Always Running (MATURE CONTENT)

CHAPTER 25

Nessa shot up in bed as she usually did when she had slept longer than twenty minutes at a time. Her eyes were wild and searched the room.

"You're safe." Lucas stood up from behind his desk. "You with me?"

It took Nessa a few minutes to recognize her surroundings. She wasn't in her room. She was in Lucas' room.

"You with me, sweetheart?" Lucas asked again with a twinge of concern in his voice.

"I'm with you—" Nessa couldn't finish her sentence. She threw off the covers and jumped out of bed and rushed to the bathroom.

"You alright?" He stood behind her holding her hair back as Nessa emptied the contents of her stomach. She groaned and moaned between spams. She felt horrible. Her whole body was clammy, and she was completely out of sorts.

"I guess taking four lives didn't sit well with me." She leaned back on her legs too weak to stand up.

Lucas reached down and picked her up. "How does a nice hot bath sound?"

"Like heaven."

Lucas sat her down on the counter next to the sink while he ran a bath. She brushed her teeth quickly and watched as he added scented salts to the water and took her in his arms again and sat her in the large tub after stripping the shirt off that she wore.

"There's one more thing that I need to tell you, but I'm honestly concerned at how you're going to react," he confessed as he rubbed her back with a loofa sponge.

Nessa turned her head and faced him. "Tell me, I think I can handle it."

Lucas debated internally whether or not he should tell her the last piece of information. He didn't want her to get hurt, he didn't want her to spin out of control again. Her body was already feeling the stress she had submitted herself to the last few days. More stress than she had dealt with while on the run, he guessed.

"It's about your sister." He began at a slow pace letting what he had to tell her sink in without causing her stress if that was possible.

"What about her?" Nessa needed to tell him how Connie had betrayed her, but she wasn't ready...not yet.

"Connie has been with Justin for the past few years." His tone was calm and gentle.

Nessa felt her heart wrench. She stayed quiet and let Lucas enlighten her as to how deep her sister's betrayal went.

"I've been tracking her movements and what we know so far is that she sees Justin every week on Mondays and Thursdays. He has a house where Connie lives under heavy surveillance."

HATRED. Nessa sat in the warm water fighting the hatred she felt for her own flesh and blood. Connie had betrayed her. Connie had caused Thomas to find her again, but how? That was the question that kept going unanswered in her mind. She hated everything that was happening. She hated that her own sister had worked against her for what? What could Justin possibly have over her or offer her for Connie to betray the only person that took care of her?

"You alright?" Lucas moved her forward and sat behind her in the tub. He pulled her back towards him and kissed her temple.

Nessa had been so engrossed in her thoughts that she hadn't even noticed when Lucas began to undress.

"I don't understand why she did this. When I spoke to her—"

"When did you speak to her?" Lucas cut her off. He began to wash her stomach with the loofa being gentle.

"A few days ago, she asked me why I left Silver Springs, and I knew that she had betrayed me."

Lucas put the loofa aside and began to rub his hands on her skin in a soft and sensual manner that made Nessa's body respond immediately.