Defending Morgan (Mountain Mercenaries #3)(6)
The thought of Nina getting home to her mom made the panic Morgan felt at the idea of staying behind manageable. “Okay,” she whispered.
“We need to hide, though,” Arrow said, looking around. “There’s no way to get to the second floor, not with those stairs half-missing. Not that we’d want to be up there in the heat with no roof, anyway. We’re going to have to make us a hidey-hole down here. Something that looks natural if someone happens to peer inside, but not so stifling that we’ll suffocate.”
Morgan took a deep breath and looked around. There was a ton of debris on the floor. Nothing that looked like it could hide two full-size adults . . . well, one medium-size and one big one.
“Are you okay?” Arrow asked gently.
Morgan looked up at him and automatically nodded.
He shook his head in exasperation. “I think you’d say that even if you had a knife sticking out of your side, wouldn’t you?” Without waiting for her to respond, he took her hand in his and led her over to a corner of the room. “Stay here.”
Morgan clutched at him. “Where are you going?”
He immediately paused and turned to reassure her. “Nowhere. I’ll be right here in the room with you. You’ll be able to see me the whole time. I’m just going to see what I can do about making us a shelter.”
Ashamed of herself for her neediness, Morgan forced herself to let go of his hand and nodded. “Okay. You’ll let me know if I can do anything to help?”
“Of course.” He reached up to her face and used his thumb to wipe something off her cheek. Morgan had no idea what it was . . . dirt, blood, or something else she didn’t want to think about. Ultimately, it didn’t matter. It was one of the few kind touches she’d had in a year.
Then he turned and quietly began stacking wood and metal in what looked like a haphazard way, but was actually very precise. Morgan stood against the wall and watched, not taking her eyes off him. She was starving, but the feeling wasn’t anything new. Most of the time her captors forgot to feed her, and it wasn’t until they wanted to be entertained that they’d give her something like a bowl of beans, without any utensils. She’d long since gotten over any pickiness she might’ve had when it came to food. She ate anything and everything, even things she never would’ve touched in her old life.
Water had never been an issue, as the room she’d been kept in had a sink in the corner. She didn’t know how clean the water was, but it had kept her alive—that was all that mattered.
She would’ve killed to have that sink at the moment. After everything that had happened, she was extremely thirsty. But she was free. Well, sort of free, and she’d made a promise to herself not to be a bother or annoyance to Arrow.
“I think that’ll do it,” he said, more to himself than her, after about half an hour.
Morgan looked at the pile he’d made and couldn’t help but be impressed. It looked totally inconspicuous, and he’d done a good job of keeping the dirtiest boards on top. She could see a fairly big space underneath where they could stay hidden.
Arrow smiled at her then, and Morgan felt her heart leap in her chest, but she squashed it. He was here doing a job. That was all. It wouldn’t do for her to get attached to her rescuer. She didn’t think she’d ever be able to be in a normal relationship again. Not after everything she’d been through.
“Looks good.”
The words had no sooner left her mouth than they heard loud voices from the alleyway. Arrow was by her side before she could think. He swung her up into his arms and stepped quickly and silently over the boards to the hidey-hole. He put her feet on the ground and gestured for her to get inside.
Without hesitation, Morgan sat and scooted as far under the debris as she could, lying down on her side in the process. Arrow was hot on her heels. He lay down and scooted backward, forcing her to do the same, pressing her back against the wall of their makeshift shelter. He turned so he was facing the entrance to their hidey-hole, and she was completely hidden from view behind him. She rested her forehead against his broad back, but not before she saw the pistol Arrow held in his hand.
Her heart beating almost as hard as it had when they’d been running from the thugs in the alley, Morgan did her best to slow her breathing and not make a sound. The room was hot, and it was uncomfortable being this close to Arrow and sharing his body heat, but she didn’t move a muscle.
Within seconds, the door they’d come through merely half an hour before was kicked open with a loud bang.
Chapter Three
Arrow pressed his lips together and concentrated on the opening to their hiding spot. He hadn’t had enough time to make it as authentically random looking as he’d wanted, but he hoped it would do. If whoever had just kicked in the door walked around the room, they’d definitely be discovered.
Behind him, Morgan didn’t move. He could barely tell she was breathing. When the guy in the alley had grabbed her, he’d seen red. What made it worse was the fact that the man knew who she was. From what he’d been saying to Morgan, their time together hadn’t been pleasant. He could only imagine what she had gone through over the past year, but hearing the man say he couldn’t wait to get her on her back for him and his friends again had made Arrow lose it.
He’d fought like a man possessed, and had barely made it to her before the guy would have shoved her into his car and disappeared, probably forever.