I didn’t know why I put my hands on his shoulders as he withdrew the knife again. I didn’t know why I met his eyes or why I asked him, “Don’t you love me?” I didn’t know what possessed me to say that, but it made him pause and I could have sworn I saw regret in his eyes. I took that as my chance to ram my knee between his legs. He made a choking noise. His hand that was holding him up gave out and he fell on top of me. Shoving him to the side, I rolled off the stairs to the floor. With a hand pressed to my bleeding abdomen, I forced myself to my feet.
I made it out the open front door into the blinding sunlight. “Help me!”
Eyes flying open, I shot up from where I was lying and pressed my hands to where Mr. X had stabbed me. The first thing I saw was Keelan. He was standing next to the bed I was lying on. He put his hands on my shoulders. “Shilo—”
“Help me!” I begged him, trying to climb out of the bed, but his grip on me kept me where I was. “He stabbed me.” My voice shook as I spoke. I pulled my hands away from my stomach to show him the blood. My hands came away clean. There wasn’t any blood in sight. Even the light gray shirt I was wearing was spotless and intact. No—it wasn’t a shirt. It was a hospital gown, and I was in a hospital bed.
I quickly glanced around the room. Another surprise was that Knox was standing at the foot of my bed, staring at me with his signature frown.
Glancing back down at my trembling hands, which weren’t covered in blood, I doubted what I was seeing. “He stabbed me,” I said again. It had just happened. I had felt it. I had felt the knife tear through my skin and bury itself deep.
“Shiloh,” Keelan said gently.
I heard him. I just couldn’t take my eyes off my hands. I didn’t understand. What was happening?
“Shiloh!” Keelan barked, startling me out of my trance. I met his wide, golden-brown eyes. “You weren’t stabbed, baby girl.”
Knox finally spoke. “I don’t think she’s talking about what happened with Jacob.”
“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.