She’d made him a better man.
When she’d been taken from him, no other woman would ever match up. This was the first time he’d ever felt any kind of arousal.
Reaching out, he put his hand on Meghan’s side, beneath her tits, touching her ribs. There was slight bruising, and as she winced, he saw she was tender.
No broken bones.
Nothing to cause concern.
She looked fine.
“You have nothing to worry about.” He gripped her shoulders and turned her so her back was to him, and he inspected more of her.
Still fine.
“You’re fine. You’re stiff. Soon you’ll be back to your old self.”
“Yay, you’ve just told me I’m going to be very much alive.” She clapped her hands and then gasped. “Shit! Ouch! Yeah, don’t do that.”
He raised a brow. “Are you okay?”
“Are you showing concern for me?”
“I need to know if I have to take you back to my doctor.”
“Will I have to be given a shot of your special medicine?”
“Yes.”
“Then I am more than fine.”
“You don’t like drugs?” he asked.
“Who does?”
He laughed. “You’d be surprised.”
“Do you?”
“No.”
“Well I’ve seen what happens to men and women who take drugs. Or kids. Let’s not forget the kids.”
“You have?”
“I grew up in the system. From time to time, living on the streets was a lot safer than living in the home. Believe me, it would have been easy to give myself up to the few minutes of peace the drugs provided.”
“You never did?”
“Nope. I had no wish to. They controlled you. I already had no control over my life because I was told where I was going to go. No one asked me. I figured I would have control over every single other area, and guess what, I did.”
“And now?”
“Now, I still have control.”
“Is that how you ended up in the warehouse about to be raped and killed?”
“Don’t forget beaten.”
“You’d already been that.”
“True. I had an error in judgment. I won’t let it happen again.” She pulled on her shirt, and he helped her with it. “No, I don’t want drugs. I avoid them at all costs. I’ve shared a little detail about my past. Why don’t you give me something?”
“I’m not the sharing kind of guy.”
And soon, David was going to realize his biggest mistake was putting a bullet in the one thing taming the monster inside Riley.
Chapter Three
One week later
With a single piece of paper, Meghan’s hero was gone. He had stayed in the motel long enough for her to heal somewhat. Her face still had a lot of purple bruises, but she could see out of both eyes now. She didn’t need to wear any kind of bandage, which was a relief.
The motel had been paid for, and now she was alone.