It was a job she loved but now she faced a very uncertain future since she’d been attacked by a student and defended herself using telekinesis.
She let out a soft sigh and then promptly sucked in her breath and held herself completely still, hoping she hadn’t betrayed herself to Beau. She should have realized he’d pick up on the slightest noise.
He instantly glanced her way, his eyes narrowing in concern. His gaze raked up and down her body almost as though he could see right through her clothing to the bruises, scrapes and cuts.
“We’re almost there,” he said, surprising her by not commenting on her condition.
She appreciated the fact that he was all business and treated her like a real . . . person. Not some helpless, useless little doll who would break if touched.
Mentally, she reprimanded herself because she sounded ungrateful and resentful of the care her parents had taken with her. The lengths they’d gone to in order for her to lead a somewhat normal life.
She had no regrets for the way she was raised. She loved her mother and father dearly and wouldn’t trade those years or their closeness for anything. It was merely time for her to step out of the shadow of her parents and lead her own life. Make her own choices. Face her own consequences. Most people did so long before the age of twenty-four.
There had never been any consequences for Ari, because her father had always ensured that any issue she encountered simply disappeared. It was who he was, but now she had to be who she was. Powers or not, she had to enter the world and face her problems head-on.
They turned into a winding driveway that snaked over terrain that sloped gently toward a heavily wooded area surrounding the house on all sides. She blinked because she hadn’t even processed them driving out of the metropolitan area. She’d been too absorbed in her thoughts, worries and trying to keep Beau from seeing how much pain she was in.
Zack pulled to a stop and instantly got out, opening the door on Ari’s side. Beau started to get out and then stopped, suddenly moving slower as he gripped the door. She glanced at him in alarm, but his expression was unreadable.
He walked around as Ari began to scramble from where she was seemingly rooted to the seat. She couldn’t contain her wince and instantly closed her eyes when agony shot straight down her spine and ricocheted back up to the base of her skull, causing her neck to spasm.
She slid her feet down to the paved carport and her knees instantly buckled. Beau and Zack both made a grab for her and caught her just before she face-planted on the cement.
Zack simply hooked his arm underneath her knees and hoisted her up, cradling her against his chest. Beau looked as though he were going to protest, but Zack leveled a hard stare at him.
“You both look like shit,” he said bluntly. “You’ll be lucky to get yourself inside much less her.”
“I’m fine,” Beau bit out.
But he didn’t argue further, and heat crowded Ari’s cheeks as Zack strode purposefully into the house. It humiliated her that she had to be carried like an invalid. She hadn’t been prepared for her body’s reaction when she’d tried to move.
Even now the dull throb that had persisted the entire ride home had blown into jagged pain, like shards of glass scraping the inside of her skull. Thankfully Zack had picked her up so that the injured side of her faced outward and wasn’t pressed against his body. But he’d probably been cognizant of that. He didn’t seem like a man who missed the smallest details.
The wash of cool air raised chill bumps over her skin as soon as Zack carried her through the door. She began to shake in his arms and she had to clamp her jaw shut to prevent her teeth from chattering.
Zack looked down at her and then at Beau, frowning.
“She’s in shock. You need to get a doctor here to see to the both of you.”
“I said I’m fine,” Beau snapped. “Ari is the one who needs medical attention. She bled from her nose and ears and then she was shot. All I got was a few bruises from being knocked around in the accident.”
Zack shrugged, his expression indifferent.
“Where you want me to put her?” Zack asked.
She hadn’t thought it possible to be more embarrassed than she was already, but having the two men blithely discuss where to “put” her, like she was some inanimate object, just made her feel even more helpless and damn it, she was tired of feeling that way. She was tired of being so dependent on others. She wanted to be self-sufficient. But the fates were obviously working against her, because if she had any hope of seeing her parents alive and well and safe she had to depend on Beau’s promise that he’d find them. Because she certainly didn’t possess the skills to track down an unknown enemy or even find out why her parents had been taken and why someone wanted her badly enough to use her parents as leverage.
Was it her powers? It was the only plausible explanation. Before that damn video had gone viral, her existence had been peaceful. Sheltered, yes, but she’d finally spread her wings.
Her father had not been pleased when she’d refused his infusion of cash into her bank account. She’d gently but firmly told him that it was important to her to make her own way. To live as most other young women lived. A job, modest housing and an economical car. To her, those had all been signs of her achieving independence. It was a need that burned inside her, one that had bloomed and grown until it was all she could think about. It had become her sole focus and her goal. Not to run to her parents for every little thing. To do what most other adults did. Live within their means and make it work. Make life work. Meet normal people. Flirt, date, have a relationship without her father running a background check on any guy who so much as looked her way.