Love Among The Ruins-Chapter 79

CAINE’S P.O.V

I cleaned her and changed her out of her bloody clothes.

Neither of us spoke the entire time. She just curled into me, eyes closed and her face filled with exhaustion. My hands shook as I held her close to me. She assured me she was fine, told me that there was nothing to worry about but she was lying.

Even if I didn’t know her well enough, it was obvious from how she looked. She was covered from head to toe in bruises. Someone had beaten her badly before throwing her out here. She had bruises on her arms, back and ribs. Blood rushed through my ears when I saw them and it took everything for me not to storm back towards that bunker and string up Trent by his toes for hurting her.

"For you," Amy told her, handing her some pain killers and a bottle. "It’ll make you drowsy but it’ll help with the pain."

Nadine snorted. "Nothing can help with the pain I’m in."

My heart damn near broke when she said that. I wished I could take it away. If I could, I’d have done it by now. I couldn’t help but wonder if I was defective because where she seemed to be in pain, I was numb.

I felt nothing but anger at what Trent had done to her. I expected devastation, frustration or even sadness, but it was almost as if I was incapable of those emotions.

"I’m sorry," Amy whispered. She hesitated for a moment before continuing. "I swiped some things from the hospital wing. There’s an implant there if you want it. There’s no rush, I just wanted you to know."

Without another word, she was gone.

I turned to Nadine, trying to figure out how she felt about it but her face revealed nothing. She just threw the pills into her mouth and closed her eyes.

She fell asleep a few minutes later and even though I knew I didn’t have to keep holding her, I couldn’t put her down. A part of me still felt like she was going to disappear if I wasn’t always touching her.

"Hey," Amy whispered as she sat next to me.

She’d returned with Joshua a few minutes ago. Neither of them spoke to me, they just stared at me with pitying glances out of the corner of their eyes.

"How is she?" she continued.

"She’ll be fine."

Amy sighed. "Joshua says that we have to move soon."

"I’m not going to wake her up. We can afford to rest for a while."

"They probably know we’re gone by now. They’re going to come looking Caine. If what she saw was true-"

"It was," I cut her off. Nadine was a lot of things, but a liar was not one of them. If she said she saw it then she did. "I believe her."

She held her hands up quickly, showing me she meant no harm. "I believe her too, but no one else will. We have to move."

Unfortunately, I knew she was right so I nodded curtly. "Where are we going?"

She shrugged. "Anywhere is better than here. Why don’t we get into town first and figure it out from there?"

The last thing I wanted was to be left exposed and unprotected with Nadine hurt like this, but I figured it was better than going back into the bunker. I stood with Nadine in my arms, making sure she was comfortable before nodding to the others.

"If you get tired, I can-" Joshua began but I cut him off.

"I don’t need your help. Let’s move."

He rolled his eyes at me but said nothing. He picked up my abandoned bag and we began moving.

I didn’t know where we were going but I chose to trust that Joshua would lead us out. I tried to move as quietly and gently as possible so as not to rouse Nadine.

I couldn’t help but glance at her every few minutes, my anger spiking each time I took in the bruise at the side of her face. If I’d just been smarter, we would’ve escaped all of this. From the moment we got into the bunker, I knew something was off, but the baby... fuck.

Trent had succeeded in not only fooling us, but taking something from me that was not his to take.

About twenty minutes into our journey, Nadine woke up. She stirred in my arms, confused at first, but the moment she realized what was happening, she demanded to walk.

Naturally, I said no but she wouldn’t take no for an answer. She fought me until I relented and set her on her feet. She was being stubborn, it was obvious. She was in pain but instead of taking the easy way out, she demanded to push through it.

I walked next to her though, keeping a close eye on her so I could pick her up if the pain proved to be too much.

We took breaks frequently, and even though Nadine didn’t say it out loud, I could tell she was grateful for it. Her body was in pain. She didn’t say a single word for most of the journey. She wasn’t very chatty on a good day, but complete silence was out of the norm for her.

By nightfall, I was worried.

We stopped in a small clearing and took shelter under a large tree. It wasn’t the best hiding spot but it worked. We couldn’t use a cave because of Nadine’s injuries; the ground there was far too hard, and there were enough of us to take turns keeping watch at night.

Nadine curled up on her side, her back to me and her eyes closed, but I knew she wasn’t sleeping. I’d tried to give her space all day, but I couldn’t sit by and watch while parts of her were chipped away.

I moved over to her, pulling her into my lap. She made a small sound of protest but didn’t fight me.

"Princess," I began slowly but she shook her head, begging me to stop. "You have to talk to me."

"I don’t."

Even though it was just two words, and it wasn’t what I wanted to hear, I was relieved to hear her speaking.

"I’m not going to stop until you do."

"What do you want me to say, Rowan?" her voice was soft, exasperated and frustrated. "I’m exhausted and I’m angry and I just want it all to end."

"I know."

She exhaled deeply. "I want the implant."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded. "I don’t ever want to feel this way again. I want it now."

I wasn’t going to fight with her on it. It was what she wanted and my job was to support her. I turned to Amy who’d been listening to the entire conversation and nodded once. She was quick to move, rummaging through her bag until she found what she was looking for.

"It’s going to hurt like hell," she whispered to Nadine who merely nodded. "I don’t have any anesthesia."

Nadine looked bored. "I know how this works, I’ve done it before. Just shove a sock in my mouth."

Amy looked uncomfortable. "I’ve only done this once before. I could hurt-"

"Do it or so help me, I’ll do it myself."

Amy nodded before turning to me. "You might want to cover her mouth."