DELIVER(94)

The truth in that thought clawed through her chest and burned her eyes. She was homeless. Also penniless, jobless, and without a family. Hell, she didn’t even have a change of clothes. Aching for Mom, miserable on her lonely side of the room, she backed out of the doorway.

What the f*ck was wrong with her? She was free. Livana was safe. Josh’s parents had their son back.

Pull your balls out of your cunt.

Van’s words steeled her strides down the hallway. She’d wait on the bench at the end of the hall until Josh was ready. Her toes pinched in her boots, and her stupid eyes burned with stupid tears. She slapped at her cheeks and pretended she couldn’t hear the desolate echo of her heart in her ears.

Halfway to her destination, an arm hooked around her waist. She gasped and inhaled Josh’s clean familiar scent. Tension shuddered from her body. She let her head fall back on his shoulder and compulsively reached for his hand at her hip. Christ, she hadn’t realized how badly she’d needed him to hold her.

“What are you doing?” His breath caressed her ear, and his other arm crossed her chest.

She turned in his embrace, wrapped an arm around his muscled back, and pressed her palm to his whiskered jaw, savoring his heat seeping into her skin. “I don’t know where I’m going.” Her nose thickened with tears. Fucking hell, she was sniveling.

“Hey, it’s okay.” He was heartbreakingly beautiful, even more so when he regarded her as if he were searching, not her eyes but what lay behind them. “I’m not going anywhere without you.” He touched a knuckle under her chin and raised it. “The worst is behind us. It’s just you and me. Everything else is trivial. Got it?”

Her insecurities dimmed in the intensity of his gaze. She traced the curve of his bottom lip. “How do you do that?”

With his arm braced around her, he dipped two fingers inside the front of her dress and pinched her nipple. Leaning in, he kissed the corner of her parted lips. “I’m a horny slut, remember?” He adjusted her top, twined their fingers, and led her back to the waiting room. “Time to meet my parents.” He peeked back at her, grinning.

She shook her head and followed that gorgeous, confident smile. She’d follow him anywhere, even if it was to meet his parents with her tits creeping out of her minidress.

“Mom, Dad, this is Liv.”

The air shifted with the horrified widening of their eyes. Judgmental energy prickled over her cleavage and down her legs. They didn’t openly gawk at her body. It was a flash, a gasp, a quick glance away.

Holding their chins stiffly upward, their eyes locked on Josh as if another accidental glimpse in her direction would damn them to hell. What had he told them about her? Not the truth, certainly. But had he told them he loved her? His fingers were laced with hers, but that could imply friendship. She rubbed her sweaty palm over her belly, stared at the exit longingly, and met their narrowed eyes.

Emily clutched a wad of tissues to her chest, her face etched in wrinkles. Her gray gaze flicked to Liv’s scar and returned to Josh. “Oh dear.” Her voice was cold, forced. “You poor thing.”

Liv cringed. Ugh, her pity didn’t even sound sincere. “Nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Carter.” She held out her hand.

Daniel clasped it, his fingers gnarled from manual labor, and let go. The hue of his eyes were indeed the same as Josh’s but duller and surrounded by dark circles. Worse, those eyes studied her as if they were putting her in a box labeled, Things To Keep Away From Josh. “You’re welcome to stay with us until you get on your feet. We don’t have a lot of room, but we’ll make it work.”

“She’s staying with us.” Josh gripped her hip, pulled her chest against his hard body, and rested his lips on her forehead.

She hooked her thumbs in his belt loops and kissed the hollow of his throat.

Daniel’s harsh squint was slightly more subtle than the ugly twist of Emily’s mouth. They knew their son had been imprisoned and used as a sex slave. She doubted Josh had gone into details with them, but imaginations were limitless, even for church-goers. They would’ve been told that she was a victim like their son, but she was still part of the evil that defiled their virginal boy.

“Excuse me, Mr. Carter?” A uniformed officer poked his head in the doorway. “If you’re ready to leave, we can escort your family to your car. There’s a lot of activity out front.”

Minutes later, she stepped into the cool evening air with Josh’s arm hugging her shoulders. A small assembly of news reporters lined the walkway to the parking lot, flashing bulbs and shouting questions. But their voices were smothered by the cheers of college kids, waving Welcome Home posters and Baylor Bears memorabilia.

“Somebody’s pop-u-lar.” She squeezed his waist, and his chuckle vibrated through her.

They walked behind his parents and two officers, weaving through the crowd that spilled into the parking lot. The college kids stared openly with wide eyes, likely imagining all the horrors of their captivity. Some shouted friendly greetings. Others held candlelit prayer circles.

Suddenly, Josh’s muscles stiffened around her. He stopped their forward movement and turned them toward a huddle of pretty twenty-something girls.

Seriously? “Josh, what are you—”

A flash of long black hair caught her attention.

Camila shimmied between two girls and held out a plastic grocery bag filled with clothes. Her huge dark eyes were cautious, flicking over the crowd.