Keep Me Safe (Slow Burn #1)(76)

“Whoa, you aren’t going anywhere for a couple more days. You nearly died. Caleb will wait and he likely needs time to sort out his own feelings of guilt.”

Ramie closed her eyes, tears slipping down her cheeks. “I did this to him,” she said painfully. “I was afraid of him when I first woke up. I didn’t understand everything. It was all too muddled and all I could remember was him c-cutting me,” she choked out. “And I was trying to protect him. I didn’t know the killer was dead. And I guess I was trying to protect myself because I didn’t know if he still had a link to Caleb and could compel Caleb to do his bidding. I should have trusted him more.”

Eliza leaned over and gently hugged Ramie, mindful of her injuries.

“Your reaction was perfectly justified. But now that you know everything you can make things right with Caleb. After you’re discharged from the hospital,” she said firmly.

THIRTY-NINE

THEY kept Ramie in the hospital another frustratingly long week before they finally released her with strict instructions to take it easy and not to overtax herself. She had no intention of heeding their instructions.

Surprisingly it wasn’t Dane or Eliza who collected her from the hospital. Beau, Quinn and Tori all showed up and drove her to a house they were renting in the Woodlands. As soon as she got inside the house she shrugged off their demands that she go immediately to bed and faced them, having no intention of backing down until she got the information she wanted from them.

“Where is he?” she demanded.

“I don’t know if it’s a good idea for you to know,” Beau hedged. “He’d have our asses if you went after him. He’s not in a good place right now.”

“I don’t blame him for what happened,” Ramie said softly. “I love him and I can’t make things right with him if I don’t know where he is.”

Beau and Quinn exchanged uneasy glances but it was Tori who spoke up.

“He’s in Colorado. At the cabin where he first found you. He’s like a wounded bear. I think you’re exactly what he needs.”

“Damn it, Tori,” Beau growled. “The very last thing she needs is to make that trip in her condition. Caleb will come around. We just have to be patient.”

“I don’t have to be anything,” Ramie argued. “I have no home. Nowhere to go. Caleb is the only home I have if he still wants me.”

Quinn looked at her in shock. “Surely you don’t think we’re going to put you out on the streets. Ramie, you’re free to stay with us as long as you need.”

She shook her head. “I appreciate what you—all of you—have done for me and I’m sorry for all the turmoil I’ve put your family through. If I could go back and undo it all I would. I would have never called Caleb for help if I’d had any idea the consequences of my request.”

“Bullshit,” Beau swore. “You aren’t responsible for that bastard’s actions. You did exactly what you should have done and came to Caleb for help. I once told you that we all owed you an apology, an apology you never got. But I’m offering mine now. We owe you far more than you will ever owe us. You saved our sister at great cost to yourself.”

“I owe you an apology too,” Tori said in a stricken voice. “I was awful to you, Ramie.”

Tears filled Tori’s eyes. “I owe my life to you and what I gave you in return, the way I acted toward you is unforgiveable. I can only hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me—us—for the way we treated you.”

“I’m sorry too,” Quinn said in a somber voice. “Caleb loves you and that you love him is all that matters to us. He’s been alone for so long, shouldering the responsibility of this family on his own.”

“Then you can make it up to me by booking me a flight to Colorado and arranging a rental car because I’m going with or without your blessing and I’m bringing Caleb home.”

Not a single member of Caleb’s family argued further after her passionate, determined declaration.

Ramie drove the winding, bumpy road to the cabin she’d stayed in all those months ago, the irony not lost on her that Caleb had made a similar trip to track her down. Only this time she was doing the hunting and she was going to be every bit as forceful as he’d been when it came to demanding he see her.

She parked beside his SUV and sat a moment gathering her courage for the impending confrontation. What if Caleb refused to see her? What if she’d waited too long, her irrational desperation to feel safe overriding all else? When she thought back to her reaction when she’d awakened from the grasp of a nightmare to see the very man who’d starred in the terrible memory there, in front of her, she cringed all over again. It had been a rejection. A cold one at that.

She was more afraid than she’d ever been before. Even when she’d awakened that horrible night with Caleb above her, slicing through her skin. She closed her eyes, banishing the disturbing image from her mind.

Those memories had no place in the here and now. The man who’d done so much damage to so many people was finally dead and she and Caleb could be at peace. Finally at peace.

Wiping her damp palms down the legs of her jeans she carefully got out of the Jeep Beau had rented for her. She was still in a lot of pain and had to move slowly, but determination got her to the door where she knocked with every bit of the force Caleb had once knocked on this same door.