Murder_ A Sinful Secrets Romance - Ella James Page 0,174

my chest, pulls on my shirt, and shudders, this full-body shiver that makes me hold her closer.

“What man?” Fuck, I need to use a lighter tone. I hold her close and drop my head down, nuzzling her forehead with my chin. I take a deep breath. “I’ve got you, Piglet. No one’s going to hurt you. Who did this?”

I look down into her confused face as tears drip down her cheeks and she explains, in halting, half-slurred words, that someone with a mask showed up and said he wanted to talk to her. When she ran, he jumped the enclosure fence and tackled her.

“I think he cut my neck…” Her eyes roll slightly as she fumbles for her neck. “Bear…”

Her tears start to flow again, and I’m torn between rage and sorrow.

“Gwennie… I’m so fucking sorry. I’m so sorry.” My words catch in my throat. I feel like I’m being strangled.

My fault!

“Let’s go inside. I’m taking you inside. You’re safe now. We’ll call the police.”

“I don’t feel well,” she whimpers.

I crouch in the dirt and hold her up while she gets sick: a side-effect of what he shot into her neck.

I clean her off with my shirt and take her to the bath. I have to get in, too. She can’t stay upright. Not with those drugs in her system.

My chest aches as I hold her and wash her gently, as she cries and cries and cries and asks if we can leave.

“I’m scared.”

I keep telling her, “I’m here. I won’t let anybody hurt you.”

Gwenna cries, “I’m scared for you, Bear!”

“Don’t be scared for me, baby. I’m just fine.”

“Someone’s going…to take you…”

“No,” I whisper, carrying her to bed.

“Don’t go.”

“Go where?”

“Overseas,” she sniffles.

“No way. I’m not leaving. I would never leave you, baby.” I climb into bed with her and count her breaths to try to get a read on her oxygen saturation. I check her pulse, which seems to be okay. He dosed her lightly, I think.

He must think that’s good. That it will dim my rage.

Blue has no idea. That fucking prick has no fucking idea. When Gwenna drifts off, I call the police out to file a report and sit at Gwen’s computer. There I find him on the footage, just as I knew I would.

Bluebell.

No. Not Blue.

Someone wearing ACE gear…but not Blue. Someone I’m pretty fucking sure he hired. Who else would be behind this, except his paranoid, self-important ass?

This is bad news. Such bad news.

Because this means I have to kill him.

GWENNA

The next morning, I wake up aglow in sunlight and have no idea where I am. Barrett’s there beside me, stroking my hair, his strong arms around my back, his hard, warm chest against my cheek.

“It’s okay…”

I squint and blink up at the rafters.

Ouch. “My head…”

“Open your mouth.”

I do, and I feel three round, slick tablets pushed inside by Barrett’s careful fingers.

“Let’s sit up…” He helps me up and brings a straw to my mouth. “Just Advil.” He’s got one arm around my back. The other hand is at my shoulder, holding, stroking. “How ya doing?”

His face is a mask of sympathy and pain.

I squint at him and wonder why the hell I feel so…dread-filled. Then it hits me: the slam of one domino into the next until I remember.

“Oh my God...”

The hand around my back comes to my other shoulder. His fingers stroke my shoulders as his eyes bore into mine. “You’re safe, Gwen. We’re upstairs at my house. Do you remember coming over here?”

Tears fill my eyes. I shake my head. One falls.

“That’s all right.” He scoots closer and tucks me up against him. “The police came, and a paramedic came inside and checked you over. You didn’t want to go to the hospital, so I told them ‘no.’”

I nod slowly. I do have this hazy memory of a woman in a light blue shirt, saying something about the ER.

“I don’t like the hospital.” My voice sounds small.

Barrett’s body tenses, even as his hand rubs my back. “I know, babe. We don’t have to go.”

I take a deep breath as a feeling— this black feeling rolls through me. It’s like a dark cloud. Tears stream down my cheeks. I start to cry. I can’t help it.

I feel Barrett shift until I’m in his lap, lying between his legs and on his chest. He pulls the covers over us and gently cups my head with his big hand.

“It’s what was in the dart. Those sedatives will throw you off the next day.”

I hold my