Page 26 of Healer’s Reckoning (The Healer’s #3)

Chapt er 26

Ava

Bryce pauses. He glances back at the house and then at me. I raise an eyebrow. “What?” My tone is defiant.

“Come with me.” I watch him for a moment, debating what I should do.

“What about my brother?”

“He’s going to be staying with Cody for the present time, so Cody can keep an eye on him.” He looks me right in the eye. “He’ll be okay.”

I finally cave and follow him back to the car; I’m too tired to do anything differently. He stands at the front passenger door and waits for me with the door open. I glance up at him before climbing inside. I'm not really sure where we’re going, but if it gets me out of having to go inside and meet his pack right now, then I’m all in. We only drive a few minutes. I’m shocked though at how many houses there are. Their pack must be a lot bigger than I thought it was. There’s a little bit of a break in houses, and then he pulls into the driveway of a house. It’s cute, not huge. The outside is white and modern with black accents and large windows. “What is this?” I ask.

“My place.” He’s out of the car a moment later, and I stare at the house. It’s not at all what I would have thought of for Bryce. I step out of the car slowly after he opens the door. I take in the neat landscaping. He walks ahead of me and opens the front door. I step inside and look around. It’s really nice. He’s got beautiful gray wood floors and gray couches in the living room. The open concept space flows right into the beautiful kitchen and adjoining dining room. There are large windows everywhere, letting in the bright sunlight. I walk towards the kitchen, and my eye catches on something in the backyard.

I turn to Bryce. “You have your own pool?” I walk over to the sliding doors and take in the backyard. It’s an entertainer’s dream. There’s a long table with chairs and an overhead fan under the overhang. There’s a huge tv on the wall and a hot tub in the corner. Past that is a gorgeous full-length in-ground pool. “Can I go out there?” I ask. Bryce answers me by opening the sliding door. He steps outside after me. I walk right over to the water and lean down and touch it, smiling as I do. “It’s warm,” I tell him. I look up at the sun and close my eyes. “It feels so good here.” I let the sun soak into my skin; it’s so nice to feel the heat without the humidity.

“I have to go meet with my pack. I thought you would enjoy the privacy here,” Bryce says, still standing over by the sliding door. I reluctantly follow him back inside. He walks down a hallway, and I follow him slowly. He opens a door and flips on the light. “Feel free to use the bathroom, take a shower, whatever you need. The shower already has soap in it but let me know what else you need.” He walks across the hall and opens a bedroom door. “This room is for you for as long as you want it.” I walk into the room and take in the decor. The bed has a soft gray headboard with all white bedding and a yellow throw across the end of the bed. It’s actually kind of perfect.

“Thank you,” I tell him quietly.

“Everything in those drawers is for you,” he says nodding at the dresser. “The closet as well.”

I stare at him a moment before I walk over to the drawers and open the top one. I stare at the collection of bras and panties and quickly close it and open the next drawer. This one has t-shirts. The next two have pants, shorts, and leggings. I stride over to the closet and pull open the double doors and stare at the collection. “It’s full.” That’s all I manage to say. I turn to Bryce slowly. He's studying me with intensity, but he doesn’t say anything. I walk over to the dresser again and pull open the first drawer and pull out a pretty pair of pink lacy panties. “Sooooo, did you pick these all out?”

To his credit, he doesn’t look away. “No. Alicia did.”

I study him and then put the underwear back in the drawer. “I’m more of a black underwear fan.” I close the drawer and face him. “So, Alicia picked all of this out?”

He nods. “I asked her to.” I don’t know how to feel about that. I turn and look over at the bed. “I have to go. Help yourself to anything. If you want to go for a swim, there should be a swimsuit in one of your drawers.” He falls silent, but I don’t turn back.

He starts to back out of the doorway. “I wasn’t running from you.” I don’t know why I said it; the words just sort of slip out.

“What?”

I take a breath and turn to face him. “I wasn’t running from you. I just—” I falter, unsure what to say. He waits for me to say more, but I can’t. I don’t know what to say. “Never mind.” I turn away. I sense his presence a moment longer, and then he finally leaves. Only when I hear the front door close do I take a breath. I lower myself to the bed and bounce a little; it’s really soft. I stand up, so I’m not tempted to take a nap and really test it out. I walk back out to the living room, taking it all in before I go back outside to the backyard. I stand in the sun for a few minutes, just reveling in it. It’s so much hotter here than it ever was in Wisconsin. I look down at the water again before I make the decision. I don’t know when I’ll get the chance again to swim, and I really want to. I head inside and shower off my grime and then search in the drawers for a swimsuit. I find a black bikini on my first search. Hoping there’s something with more coverage, I keep looking. When I don’t find anything else, I hold it up. Knowing Bryce isn’t here, I decide to just go for it. Nobody will be able to see me in the backyard. I throw it on before I can talk myself out of it. I glance at myself in the mirror and cringe. I really am skin and bones. Not wanting to think about it, I head outside. I walk around the pool once before I decide to sit and soak in the sun, so I’ll be ready to get in the water. I sit back against the seat and close my eyes but don’t let myself sit for very long because I don’t know when Bryce will get back. When I’m sufficiently heated, I wade into the pool. It feels so good. I swim a few laps and then just float for a little while before I climb out and dry off in the sun.

Eventually, I head inside and take a shower. After my shower, I’m ravenous. I head to the kitchen and stop short when I see a white box with a note on the top.

Figured you’d be hungry.

~Bryce

I open the lid and breathe in the smell of mashed potatoes, pot roast, and carrots. I rummage around until I find a fork and then sit and enjoy this heavenly meal. After a full belly, exhaustion hits me like a freight train. I head back into my room, feeling dead on my feet and fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.

When I wake up sometime later, my stomach growls when I smell something cooking. I climb out of bed and try to find my bearings; I slept so hard. After a moment, I open the door and head out into the kitchen. I take in Bryce’s back as he stands at the stove. “Hey,” he says without turning around. “Are you hungry?” I’m still trying to take in the fact that Bryce is in the kitchen cooking. He turns fully towards me. “You okay?” His eyes run over me. “It looks like you got some sun.” His eyes fill with concern. “I don’t have any aloe; I didn’t think of it. I'll grab some.”

“It’s fine,” I say, waving him off. “Sorry. I’m just trying to wake up.” I step over to him. “What can I do?”

It’s his turn to wave me off. “You go sit. I’ve got it.”

“I’m not going to sit. What can I do?”

He slides over a cutting board and an onion. “Can you dice that up?”

I start into it and then have to take a step back. “Whew.” I wipe my watering eyes. “That one is strong.”

“Here, let me do it,” he says.

I push my knife towards his hand. “I’ve got it.” He turns back to the stove and I finish chopping the onion. “What are you making?” I ask.

“Onions and mushrooms in a teriyaki sauce to top the steaks. Do you like steak? If not, I have—”

“Steak is fine,” I say, cutting him off. He takes the onions from me and slides them into his pan.

“I’m heading outside to throw the steaks on the grill.”

I wash the cutting board and knife I was using and leave them out to dry. Bryce comes back inside. “Did you go for a swim?”

“I did. It was really nice; thank you.”

“You like swimming?” he asks casually as he stirs the pan.

“I do. I haven’t done it since I was a child, but I loved it then and I think I might love it now.”

“Use the pool anytime you like.”

“Thank you. How's Brandon doing?” I ask.

“Good. Cody’s keeping me appraised of the situation. He slept all afternoon.”

“Must be in our blood.”

“You’ve both been through a huge ordeal; it’s going to take time for you to recover. You can take all the time you need.”

“What about Sherese?” I ask.

“We thought it was best she stay with Hunter for now. He can protect her but also be a buffer between her and the others in my pack until they all get accustomed to the idea of a vampire being here.”

I look up at him. “It’s going to be hard on your pack, having her here...isn’t it?”

“They’ll get used to it.”

He doesn’t say anything else after that, and I don’t either. When he heads outside to get the steaks, I go with him, just to feel the sun again before it sets. “Want to eat outside?” he asks.

I shrug. “Sure.”

He brings over the plate of steaks with onions and mushrooms, and I go back in for the salad. He grabs some salad dressing and comes back out to the table. We’re quiet as we both start eating. The steak hits my tongue and melts. “That’s really good,” I tell him in between bites. I’m suddenly ravenous and can’t get enough to eat. When I finally slow down, I sit against my chair. “I can’t believe I ate all that; I’m going to be so sick.”

“They starved you in there. It’s going to take a while to get back to where you should be,” Bryce says without looking at me.

I take in his words and nod. It makes sense. “Would it be possible to check on my brother?”

He nods. “I can run you over to the pack house where he’s staying with Cody.”

I pick up our plates and carry them inside and wash them. “Let me just grab my shoes.” I’m back a few seconds later. He doesn’t say a word as we head to the car, nor does he say anything on the way there. I glance over at him, but he seems far away. When we stop in front of the pack house, I take a deep breath before climbing out. My goal is to get in, check on Brandon, and then get out.