Page 6 of Speechless
“Take the swabs anyway, just to cover the bases. Then we’ll turn her over and start the hard part.” Connor scrubbed his hand over his face. While his nurse finished up between the patient’s legs, he checked Jenna’s pulse. “Well hell.”
Sarah looked up quickly. “What?”
He studied Jenna’s face carefully. “Pulse is slightly elevated. Have you done the swabs?” He felt the blood surge beneath his fingers, trapped in the vein. “If not, hurry up.”
“Oh crap, give me a couple minutes.”
Connor didn’t want to think it, never mind say it, but he wasn’t sure they had a couple minutes left. The pulse point he monitored throbbed erratically. He could see signs of tension building in Jenna’s previously lax muscles.
“Jenna, baby. You’re okay. The sedative is wearing off a bit now. I’m going to give you some painkillers and antibiotics, but you’re going to feel pretty groggy.” Quietly, he crossed over to the counter and picked up the second syringe Sarah had prepared earlier. When he came back to Jenna, he noted the way her legs had begun to move restlessly. Just tiny, uncoordinated movements.
With efficiency, he administered the cocktail of drugs before Jenna came around fully. He stroked her grimy skin and planned a bath for her as soon as she felt able. “Stay still for me, baby. Sarah’s nearly done, just stay as still as you can for a couple minutes more.”
He didn’t know what made him glance up, but when he did, he saw the widest, wildest pair of terrified green eyes staring at him in desperation.
*
Her world was a sluggish revolution of time and unusual sensation. Sounds rang clear as a bell then hollowed into dull gongs. It was almost hypnotic, like waves of reality rushing into focus, fading out into disarray.
When clarity came, it terrified her. From fingers to toes and everything in between, she felt numb. Every so often, her body rewarded her with a second of movement as though reassuring her she wasn’t dead.
“Stay still for me, baby. Sarah’s nearly done, just stay as still as you can for a couple minutes more.”
The words pierced the wisps of fog clouding her mind, and she forced her eyes open. They locked quickly onto the woman standing between her legs. Bile rose into her throat. Her gaze shot to the man standing beside her, a spent hypodermic in one hand and the other stroking her arm.
When he glanced up, met her eyes, she pleaded with everything she had inside her. She shivered in disgust at the movement between her legs, willed them to do something, anything. If she’d had control of her body, she would have fought back.
She imagined drawing her knees up to her chest and ramming her feet into the perky little brunette’s chest so hard the imprint of them would be left on the nurse’s chest.
For God’s sake, help me. Please stop this.
“Are you done, Sarah?” His eyes stayed on Jenna’s.
“Just a second,” she replied absently.
Jenna felt her hand ball into a fist. Relief flooded her system. She wasn’t dead. She wasn’t going to be trapped in her own mind while her body remained frozen and lifeless. Now all she needed to do was make her arm lift and she could—
Connor’s hand covered hers, warm and strong andbig. She dropped her gaze to where they now connected, surprised at just how big his hands were. Long fingered, lightly tanned, with a slight rasp of calluses on the broad palm.
“She’s not hurting you, baby. She just needs a minute more.”
She bared her teeth in frustration. The hiss and wheeze of her breath between clenched teeth sounded like she was on the verge of a panic attack. With each passing moment, the pressure in her chest grew to immense proportions, enough that her fist vibrated in Connor’s hold.
“Take my hand, Jenna. I’ve got you.”
It was so strange, being addressed by a name instead ofwhoreorbitch. A normal name for an abnormality, she thought disgustedly. Sire had reduced her to nothing and made sure she knew her place as such. Even as that thought ran through her mind, she turned her hand over and clutched Connor’s, palm to palm and fingers laced tightly together.
“Breathe,” he urged softly, his thumb brushing over her knuckles with small, gentle strokes. “We’re going to roll you over when Sarah’s done so we can have a good look at your back. You can go back to sleep for a while if you want.”
Not bloody likely, she thought vehemently. As soon as her legs worked well enough to stay under her, she would be off this cold monstrosity and there was nothing anyone could do to get her back on it without a fight.
“All done, Connor. The swabs are sealed and labelled. Wherever she’s come from, whoever she is, she’s damn lucky they didn’t rape her on top of everything else.”
Jenna shivered.If only they knew.
“Good luck or just specific planning?” Connor replied in a sharp tone. He cleared his throat apologetically and shook his head at the odd look his nurse shot him.
Jenna could all but put words in their mouths and wasn’t immune to the irony of it.