Theirs to Keep - Maya Banks Page 0,6
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.
Chapter Four
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