Pack Dynamics

Pack Dynamics Read Online Free PDF Page B

Book: Pack Dynamics Read Online Free PDF
Author: Julie Frost
Tags: Fantasy, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Paranormal & Urban
shocked in quite some time, other than by nightmares. He could usually avoid trigger-y things, getting kidnapped notwithstanding, but this had smacked him out of the blue. How could he avoid them if he didn’t know what they were?
    Finally, his heart rate slowed to an acceptable level. Ben sagged limply against the tiles and let his arms drop to his sides. Deep breaths were a thing again.
    “Okay,” he said hoarsely. “That was new and unpleasant.”
    Janni stroked his bicep, soothingly, up and down, with the backs of her fingers. “What did they do to you? Besides the obvious.”
    His heart started another mad gallop through his chest, and his throat closed. He held a hand up. “I can’t—”
    “All right. All right,” she hastened to say. “You don’t have to. Shh.”
    More breathing. He could do this. He got a hand on the seat and pushed himself into a standing position, Janni right there next to him.
    “Let’s get out—” she started.
    He put a finger on her lips. “I have to finish this. I can’t go through life unable to friggin’ shower. There’s blood in my hair , I can still feel it.”
    She took a deep breath of her own, and he reminded himself that the wreckage of his psyche was hard on her, too. Why she’d taken him on—
    He didn’t get to complete the thought. “Okay,” she said. “Sit.”
    His knees were wobbly anyway, and he was exhausted, so he sat on the bench with a minimum of protest. She grabbed the showerhead, with its extra-long hose, and held it a half-inch from his skin, running it all over his body, washing the accumulated blood and sweat and stress away. And it was good to just let her do this for him, while his muscles loosened and his head got heavier. Then she was moving him, getting him settled back on his elbows.
    “Tip your head,” she said softly, supporting his neck with one hand.
    He couldn’t help it, he went tense again, every muscle trembling. His throat closed, and his hands clenched into fists.
    Janni ran the water over his head, careful to keep it out of his face, using the same half-inch-away technique. She caressed his arm and reminded him to breathe.
    He gritted his teeth and took slow breaths. This was Janni. She was the only person on the planet he trusted utterly. She was even more vigilant about his triggers than he was. More slow breaths. The water stopped, and he felt her massaging some no doubt ridiculously expensive shampoo through his hair before the spray came back for a rinse.
    And he was clean for the first time in what felt like ages, warm and cherished, and if he wasn’t careful, he’d fall asleep right here in the shower stall.
    “None of that; come on,” Janni said, leading him out with a hand on his elbow. She grabbed an oversized towel out of the warmer and wrapped it around his shoulders, pushing him into the chair in front of the makeup mirror.
    He crossed his arms on top of the vanity and put his head down, watching through heavy eyelids while she dried herself off with ruthless efficiency and put clean clothes on. He hardly noticed when she patted him dry, sleepwalked though her dressing him, and wasn’t even aware when she guided him back into the bedroom and hustled him under the comforter.
    O O O
    Janni sat beside Ben on the bed and leaned her head back against the headboard with her eyes closed. He shifted beside her, scooting over to rest his head on her thigh and wrap his arm around her legs before sinking back into slumber. He was breathing a lot easier than she was right now.
    Because Ben’s goalposts had just been moved. He’d been getting better, and Janni wanted to scream and throw things and hurt the men who’d done this to him.
    She was saved her very own freakout by Doctor Allen walking into the room.
    He noted the empty glass with its remnant of protein shake and nodded approvingly. “How’s he doing?” he asked, grabbing the cigarette from behind his ear and sticking it in the corner of his
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