Save Me(WITSEC #2)(4)

“Jacob—” I started to say, when the door leading into the room swung open.

“The coffee tastes like shit,” Creed announced as he walked in. Colt came in next, a step behind him. They were carrying two Styrofoam cups, which I assumed were filled with coffee, in each of their hands. Both looked weary. Once they saw me, though, they perked up.

Colt opened his mouth to say something, but snapped it shut as he took me in, then Keelan and his hands still on my shoulders. “She looks scared,” he said, setting down his two coffees on the small rolling table that was at the foot of the bed.

Keelan dropped his hands from my shoulders. “She just woke up.”

“Nightmare?” Creed asked as he came to stand on my left, next to Keelan.

“Yeah,” Knox said.

Moving to the right side of the bed, Colt sat on the edge and pulled me into his arms. My whole body went stiff. That was, until I breathed him in. His smell…it was comfort. I buried my face in his shoulder and my body relaxed with a shuddering breath.

“I’m safe,” I said out loud.

The left side of the bed dipped and a hand grabbed one of mine. I knew it belonged to Creed.

Creed squeezed my hand. “You’re safe, Shi.”

I squeezed his hand back. “Jacob—” My voice trembled. I remembered everything that had happened. Leaving the gym. Finding one of my tires flat again. Jacob showing up, offering his help, and when I’d declined, he’d become insistent and then violent. “He—” My whole body shivered.

Colt’s arms tightened around me. “He’s been arrested.”

That was good. “I fought him.”

“Yeah, you did,” Keelan said. “You choked that bastard out and I’m so proud of you.”

“Not before he drugged me,” I grumbled, pulling away from Colt. “He wanted to…” I glanced down at my lap. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Yes, it does, and it’s not okay,” Knox said firmly.

No, it wasn’t okay that Jacob wanted to rape me. Why didn’t that knowledge shock me? I tucked my hair behind my ears and bent my knees to my chest. “How long have I been here? A few hours?”

They glanced at each other.

“It’s eight in the morning,” Knox answered.

Shocked, I kicked off the blankets. “I’ve been here since yesterday!” I leapt forward and clambered around Creed to get off the bed.

“You’re giving us a great view of your Deadpool underwear,” Creed said.

I whirled around to face them as I closed the back of my gown. “Logan is going to kill me.”

“Because you flashed us?” Keelan asked, fighting to hold a straight face.

I will not blush. I will not blush.

“Because I missed my check-ins. Again.” I spun back around and searched for my purse. It and my clothes were in a clear plastic bag on one of four chairs in the room. I quickly scooped up the bag, but paused as I took in the chairs. Four seemed like a lot for such a small room. Turning back to face the guys, I asked, “Did you all stay here with me?”

Colt stood from the bed. “We stayed until visiting hours ended. They only allowed one of us to stay after that. So the rest of us hung out in the waiting room until they let us back in here.”

Someone could have knocked me over with a feather. I was so shocked, yet so happy. Possibly the happiest I’d felt in I didn’t know when. “Who stayed in here with me?”

Colt, Creed, and Keelan all glanced at Knox.

“It doesn’t matter who stayed in here,” Knox grumbled.

I was getting ready to throw his words, “yes, it does,” right back at him when he said, “I called your uncle.”

My heart skipped a beat. “What?!”





2





Logan’s going to kill me, I thought as I dumped the bag holding my stuff on the bed. “Which phone did you call him on?” I asked as I grabbed my leggings.

“On your personal cell,” Knox answered.

I yanked my leggings up each of my legs and to my waist under my gown. “I need to know exactly what was said.”

Knox crossed his arms over his chest. “I told him my name and he knew who I was.”

“He did a background check on everyone living on our street before I bought my house,” I said. “And I’ve talked about you guys with him.”

“That seems like a misuse of power,” Keelan commented under his breath.

I couldn’t argue with that. “And I doubt he lost any sleep over it, but that’s my uncle. He was a Navy SEAL before he became a Marshal. Some of his old SEAL buddies are higher-ranked feds now and some went off to work for…well, we’ll call them agencies, after they left the military. He has a lot of connections.”

“Why’d he become a Marshal then? Why not work for an agency or become a federal agent?” Creed asked.

“He hates politics and my mom had threatened never to speak to him again if he became a spy. She was terrified he’d die. She used to say that he used up all his luck surviving the SEALs,” I explained. “Not wanting to upset my mom, he settled on being a Marshal.”

“Were they that close? Your mom and uncle?” Colt asked.