Page 7 of Always Watching
Tattoos peek out from under his shirt and on the parts of his skin I can see. He’s a lot bigger than the man who landed me here. It’s not him. Not the man with brown eyes who almost killed me.
Slowly, I lower my hands. The man looks at me with the same tilt of his head that he did before I passed out in my apartment. His eyes bore into me, like he’s trying to memorize me or something. It’s as uncomfortable as it is flattering.
“Who are you?” I whisper.
He’s quiet for a few beats, just studying me. Christ, he’s handsome. Almost as if he isn’t real. I want to reach out and touch him, to verify he is in fact an actual person and I’m not just conjuring up my dream man while in the throes of death.
“I’m North,” he says matter-of-factly, as if I should have known that.
After settling my hands back down, he reaches up almost hesitantly, dragging a finger over my face. The small amount of pressure, light as it is, still stings. But I don’t dare move. His touch feels… good. Really fucking good. No one has touched me like this in ages.
I don’t count creepy Mr. Barlowe touching my face.
North’s fingers trailing over my throbbing lips, my sore cheeks, and under my swollen eye has my heart fluttering. I open my mouth, trying to draw in a full breath. Why does his touch feel like heaven?
I fight to keep my eyes from fluttering closed as he touches me, and I have to tamp down the groan of disapproval when he drops his hand.
With a grin, he says, “You’re pretty banged up, Ranen.”
“How do you know my name?”
“Your ID.” He points to the messenger bag I keep my wallet, keys, and iPad in.
Duh. My brain isn’t working as it should. Of course he grabbed my bag, so he could have my information.
“Okay, North. How did you find me?”
“Your door was open,” he says.
My eyebrows scrunch and I wince. I raise a hand to my head and feel a row of stitches just at my hairline. Frowning must have pulled at them. “Fuck. What happened?”
North slides his chair closer to the bed. He looks as if he’s going to take my hand, but he rests it on the sheet instead. “Someone attacked you. I’m not sure who. I was checking out the building for a job, and I heard your screams and rushed over. Your door was open, so I let myself in. I must have scared the guy off because he wasn’t there when I got to your room, but your window was wide open.” I nod, but that rattles my brain and I wince again. “Careful now,” North admonishes.
I raise a hand to my forehead and rub it gently. “How did you know I was in trouble?”
“I told you, I heard your screams.” North meets my eyes evenly. I believe him, but there’s something he’s not telling me. I’m not sure how I know—the man is a total stranger to me—but I can feel it. But I’m in too much pain to get into that now.
Trying to smile—though I’m sure it’s more a baring of teeth with swollen lips—I murmur, “Thank you. For helping me. I felt like I was dying.”
His lips twitch as he says, “Not quite.”
We’re quiet for a few beats, just staring at each other. Then, as if my mouth has a mind of its own, I whisper, “I’m scared to go back home, North. What if he comes back? I thought I knew how to protect myself, but…”
North leans forward, his hand just millimeters from mine. “I can check your place when you get out of here. Make sure your locks are secure and all that. And I can teach you some selfdefense moves. Some real shit, not that crap they teach in those classes.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask how he knows I went to self-defense classes, but I figure they’re something most people in Red Hill have started taking. My class alone had forty people in it. People are afraid of whoever is snatching people in our community.
Instead, I ask, “Why would you want to do that? You don’t know me.”
He shrugs. “I want to make sure you’re okay.”
“Why?”
He opens his mouth to answer, but a sharp gasp turns my attention to the door. Olly is standing there, tears in his eyes as he looks me over. “Oh, God, Ranen.” He rushes to me, sitting on the bed and pulling me into his arms. “Jesus, who did this?”
I shrug, wrapping my arms around him. It hurts. Hell, everything hurts, but it’s nice to have my best friend here. North is a handsome distraction, but it feels good to have someone here who I know, who I trust.
“I don’t know. They broke in and…” My bottom lip trembles as I think about my ordeal. Whoever attacked me hurt me badly.
