer’s past and what really happened, I wasn’t going to turn her over.

  Lashing out at the stack of papers in front of him, they scattered all over the floor and table. Everybody in that room stood still and quiet until Slater made the first attempt.

  “This meeting is adjourned!” His face turned the shade of red that always reminded me of a radish.

  Speaking anyways, “Sir, if you don’t mind me asking. Has any of those that were apprehended spoken up yet? I’d really like to get a start on any leads that could bring us to anyone else that is associated with Greer Robinson.”

  What I was really saying was that I wanted to find that son of a bitch, Jerry. I wanted Jerry Sloan, dead.

  Grinding his teeth, “No, they haven’t.”

  With that, he slammed his door shut after motioning for the rest of us to leave his office.

  ***

  As I am pulling into my driveway, all I can think about is what Summer told me, I needed to tell her, or she would. As I put my truck into park and shut it off, I sit there and think about what I want to tell Greer. My heart is aching for her and I have the urge to go and tell her I can protect her. I need to tell her everything about me. The timing may not be the best but we have put so much time into our relationship that this needs to come out and I don’t know how much longer it can wait.