In Too Deep (10 page)

“Shit.” The
Chimera
was already unstable and perched precariously at the edge of a ravine. Even if the storm didn’t make a direct hit, it could seriously disrupt the ship’s resting place.

He let out a few choice swearwords. Asher joined in, his face going grim.

“We better call Jackson.”

* * *

H
E
WAS
GOING
to hurt her.

The thought was clear in Avery’s mind. Panic and darkness pressed in, smothering her just like the hand spread wide over her chest.

“You are so soft and beautiful,” the deep voice murmured in her ear, the words smooth and yet somehow menacing. A hand traveled up the curve of her thigh, stroking her skin in a way that had dread coiling tight in her belly.

She was disoriented, darkness and sleep making her brain sluggish.

“Who? What?” she managed to gasp, blinking, scrambling.

Fingers tangled in her hair, tugging hard and holding her in place as she tried to scoot away from the figure towering above her. Tears stung her eyes from the fear and the pressure. Strong fingers dug into her skin at the waistband of her shorts.

He moved into the dull light spilling through a small crack where the door opened to the hallway. Recognition blasted through her, settling some of her trepidation.

“Melody’s room is one door down.” She wanted to tack on,
you idiot
, but bit off the words. Her sister’s creepy—and probably high, drunk or both—boyfriend had slipped into the wrong room.

But the relief was short-lived because he didn’t move. Instead, he pressed closer.

“I’ve been watching you. For weeks now, I’ve wanted you. I see the way your eyes follow me, little one.”

Panic seized her. A whimper clogged her throat. She tried to pull away, but his hands held her down, crushing her into the soft mattress.

He tugged at the waistband of her shorts, jerking them down far enough to expose the sharp edge of her hip bone. His eyes were wild, his breath coming in hard gasps. The stench of alcohol swept across her, strong and sharp.

Avery opened her mouth and let out a bloodcurdling scream. The force of his hand hitting her cheek cut off the sound.

“Bitch,” he growled, pressing his hand down over the bottom half of her face.

She couldn’t breathe, but he didn’t seem to care. Not even when her fingernails started ripping at his wrist, desperate to claw him away. She kicked, but her legs were tangled in the covers and the shorts that were now down around her thighs.

Something exploded. The hands holding her down were ripped away.

Her father had yanked him off, was beating the shit out of the boy. Her mother hollered. Melody screamed. An explosion of light and sound crashed in on her as her entire world collapsed in one brief moment that she hadn’t asked for.

Suddenly, instead of watching in horror as her father’s knuckles crunched into the boy’s face, she saw the tiny black hole of a gun staring at her, held by a shadowy figure with a twisted smile.

Wait. This wasn’t right.

The man staring down at her wasn’t the boy who’d attacked her so many years ago, but the man who’d stolen their boat and left them stranded.

The guns were all pointed at her again. And Knox. He was going to do something stupid, heroic, and get himself shot.

“You should have stayed safe on that little island. Now I’m going to kill you. Hurt you both.”

Avery heard the scrape of metal against metal as he squeezed the trigger. Instinct had her rolling sideways, dropping from her bed to the floor even as another scream clawed out of her throat.

She hit the hard floor with a thud that jolted through her bones. The door exploded inward, bouncing off the wall with a reverberating thud.

Knox stormed in, dropping into a low crouch.

“Avery. Are you all right?”

She blinked, taking in the way his calculating gaze scanned the room, cataloging it in seconds.

Her heart thudded in her chest. Her skin was clammy with sweat. And she couldn’t catch her breath. It had been a hell of a long time since she’d had a nightmare.

She didn’t like it. But liked it even less that Knox had found her, sprawled on the floor in terror over memories her subconscious had twisted together.

Slowly, Knox stood, unfolding above her. Wearing nothing more than a pair of athletic shorts slung low on his hips, he was gorgeous. All compact muscle and tanned skin. Just as deadly as the man who’d haunted her dreams. And yet she wasn’t afraid of him. At least, not physically.

Her eyes traveled from his bare feet, over tight calves and massive thighs to the delicious V that arrowed down beneath his waistband, and up to those shoulders that she was certain were broad enough to carry the world.

For the first time, Avery realized she was still spread across the floor. Elegant. Trying unsuccessfully to hold back a blush, she pushed to her hands and knees.

Before she could gain her feet, Knox was right beside her, his hands wrapped around her upper arms to hold her steady.

They straightened together, inches apart. She could feel the heat of him sinking into her system in lovely waves.

But she didn’t like the way he stared at her, concern, confusion and disquiet all jumbled up together inside his golden-brown eyes. Because behind those emotions, she could see all the questions swirling.

“Dammit,” she breathed out. It had been a very long time since she’d let those memories break free in her dreams. Years, actually. That night had been scary, but she hadn’t been hurt, not really. The damage to her life had come afterward, the attack starting a domino effect that had ended with her sister in a permanent-care facility.

But this nightmare had been different. Maybe it was the unfamiliar surroundings or the events of the past two days that had brought about the mishmash of memories.

Blinking again, Avery realized Knox still had his hands wrapped around her upper arms. He was so close—the clean, musky scent of him filled her nostrils with each stuttered breath she managed to pull in.

Knox gently guided her back until her knees connected with the edge of the bed and she collapsed onto the forgiving surface.

Her gaze never left his as he released her arms and crouched down in front of her.

“Are you hurt?”

Now that he’d asked, Avery realized her elbow throbbed and her knees stung. She’d hit them both on the floor. The back of her head ached. She must have hit it on the edge of the bed in her fall. Without thinking, she reached up to rub the spot. She’d barely registered the slight lump there before Knox was pushing her hands out of the way to probe her scalp.

“Ouch.” Avery winced and tried to move away, but Knox’s hand clamped onto her shoulder, holding her in place. “Stay still.”

“It’s nothing. I bumped my head.”

“You have a knot.”

“I know. And let me just say having you poke at it isn’t making it feel any better.”

He pulled away from her. Avery appreciated the few inches of breathing room he’d put between them. But the reprieve didn’t last long.

Grasping her face, Knox placed his thumbs beneath her chin and tilted her head back. Rising, he loomed over her, leaning close.

The position mirrored the nightmare she’d just had, enough to send a burst of adrenaline into her system.

“What are you doing?” she asked, her voice scratchier than she wanted it to be.

Applying gentle pressure, he angled her head this way and that, staring straight into her eyes. Restless energy joined the kick of adrenaline, combining to make her twitchy and...needy. He was so close. She could reach out, place her hands on his hips and pull him between her open thighs.

But she didn’t.

Even if she really wanted to.

“I’m afraid you may have a concussion.”

“I don’t. I’m fine.” She edged back, as much for her sanity as anything else. She was too foggy and vulnerable for Knox to have his hands on her right now.

Part of her was happy when he let her go, but she couldn’t quite fight down the tiny trill of disappointment that shot through her system.

He took a single step backward, although the pull of his gravity didn’t lessen quite enough for her peace of mind.

A smile twitched at the corners of Knox’s mouth. “Don’t think I’ve met anyone over the age of five who’s fallen out of bed.”

Avery’s skin flamed pink again. Embarrassment quickly morphed into irritation. “I didn’t fall.” Okay, so technically she had. “I had a bad dream. I was trying to escape a man attacking me in my own bed. Rolling out seemed like a good response at the time...until I actually hit the floor.”

The humor that had been lurking in Knox’s expression faded away. “I’m sorry. Do you want to tell me about it?”

She shook her head.

“Take it from someone who’s been there, it helps.”

He didn’t wait for an invitation, but dropped onto the bed beside her. The hard length of his thigh brushed against hers. She wanted to press into him, which was why she scooted away.

“Don’t tell me you have nightmares, big, bad SEAL.”

He leveled her with a stare, intense yet with an edge of vulnerability that had her belly flipping.

“I’ve had a recurring nightmare since I was sixteen. The night my brother, his girlfriend and my best friend died. I’m driving the car, like I was that night. Sometimes it’s just as I remember it, the deer coming out of nowhere. The heavy thud as it connects with the bumper. The inhuman squeal and crack of bone. The slick roads. Losing control of the car and skidding, rolling over until we came to rest at the bottom of the ditch on the side of the road. Blood and screaming. Holding my brother’s body, tears dripping down to mix with the blood soaking his shirt as I wait for the paramedics to arrive.”

Avery’s breath caught in her chest, stalling there and making her ache. The hitch in Knox’s voice didn’t help.

Or the way he stared straight into her, unflinching as he detailed the events of that night in a calm, even voice. But she could see the pain lurking deep inside his gorgeous eyes.

“Bethany died on impact. She was thrown from the car and came to rest about ten yards away. I pulled Chase from the car first. His face was covered in blood, but he was conscious. In so much pain. I left him on the side of the road to go back for Kyle. I’ll live for the rest of my life with the guilt of knowing my best friend died alone. And that my brother lingered in pain for hours before he finally lost the fight.”

Oh, God. Her heart was breaking for the boy he had been, the man who still carried the scars of that night.

“And that’s bad enough. But it’s so much worse when my mind turns on me, playing out a scenario that ends much differently. On those nights, it takes a few minutes to remember Kyle is still dead when I wake up.”

Avery shook her head. A heavy weight settled in the center of her throat, preventing her from saying anything. Because, really, words wouldn’t help anyway. The best she could do was lean close and offer him the warmth of her body as comfort. Her arm slipped around his waist, her forehead colliding with the curve of his shoulder.

There was something about the story he’d just shared, the quiet guilt and despair he couldn’t hide, that had her opening up rather than shutting down...the way she normally did.

Avery wasn’t the kind of person to confide. Her childhood had left her isolated, constantly moving, being surrounded by people speaking a different language and living a different culture. She’d tried to fit in. She’d been curious enough to learn as she went. But being naturally on the shy side, it was always easier to hang back and view things from the periphery.

From the moment she’d met Knox McLemore she hadn’t been able to do that. Their first angry encounter had broken through her typical reticence. And the residual animosity had pulsed between them, fueled by sexual tension and physical awareness ever since.

Now she had no idea how to backpedal.

“When I was sixteen, my older sister’s boyfriend tried to rape me.”

She felt his body stiffen. He was a rock-solid wall of male aggression, even if that energy was tightly leashed. He didn’t make a sound or move, but he didn’t have to. So close to him, she could sense the throb of his hostility. Luckily, she knew it wasn’t actually aimed at her.

“Tried?” The single word was low and tight.

“Yes, my father stopped him. But that night changed everything, for me and my sister.”

Avery remembered those weeks and months. Worrying about Melody, wondering if she’d used the ticket her parents had given her to fly home. If Avery would ever see or hear from her sister again.

Melody had been so angry—at everyone, but especially at Avery.

“We moved back to Texas afterward, my parents deciding that moving around had contributed to my sister’s wild streak. We’d been back off and on over the years, but it didn’t feel like home. Although no place really did. I fought them when they tried to send me to a public high school. I didn’t want to come into an unfamiliar environment so close to graduating. So I threw myself into finishing as quickly as possible using an online home-school program and started applying for early admission to colleges.”

Needing some separation from Knox in order to tell the small white lie that was about to come out of her mouth, Avery leaned forward. She propped her elbows on her knees and ducked her head, her hair swinging forward as a kind of barrier between them.

“Melody OD’d my last year of grad school. She’d been arrested for selling drugs several years before. My parents disowned her then. They went so far as to tell people I was their only daughter. They refused any calls from her. She’d made too many mistakes and they weren’t willing to forgive her.”

It had been difficult to watch her parents turn their backs on Melody. Avery hadn’t been able to do that. Not at the moment Melody had needed her most. She’d spent day and night at the hospital, refusing to let Melody give up either. None of the doctors were optimistic about her sister’s prognosis, but Avery believed.