Part 34
Another scream shattered the stillness, weaker than the one before, and he ran towards it. He had been around enough violence to tell the difference between screams; she wasn't screaming as if she were being attacked. The sounds being issued from her throat were soul-deep, filled with agony and despair, but his heart still stuttered in his chest when he came upon her crumpled form.
He knelt down next to her and his right hand reached out to tentatively rest on her shaking shoulder. At least with a physical attacker he would have known what to do, but he was completely lost in this situation. There wasn't an attacker that he could fight, tear to shreds for hurting someone smaller and weaker.
"Maria." He called her name as he tried to lift her up from the ground. Blades of grass were clenched between her fingers where she had grabbed onto the only solid thing she could find in an effort to anchor herself. He had seen enough people suffering the emotional devastation of losing loved ones to battles, natural disasters, disease, and a multitude of other deadly thieves, to know that losing her lover had finally caught up with her. Something had finally triggered the switch on the ticking time bomb she had been carrying around inside of her for months.
He couldn't tell if she was physically hurt, but her skin was cold to the touch and she was completely unresponsive. He glanced around when another, weaker scream was ripped from her hoarse throat and he hoped like hell that no one called the cops and reported all the noise because it was going to be difficult to explain the situation.
Okay, what was he supposed to do? He always made sure that he had no involvement with the people they were sent in to help, leaving all the touchy-feely crap up to people who actually gave a damn one way or the other. If he could get her back to the truck without attracting any unwanted attention he could take her home and put her to bed… that would work, right? If she just went to sleep then everything would be fine when she woke up the next morning. Yeah, that made sense.
He looked down when she started to hyperventilate and he realized that his plan wasn't going to work. She was going to pass out at this rate, he thought as he crouched down beside her. He had no idea how this was supposed to work, but he knew he had to get her back home before someone came along and wanted to know what was going on.
Okay, he had seen people comforting others plenty of times and it hadn't looked all that difficult. He studied the way her body was folded over and frowned as he tried to work out the mechanics. Somehow this always looked a lot simpler when it was someone else doing the comforting. What the fuck was he supposed to do?
Put your arms around her, you moron! He reached down and pried her hands free of the ground before wrapping his hands around her upper arms and pulling her up. There was enough light from the basketball court on the other side of the playground to see that she was a mess. Her face was filthy from being on the ground; her tears had mixed with the dirt to leave muddy tracks on her face, her nose was running, her eyes were bloodshot, and her gaze was unfocused as she stared at him.
He felt completely stupid as he awkwardly put his arms around her and he tried to remember what he had seen others do in situations like this. They always pulled the person close and hugged them really tight, sometimes rocking them, sometimes not. They never seemed to notice the gross stuff, he grumbled silently. Things like mud and snot getting wiped on your clothes.
Closing his eyes tightly and forcing himself not to think about it, he pulled her closer and frowned when her arms continued to hang limply at her sides. Her breathing was still harsh and uneven and this position was a lot more uncomfortable than it looked. His arms were stiff where they were wrapped around her shoulders and he couldn't imagine how this helped anyone.
Moron! You have no idea what you're doing! Like he needed his conscience to remind him of that little fact! He had no problem knowing what to do with his limbs when he was presented with any sexual situation, but this? Hell, he had no clue how to do this; he didn't know how close to hold her, where to put his hands, or what the fuck he was supposed to say to her.
He glanced down at the top of her head when he felt her begin to shake and heard the sobs being wrenched from her throat. He lowered his head when he heard broken words rushing out along with the painful, choking breaths she was forcing in and out.
Okay, c'mon, Guerin, you can do this! You've lived through wars and survived in situations you never should've walked away from, so surely you can handle this! He took a deep breath and shifted around so he was facing her directly and he tried again.
"C'mon, Maria," he whispered gruffly. "Work with me here." This time when he wrapped his arms around her they settled into place with a little more accuracy and it didn't feel as forced. His right hand moved to the nape of her neck, sliding under her tangled hair and exerting just enough pressure to pull her in closer to his body. Her arms still remained at her sides and he knew that the lack of response wasn't good. He had to reach her, he thought with just the slightest hint of desperation. What was he gonna do if she went into shock? "Maria, you need to calm down, okay? I need you to try to focus on me… try to…" He shook his head. This was stupid and it wasn't working.
"Don't leave," she choked out.
Leave? Where the fuck did she think he was gonna go? He shook himself out of his thoughts when he realized that she wasn't talking to him. "C'mere," he muttered, pulling her snug up against his body. "Shhh, Maria… shhh… 'm never gonna leave you, Maria… never leave you…"
After a few minutes he felt her arms move as they crept around his waist and moments later her fingers dug into his shirt as if it were a lifeline. She began to calm by degrees and after a while he heard her breathe in, the sound congested and wet. He winced as he thought about what that meant to the front of his shirt, but he didn't loosen his embrace.
"We need to go home," he said when her breathing settled into a ragged, but even, rhythm. She nodded weakly but made no move to get up and he realized that in her condition she wasn't going to be able to walk back to the truck. It would be a lot faster to go get the truck and come back for her, but he couldn't just leave her in the park.
"Okay," he grumbled as he stood and lifted her up in his arms, "but I expect a damn good massage after all this because my back's gonna hurt like hell after luggin' you around." He walked for almost a mile before he made it back to the supermarket and when he placed her on her feet on the pavement he had to pin her to the side of the truck with his body to keep her from falling down. At any other time he would've thoroughly enjoyed having her body plastered against the front of his, but this was probably… no, definitely, the most non-sexual position he had ever been in with her. He shook those thoughts off and unlocked the passengers' side door, opening it wide enough that he could place her inside… He frowned as he glanced between her and his plush all-leather interior. And he didn't have anything to cover the seat with before putting her inside. Okay, that is not the important thing here; leather can be cleaned, and you need to get her home as soon as possible, he reminded himself.
He pushed her purse and jacket onto the floor and picked her up once more, settling her in the seat and belting her in before closing the door and hurrying around to the other side. He paused when his gaze landed on the motorcycle and he was hit by another moment of indecision. He didn't like leaving it there but he couldn't exactly drive both vehicles and Maria was in no condition to make the trip on the back of the motorcycle.
Damn it! If anything happened to it… He sighed and slid in behind the steering wheel. He'd just have to hook the trailer up to the truck and come back for it after she fell asleep. He turned the key in the ignition to start the engine and leaned over to check on her before he pulled out of the parking lot and headed for home.
Maria was still conscious when they pulled into the garage, but she made no move to get out on her own. He went to unlock the door to the house, leaving it standing open while he went back to get Maria. He leaned inside and was reaching across her body to unfasten the seatbelt when the lights inside the garage illuminated her features.
Hell, he couldn't just put her to bed in this condition, he mused as he stared into her dull, listless green eyes. "Okay," he muttered, moving back without releasing the seatbelt, "just stay here for a couple more minutes."
He ran through the house and flipped the light switch on in his bedroom and then the bathroom as he made his way to the bathtub. He turned the water on, setting it to the right temperature before redirecting the water to the shower head. He adjusted the spray and grabbed a couple of towels, tossing them on the counter before moving to his closet and snatching a tee shirt off of a hanger. He tossed it into the bathroom where it landed on the towels before he moved into her bedroom and switched the lamp on so he could see to pull the covers back.
He paused in the laundry room to remove his boots, socks, and shirt. He unbuckled his belt and undid the snap and zipper on his cargo pants, stepping out of them and dropping them on the washer before glancing down at his boxer-clad dick. "This is in no way related to anything sexual," he said in a warning tone. "Don't you dare do a goddamned thing except what you're doin' right now." He stepped back down into the garage and walked around the truck to open the door again. He gathered Maria up in his arms and carried her inside, relieved when he set her down on her feet in the bathroom and he didn't have to hold her up as he had before. It concerned him when he started to remove her clothes and she didn't make a single protest.
He kept his thoughts focused on everything but the woman he was undressing, forcing them to stay as far away from anything with a sexual connotation as possible. She didn't say a word as he walked her over to the bathtub and helped her to step inside, holding her steady as he joined her and maneuvered her back under the warm spray.
He was completely out of his element here and his movements felt uncoordinated and awkward. He had showered with women before, of course, but they had never been even remotely connected to an effort to get clean. On the contrary, shared showers had always been about getting down and dirty. His dick gave a twitch of interest and he quickly shoved those thoughts aside and glared at it in warning as he reached for the shampoo on the built-in shelves in the corner. He frowned at the different bottles and finally just reached for his, squeezing some into the palm of his hand and tugging Maria out from under the spray and turning her around so her back was to the wall.
He worked the shampoo into her hair, his fingers massaging her scalp as the shampoo turned into a foamy lather. Her breath whispered across his skin as she dropped her forehead down to settle against his chest and his eyes rolled back in his head as he fought for control.
He was not this fuckin' noble! How much was he supposed to take? He took a deep breath, feeling control settle over him once more. Okay, he could do this… he could! He finished washing her hair and walked her backwards so he could rinse the shampoo out. Once that was finished he grabbed the little round fluffy thing she used and he squeezed a healthy amount of body wash onto it, rubbing it between his hands to work it up into a good lather. He shrugged as he studied the soapy thing, not certain that was the way it was supposed to work, but pretty sure that it would work for tonight.
He started a mental inventory of every ugly woman he had ever met in an effort to keep his dick under control as he started to run the fluffy soapy thing over her body, wincing when he saw the cuts, scrapes, and bruises she had collected from her meeting with the ground. He rinsed the soap out of the thing and hung it back on the hook before turning back to check on Maria. Satisfied that she was completely rinsed off he turned the faucets off and shoved the curtain back, stepping out onto the rug and moving across the room to grab the towels. She would bitch about the wet spots on the rug the next morning, but at this rate, he would welcome her fiery attitude if it meant that this silent person would go away.
He stepped out into his bedroom, stripping off the soaked boxers and drying off in record time before pulling on a fresh, dry pair of boxers. He hurried back into the bathroom and dried Maria off before wrapping a towel around her and helping her out of the bathtub to towel dry her hair. It wasn't until he pulled the tee shirt over her head and was doing his best to maneuver her arms through the short sleeves that he realized tears were still falling from her eyes.
He unknotted the towel he had wrapped around her and was tugging the tee shirt down over her bare hips when she suddenly leaned into him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Oh, what're you doin'?" he whispered hoarsely. She was gonna fuckin' kill him, touching him like this! He had to get her into bed before his dick made its interest in her known by standing up and introducing itself. "C'mon, you need to get some sleep."
She didn't release him so he extricated himself from her arms and picked her up, carrying her to her bedroom and placing her in her bed. He pulled the covers up over her, tucking them close to her body before leaning over and switching the lamp off. The sky was beginning to reveal the first pinkish-grey streaks of dawn and for the first time in longer than he could remember he didn't go out for his morning run by his own choice.
Instead he walked around the bed and sat down on her other side, leaning over Maria's still form to pick up the TV remote. He aimed it at the television and turned it on, making sure the volume was down low as he flipped through the channels looking for something to watch.
He propped a couple of pillows up behind his back and slouched down, his left arm flung over his head as he turned to look at the woman beside him. She had finally slipped into a light sleep and he could tell from the way she was breathing that it wouldn't be much longer before exhaustion pulled her all the way under.
He was beginning to doze off himself when he felt her roll over towards him and before long her hand had sought his out, linking their fingers together as she sighed peacefully. It wasn't long before he followed her into sleep, forgetting all about his plans to rush right back out to rescue his motorcycle from its abandonment in the supermarket parking lot.