When she was done, she put her hand over Rachel’s forehead and gently wiped away the sweat and tangled hair. “Listen to me, Rachel. It’s not real. Whatever you’re seeing, it’s not real. Look at me.”
Rachel’s wild eyes focused on Maren, her mouth open in a silent scream.
“That’s it. Now listen to me. You’re safe. It’s a hallucination. Ethan’s here. I’m here. We’re not going to let anything happen to you. You’ll feel better in a minute, I promise.”
Rachel crumbled, her eyes filling with tears. Harsh, ragged sobs came deep from her chest and shook her entire body as they spilled from her lips. How she’d held it together this long, Ethan didn’t know.
As soon as Maren backed off, he gathered Rachel in his arms, holding her tight as she cried. He stroked her hair, her back, every part of her body he could touch.
Something inside of him broke. He wanted to hit a wall. He wanted to cry with her. For her. For all she’d endured.
What had those bastards done to her? She could remember almost nothing and was suffering endlessly in withdrawal. What if the drugs had permanently destroyed her mind?
He shook his head. No, he wouldn’t accept that his Rachel was gone. She’d come back to him. She had to. Only he had to make sure that when she did, when she remembered the past, he managed to convince her that he’d been wrong. He loved her. Asking for a divorce had been the worst mistake of his life, and something he’d regret to his dying day.
He shut his eyes and held on, his body shaking almost as badly as hers.
“I’m so sorry, baby,” he whispered, his voice choked with emotion. “I’m so sorry I let you down.”
For several long minutes he knelt on the bed, his arms wrapped around her until finally he realized that she’d quieted. As he pulled away, her head lolled to the side. Carefully he cupped her face and then lowered her back to the pillow. Her eyelashes fluttered delicately against her cheeks as she settled into oblivion.
“Most of the blood is on the floor and her clothes,” Maren said in a low voice. “We can change the sheets later. Let her rest. I’ll clean up what’s on the floor, and when she comes around again, I’ll get her a fresh set of clothes.”
“Can I stay with her?” he asked, though he had no intention of leaving her, even for a minute.
“Of course. I’ll be out of your way in just a second. I left the soup on the table, but she’ll probably be out for a few hours. When she wakes, be sure she eats. I’ll be staying in my office tonight to monitor Cole and Dolphin. Steele told me to f**k off and he left,” she added with an amused glitter to her eyes.
“Don’t take it personally. He likes everyone pretty much the same.”
Maren shrugged. “I don’t care if he likes me. I did what I could. The rest is up to him.”
Five minutes later, Maren finished mopping the spilled blood and then she quietly left the room, leaving Ethan alone with Rachel.
Ethan relaxed on the pillow as much as the awkward position would allow. He’d never been so bone weary in his life, nor had he ever felt so goddamn helpless. Or angry.
He wanted to be able to fix what was wrong, but he couldn’t. All he could do was stand by while Rachel tried to put the tattered pieces of herself back together.
“I love you.”
The words blew quietly across her forehead, ruffling a tendril of hair.
“This time I won’t quit on us,” he vowed.
CHAPTER 11
“HOLA,” Rio said as he burst into Maren’s cottage. His dark eyes swept the interior where Sam and the others were sprawled haphazardly on the floor and furniture.
Sam rose to greet his team leader, extending an arm. Rio grasped it and gave it a firm shake.
“How are Cole and Dolphin?” he asked. Steele was notably absent from Rio’s concern.
“Dolphin has busted ribs, Cole took a bullet to the leg and Steele took a bullet in that last exchange.”
“Christ. What a clusterfuck.”
“You get the chopper? Where are your men?”
Rio grinned, his white teeth flashing. “They’re with the chopper. I stashed it a few miles away then doubled back on foot. Good way to learn the terrain and find out what we’re up against.”
“Reconnecting with your people, amigo?” Steele drawled as he walked over to join Rio and Sam.
“Fuck you,” Rio said. His gaze swept over Steele’s bandaged and bound arm and he offered a mocking smile. “Hurt yourself?”
Sam shook his head. It was a running source of irritation between Rio and Steele. Rio hated the gross generalization of lumping all people of Latin heritage into the same pot. Rio was Brazilian and Sam didn’t even know his real name. He had always been called Rio, short for his home city.
Steele smiled, but it was more of a grimace. His teeth clicked as he stared eye to eye with the other team leader. “At least I was there and not off on some pu**y mission to Asia, which if I’m not mistaken is where you should still be?”
“Just saving your ass. Ain’t nothing new about that,” Rio said easily.
Before things could escalate further, Sam stepped between them. “I’d like to speak to both of you outside.”
He glanced back at Garrett and Donovan, who raised their eyebrows in question, but Sam shook his head and then motioned for Steele and Rio to follow him outside. This wasn’t something he wanted his brothers involved in.