Sean helps me up the walk and we follow Bryan around to a back door. My arm is causing me so much pain that there are tears in my eyes. I can’t stop gritting my teeth even though I try. Every muscle in my body is corded tight, trying to deal with the agony.

When Sean ushers us inside, Bryan makes introductions. “Sean Ferro and Hooker Girl, meet Dr. Jennings.”

CHAPTER 6

Why does Sean always take his bait? Before he can kill his cousin, I say, “Thank you so much for agreeing to look at me.”

She nods, making her dark head of curls sway. Dr. Jennings isn’t much older than I am. Actually, she looks too young to be a doctor. “Please, call me Mari. I’m not a doctor yet and don’t thank me until we’re done.”

“You’re not a doctor?” Sean asks bluntly.

Mari shakes her head, unfazed by his rudeness. “Not yet. Do you need a resume or do you want me to look you guys over?” Sean doesn’t answer. Mari continues, “Okay then, let’s see what you guys need. I don’t even know if I’m able to help you here. Bryan called and said it was urgent.” She holds out her hand and offers me a chair. Bryan and Sean stand behind me.

“Thank you. A window shattered and the glass cut my arm.” As I’m talking, I offer Mari my arm. She unwraps the bloody bandages after pulling on plastic gloves. Her eyes sweep over the cut as she gently turns my wrist examining it closer.

“A window did this?”

I begin to explain, but Sean cuts her off. “Yes, and that’s all you need to know.”

Mari eyes him suspiciously and then smiles softly. She knows there’s more story there, but it’s almost like she doesn’t believe the gash on my arm is from a pane of glass. “You need stitches, Mr. Ferro. Sit before you pass out.”

Sean glances at Bryan, who seems like he wants to laugh. “Better do what she says. I’m not picking you up when you fall over. You’re chunking up in your old age.” Bryan gestures towards Sean’s narrow waist with a flick of his hand before folding his arms over his chest.

“Prick.”

“Dick.”

“Wick,” I add and giggle. All three of them look at me like I’ve lost my mind. “What? I thought we were rhyming.” I laugh lightly and instantly regret it when pain shoots up my body and cracks my head in half.

I make a face and try to grab the wound, but Mari scolds me. “Don’t. You two, out. Bryan, make sure he doesn’t pass out. Go sit on the couch until I call you. Go on.” When they don’t move, she lifts a dark brow at them and adds sternly, “Now.”

It surprises me, but they both vacate the kitchen, leaving us alone. Mari has a bag of stuff. She asks me a few medical questions before she gets to work on my arm, removing the bits of glass. It stings horribly, so she gives me a shot. “That should help, but it’s going to make you feel sleepy. We can wait a few minutes. Most of the glass is out, but I want to make sure before we close it up.”

The kitchen table is next to me. I’m leaning heavily on it with my good arm and pretty much staring at Mari. Her face seems familiar, but I’m certain I’ve never met her before. “So, how does Bryan know you?”

Her dark eyes dart away before she speaks. She tries to hide it, but her body tenses as if this isn’t something she’d like to discuss. “A common acquaintance.” It’s not someone she wants to mention. I can tell from the way her eyes avoid mine and how she presses her lips into a thin line.

I don’t know what her connection is to the Ferros, but I’m grateful for avoiding the hospital. “Well, thank you. I know it’s weird, not wanting to go to the hospital.” I glance up at her as she works silently.

After a few moments, she pauses and smiles softly. “It’s all right. I understand.” She tucks a curl behind her ear and looks up at me. “Are you sure there’s nothing else you want to tell me?”

My eyebrows lift slightly. “Such as?” I glance around her kitchen. It’s so pretty, with every surface gleaming like it’s brand new.

“I don’t know. It seems like a strange injury from a piece of broken glass. It looks like you were thrown through the window or something—as if someone did it on purpose. Avery, did he hurt you?” Her big brown eyes are filled with concern. She’s a little thing, a waif of a person and it looks like she’d go kick Sean’s ass right here and now if I said yes.

I smile. I can’t help it. Everything about this woman is amazing. She took a stranger into her house in the middle of the night, and showed me more kindness than a friend would offer, and I don’t even know her. Never mind that she overlooked the fact that I’m a hooker. She won major points for that. She didn’t cringe when she patched me and has enough guts to ask if Sean is beating me.

“No,” I say looking up at her, “he didn’t do this. A stray bullet hit the window when I was standing by it. Sean covered me with his body as the thing splintered and came crashing down. He wouldn’t hurt me.”

Mari nods slowly. “Ah, that explains some things.”

After the medicine starts to work, I can barely sit up. My mind goes foggy as she patches me and then helps Sean. We both have stitches that will dissolve, but Mari tells me to see a plastic surgeon because of the length of my wound.

Miss Black would have never hired me if I had a huge ass scar on my arm. I wonder if Gabe figured out that I stuffed my bracelet in the seat yet. He’s going to be pissed. My mind swirls around that thought, over and over again. What is Black going to do when she finds me? The thought makes me shiver. I rub the goose bumps away and hear hushed tones passing between Mari and Sean.

He’s standing, towering over her, trying to pay the woman, but she won’t have it. Her slender arms fold across her chest. “No, I’m not taking your money. This was a favor.” She turns her back on him and starts to pick up.

Bryan is sitting at the table with his head lowered, resting on his arms like he’s asleep. He’s said next to nothing all night. I have no idea who he is. In some ways he’s like his cousin, Jonathan, all flash and charm, but there’s something going on with him. He seems weary, like he’s burdened by something he can’t manage. He hides it with smiles the same way his cousin does.

“No,” Sean says, following after her. “No favors. I have no idea who you are or what you’ll do. We need to reach an agreement before I walk out that door.”

Mari throws the rest of the bloody bandages in the trash and then snaps off her gloves and throws them in too. “You want an agreement? What, you think I’m going to blackmail you or something?”

“Or something.” Sean is intimidating but Mari doesn’t back down.

“Right, because the only reason to help someone is to take advantage of them later.” She lets out a long annoyed sigh as she pinches the bridge of her nose. When she looks up, determination flashes in her tired eyes. “Listen, I did this because you know someone that I once cared about. That’s it. If I saw you bleeding on the sidewalk, I would have done the same thing. I’m not going to bill you, blackmail you, or ever mention this again. If you want to pay me because your conscience can’t handle kindness, then pay it forward. Show mercy and compassion to someone for no reason and ask for nothing in return. That’ll make us square.” Mari walks to the backdoor while she talks and leans on the knob. She twists it and tugs the door open, gesturing for us to go. “Now, if you don’t mind, I need to be up and at the hospital in a couple of hours.”

Sean’s jaw locks tight. I know he wants to speak, but it seems like he doesn’t know what to say. I’m pretty sure I’m drooling on myself, I’m so doped up on pain meds. My head feels like a sandbag, but I manage to stand and walk over to her. “I like you, Miss Mari. You’re good people, and if I tried really hard, I don’t think I could hope to be half the woman you are. You’re like, a kick ass ninja of niceness.” I’m clutching the front of her shirt and I think my words are coming out way too slow. She takes my hands so I don’t rip her clothes off and tries to pull me upright.

Bryan appears next to me and laughs. “Easy there, Hooker Girl. I think you’re going to make the woman blush if you keep going on and on like that.”

“She’s fine. It’s just the medication.” Mari says, but I can tell I made her uncomfortable.

While hanging onto Bryan, I add, “I would have said it anyway, probably more eloquently and without the ninja part if I weren’t medicated.” When I finish speaking, my pointer finger is pretty close to her face. I catch sight of my hand and wonder how it got there. Blinking hard, I drop it to my side.

Bryan turns me around and leads me out to the car, but I can hear Sean behind me, saying something that I don’t understand. “You were too good for him.”

“So people say,” Mari replies softly, “and yet I imagine you’ve heard people say the same thing about her.” Sean doesn’t answer. “You’re too quick to judge and too slow to forgive.”

“How could you possibly know that?”

“Because I was the same way. Don’t assume you know him—don’t assume anything.” She’s speaking about a common acquaintance, but I have no idea who. Before I can hear more, my head is lowered and I’m seated in the car. Their voices turn to murmurs and I can no longer hear their words above the rustling of the trees and the engine.

When Sean climbs in a few moments later, I lean into his chest and fall into a deep sleep.

CHAPTER 7

The water is everywhere, dark and cold. Waves pelt into the sides of my face as I gasp for air, but get a mouthful of seawater instead. My limbs are frozen and I can no longer stay afloat. My neck sinks lower into the frozen ocean until my chin touches the waterline. I scream incoherently and manage to kick hard, forcing my neck up again.

Then the process repeats, over and over again, until my legs won’t move. There’s no air, only crushing waves, pressing on me, and pulling me under. My lips part to release a terrified scream that’s been building within me, but there is no noise. Water floods my mouth, choking me, as panic laces its icy fingers around my neck and presses tight.

Terrified, I yell and dart upright. It’s not dark and there’s no water. My fists fly before I can figure out that I was dreaming. I suck in air and try to untangle myself from my bed as a hand lands on my shoulder. I react and my fists fly. Sean catches them and yanks me upright so I’m standing. “You’re all right. You were dreaming, Avery.”

He pulls me to his chest and holds me. As he strokes my head, I can see sunlight pouring into the room through the slats of the blinds. We’re in my dorm room. My heart rate picks up again and I push away from him. My eyes dart around frantically. “Sean, this is a bad place to be. We shouldn’t be here. Like, at all.”

“Avery, trust me. I’ve thought about it and whoever is doing this has to be stopped. This is the safest place for you.”

“But he has a key.”

“Who?”

“Henry Thomas! At least I think it’s him. Amber gave some guy a key and he snuck in here.” I’m grabbing the sides of my head and tugging my hair. My muscles twitch as I force myself to stay still.

Sean nods and takes my hands in his. “Listen, I know you’ve had a hard night, but I need you to do what I ask you to do. We need to stop this. If it’s Thomas, he’ll show up. I have a feeling they won’t wait long. This room is small and made of concrete. It’s easier to protect you here and there are more people around. We just have to wait a few hours until night falls.”

The corner of my mouth lifts. Sean talks like he’s from another time. I lean against his chest and try to calm down. The dream is still with me, the feeling of ice on my neck remains even though it’s over. I’m encouraged to take a shower and shake off the rest of my horrible dream. I let the steamy water beat over me, careful to avoid the stitches, but I can’t stay in for too long. I need Sean. I need his arms around me and I have to hear him say that this will be all right.

After I pull on jeans and a tee shirt, I pad back to my bed and plop down next to Sean. He wraps his arms around me and kisses my forehead. “I’m sorry for this, for all of it.”

I haven’t wanted to think about the cabin, but now that we’re away from it and I’m not in horrible pain, the images from the night before come rushing back. I feel like I’m going to be sick and press my hand to my lips as I mash them together. “I killed someone.”

“You did what you had to do. He wasn’t going to let you walk away. You had no choice, Avery. I just wish I’d gotten there sooner.”

I understand what he means, that he would have killed the man. I don’t know how I would have reacted to that either. Right now, I just want to throw up. Sean holds onto me loosely, stroking my messy hair, and wiping away tears as they silently stream down my cheek. When I’m able, I ask, “So, what now?”

“We lure the as**ole here and take care of it.”

I swallow hard and try to laugh about it. “I think I had this idea a while back and someone thought it was too juvenile to work.”

Sean grins. “I reconsidered. It wasn’t a bad plan.”

It was a stupid and reckless plan, which is why we didn’t do it last time. But what choice do we have? If this person can get at us through Sean’s personnel, we’re screwed. That means we can’t trust anyone. For a moment last night, I wondered if Bryan was there to finish the job. God, I’m turning into a lunatic.

I pull away from Sean, sit on the edge of my bed, and bury my face in my hands. A torrent of emotions fills my chest and I have no idea which one to react to and which to ignore. That’s been my vice—I’ll wait and deal with it later. Well, it’s later and this big fat mess bit me on the ass.

Clutching my hair in my hands, I stare at the floor and say, “What am I going to do? I fu**ed up school. There’s no way in hell they’re going to let me graduate, so I can kiss grad school goodbye too. Miss Black is going to be pissed and I doubt she’s going to let me walk away, not after everything that’s gone down. The other night at the hotel she tried to cover her ass and mine, and I screwed her over and disappeared. Gabe is going to take the brunt of my actions, and think I set him up at the hotel because I left my bracelet in his car without saying a damn word. Marty—I don’t even want to think about how messed up stuff is with Marty. And Mel, damn—her life is fu**ing over, and it’s all my fault. None of this crap would have happened if I didn’t—”