When All Else Fails (A Push of a Button Novella)

Chapter Five

He strode into the bathroom and set her down on the shower floor before shucking off his shirt and stepping in too. Well, there could be worse things. He might not want to see her like this, but better this than dead. He pressed the button for the shower and programmed it to the warmest they could take it. Viv sighed and tilted her head up into the cascade of water droplets, her eyes closed. He hadn't seen her like this since they were children running around in the sprinkler in his backyard.

Grabbing the soap, he kept one eye on her. The water ran down her face and over her neck, leaving rivulets of pale white skin. Apparently, she was covered with more grime than he'd assumed. How desperate was she to avoid family? Surely a night or two in a different hotel every few days wouldn't have hurt. Granted, Dane was a whiz with computers. He'd probably have tracked her down, but Dane also wasn't that overprotective. He'd leave her alone, assuming she'd come back.

Except he hadn't left it alone. He'd come asking Seb for information on her whereabouts days ago. It had seemed strange, but at the time, he hadn't given it much thought. Now it seemed much more important. He crouched down and squeezed some of the shampoo into his palm. "Okay, Viv. You'll have to tip your head back for me. Lean into me if you need to. I don't need you falling and hurting yourself."

She shifted to do as told with a tiny sigh. He rubbed the soap between his palms and began applying it to her long, matted curls. The shiny red locks he'd always admired weren't as vibrant as usual now, and he shook his head. "Viv, next time you're in trouble, you come to me right away. You could've died out there! You didn't take care of yourself at all, and you—"

"I had to," she mumbled. "They had the Reds looking for me. I had to hide. Had to get away."

"Get away from what?"

She leaned into his touch with a whimper. "Away from Dane."

Apparently, the warm water and his touch was enough to get her talking when she wouldn't earlier. Either that or she was just delirious at this point. "Why did you need to get away from Dane?"

"He wants me."

Now she was just babbling. "He's your brother. That makes no sense."

She shivered and whimpered again. "No, he's not my brother."

Frowning, he pressed a palm to her forehead. Cool to the touch. She wasn't sick enough to be delusional or under the grip of fever, even if she was half-dead of starvation and possibly dehydrated. "What do you mean he's not your brother? We all grew up together."

"He's not..." Her voice trailed off, and she started crying.

He rinsed the rest of the shampoo out of her hair with a groan. Hopefully she wouldn't get any in her eyes. She was upset enough without adding stinging eyes to the mess. She let him without protest, but she was still crying and shaking when he finished, so he wrapped her up in his arms and nestled her between his legs so he could hold her comfortably. Well, as comfortably as he could considering the water drenching them and how unhappy she was. "Tell me what happened," he murmured in her ear. "It's okay. You're safe now. You can tell me."

"He's not my brother." She curled into him.

The water splashing in his face was obnoxious, but he let it continue. When she was done talking, he still had to finish cleaning her up as best he could, so there wasn't much point in shutting it off now. "He told you that?"

She nodded. "He's one of them. One of the Supremacy's men."

He rubbed her cold hands between his. "Maybe he was just joking. He's pulled some insane stunts before. This could've been one of them."

"I thought so at first..." She trailed off again as if her mind had gone elsewhere, but at least she was no longer crying.

He reached for the soap bar and sudded her hands up to wash off the grime that had accumulated on them. "You thought so at first?"

Her head dropped back against his chest, her wet hair sticking to his skin. "I told him I didn't like it. That he needed to stop joking around. He wouldn't stop. He said..." She tensed. "The truth hurts. The truth really, really hurts. And he knows. He knows..."

Seb paused and set the soap bar aside. "He knows what, Viv?"

"He knows about me. He knows what I am." She shivered and gripped his wrist weakly. "He knows I'm a Deixebel, and he told me to forget... He said I should..."

When she didn't continue, he lifted a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. What a mess. She didn't have to continue for him to guess what Dane had said. He'd tell her to forget it. Still, it seemed like there had to be more to this than just Dane's claim that the two weren't related. She'd be upset about that, but not upset enough to starve herself. And Dane had been protecting her from everything since she was just a child. He'd never turn her in for what she believed. He wouldn't, right? Seb chewed on his lower lip and then sighed. Who knew with Dane anymore? Still, the two had been close and still were last he knew. So why was she here, crying and falling apart, half-starved, and with dirty water spiraling off her to flush down his shower drain?

He picked her up carefully and turned the shower off. There would be time to find out in the morning or in a few days when she was up to it and clear headed. For now, she needed a good night's sleep. He bundled her up in a towel and struggled to get her changed without invading her privacy too much. She helped when she realized what he was trying to do, but even with her help, getting the soaked, dirty clothes off her proved difficult. She woke up enough to figure out the pants herself, and he turned around to give her some semblance of privacy, his cheeks heating. Never in a million years had he ever imagined he'd be in this situation with her.

When she said his name sluggishly, sleepily, he turned to find her dressed again with a pile of sopping wet clothes on the bathroom's white tile. He grabbed a fresh towel off the rack nearby and scooped her up in his arms, carrying her back to the bed. There, he settled her in and toweled her hair dry with as gentle a touch as he could manage. She was asleep before he finished, and he eased her off his chest to lay her down in the bed.

Exhausted himself, he slid in beside her, glad the bed was big enough for two, and switched on the Screen. He only recalled seeing the first ten minutes of the show the next morning because after that, he'd lost the struggle and passed out in a dreamless sleep next to Viv.