Dream Weaver (Dream Weaver #1) Read Online Free Page B

me, as though to hold himself together as well. My heart grieved, sorry for him that he was here to endure all of this. When the shuddering around me stilled, he cleared his throat, regained his composure. He radioed Collin to meet him in the stockroom.
                  While we waited, Jesse tore open a pack of boys cotton t-shirts. He wadded one up for me to hold to the back of my head to help control the blood that continued to ooze down the nape of my neck.
                  “So, what’s up?” Collin asked a few moments later as he entered the room. A festive grin that matched his tie played on his calm, fatherly face. Jesse gazed into my eyes and nodded encouragingly. He forced the corners of his mouth up and moved aside so Collin could see me. The grin slid from Collin’s face like thawing snow from a roof.
                  “Emari?” The question in his voice spoke volumes. Just how unrecognizable was I? Confusion then rage raced across his face in quick succession. “I am so sorry,” the words so bloated with grief they stuck in his throat. His eyes turned liquid blue as he scanned my bloodied, battered face. “It was him , wasn’t it? He got to you.” For all of his safety measures, he hadn’t kept me safe.
                  Change and keys jangled in his pocket as he fished for his cell phone. After his 9-1-1 call, Collin called Blake to direct the police and paramedics.
                  Tears stung my face and convulsions racked my body anew as the comprehension of all I had yet to endure manifested in my aching head. Despite my overwhelming desire to creep invisibly out the back door, the impending circus loomed, inescapable.
                  I leaned into the safety of Jesse’s arms, my head on his chest, mesmerized by the thunder of his heart. A distant, haunted look filled his eyes each time I was brave enough to look into them. The solar bright confidence that normally exuded from him faded, all but extinguished, his effervescent personality quenched. More of my heart crumbled as everything I had ever known Jesse to be vanished, replaced by a cold, heavy cloud that virtually shrank him.
                  Still more pieces disintegrated as I listened to Ivy outside, trying to get in to me. Near-hysteria pitched her voice, high and loud. No matter how she begged, pleaded, reasoned or bribed, the cops remained steadfast and wouldn’t let anyone else in to disturb the ‘crime scene.’
                  “Jess, I wanna go home.” My voice was small, destroyed.
                  “I know, Sweets, I’m sorry,” he whispered back, “But the police need you to go to the hospital to check you out.”
                  A quiet sob lurched through my chest. I didn’t want tests or doctors or questions. I just wanted home, seclusion, a scalding shower, a bar of soap—and maybe a little bleach. I wanted to yield to the darkness that pressed in on me from all sides, urged me to succumb to its call.
                  I cringed against Jesse as a female officer and a male paramedic entered the room, and his arms drew me protectively tighter against him. His trembling hand stroked my hair. “It’s okay, Sweets,” he hushed me. The cop stopped a few feet away, her eyes locked on mine. The medic stood quietly behind her, his eyes scanned my face and body as he assessed me from a distance.
                  “I’m Officer Molly Elliot, Miss Sweet,” she said and kneeled in front of me. “This is Mike Walker. He’s a paramedic,” she continued with a flick of her thumb behind her. “I’m sorry we don’t have a female medic available, but I’ll stay with you. We just need Mike to examine you and get you ready for transport to the hospital. Okay?”
                  Okay? Did it really matter if it was okay with me? I nodded and as Officer Elliot stood and backed