Misled by Kathryn Kelly, Crystal Cuffley Read Free Book Online Page B

possible, he cleaned the dirt and blood from her face, hands, and poor, abused feet. She groaned and Outlaw noted a rush of pink replacing some of the paleness in her cheeks. He laid a hand over her forehead, finding her warmer than she should be. Rack. He needed gutting for doing this to her. Outlaw could only be thankful Rack hadn’t raped her. Then, again, no matter his threats of taking his money out of her ass, Rack knew Outlaw would’ve gutted him. Her color was returning, but she’d be in a lot of pain and needed rest, a place to heal. He picked the first T-shirt he put his hands on and dressed her in it before tucking the covers around her. He didn’t know if she was asleep or unconscious or a combination and, really, at this point, he couldn’t do anything more for her. He couldn’t migrate too far from the clubhouse today. She’d either live or die. He’d gotten her out of the cold, cleaned her up, warmed her up.
    Everything now depended on a God Outlaw had stopped believing in years ago.

Chapter 5
    “You’re awake.”
    The husky words resounded in Meggie’s brain the moment she opened her eyes. She blinked and coughed, trying to get her bearings, then moaned and clutched the side of her face.
    Had Thomas found her?
    She hurt all over. Not surprising because pain and tears had been Meggie’s constant companions since her mother’s marriage. She tried to lift her head and found her sight narrowed to one slit in her right eye. She couldn’t see anything out of the left one. It throbbed with nauseating fierceness.  A sliver of light beamed off the brick wall she faced and she frowned, too late remembering any small movement would aggravate her pain receptors. She tried to take in her unfamiliar surroundings, but couldn’t fathom her whereabouts. She knew she was inside, in a bed.
    “Megan?”
    The voice sounded like Outlaw’s . Impossible. He’d thrown her off the premises and the last thing she remembered was Rack and the guys he’d been with when they’d cornered her, exacting revenge, they said, because Outlaw had battered Rack thanks to her big mouth.
    She lifted herself on her elbows and noticed movement. “Outlaw?” she asked , hoarse. Her throat felt tight and scratchy. She sneezed and bit her lip to keep from crying out in pain.
    He lifted a brow but didn’t comment about the fact she knew his name. “Yeah?”
    More movement and the sound of boots thu mped to the ground from where he sat on a chair near the bed.
    She cleared her throat. “What are you doing?” She was still hoarse.
    “Puttin’ my feet on the floor so I can stand up,” he answered. A moment later, the bed dipped as he sat next to her. His warm fingers gripped her chin and turned her face this way and that. “Lay back.”
    She complied, grateful for the comfort of the bed. He dropped his hand away, resting it on her belly. She scooted closer to him , not sure what compelled her to touch him every time he was near her. “Where am I?”
    “At the clubhouse. In my room.”
    In his bed . Her heart rate increased at the thought and she placed her hand over his.
    “Do you gotta touch me all the fuckin’ time?”
    Her head was already pounding something awful and his growl only worsened the pain. “Unless you wish to stop touching me,” she countered, hoping he didn’t take her challenge and move away.
    He grunted and narrowed his eyes, trying to intimidate her, she supposed through two sneezes and a cough. She refused to look away. A curse accompanied his scowl. Fatigue still pulled at Meggie, but, more than that, she felt like a lost little girl. The way her body responded to his, though, wasn’t in the least childlike. Besides, she’d grown up the moment she’d stepped out of her mother’s house to find her father on her own. Hortensia, Washington was relatively safe, tucked between Camas and Victoria, along the Columbia River. She’d found a spot near a creek to sleep and bathe. Although Rack had found her