Slave: The Ghost of Cambria - Book Two

Chapter Fifteen

Tony waited patiently for Kristen to recover from the trauma. Disheartened by her loss of emotional control, he felt obliged to hold the suffering woman for a good while before attempting to move them from this room. When Kristen's trembling slowed, and the deep sobs in her chest finally allowed her to breathe comfortably, Tony whispered tenderly in her ear.

"Let me take you downstairs. You're not ready to be in here."

Kristen didn't respond for some time before she moved her limbs slowly, allowing Tony to slip his arm around her waist and get her up on her feet.

After they'd made their way to the guestroom, Tony sat them both down on the air mattress, maintaining the embrace between them.

"Now, why ever did you do that to yourself?" he managed to ask her without a hint of disapproval. "You know we're not supposed to be up there."

Kristen only breathed in response at first, tempering herself in time and wiping the tears from her eyes.

"I had to see it," she whispered with remnants of unstable gasps darkening her words. "They called me and told me that it's over. They won't be investigating us anymore, and someone is coming tomorrow to clean it up. And I just had to look."

Kristen fell to deeper sobs, the wave cresting again for minutes before she could proceed. Tony said nothing, allowing the woman to continue in her own time.

"I'm sorry," Kristen said when again she finally could speak. "I'm sorry I went in there. I'm sorry I did that to you."

"Don't worry about me," Tony replied, "all that matters now is this ordeal's finally over, and you're going to be okay."

It occurred to the young man that he was whispering words of comfort to the last person he'd expect would need them. This was her job, wasn't it - telling sad people that everything was going to be fine? In fact, Tony thought the woman likely considered his words to be cliched, even an imposition. But then Kristen's body enfolded into him even more, as if he'd said exactly what she needed to hear.

Tony reciprocated the squeeze of Kristen's affection, and in time when she was ready to lift her head, he moved to kiss her wet cheek tenderly.

"It's killing me to see you suffer this way," Tony whispered. "I really care for you, and you don't deserve all the bullshit you've been put through."

Upon his words, the young man distinctly felt Kristen begin to harden. Her limbs became less pliant. Her back stiffened, reinforcing the erect posture she'd abandoned during her despair. And at last, Kristen pulled her hand from his, accounting for the cold move by bringing it up to her face where she wiped away her tears.

"Thank you," Kristen finally replied. "As I said, the Sheriff's office has ended their investigation, and I don't think they'll be bothering us any longer."

"That's a relief, I guess," Tony replied. "So, they understand it was all a terrible mistake, just like you told them?"

"There's a company coming tomorrow morning to do a cleanup of the room," Kristen said instead of answering his question. "Would you bring down the packed boxes this afternoon before you leave? It'll be better if everything is out of their way. And I won't be going back into that room."

"Sure thing," said Tony.

He moved to hug her one more time before standing and distinctly felt Kristen's rigidity to his touch. Not allowing himself to show displeasure or embarrassment, Tony left Kristen in the room and ventured back upstairs.

There was a total of six packing boxes taped and ready for transport waiting in the master bedroom. Tony started by first moving them out of the space and into the hallway so he could close the bedroom door. He didn't feel right being in the room, regardless of the experiences he'd had with Kristen on that bed. After she'd carried on without Tony, he would rather not be in there at all, and the clicking sound of the oak doorknob at it closed carried more symbolic weight for the young man than he cared to admit.