“Hey, you okay?” A deep, throaty voice comes to me. It’s a voice I both love and dread. A voice I crave and want to run away from. A voice I want to hear every day for the rest of my life, and never have to hear again.
I turn to see Konstantin climb out of bed. He’s wearing only briefs, and his body is so big and awe-inspiring that for a moment it takes away my panic. He’s more like a mountain than a man. He offers the illusion of shelter with all that muscle and power, and right now, I’ll take that illusion. I go to him and place my head on his chest. His arms immediately come around me, and he holds me to him.
“You’re safe now,” he says. “I failed you, but I won’t fail you again. I swear on my life, no one is getting to you again, Cassie.”
I don’t answer him because he means if I am here, with him.
“You want a shower?” he asks.
“Can I have a bath?” I ask.
“Of course,” he says. “I’ll run it for you.”
He heads into the bathroom, and I stare at myself in the mirror. I’m different now. I’ve seen things no one should, and I don’t know if I can ever go back to normal again. Damn, I think Andrius was right. There is no going back to my life after this.
As the images and sounds from yesterday assail me once more, I firmly push them away and start to undress. I slept in the clothes I was taken in, and I’m a hot, sweaty, dirty mess. Thank God the hospital washed all that gunk out of my hair, two kind nurses doing it for me over a sink, but they never offered me a shower. Probably don’t have one in the emergency room; probably only have them on the wards.
I pull my top over my head and freeze. There’s something stuck to my side. It’s blood, but I peer closer in horror to see skin and … hair. Oh God. I scream and start brushing the stuff from me.
“Cassie?” Konstantin appears in the doorway and frowns.
“Oh my God!” I wail. I want it gone, but it’s stuck to my skin. Part of Liza’s face is stuck to my skin. I’m going to throw up.
“Hey.” Konstantin reaches me in four long strides, and he takes hold of my face gently. “Look at me, now. Right now. Focus on me.”
I do as he says. The command in his tone calms me, just as it has before.
“Come with me.”
He leads me to the bathroom where he uses a small towel to scrub the awful stuff from my body. Once it’s all gone, he takes the rest of my clothes off. I know I ought to protest because we’re not going to be that to one another anymore, or so I’ve promised myself, but I don’t say anything.
He gets me completely naked, and then he takes his clothes off. What’s he doing?
The next moment he’s picked me up and placed me gently in the warm, full bath. There’s something in there, something scented and delicious. Then he climbs in behind me.
My brain, tired as it is, notices that the bath is huge. It easily fits us both, and with Konstantin’s gigantor size that’s no mean feat.
The water is perfect; hot, but not too hot. It laps against me, still moving from us stepping in, like warm, scented waves. The water soothes me, calms me, and I’m embarrassed suddenly at the frequent meltdowns I’m having.
Huge arms come around me, and Konstantin wraps me up in the cocoon of him. His strength gives me strength, and we both stay still, the waves of displaced water slowly decreasing around us.
“You like heavy metal,” I say. My brain gives me this fact for some reason to go with. “You play it during your showers.”
“Yes.” He laughs and holds me a little tighter. “I also listen to it when I exercise, and when I drive.”
“I hate it,” I say.
He laughs again. “You don’t surprise me. I bet you like ABBA or boy bands.”
I swivel my head as far round as I can to eyeball him. “Do not.” I shake my head. “I love classical music, jazz, and I like Latin music. I love salsa dancing, and I do like a bit of nineties rave now and again.”
“Nineties rave, eh? I went to a rave once in a field,” he says, shocking me.