Dark Abyss by Kaitlyn O'Connor (classic novels for teens .txt) 📕

She was acutely conscious of him waiting near the door as the doctor checked her out, half fearing he would leave and just as uneasy about him staying when she was no longer sure about how to act around him. Had she read more into the kiss than there was? Or had she misunderstood his friendliness before? Or had something changed between them because of what had happened?

“I’m guessing you’re getting antsy about getting out of here?” the doctor murmured with amusement, then added dryly, “I know someone—actually several who’re certainly anxious for me to cut you loose.”

Anna felt her face heating but hopefulness ousted her discomfort. “I can go?” she asked hopefully.

“Not today,” the doctor responded with a mixture of amusement and censure, “but if you’ll behave yourself and you’re showing this much improvement tomorrow … I’ll think about it.”

She studied Joshua a little warily when the doctor left again, struggling with her confusion. The doctor’s reference to ‘several’ had resurrected a dim memory. Someone, a stranger not the doctor, had been talking to her about ‘her’ men, she remembered abruptly. He’d been referring to Simon, Ian, Caleb and, she supposed, Joshua because she’d kept asking about them. It had seemed strange to her even then that he’d referred to them as hers.

It dawned on her that multiple ‘marital’ partners, or pods as they often referred to them, were the norm in the territories, not the exception. The author of the piece she’d read had cited several reasons why the practice had come about—finances being one of the biggest factors. The shortage of women and the difficulties of protecting their ‘claim’ in an area still pretty wild had also made it necessary and acceptable if not completely satisfactory to the men.

Had the doctor simply assumed since she was so concerned about them and, maybe, they’d been equally worried about her, that they were a … ‘pod’? Or did he know something she didn’t?

The thought made her pulse go a little wild for a few moments until it dawned on her that there was no agreement between them. There’d never even been a discussion—not a hint that they had interest in that direction, as far as that went. As shocking as their custom was to land dwellers like herself, the Atlanteans still took it very seriously, just as seriously as land dwellers did marriage, maybe more seriously. It wasn’t an informal thing. It was a commitment.

It couldn’t have just ‘happened’ without her knowledge and consent. The depth of her disappointment when she realized it had to be a misconception on the part of the hospital staff was telling.

Then again, she’d found all of them extremely attractive from the first. The circumstances that had brought them together had taken that physical attraction to an extreme dependency with dizzying speed—from her perspective anyway. She’d had her security snatched out from under her so abruptly and so completely she’d been like someone who couldn’t swim being suddenly tossed out into an ocean. She’d been ready to grab anything to keep her afloat and safe, and hold on for all she was worth.

It didn’t follow that they felt anything like that. In fact it seemed highly unlikely that they would. She certainly wasn’t a man magnet. She thought she was average, maybe even a little better than that, but she was shy and socially awkward and men hated having to carry the burden of courtship entirely on their own shoulders. It made them uncomfortable and they tended to avoid that, and her, like the plague even when they seemed interested. They might enjoy the hunt, but they expected the woman to let them know she wanted to be hunted, not run like hell in the other direction.

And, unfortunately, she’d never really mastered that part. Her college ‘hunk’, Chance, wasn’t the only man she’d ever mooned over, just the only one who’d managed to stick out the hunt until he caught her. She had a ‘taste’ for ‘pretty’. Unfortunately, it scared her so badly when they actually noticed her, she made like a frightened rabbit and scurried into her burrow to hide until they gave up.

She couldn’t even really trust her own feelings, if it came to that. What she felt for them could be as real as it could get. They were handsome, fatally attractive men, she w as sure, to any woman with eyes in her head. Beyond that, they were ‘hero’ material, the very epitome of what a man should be, flawed, temperamental, aggressive, possessive, but intelligent, protective, and capable of gentleness and affection. She could’ve easily fallen just as hard and just as fast if not for the extreme circumstances, but she couldn’t rule out the possibility that she was blinded by her need for safety either.

Not that that mattered, ultimately. If they were waiting for her to make a move, they were doomed to disappointment. She was too afraid of being laughed at to chase after them.

She’d wanted Caleb desperately enough to overcome her fatal character flaw of cowardice and that had been a total disaster! She still cringed when she thought about her encounter with Simon that day.

Chapter Ten

Joshua returned to the chair he’d been occupying before when the doctor finally left. “Don’t worry. We’ve got you under twenty-four hour watch until we can move you to a more secure location.”

Anna blinked at him in shock, her mind erupting immediately into disorder. “We didn’t get him?”

Joshua’s face tightened. “We caught the bastard alright.”

He didn’t elaborate. He seemed disinclined to do so, and that made her more uneasy.

“But? It isn’t over, is it? You think he might still try something.”

Joshua