Page 16 of Forever Found

“Let me see these bruises then,” he said as he lifted me to sit on the counter beside the sink and pulled off my sweater. A shudder ran through me as the cold hit me even harder, and Kane looked to me with fear, freezing exactly where he stood.

“Did I hurt you?” he asked quickly. He clutched my blood covered dress in his hands and I could see how tightly he clenched the fabric. That might have scared others who were feeling as vulnerable as I did in that moment, but not me. I knew Kane. I knew any anger he felt was directed at what had happened and the monsters who had caused it. I knew he wouldn’t hurt me, no matter the rage he felt inside. I knew the anger that lived within him would only ever be used to protect and cherish me.

“No. Never,” I told him as I smiled just a fraction for him. “Cold. I j-just can’t seem to get warm.”

“We’ll get you warmed up soon. Promise,” he told me as he dropped the dress to the floor and stepped toward me again. He wrapped his warm arms around me and I sank against him.

“I wish Jord and Adam were here too,” I confessed.

“Can’t believe I’m saying this, but me too,” he agreed, and I glanced up to him with a small smile again. I knew he was getting better at the idea of the relationship we had together. I had noticed him trying hard to interact more with the guys and we all spent time together pretty often before Eli and I were taken. We had been starting to build a little unit that seemed to just work most of the time. I wanted that back. I wanted all three of my guys safe and healthy, right there with me. “We’ll call Jordan soon, okay? And I promise I’ll do everything I can to have us all back together as soon as possible. It’s all going to be just fine, sweet girl. You’ll see.”

I didn’t say anything else, because I knew the fruitlessness of telling him Adam being hurt was all my fault. He wouldn’t listen to me. He wouldn’t let me sink into the darkness that was filling me from the ground up.

I felt numb as Kane, removed Eli sneakers, and tossed them aside, then stripped off the bra and panties I wore too. I didn’t even register him removing his own clothes either. Awareness didn’t even return to me until I felt warm water cascade down over me. I startled badly, and found myself gripping my arms even tighter around Kane’s neck. I hadn’t even realized I was holding onto him.

“Easy. Just me, angel. I’ve got you,” Kane soothed as he ran one of his large hands up and down my side gently.

“S-sorry,” I whispered to him, never wanting him to think I was scared of him. “I’m just tired.”

“I know. Let’s get you cleaned up, then I’ll find somewhere you can rest,” he assured me.

“Will y-you stay with me?” I looked up and met his eyes, pleading with him to never leave me again.

“Angel, if you think I’m ever leaving your side again, you’re seriously mistaken. I almost lost you. I will never allow that to happen again. I love you Addy, so fucking much. You can’t ever leave me now. I need you.”

“I won’t,” I promised as I wrapped my arms tighter around him and lifted my body to press my lips to his. The kiss was short, but tender and filled with so many words neither of us were any good at saying. “I love you, Kane, and I know for sure I need you too.”

He kissed my lips softly once more, then the middle of my forehead. We shared a look filled with love, but also fear. We had both said it – we needed each other. We loved each other, but with that came the terrifying realization that we could also lose each other one day, especially in the midst of the chaos surrounding us.

“I’ll keep us safe, Addy. I’ll keep us all safe,” he promised and I nodded because I knew, no matter what, he would do all he could to keep that promise, as would I.

There were so many things I knew I was, especially in that moment. I was weak, broken, pathetic, useless, messed up, and so many more things that should force me to walk away feeling unworthy of all of the people that had come into my life recently, but I couldn’t. I loved them all. I needed them and I wantedthem. I had gone my whole life never really taking anything I wanted for myself, but now I was being selfish. Now I was grabbing onto my brothers and the men I was in love with, and I was hoarding them close, all for myself. I didn’t want to let them go, even if I thought I should. So instead I made a vow to myself there and then – a vow that no matter who or what I was, I would always fight like hell to protect them all. They were my everything. My whole life. No one was taking that from me without one hell of a battle.

CHAPTER 7

KANE

“Do you want me to lift her so you can get up, Kane?” Asher whispered, and I looked up, startled. I hadn’t even heard him move from Eli’s bedside.

We’d had the staff bring another bed into the room, and with a little moving over of the bed Eli lay in, we had made it work. Addy had been terrified to sleep, so I’d sat on the bed with my back against the backboard and she’d laid on top of me, her head resting against my chest. For the first thirty minutes she’d just watched Eli, seeming terrified something would happen to him as he slept soundly, but eventually she had given up the fight and allowed sleep to take her.

By the time I had gotten Addy out of the shower and pulled on a set of the clothes Asher had thought to pack into the bag we brought, she had been so tired she’d barely been able to hold her head up. Asher had briefly asked her how she was feeling, but she could barely talk. I had wanted her to eat something, but when she refused to even try, I let it be, knowing sleep was likely the priority at that moment.

Now it was hours later, deep into the middle of the night and she’d slept pretty soundly so far. Eli was out too, and even Asher had been nodding in and out in the chair he sat in between the two beds, but I couldn’t. I’d barely taken my arms from thewoman I loved for more than a second. I seemed to need the constant reassurance that she was with me, safe.

“I’m good. I promised I’d stay with her,” I replied softly, though I was pretty sure it would take a lot to wake either Addy or Eli at that point. They were both completely exhausted from all they’d been through.

“How was she really? Her injuries?” Asher asked. I hadn’t had chance to reassure him earlier, Addy my one and only priority.

“She has a lump on the back of her head, and the bruises on her back are pretty bad, but she didn’t have any signs of a concussion and she seemed to be moving okay. Her wrists are bad and cleaning them was tough. She told me she ripped them free of the ropes to try and stop Adam bleeding,” I explained.

“She’ll need antibiotics, I’m guessing?”

“I think it would be good, just in case. I’m hoping she’ll allow a doctor to check them over tomorrow when she’s had some sleep, but for now they’re cleaned and bandaged.”

“You think she will? She was so shaken and upset.”

“She hasn’t slept, or eaten since she was taken. Add to that their escape, which we still don’t really know about, and the revelation about fucking Kline, and it’s a lot for her to deal with. She’s terrified about Adam and Eli too. I think she’ll be a little better after she sleeps, but we have to get some food into both of them.”