And Phantom was probably the least-qualified person to help her get through the emotional quagmire she was experiencing. He was more fucked in the head than most people. But…he couldn’t leave her. Needed to fix his mistake. Make it right. Even if, in the end, she ended up hating him.
He had a feeling that would hurt him more than the pain his own flesh and blood had inflicted.
Kalee had gotten to him. Maybe it was the months of wondering what she was going through. Maybe it was hearing all the stories about her from Piper. But most likely it was simply because of Kalee herself. She was one of the strongest people he’d ever met…and she had yet to say a word.
Kalee Solberg could break his heart. Phantom knew it. Expected it, actually…but his resolve to make sure she returned to Riverton in a healthy head space never dimmed.
“You’re going to get through this, Kalee,” he whispered, hoping if he said the words out loud, it would make them true.
Kalee’s mind was going a mile a minute. It was so strange that just an hour ago, she was lying on the hard, broken floorboards of the dilapidated house the rebels had taken over, wondering what she’d be forced to do in the morning and if she’d get to eat, and now she was standing in a hostel, miles away, with her own personal champion.
His identification looked authentic, but what did she know? If he was telling the truth, Phantom’s name really was Forest Dalton. He was thirty-three, a year older than her. He had brown hair, brown eyes and stood at six foot five, almost eight inches taller than she was. He lived in Riverton and, according to his passport, he really had arrived in Timor-Leste less than twenty-four hours ago.
She’d prayed for someone to rescue her more nights than she could remember, and it was still too hard to believe that her prayers had actually come true.
Kalee tiptoed to the door and put her ear against the surface. She didn’t hear anything and panicked for a second, thinking maybe Phantom had left.
She pushed the door open and saw her rescuer leaning against the wall in the hallway, right by the door. He turned to her and straightened. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”
Kalee nodded, then shrugged.
Phantom relaxed and settled back into his slouch by the door. “I’m still here,” he told her with way too much insight. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Nodding again, and feeling embarrassed at her insecurity, Kalee backed up and the door shut once more.
Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, then winced. Her ribs were sore from the last beating she’d received at the hands of the rebels. She hadn’t moved fast enough to suit them, and one of the men had knocked her down and two others had taken great pleasure in kicking her.
Kalee turned her thoughts from her captors to the man standing outside. Phantom was handsome. Almost too handsome. Too sure of himself. He was huge, and it was obvious he was in shape. She had no doubt he could’ve made it back to the hostel in half the time it took them, but he made sure she could keep up and was extra vigilant about staying out of view of anyone who might be up and about.
As perfect as the man seemed on the outside, that wasn’t what made Kalee feel she could trust him. And reluctantly, she admitted she did feel that he was trustworthy.
It was almost ridiculous how little she cared about a man’s looks now. She’d learned the hard way that the superficial things about a man that women were usually drawn to were completely inconsequential to who they were as a person. How they acted was more important. Actions spoke so much louder than words.
She was a good judge of character. Always had been. And her months of captivity hadn’t changed that. Phantom was a good man. He’d no sooner hit her than walk away from someone getting the shit beat out of them on the street. He’d act. Step in. Insert himself into the situation.
But the pull toward him was more than that. It wasn’t sexual; it was more a feeling of safety…something she hadn’t felt for months. Kalee could also see heartache and pain in his eyes. He did his best to hide it, but it was there. She’d guess he’d been betrayed in the past. Badly. And damned if that didn’t make Kalee feel as if she had a sort of connection with him.
Shaking her head, she walked over to the sinks and took a deep breath as she looked at her reflection in the mirror. She immediately wished she hadn’t. She almost didn’t recognize the woman looking back at her.
Her long auburn hair had been chopped off one night months ago. It now hung limp and greasy from her head, barely brushing her ears. Her face had bruises in various stages of healing all over it, and she was covered in dirt.
Pulling the black shirt to the side, Kalee could clearly see her collarbone. She was skinnier than she’d ever been in her life, and instead of feeling good about that, it made her extremely self-conscious.
Her green eyes were dull and wary. She’d never been vain, but the thought of seeing her dad like this, or Piper—hell, anyone—was extremely distressing. She hadn’t understood why Phantom wasn’t going to rush her home, but she was beginning to get it now.
When she faced her friends and family, she didn’t want to be the broken woman looking back at her in the mirror. She wanted to be strong. Wanted them to be proud of her. At the moment, with her flinching at every quick movement Phantom made and unable to get one word past the lump in her throat, she was anything but.
Gritting her teeth, Kalee turned away from the mirror. There wasn’t anything she could do about her hair right this second. Or the bruises. Or her bones sticking out of her skin. But she could get clean. It had literally been months since she’d had a hot shower. She didn’t trust any of the rebels enough to get completely undressed anywhere near them, so she usually just waded into a stream or stood in the rain with all her clothes on, doing her best to clean both her body and clothes at the same time.
Knowing she should be wary of getting naked with Phantom just outside the door, Kalee hesitated only a moment before stripping off the black garments she’d been forced to wear, leaving them in a heap on the floor. If Phantom said he’d make sure no one came into the bathroom while she was in there, she trusted that’s exactly what he’d do. How she knew that, she had no clue. Chalk it up to her innate ability to read people.
Refusing to look down at herself, Kalee turned the knob on the wall in the shower and held her breath. If the water was cold, she’d still bathe. Hell, cold water was what she was used to. But if it was hot…or even warm…it would be amazing.
Within a minute or two, the water slowly warmed until it was almost scalding.
Not caring that the pressure was crappy and it was little more than a drizzle, Kalee stepped under the spray and tilted her head up. The hot water rained over her face and head, cascading down her body. With every drop that swirled down the drain, taking the dirt and filth that had built up on her body over the months, Kalee felt lighter and lighter.
Suddenly anxious to clean every inch of herself, to rid her body of the dirt that clung to her like a parasite, she reached for the used bar of soap sitting on a ledge nearby.
Not caring that others had used it—it was amazing how things that would’ve grossed her out a year ago didn’t even faze her now—Kalee quickly rubbed her hands together and worked up some foam. Then she ran her hands over her body, cleansing all the unwanted touches away. She felt almost giddy.