Mastered by Malone (Haven, Texas 6)

“Uh-huh.” Her eyes remained closed; her face even more pale than before. That headache had to be a killer. He walked out of the room and down to the other end of the hallway to her bedroom. The alarm for the house was already on. He’d do another check of the house once he got her settled though.

He walked through her bedroom which was neat as a pin. She sure did like things tidy. The house had never been so clean, not even when he’d employed someone to do it.

He shook his head as he moved into the bathroom. She was getting to him. Kicker was, he knew she didn’t even mean to. She wasn’t doing anything deliberately. Wasn’t being anyone but herself.

Just as he suspected, there wasn’t any feminine shit strewn around. Just a toothbrush and hairbrush by the sink. He opened the top drawer and grabbed the three bottles in there. All of them prescriptions. One a strong painkiller for headaches and migraines. The other was a sedative.

His gut tightened as he looked at the third container. An anti-anxiety drug. He opened the lid, and saw it was nearly empty. Shit.

Why the fuck hadn’t her cousin told him she had anxiety? Not that it wasn’t understandable. Did she have PTSD? She should be having therapy. But, then, she couldn’t do that without a paper trail, could she?

Except, he knew a shrink who would help him out without any paperwork. Part of this was his fault. She was his responsibility now. He should have asked her when she first came here if she had any medication. Anything he needed to be aware of. That was on him. He’d been too busy avoiding her and he hadn’t taken care of her the way he should have.

Of course he’d expected her to come to him if she needed anything. The fact she’d kept all this hidden pissed him off. And he’d be letting her know that. Once she was feeling better.

He grabbed both containers. She had a bottle of water by the bed and he got that too before returning to his bedroom. He’d left the light on by the bed. It looked like she hadn’t moved at all.

“Still awake?” he asked quietly.

“Hard to sleep when there’s a jackhammer trying to crack a hole in my head,” she told him.

“Got your painkillers and the water that was beside your bed.” He put the anti-anxiety drugs on the bedside table then shook out a couple of the strong painkillers and handed them to her. She took them and swallowed some water before laying down again.

“I’ll turn the light out.”

“No, wait—” she said urgently, trying to sit up, then groaning with obvious pain.

“Easy, lie still.” He placed a hand on her shoulder.

“I . . . the light . . . I should go to back . . . to my room.”

Yeah, that wasn’t happening. But he got the gist of the problem.

“You don’t like sleeping in the dark.”

“Not anymore. Not since . . . ”

His jaw tightened at the reminder. Not since she’d discovered a bunch of dead bodies and found herself on the run from the fucking mob. Yeah, he should have guessed the dark wasn’t her friend.

“Bathroom light be enough?”

She looked up at him. “You don’t think I’m being ridiculous? I know it’s childish and silly, but I—”

Yeah. Enough.

“Babe, you’ve been through more shit in the last six months than most people go through their whole lives. You need the light on, the light stays on. Now, bathroom light? It enough?”

“Yes, thank you.”

He turned on the bathroom light, leaving the door partially open. He wasn’t used to sleeping with the light on, but he could put up with it for one night. Tomorrow night, she’d be back in her own bed. He switched off the light by the bed then walked out to do a check of the house. He took his time, hoping she’d be asleep by the time he got back. He was also hoping that his hard-on from hell would go down.

When he walked back into his bedroom and saw her lying there, curled up under the blankets, he knew the likelihood of getting his dick to rest was pretty much nil. He sighed. Sure, he could go take care of matters himself, but that held pretty much zero appeal.

He climbed up into his side of the bed.

His side. The whole damn bed was his side. He needed to get his shit together. He pulled the covers up and rolled over, facing away from her.

“Malone?” she said in a sleepy voice.