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“Just get me out of here. Please. Before he comes back.”
A part of me wants to stay and wait for him to return so I can shoot him right in the fucking head but I know Aria is right. I can’t focus on killing Sal when I’m worried about Aria. I need to get her to safety.
“I’ve got you.” I carry her out to my car. When I try to put her into the passenger seat, she clings to me harder. “You have to let me go, princess. If we want to leave, you have to let me go.”
Slowly, she uncurls her fingers from my shirt.
I can’t take her back to the cottage. Sal knows about it. I have another safe house not too far from here that we can go to.
Aria stops crying the further we get from the house until she looks nothing but numb. She’s so still, I’m not even sure she’s breathing for a moment.
We arrive at the new safe house – some simple ranch house I bought years ago – and I get her inside.
“I need to look at your cuts,” I say, setting her down onto the couch. “I need to make sure none of them are infected. I left the bottle of antibiotics back at the cottage so I need to go get them.”
“Don’t,” she says, grabbing my arm. “Don’t leave me.”
To say I’m shocked is an understatement. Aria doesn’t want me to leave her. She wants me to stay with her. Me. The man who kidnapped her and forced her into a marriage.
“Ok,” I say slowly. “I need to stop some of the bleeding. Clean up the rest of your blood. Get you into some clothes.”
Her lips quirk. “I never thought you’d want to get me clothed.”
“You shouldn’t be naked right now. Not after what that fucker did to you.” I cup her face and surprisingly, she leans into my touch. “I’m going to make sure you’re ok.” The urge to comfort her is like nothing I’ve ever felt before. It’s a strange sensation.
But it’s a nice one.
I lean down and kiss the top of her head. What the fuck? I’m not a fucking simp for her. But… I want to make sure she’s safe.
Aria stares up at me with wide eyes. “What was that for?”
“I honestly have no fucking clue.” I let her go and step back. “I’m going to grab some supplies. I’ll be right back. I promise,” I add when she looks like she wants to object.
“Ok.”
I don’t even want to walk away to grab a towel or water or bandages. I want to stay right by her side, keeping her safe and warm.
Fuck. I’m turning into a whipped pussy.
And yet, nothing in my life has ever felt more right in my core. I want to protect Aria. No matter how that might make me look, I want to see her safe.
Aiden was wrong. I guess I am capable of change after all.
Aria
I somehow feel both numb and scared at the same time.
What Sal did to me was the worst thing I’ve ever experienced. Worse than when I was kidnapped as a child. Worse than Finn forcing me down the aisle.
Now, the only one I have right in this moment, is Finn. How ironic is that?
He comes back with gauze, alcohol wipes, and a towel, as well as a fresh t-shirt of his. “Lay down. Let me look you over.”
He doesn’t look at me with desire like he has in the past. In this moment, his expression is full of worry.
I’m quiet as Finn tends to my cuts. He wipes the dry blood away. He runs an antibacterial cream over the cuts that have already closed. As for the ones still bleeding, be cleans them before bandaging them with gauze. His touch is careful and measured. It’s almost tender. This is a side of Finn I never knew existed.
I avert my gaze when he tends to the cuts around my breasts and stomach. It’s humiliating, how Sal cut me. How damaged he left me. I’ll never be the same again.