“Yeah, he’s our doctor.”

“But what’s he going to think?”

Jared smiled slightly. “He’s our doctor, he’s seen a lot weirder than this.”

A knock on the door interrupted us and Jared went to open it.

“She’s over here,” Jared said formally, leading in a gray haired man with an old-fashioned black doctor’s bag. “Her leg got swiped by a cougar.”

“Hi, Allie, I’m Dr. Ellis. May I take a look at your leg?”

“Yes.” I looked at him, wondering if he was human.

“All right, this looks worse than it is. Evidently, he or she used the least force necessary on you. I’m sure it’s painful but it should heal.”

He applied a coat of some sort of cream and bandaged my leg. “Try to keep it clean and I’ll leave a tube of this ointment for you. You should change the bandage once a day. Take some ibuprofen every eight hours and it should be healed up in a few weeks. Call me if you have a fever or any increased redness.” He handed me a nondescript business card with just his name and a phone number.”

“Thank you.”

“You are very welcome. Rest up.” He smiled, nodded to Jared, and left the room.

“You think you’re okay here? There’ll be guards outside your room and on the balcony all night,” Jared explained.

“I’ll be fine.”

“Okay, you have my number right? Call if you need anything.” He headed toward the door.

“Jared?” I called just before he closed the door.

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for saving me.”

“Not a problem. I’m glad you’re okay.”

I made sure to lock the door behind him.

I pulled off my borrowed clothes and took a hot shower, not caring that the bandage would have to be changed. No amount of water and soap could wash off the dirtiness I felt. I slid down the wall to sit on the floor and cried harder than I ever had in my life.

As the water in the shower turned cold, I finally got up and limped out. Slipping into a tank and PJ pants and applying a fresh bandage, I went to sleep hoping that when I woke up it would all be just a really bad dream.

Chapter Nineteen

My stomach woke me up the next morning. I hadn’t eaten anything since the few bites of ice cream. I wasn’t sure if I would ever eat the horrible substance again. If it weren’t for my stupid craving, I might already be back in New York.

Walking into the kitchenette, I poured myself some cereal before collapsing in a chair in the living area. I finished quickly, rinsed out my bowl and pushed back the blinds. A man was sitting in a chair on the balcony wearing sunglasses with a paper in front of him. He could have been any tourist. At least he knew how to blend in. Tugging on the ring, I had no idea what I was going to do.

A knock on the door startled me from my thoughts. I ignored it but the knocking only got more intense.

“Allie, it’s Owen, open up please.”

“Go away; I don’t want to talk to any of you.”

Things got quiet and I thought he had left before a lighter knocking resumed.

“I said go away!”

“Allie, it’s me,” Hailey called out. “Please open up.”

A part of me refused to believe she was in on all of this. If anyone was going to help me make sense of things it would be her.

“He isn’t with you, is he?” I didn’t even want to mention his name.

“No, I told him he’d only make things worse. And okay, he’s being physically restrained, but either way he’s not here.”

I decided to trust her and reluctantly opened the door.

Returning to my seat on the couch, I pulled my knees up against my chest.

“Nice pjs,” Owen joked. I guess opening the door to Hailey gave him an invitation as well.

“Shut up, Owen,” Hailey snapped.

I laughed despite myself. “Are you seriously going to come in here and make fun of what I’m wearing after everything that’s happened?”

“No, sorry. I honestly don’t know what to say. Jared told us… He said you were in rough shape and weren’t exactly dressed…”

“Stop, I’m not talking about it with you!” I let out the anger that felt ready to boil over.

“Okay. I get it. I wanted to make sure you realized you were safe now. You’re safe here.”

“What if I don’t want to stay?”

“You don’t have a choice,” Owen said calmly, with no hint of the seriousness of what he was saying.

“Jared told me that, but why? Can you really guarantee I’m safe? Besides, can’t someone reverse things and take off this damn ring?” I struggled once again to pull it off.

“Don’t waste your energy, it’s not budging. And you are safer here, where we can protect you,” Owen said. “Besides, to answer your question, no one can reverse it. Levi chose you, and you agreed, so it’s a done deal.”

“I didn’t agree to anything.” I felt my temper rising.

“Maybe not with words but—”

“Don’t go there Owen. Just don’t,” I warned.

“It wasn’t fair of him. I’m not going to sit here and defend him.” Owen cracked his knuckles.

“You better not!” Hailey fumed. “Levi can be such an idiot and jerk sometimes, or okay most of the time. But this is his biggest mess yet.”

“If it helps any, he did it because he cares about you,” Owen said.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this but it’s true. Levi wouldn’t have done it if he didn’t care. He tied himself to you as much as he tied you to him,” Hailey said lightly.

“What do you mean he’s tied to me? I still don’t understand it.”

“He can’t be with anyone else now that he’s given you the ring.”

“Oh, come on! If that’s true why did he do it? We barely know each other!”

“Honestly?” Owen asked, pausing to look out the window. “He was afraid.”

“Afraid of what?”

“Of how he would feel when the inevitable happened and you left at the end of the summer. He was afraid of losing you.”

“That’s ridiculous. We were just having fun.”

“No, it was more than that. Levi is crazy about you; he has been since he first met you. Then you challenged him and it just made things worse.”