Fighting Hard Read Online Free PDF Page A

came back with the medicine, she almost wept with relief.
    He sat her up, supporting her shoulders. “OK. Slowly, now.”
    She closed her eyes as the water ran over her tongue and lips. “Thanks.”
    Nick eased her back down to the bed and looked at her. She was obviously hurting a lot: her face was tight and pale and she was biting her lips. Her eyes were glazed and shiny with bewildered pain. He remembered his first head injury – many years ago now – and how he’d just stayed in bed for two days and wanted to die.
    He didn’t even think about what he was doing: he lay down next to her and gathered her in to his arms. She clung to his shoulders and pressed her face against his bare chest. Her whole body was tense with pain and he rubbed her back. It felt like he was touching an iron rod; she was all hard edges and straight lines.
    “Just breathe, Mia. OK? Deep breaths. The painkiller will kick in in about fifteen minutes… you just have to hang on until then.”
    She nodded against his chest.
    Slowly, he felt her muscles start to loosen and relax. Her breathing became less constricted and quieter, and her body next to his became soft and rounded. Nick kept holding her, not wanting to let go. It had been a long time since he’d just held a woman, and it surprised him how good it felt. He closed his eyes and inhaled the sweet scent of her hair – she smelled fresh and pure, like a small white flower in a mountain breeze.
    Mia felt the warmth coming back in to her fingers and toes now, and the blinding, all-encompassing pain in her head receded. She became very aware of the fact that she was being held tightly by a pair of huge arms and she was resting on a muscular bare chest. She felt his breathing and heart beat against her cheek. Something flickered in her memory and she pulled back to look at Nick.
    He was staring down at her and the look of tenderness on his hard face took her aback.
    He stroked her hair with gentle hands, and that was when she was sure. “It was you.”
    “Me what?”
    “I came to for a few seconds – I remember that I was being held by someone… that was you. Right?”
    “Yes.”
    “Where was that?”
    “In the back seat of that guy’s car. He dragged you there and was getting ready to drive off with you.” He touched her uninjured cheek. “I got there just in time.”
    Mia felt tears start again. “Why did he do this? Why did he – he drug me? Hit me?”
    Nick shook his head. “I don’t know, babe.” The endearment slipped out of his mouth before he could stop it.
    She was crying now, crying for real. “What did I do?”
    “No, Mia, don’t do that.” He lifted her chin with his finger, forcing her to meet his eyes. “That dickhead showed up at a bar with drugs in his pockets. You hear me? He was looking for someone to hurt. If it hadn’t been you, it would have been someone else.”
    “He was going to – to rape me. And that was just for starters… he could have killed me. Right?”
    Nick was silent.
    She wrenched her chin from his grasp and started to pull away.
    Nick tightened his arms around her. “Hey, no. Stay right here. I’ve got you, it’s OK.”
    She twisted in his grip, her hands pushing against his chest. “It’s not OK, Nick!”
    He ran his fingers through her hair. “Calm down, babe. I’m not going to hurt you – just hold on to me.”
    Mia’s strength gave out completely and she lay in his arms and cried. The realization of what would have happened to her if Nick hadn’t been there overwhelmed her, and she let herself really feel the shock and anger of it for the first time.
    Nick took her shaking in to his own body, wishing he could absorb her fear and confusion. But all he could do was hold on to Mia and tell her over and over again that she was safe. And since that’s all he could do, that’s what he did.
    **
    Nick opened his eyes and blinked at the red numbers glowing at him from the clock on the bedside table: 4:51 a.m. How was that