Keep Me Safe: A Slow Burn Novel (Slow Burn Novels) by Maya Banks

Author:Maya Banks [Banks, Maya]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: dpgroup.org, IDS@DPG
ISBN: 9780062312471
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2014-10-06T16:00:00+00:00

TWENTY

TORI sat up in bed, coming awake with a gasp. Her heart pounded violently in her chest, her pulse so rapid she was weak. She scrambled out of bed, the images still vibrant and alive in her mind. She could still hear the gunshot, smell the blood and could see the face of her tormentor as he pointed a gun straight at her.

She went into her bathroom and splashed cool water on her flushed face. Then she lifted haunted eyes to her reflection in the mirror and winced at how pale and gaunt she looked.

It had been a year. It was time to move on. Time to stop being afraid of her shadow. Live.

Was the dream a vision or was it simply a nightmare? It was too real, too crisp and vivid to be a dream. Dreams didn’t usually make sense and were jumbled images randomly thrown together.

She went still for a moment, her brow furrowing in concentration. She didn’t recognize where the shooting took place. It definitely wasn’t here or anywhere she was familiar with.

It should be easy enough to avoid, if indeed it was a prophetic vision. She never left the house. She was too afraid to go out, either with someone or alone. Especially alone.

What had her life become? Who had she become? She no longer recognized the girl in the mirror. She was dull and lifeless. Scared and timid. A far cry from the woman she’d been a year ago before she’d gone to hell.

How did Ramie do it? How could she bear to endure that over and over? Tori flinched at how angry and rude she’d been with Ramie. The idea that someone had seen her shame was more than she could bear, though. Great injustice had been wrought against Ramie St. Claire, but Tori couldn’t find the empathy to soften against this fragile woman.

She stood in the bathroom a long moment before finally going back into her bedroom. She crawled under the covers, pulling them to her chin. She lay there shaking, her stomach churning endlessly.

An hour later, she gave up. A trip to the kitchen would be a welcome—and necessary—nightly patrol. One she didn’t confide in her brothers. But between the times they or their men scouted the house, inside and out, Tori had her own route she followed, moving her markers so that she would notice a difference if someone touched them. Her brothers would think she was crazy, clinically insane if they knew how obsessed she was with the fear of someone coming into her home and taking her again. She hid a lot from her brothers. This was just another thing in a long list they didn’t need to know about because they’d only worry more than they already did.

Sleep wouldn’t happen tonight. Just like so many other nights in the past year, she’d be awake, staring up at the ceiling and trying to shut the door on things she’d rather forget.

At least if she had food and coffee, then the middle-of-the-night munchy run wasn’t all that strange.

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