Runner's Moon Trilogy Megabook Series (5 page)

He came for her.

During one of her darkest moments, through the fire of pain and indescribable fear, he had stepped into her world and taken her away from it. Taken her away and promised to keep protecting her no matter what.

"I'll be here for you until you decide what you want to do with your life."

There was no question what she wanted to do with her life.

Or who she wanted to spend it with. But she was too damn scared to let him know. Not now.

Not now.

The warm shower felt good. She stood underneath the spray for a long time and let the water cascade over her. The curtain inside the tub was semi-transparent. If he accidentally walked into the bathroom, he wouldn't be able to see anything other than the outline of her body.

Hannah glanced down at the welts on her ribcage and stomach. She knew there were more ugly patches on her back but she couldn't see them. Breathing hurt but it wasn't a sharp pain. She knew what a broken rib felt like, and it didn't hurt like that this time. She'd been lucky.

She touched her cheek. The skin was tight, hot. How can he look at me when the sight of my own face horrifies me?

A shiver raced over her body. She felt cold even with the warm water running over her.

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Carl would come after her. As sure as Monday followed Sunday, he'd come looking for her. She was his, even without a ring or a ceremony, or the little piece of paper that made it legally official. Of course, she had never held herself out as married. It was difficult to call a man who beat her twice or more times a week her husband.

A real husband wouldn't beat his wife. A wife was supposed to be the love of his life. The holder of his heart and the bearer of his children. Carl didn't want kids. He had even gone so far as to tell her that if he ever found out she was pregnant, he'd personally abort it for her.

Another shiver jolted her violently. The water sliding down the drain near her toes had a slight pinkish hue.

There was very little she knew about Jeb Morr. That was okay. They had time to talk and get to know one another better. And maybe...

Memory of his embrace suddenly burst upon her. His warm, strong arms, so long his hands could grasp her opposite shoulders. Her breasts responded to the almost erotic sensation she'd felt at his touch, and her nipples shrank into tight buttons.

She had wanted him to kiss her before he left. Not a big one. A little one would have sufficed. A peck on the cheek. A small show of affection.

No, not affection. She couldn't ask that of him. Not after all he'd done to rescue her. Make that a small show of ...

friendliness.

She washed the conditioner out of her hair and turned off the water. There were only two towels available, so she dried 63

off first then wrapped her wet hair in the same towel. Slipping on the clean nightgown she'd laid on top of the toilet tank, she walked back into the bedroom to see if he had packed her hairbrush.

She was in the middle of trying to get out the tangles when she heard the key in the lock. Jeb walked in with two large sacks and a smaller one balanced on top. He gave her that wide smile that always melted her insides.

"You look a lot better than you did when I left. How do you feel?"

"I feel better. You were right. A shower helped." She watched him disappear into the kitchenette. From where she sat, she could see him unloading the bags and putting things into the tiny fridge. She recognized a quart of milk as one of items he unpacked. Presently he came back into the bedroom with the smaller bag. The aroma coming from it made her mouth water and her stomach rumble. "What did you get?"

"Chinese."

Hannah blinked. "How'd you know I liked Chinese?"

"Wild guess," Jeb replied. He pulled out various little boxes and covered bowls, setting them on the writing table he'd dragged over beside her. "I bought some plastic utensils, since I didn't know how well stocked the kitchenette was."

"Mmm. I love beef and broccoli, but I don't like the broccoli." She giggled. "Strange, huh?"

"That's all right. You eat the beef, I'll take the broccoli. I was afraid to order anything spicy. I also got a large order of the egg drop soup. Thought we could share. Umm. I got mostly soft stuff in case you had trouble chewing." He sucked 64

his fingers after a little sweet and sour sauce dripped on them. The sight of his lips puckering up and making wet, popping sounds was enough to steal her breath away.

Fortunately he didn't appear to notice her stare. "Hold on. I forgot the drinks."

Hannah continued to open the rest of the cartons. "Do we need plates?"

"I don't mind eating out of the same carton if you don't,"

he called from the other room, then emerged with two large drinks and two bottles of water. With a flourish, he presented her with hers.

"For my lady, a cool drink."

"A milkshake?"

"You said you wanted something cold. Well, ice cream's cold."

She peered under the lid. "It's chocolate?"

"Yeah." He paused. "Did I get the wrong flavor?"

"No! Oh no, I love chocolate shakes. I'm just..."

"Surprised?" Giving her a little wink, he handed her an egg roll. "They're both vegetable, so I wouldn't accidentally get them mixed up."

Tilting her head at him, Hannah questioned, "So being a vegetarian isn't, like, a voluntary thing with you?"

"No."

"You honestly can't tolerate beef? I mean, meat?"

He shook his head as he speared a stalk of broccoli. "I get deathly ill if I eat any portion of an animal, like the muscle or bone, or even skin. Cooked or raw, doesn't matter."

"But not eggs?"

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"Or any byproduct like milk or cheese. I can sort of ingest meat gravy like this here. Don't ask why. I don't understand it myself."

They ate for several minutes in comfortable silence. Along with the egg rolls, soup, and beef and broccoli, there was fried rice and two fortune cookies. Hannah opened hers and read it aloud.

"A deep friendship may lead to deeper discoveries." She looked up to see his eyes staring intently at her. The flush in her face was inevitable. "What, umm, what does yours say?"

"Open it for me and read it."

"It won't come true if I do."

"Superstition. Go ahead."

"All right. But remember, I warned you." She picked out the thin white slip of paper and uncurled it. "Your secrets will be kept confidential." Hannah let go with a raspberry.

"Hogwash."

She heard him come back with a deep chuckle. "Do you want the rest of that rice?"

"No. Go ahead. I'm stuffed." Popping a cookie bit in her mouth, she sat back a bit and managed to tuck her feet underneath her gown.

She felt comfortable with him. That alone surprised her.

But then again, she wasn't surprised. There was a quality, an aura around this man that soothed her. Made her feel protected, like he promised. And while sitting on the bed clad in a thin cotton nightgown should have made her self-conscious, it didn't.

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She ran her fingers through her hair. It was almost dry.

Jeb saw her motion. "When you're ready to go to sleep, I got some painkillers with a sleeping agent. It should help you get through the night without too much discomfort."

"Thank you. That was sweet of you. In fact..." She sighed, knowing now was as good a time as any. "I owe you an explanation."

"I'm listening."

"Well..." She gave a soft laugh. "You know how they say you leave one bad situation, only to head right back into another one? Well, I literally jumped from the frying pan into the fire."

A look of confusion crossed his face. It was apparent he wasn't aware of the old saw. "What I meant was, my dad abused me, so I ran away from home to escape him. I met up with Carl, and ... you know the rest of the story. From one bad relationship to another. That's my story. Zip, close. Short and sweet."

"What about your mother? Didn't she try to stop your father from doing what he did?"

"She ran off when I was ten. Took off one morning for work and never came home. Never called. Never bothered to see how we were doing or how I was—"

Her voice choked on her. Old memories she thought she had burned and scattered the ashes of now sent their ghosts back to haunt her. Without her mother there to take the brunt of Charlie Pitt's anger, the man had turned on her to be his next whipping post.

"How old were you when you ran away?"

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"Eighteen. I left graduation night. I hung around long enough to get my diploma, be legally declared an adult, and then I was gone." She took a deep breath. "I was damned and determined not to be one of those dropouts who had to come back later and get her GED just so she could have a shot at a decent future." A slight shake of the head. "Some future. I'd been hoarding money from odd jobs, and from what I could take from Daddy without him noticing. We lived in a little town called Bridgeton, outside of West Columbia.

The graduation party was in West Columbia, so I was able to get some high school buddies to give me a ride that far. I walked to Madison. From there, I hitched a ride in the back of a truck full of cantaloupes into Tuton. There's a little eatery on the corner of Main, right there on the town green, called Soup's On. I went in and asked for work. Got hired on the spot. I was there about a year when Carl walked in. He was working rigging then, before he hurt his back on the job."

"And he took you to Laughlin?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "His mother lived there. She was nice to me. Carl told her we were getting married, and I believed him."

Jeb watched as she picked at an imaginary piece of fuzz from her nightgown. "But you didn't get married."

She shook her head. "His mom had a stroke and died right before Thanksgiving. Carl thought he was going to get all this money in inheritance. But after the funeral and all the bills were paid, there wasn't much left. Even after he sold her house." Hannah sighed loudly. This time there was real sadness in the sound. "God, I loved that old house. I begged 68

Carl to let us move into it, but he said he needed the money.

We fought. He finally relented. A little. He bought that trailer and the pickup. Things were okay for a while. Then he fell off a platform at work and went on disability." She slid her eyes over at him. "That was a little over a year ago."

"No children?"

The question was like a punch to the gut. A tear fell from her eye before she knew it was there. God, she wanted to tell him all of it, but what would be the use? Done was done, and it wouldn't do either of them any good to dredge it up.

A warm hand covered hers where they lay in her lap. His face was so close to hers. His eyes were warm brown pools with little gold flecks in them. Incredible eyes. Sensitive. Full of caring.

"Don't let it fester inside you," he urged.

"I'm ... afraid."

"Why?" It was softer than a whisper.

"I want to s-stop hating. I want to stop hu-hurting." The tears were falling faster now. Hannah sniffed.

"Then purge yourself."

She hung her head. There was no way she could tell him everything if she had to see the pity in his eyes. She felt him lean closer, and his shoulder rubbed up against hers. It was enough to ground her. "Carl told me that if he found out I was pregnant, he'd get a h—" The memory burned inside her like a hot brand. The words felt like acid on her tongue. "He said he'd get a hanger and abort it himself," she finally managed to say.

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She waited for his response but there was none. A gentle pressure on her hands gave her courage to continue.

"How long has he been beating up on you?"

"Oh ... he's smacked me around a little ever since we got to Laughlin. Back then, when his mother was still alive, it wasn't much. A few bruises, but nothing big. Nothing really painful. But after Rona died, he changed. He got more violent.

More ... unstable, I guess you could say. But when he lost his job and had to go on workman's comp, that was when things got really bad."

"Didn't you tell the authorities?"

"Oh, yeah. Once. Just once. He got arrested. Spent two weeks in county before the judge gave him probation. When he got out, he told me that if I ever turned him in again, or if I went to the hospital and reported him, he would kill me. He told me..."

The memory of that night was still too fresh, too real not to feel the hurt all over again. Leaning over slightly, Hannah pressed her forehead against his shoulder. Contact. She needed him to keep her bolted to the ground and surround her with his armor.

"Told you what?"

She shook her head, unable to tell him all the hateful, nasty things he had said that had been meant to demean her.

To tear her self-esteem into shreds. To destroy her emotionally as well as physically.

Jeb moved closer to her on the bed. That calmness he exuded gave her strength. "Why did he attack you so brutally this time?"

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Hannah groaned, remembering every word Carl screamed at her as he beat her with his fists and the heels of the heavy workboots he used to wear.

"You said you were leaving town and I ... I couldn't bear the thought of you going away. It hurt so damn much to even think about it. I decided the next morning I would ask you to take me with you. I was going to beg if I had to. Not so much because I wanted to leave Carl once and for all, but because I thought ... I thought..."

"What?"

"I thought ... nothing, Jeb. Nothing. It was nothing." She tried to pull away from him, away from his warmth and caring, and those liquid brown eyes that seemed to see everything inside her. He refused to let her go or to move further away.

"He beat you because..."

"Because I talked in my sleep, okay? I called out your name 'cause I must've been dreaming about asking you to take me with you, and it woke him up. He was furious to find out what I planned to do. He wanted to know who you were.

He thought you and I had something going on, on the side, but I told him we didn't." She flinched involuntarily from the memory. "Carl never believes what I tell him. That's why he hit me."