Intimate Strangers by Danielle Taylor Page A

and breathing. She wondered if Tiaan heard her, and if he had, if he planned on responding. One step, just the one, and she stood close enough to feel the chill emanating from his thigh. Why was he so cold? Had he been down in the unfinished basement because his bedroom felt too warm?
    He still hadn’t replied so Chelsea repeated herself. “What hurts, Christiaan?”
    At the use of his name, he looked at her, stunned, like he didn’t know how he’d gotten into her bedroom. “Everything,” he finally confessed. “Everything hurts.”
    What did he mean by that?
    The next door neighbour pulled into their driveway and the headlights illuminated the room in a soft glow. Her eyes widened in reaction to the horror spread out over his body, a body that she recalled in her mind as nothing short of perfection. Now his comment made sense, how everything could hurt. His shorts fit loosely over thick, long, and all too recent welts and burn marks. They criss-crossed over his entire upper body, his chest, shoulders, arms and abdomen, in a twisted mass of scar tissue that dipped below the waistband of his shorts.
    The father of her child had been tortured.
    Brutally.
    Chelsea choked back a pained cry, covering her mouth so she wouldn’t wake Ruan.
    Shrouded in darkness again once the neighbour shut off their headlights, she gripped his hand firmly to let him know she wasn’t going to let go of it. Suddenly, as if their roles were reversed, he became the frightened one while she turned into the protector. Regardless of their undefined relationship, Tiaan needed her and nothing, not exhaustion, fear or anything else was going to deter her from the part she was offering to play.
    With strength she didn’t know she possessed until that moment, Chelsea tugged at his hand, telling him to get up from the chair to stand before her. He followed the non-verbal command timidly, rising until his dark eyes looked down upon her expectantly. Though she didn’t know for sure if it might hurt, she needed to hold him.
    First, she rested her cheek against the crook of his neck, something she did once before. This time the experience felt much different. The knots of healing scar tissue were rough against her skin. But she didn’t recoil. This was the only way she could think of to help him and she wouldn’t allow him to see or sense any fear on her part.
    Next, Chelsea offered the solace of her arms, gently slipping them around his torso, underneath his own. With the sensitive skin on the undersides of her forearms she felt the torn flesh of his back and gasped when he flinched at her touch. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, beginning to pull away.
    Tiaan used his arms to anchor hers in place. “No. Please.” He held her firmly, resting his head on her shoulder.
    Don’t go .
    She heard his unspoken plea and offered a tangible promise to him. “I won’t.”
    They stood as one, unmoving, while the house around them filled with the usual sounds of night. Exactly how long she remained there, holding him, Chelsea didn’t know for sure. She simply enjoyed these moments, savouring them, him… The very last person she ever expected to meet again, let alone touch in such a profound manner. It confused her to no end, especially after the awful things he said over the past two days, but Mac helped her to understand that it was more a defence mechanism than insults meant to offend her.
    When Ruan woke, his little whimpering cries interrupting the silence, Tiaan stiffened and tightened his hold on her.
    “I need to feed him,” she whispered. “You don’t have to leave, i-if you don’t want to.”
    Shaking his head, Tiaan extricated himself from her arms and slipped from the room without producing a sound.
    How much more confusing can my life become? Chelsea wondered, changing Ruan’s diaper.
    Once he’d been fed, he settled again and she attempted to get back to sleep herself. It refused to come and she spent the night attempting to find that