His Redeemer's Kiss Page 6

  The room was draped in dark colors, since it had once been a sleeping quarters for whoever had been on the bus at the time, with one window on each side thickly tinted to the outside to look like it was, in fact, black glass. There were other accent colors in the bus, some deep russets and blues, but in here, it was dark. Period. Lily was actually kind of grateful for the simple lack of anything in the room to remind her of the outside world. She could lose herself in the cavernous feeling of the room, the only real intrusion being Tab’s monitor and lines attaching her to them.

  “At least you didn’t have to hear them coming,” she said flatly as she sank down to one side of the bed, careful to not make Tabitha move. She brushed Tab’s short, fringed locks out of her eyes, even though the wispy blonde strands wouldn’t bother her. Her hair had been much like the rest of her, the same as Lily, abused and ignored. New haircuts and tons of soap and water. At least on the outside, they looked like average people.

  The inside was a different story.

  “I wish you would wake up,” she murmured, stroking the cool smoothness of Tabitha’s skin with tender fingers. Houston had pulled up the bed blanket to her waist, covering her where her nightshirt didn’t when he’d settled her into the bed. Testing the belts, one across her thighs and the other across her stomach, she found they were snug, but not overly tight. She refused to allow the first impulse to take root—to tear them from her body. The bed was large enough for her to too easily roll around given the chance. Even a hard turn on a highway ramp could do it. Lily understood their purpose, but she didn’t like seeing her friend restrained any more than she, herself, would have wanted to be. “Just until we get to the new house.” She said the words out loud, as much for herself as for Tabitha, lying so unawares on the bed beside her. Then, she began to talk, to push the remainder of the last few hours even further away.

  “You’re going to love the new place, Tab. You’ll see. I’ve seen the pictures. It’s beautiful, out in the wilderness like Diego’s cabin, but right next to the mountains. Like you can reach out and touch them. Laney said the rooms are huge, so we won’t have to share anymore. Not that it was a real hardship, staying in the room with you. You were the best roommate I’ve ever had,” she chatted, forcing lighthearted cheer into her words, hypnotically smoothing the sheet and blanket covering her friend beneath her fingers. “Believe me, after living in a dorm for two years, you get all kinds of experience with roommates.”

  Mentioning her dorm brought thoughts of if her family knew she was missing. Had the school contacted them? Probably, when the dorm rent came due again. Had any of them looked? Had they assumed she’d run off with some hunky California guy? Would her mother and father have even looked up from their lives to blink at the news? She hadn’t thought about her family in at least two years, not since she’d realized there was no way out, utter defeat and hopelessness killing her inside. She’d given up hope after realizing she wasn’t ever again going to see the outside of the cage she called home at the compound. Lily had prayed with every breath she took, every moment of every day, that someone would realize she hadn’t simply taken off. Leaving home to go to the West Coast to go to school had, if anything, taken a burden of one away from her parents. Lord knew they needed all their attention on her older sister and younger brother.

  She blew out a breath, releasing the ancient frustration. She was the only balanced child of the three. Of course, her parents knew she’d disappeared, she rationalized, but knowing them, there wasn’t much they could do other than place a missing person’s report and hope she turned up. She’d always been the steady one. She would turn up. Come home.

  If she only could.

  Raking stiff fingers through her hair, she pushed the old hurt away. It was part of what had driven her to go to school so far away from home, and you couldn’t get any further from rural Nebraska than West Coast California. She’d been there endlessly for her parents, and for her brother, who had been born with a mental deficiency. She’d been able to do her own laundry by the age of ten. Was cooking and cleaning up after herself. Took responsibility for her homework and excelled. She’d fought tooth and nail to keep her grades up, rather than acting out for attention. At least her parents had attended her graduation. It was one night her sister had already been in jail and they only needed home care for a few hours for Brian.

  Lucky for Lily.

  “It’s going to be okay, Tabitha,” she whispered, believing fiercely it was time for things to change. The process had already begun. She wanted to see her family again, but could wait. She didn’t want to endanger any of them by reaching out too soon, letting them know she was safe. The scare she’d given herself over Joaquin was plenty for the moment. She missed her parents so much, even with all the differences and neglect she could see in her childhood. They were still her parents. They weren’t bad people, just preoccupied with Brian’s handicap. Lily was almost positive his illness wasn’t an illness at all, but was actually telepathic ability in excess. Even her sister, Susan, had temperament issues she felt were caused by it. She’d never been able to connect to either so there wasn’t any proof, only a general belief from her own experiences. She’d never been able to really discuss it with her parents either. A few mentions had only garnered her wide-eyed, ludicrous stares. Before Tani, she’d heard only quiet, vague, unfocused voices. Then, there was Tani, Diego, and now, Joaquin.

  Maybe she’d been looking in the wrong crowds. The thought brought a twitchy laugh to her lips.

  The future was getting better for them, all of them. Tenorio’s attack tonight had been luck and timing. She did believe Tani when she said Diego was going to find out how it had been done to prevent it from recurring. They’d come this far. She refused to dwell on the what ifs. She’d lived in fear for too long already to start living that way now when they were free.

  All the girls, which was a miracle in itself, were free. Were protected, and safe. Lily wanted desperately to believe things would only keep getting better. Maybe the longer she told herself to believe in that fact, the more her life would improve. She never expected easy. She’d never really known easy.

  She came from solid, middle America stock. Her mother was Irish and then some, born in Chicago, where both she and Susan had been born. Her dad was a Pittsburgh man, all the way, but had moved his family to Nebraska for a job. She looked like her mom, except for her stature. She got that from her dad. Five-eight was intimidating only until the ninth grade. She’d played high school basketball and had gone to college to study family dynamics with hopes of flowing into a child psychologist. She adored children. She always had, even her own pain in the ass brother. He wasn’t a rotten type of male, just in need, and she’d never hated him for it. She had resented her parents for their limited attention spans, which seemed to only occur for Brian, or whenever Susan was doing something again, like getting thrown in jail. Her sister had seen the inside of a jail more times than Lily had seen a full moon. Proving to be the least troublesome, they’d relied on her stability to give them the capacity to care for the two who needed them more. Only Lily had needed them too.

  A slow breath slipped out between tight lips, her hands moving again to stroke Tabitha’s forearm with tender care. A distraction that was powerless against the coming tide.

  That life was over for her, whether she was able to see her family again or not. Her education had lapsed, there had been no boyfriend at the time she’d accepted Tenorio’s offer to participate in his study, and she was as sure any trace of her existence had been wiped clean where it could be, if he’d had any say in it. There was little doubt her life had ground to a stop on the outside of the compound. What kind of life could a person non-grata have anyway? She couldn’t go home until the threat of Tenorio looking for her was gone. She had her doubts there was anything at all for her to return to considering what she knew, and how long she’d been missing.

  Lily had been swimming in and out of cresting waves of rage since the rescue fro
m the compound as she came to grips with her freedom. Curbing the rushes of resentment brought by the reality of this new situation, and knowing that there wasn’t much she could do to change any of her past, was a full time effort. Like spirals, the emotions twisted and spun, tightening under the weight of her memories until common sense or real life stepped in and proved she was safe now, safe within the company with which she’d shared the little cabin.

  It hadn’t taken long for her to discover, once in Tenorio’s hands, there would be no escape from the compound. She’d never even known where they were being held. Every person in contact with them made sure that the prisoners, whoever they had at any given time, knew nothing about their location. All she remembered was visiting with Tenorio one evening at his mansion to interview for a place on his study and, once she’d confirmed her ability to his satisfaction, she never saw the outside world again. She promised herself she’d never feel that powerless again.

  She knew it was part of the healing, to get to the other side of what had happened, but there were moments she wanted to scream, or cry for hours. Silently, she had. More than once.

  Lily had once had dreams, ambitions for her life, had expected to graduate and have her career, with a family. She’d had a plan and knew what she was doing to get there, but the horrific direction her life had taken had stripped her of that control, stole the chance for both. Ripped away any kind of life to be anything other than a breathing shell of the person she had been before that fateful meeting.

  Her desire for children had dwindled with each passing moment of her imprisonment. She doubted she’d even be able to conceive, much less carry a child after what she’d suffered through. Not all of the blood she’d lost had been by needle. Not that it matters, she silently berated herself.

  Who would be able to stand to look at her now with her entire body a menagerie of scars? Who would want a woman who looked like she did? She’d never thought she was a beauty pageant contestant with her flaming red hair streaked with a deluge of colors. Sunlight had always played havoc with the tones. She was broad in the shoulders and tall. Not petite like Tani or Amy. What her mother had kindly called solid even though she’d been trim. She didn’t have Amy’s sweet looks either. Being Midwestern-bred did have its benefits. Amy was what Lily knew a fourth or fifth generation Midwesterner would look and act like, since she’d gone to school with so many from her early years through high school.

  That wasn’t Lily.

  Jagged lines scored her jaw where pummeling fists had left their mark. She couldn’t stand to look at herself in the mirror and hadn’t bothered since the first scar, given to her not long after her capture. It was only the tip of the iceberg.

  Her body was a worse nightmare beneath her clothes, hiding the signs of her imprisonment every day she breathed. Long, jagged rips, or lash marks, or scalpel slices. There were so many. She knew every one. So how would she possibly interest anyone who would have to deal with not only the damaged mind, but also the destroyed body of the woman?

  She pried her hand loose from the bedding when she realized she’d clenched the blanket covering Tabitha into a nearly bloodless fist. She dragged in deep breaths, refusing to wallow in the pain for longer. She knew enough about pain, all kinds, to know holding it close was toxic. She was a stronger woman, a fighter, or she would have succumbed to Tenorio’s cruelties long ago.

  All he needed was their physical being. The one thing he hadn’t counted on was their own mental blockades and strengths. They had to be willing to let him probe their minds, and he soon discovered they weren’t. So he probed everything else, taking and taking, or having his men try to convince them they were only causing their own pain, doing for him what he couldn’t do as a single person—debase and defile them.

  Hate-filled images flared against her vision the deeper she delved into the past. The remembered neck-snapping strikes led to blistering pain-filled explosions on her eyelids. Constant rapes, held immobile and defenseless with straps nearly identical to the ones that held Tabitha safely to the bed. As if she could feel their tightness strangling her flesh, she ran her hand around her wrist, rubbing away the sensation of hard leather and cuffs, feeling her heart pound in answer to the reawakened memory.

  She shook her head, her hair swirling madly with the jerked motion as she fought the memories, wanting to be free of them. Blood pounded against her eardrums with a harsh thunder as the anger and emotions swamped her with merciless disregard. The rush of the night’s escape, the fear of never being free, and the flare of anger that she tried to fight every second from taking her under in its powerful undertow had her catching her breath in a vicious sob.

  Without any idea of where it came from, a soothing blanket of calmness infiltrated her wildly rampaging thoughts. It encircled her body and her mind like a velvet ribbon until she felt securely embraced in its calming comfort. She wanted to lose herself to the consuming sensations. The feeling was like being wrapped in heavy flannel in front of a blazing winter fire.

  “Breathe,” came the single, crooned directive.

  Only it was a masculine voice reaching out to her, not Tani, the one person who she would have expected to be the first to brush against her thoughts to offer a hand out of the quagmire of her pain. Just like she had done in the past.

  There was no doubt this was not Titania.

  Tender and consuming, she was swept up into a cocoon of gentleness, drawing her away from the pain as if each excruciating thread simply drained away from her thoughts. She sucked in a deep breath when she heard his voice again, comforting her, pulling her closer to him and away from the memories.

  Vivid, nightmarish images were pushed away. Just like the picture of the leaves he had shared with her the night before, breathtaking visions filled her mind. Her vision burst with pictures of tranquil waters, of the shimmer of the moon over the lapping edge of the ocean. Grabbing another breath, she thought she could actually find the tang of the salt in the air, feel the coolness of the sea breeze on her skin. Her eyes fluttered closed as she welcomed the diversion, for the moment singularly trusting him as he displaced each raw feeling with something simpler, gentler, and she let herself fall into the feeling, craving the peace he offered.

  “Thank you,” she replied a few moments later as her body went pliant and the last of the pain flowed away, as though the thoughts themselves were being blown away by a firm summer wind.

  “You should have never known such pain,” his voice whispered into her mind. “You are an amazingly strong woman to have suffered so much, yet care even more deeply about your friend’s welfare before your own.”

  Her gaze flicked to Tabitha, sleeping unaware on the bed. “She suffered even more. If any of us have the right to call it quits, she does.”

  “Maybe,” he intoned, as though withholding judgment. “But what I have sensed, the strength you have, is yours. And right now, you are my only concern.”

  “So you don’t know what I was thinking?” Rising to stare blankly at the rear wall in front of her, she waited for his answer with a knot in her stomach, wondering if it were possible. And fearing the answer.

  “No. It was the sheer sharpness of your pain and anger I felt.” There was a pause, but he was still there, a lurking warmth, a long-lasting hug kind of feeling when he imparted, “Whenever you feel it becoming overwhelming again, reach for me, call my name, and I will find you. I can help you. Don’t let yourself suffer alone again. Promise me.” The deepness of his tone, the seriousness, felt real, that he meant what he said, what he was offering. Unfettered aid.

  Could she rely on this person, someone she hadn’t even met yet? Could she trust herself to him like this? Somehow, she actually found herself wanting to, wanting to move forward on the road he presented. He’d helped her the night before, like tonight, without question, without hesitation. What she was really asking herself was, could she trust him?

  “I promise.” It was the beginning of a deeper healing.

  Chapt
er Five

  Muffled voices floated up the stairs to Lily from the first floor. She’d slept for several hours when they’d finally arrived at the new house they would be calling home, unable to do more than heave her exhausted body into a bedroom and pass out. Then, she had kept Tabitha company, reading most of the afternoon until she first heard someone in the front room. Now, she stood inside Tabitha’s bedroom door, trying to hear without being obvious, but couldn’t well enough to know what they were discussing. Considering the lowered tones, it couldn’t have been good. Considering how they’d had to flee, leaving the danger behind, she knew it wasn’t. Leaning a little closer to the frame, she tried to hear more, reaching for even a snippet of conversation.

  “Hi, Lily.”

  She whirled. Her heart shot into her throat.

  Nathan held up his hands, freezing to the floor a few paces away. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you,” he said with complete earnestness.