The Tango (8 page)

“Oh, shit. I swore to your father I wouldn’t start crying when you woke up. Please forgive me.” My mother howled as she buried her head in my stomach and gripped my hand tightly. I wanted to laugh at her, but knew how badly this had scared her. I lifted my arm that felt like lead and rubbed it against her hair. She dug in, causing one hell of scene for the people who passed by the room with curious looks on their faces.

“Mom…” Oh shit, talking hurt. My throat was sore and there was no way I was risking that pain trying to talk again. I tapped her head lightly and she looked up, ten years older than she was the last time I saw her. I gave her wide eyes to indicate her mere presence was hurting me. She seemed to get the clue and I thanked God as she removed herself from the bed, apologizing and crying.

I winced and my mother pushed a button connected to what I assumed was my pain medication. I felt the rush and suddenly felt like I could sing a musical.

Good shit
.

“How bad?” I asked, pointing to my neck and head.

“You look like you’ve been hit by a Mack truck and drug down a gravel road, but you’ll make a full recovery.”

I chuckled at my mother’s antics. She was never one to sugarcoat anything, but laughing hurt.

I tried to keep my questions to one word. “Mirror?”

“Listen,” she said, rummaging through her purse, “your throat looks much worse than it is.”

Vanity had never been an issue or a flaw in me until that moment. I nodded, knowing I probably couldn’t handle what I saw. Still, I had to know what I had left to work with. She held a compact away from me and I motioned with my hands that I wanted it closer. I had blood stained hair, that’s what I noticed first. It was streaked pink and I let my eyes drift. The entire right side of my head was swollen and bruised and my eyes were black. Underneath my left eye was a series of cuts that had been stitched. I assumed that was where they had kicked me.

“He nicked your artery. The son of a bitch who cut your throat, nicked it. You lost a lot of blood and Rhys found you just in time.” She was texting as she spoke. I pointed to her phone.

“Who?”

“Rhys. Oh, honey, Rhys has been here day and night for the last three days. He’s only gone now because he’s at your house having a security system installed.”

I moved the mirror down to my busted lips and then to my neck and let out a small cry. It was so much worse than what I had expected. There was a thin red line covering my throat that got thicker as it circled toward my ear where it was covered by a thick bandage. I closed the compact and nodded. I was alive. No matter what, these would just remain scars, not my cause of death, just nasty scars reminding me I had lived. My mother held my hand as I cried without sound. She stayed silent and my father came in shortly after, grabbing my hand on the other side of the bed. His eyes filled with tears.

“I knew you would make it, my little fighter. I knew it.” I nodded as my father’s soft cry filled the room and he held my hand tightly.

I got tired suddenly as the doctor came in, checking me out. I drifted off to sleep minutes later.

I woke up well rested and saw my mother stir from her sleep as she noticed I’d awoken from mine. I was dying to see Rhys, to thank him. And as soon as the thought crossed my mind, he walked into the room and the air shifted, as it always did.

“Hello, Pam.” His smile was for my mother and she embraced him as if they’d known each other for years. How long was I out?

My mother beamed at him. “Rhys, you are a damn dream to look at. I swear, if I was twenty years younger and I knew you weren’t crazy about my daughter…”

Nice, Mom. I watched them go back and forth and he seemed as amused with her as he was with me. I noticed Rhys hadn’t looked my way one time. I cleared my aching throat and they both turned my direction, though my mother was the only one who was truly looking at me.

“Hi,” I said simply. “Mom, go away.” She and Rhys chuckled as she leaned over and kissed my cheek.

“I’ll be right outside.” She grabbed Rhys’s arm and caught his eyes then whispered to him. He nodded and turned my direction.

“Eyes on mine, Rhys.” It wasn’t the best time to use his words against him. His was clearly tortured with having to look at me. “I need to see them, please.” He looked at me then and I saw a man destroyed. He roved over my face and the cut on my neck and expelled a harsh breath.

My words came quickly. “So this happened and I’m not going to freak out. I’m alive and that’s what matters most, right?”

“Yes, yes, of course.” he said, staring at the monitors.

“I’ll heal, Rhys. I won’t always look like the bride of Frankenstein.”

“I’m so sorry. It’s not that at all. I guess I’m just feeling a little guilty.” He met my eyes again. “I haven’t been very good to you lately.” He sighed, taking a seat next to me.

“Says who?” I asked, sitting up straight. “For who we are to each other for now, I’d say you have been giving me a dose of everything good.” I adjusted myself again on the bed, irritated with the limitations of my body. I was getting out of this bed by tomorrow if it was the last thing I did. “Speaking of dose, have you ever had morphine?” I clicked the button and the warmth spread through me. “I’m thankful for this experience alone. Whoo, baby.”

He chuckled then and looked up to me, his eyes stormy. His hair was a mess and he looked like he hadn’t slept in a month. I reached out for him and he grabbed my hand and stroked his fingers on the inside of my palm. That gesture alone had my heart pounding.

He looked so crushed, I felt like I had to comfort him.

“Shit like this happens to people all the time. The police have been there. Did you know they caught the one who slit my—”

He tensed, his body instantly alert, and his eyes even more cloudy.

“Rhys, this stuff happens, right? When they called me a victim, I almost laughed. It’s unbelievable that it would happen to you or me, it’s just on the news and in the paper. I mean, he almost killed me and for what, my grandmother’s silver?” I thought back to what happened with indifference and I was sure I was still in shock. “It was so strange, the whole thing. I was alone and on my way to see you and then … they were there, tearing up my house. I was scared because I didn’t want to die. I was more afraid of what I hadn’t done yet. There’s a bucket list I haven’t made that I think I’ll start today, and I’m pretty sure now I want kids.”

He reached out and ran his hand through my hair.

“Don’t, save yourself. I’m pretty sure you could fry chicken up there. I am a greasy mess.” He laughed nervously and then leaned in, pressing his lips to my forehead.

He pulled back so we were face to face. “Violet, there are so many things I want to tell you, show you. I just don’t want to do it because this happened. It’s not right. It’s not the way it should be. I will tell you this, finding you lying on the floor was the worst moment of my life.” I pushed my tears down. I didn’t want him to see me cry.

It seemed I’d found Rhys’s weakness … and that weakness was me.

“I know we were getting somewhere, Rhys. Save your words. You are here, right, and without your little black bag. Unless …” I looked around the room. “…it’s here somewhere? Sure could use a good session with those ribbons.”

“You are incredible.” He squeezed my hand a little tighter, his softened eyes piercing my heart.

“Oh, don’t stop being the unbearable bastard you are because of this. I was just getting used to it.” He laughed again, and this time when he leaned over, his kiss was for my lips. I pulled him to me and choked on emotion. He stood, planting soft kisses on all the undamaged parts of my face. He sat with me and held my hand, telling me that they had smashed a good amount of valuables and weren’t sure what had been taken, that I would have to do inventory when I was well. He’d had the house cleaned and explained that he knew it was presumptuous, but he wouldn’t dream of letting me go back home without having a system installed, and my parents agreed.

“Your door was unlocked?” he asked as he kissed my fingers.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I was giving candy out. I had the screen door closed and I guess I forgot to lock it before I got in the shower. Bonehead move, I know. I was just so happy when I got your text.” I paused, thinking how those words would affect him. “Really, I’m not sure how careless I’ve been. I probably leave it unlocked all the time.” I braved a look at him, he wasn’t buying it.

“Don’t lie to me,” he said sternly.

“Fine, but don’t feel guilty. It’s fucking pointless. You had no idea this would happen and it’s not something you get to feel guilty about. Besides, it’s the truth. You have firsthand experience of how easy it is to get into my house.”

“I know, Violet,” he said, standing quickly. “Still, I can’t even begin to explain the thousands of thoughts that have raced through my head in the past four days, and not all of them were ones I could tell you.” His face went dark and I knew he was thinking about the men inside my house. “Did they touch you?”

“No.”

His let out a long breath and relief flooded his features. Even a disheveled mess, he was absolutely stunning. I loved the amount of shadow on his face. His black wavy hair was unruly and his clothes were wrinkled. My eyes ran from the top of his head down to his shoes and up again. His mouth twisted into a smile.

“And just what are you thinking about right now?”

“I had on the hottest outfit for you, a leather thong.” He raised his eyebrows to that and I continued. “Yeah, baby, it was awesome. And my thirty-three year old ass looked smoking … Oh my God!” I said, covering my mouth.

“What?” he said, racing to my side.

“They saw it. The hospital staff had to have cut it off me!”

He chuckled and shook his head. “I’m sure they were more worried about saving your life, Violet.”

“Well, at least I gave them a good water cooler story, right?” I said, my face heating.

“I wished I could have seen it,” he said with melancholy.

“You will. I bought one in red too,” I said, giving him a wink. He gave me my first big smile and my heart flipped at the sight of it.

“Violet, I don’t want to, but I have to go make sure the install is finished and—”

“Yeah, yeah, go. It’s boring in here right now, what with the bed pans and all. We have no potential for bondage.” I smiled and it hurt, but I didn’t let him see it.

“Oh, Violet, I can think of a thousand scenarios right now. You underestimate me. I want you walking out of here whole. I just want you to be okay. And the next time I take your body, I will make love to you in my bed.”

“Sounds good to me,” I said as he leaned in one more time. “Text me?”

“Call you,” he said, lingering on my lips. He passed my mother on his way out, who turned to me with a knowing look. She closed the door with a whistle.

“Go ahead and say it, Mother,” I said, rolling my eyes as she turned to me with a smile.

“Told you so. He is your match, Violet, in every way.”

“Honestly, you probably know him better than I do. And if that’s the truth, Mother, why do I feel like I am always on the edge of losing him?”

“He feels the same with you. God, you should have seen how destroyed he was when they brought you in here. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a man lose his mind quite like that.”

I studied my mother for a few moments. “Mom, I don’t want to go back there.” No matter how strong I’d tried to be for Rhys, I didn’t want a damn thing to do with that house.

“You don’t have to. Come home, stay as long as you want. Hell, sell that house.”

“No, it will be home again, just not yet.”