Asking For It Read Online Free Page B

turned her gaze back to their patient. His shape and form could have been a sculpture of male perfection if it hadn't been for the very earthy reality of his bruises, curling brown chest hair, and moistness of life. Looking at him, Kate felt an unpleasant lurching sensation.
    "So now I'm going to supervise the 'bunk' you've given me." Arnie stretched and yawned. "And I guess you'll want to camp out right here."
    Kate blinked and looked back at Arnie. "I will?"
    "Somebody has to stay with our friend here, right?" Arnie yawned again. "You know, in case he wakes up. To explain what happened and keep him from wanderin' around...naked." Arnie grinned.
    Since a ridiculous embarrassment seized her at the idea, she did her best to look unconcerned. "You're right. I'll stay. It's not as if I'll be able to sleep tonight anyway." An unhappy laugh escaped her.
    Arnie's good-natured grin faded. "You're doing all you can, Kate."
    "Yeah, well. That isn't good enough." These kids depended on her, not only for a camp experience, but for a chance to see they had the capacity to make something of their lives, that they could stay out of trouble.
    "Kate."
    "It's okay, Arnie." Not wanting to argue about it, she made herself smile.
    The big groundskeeper sighed and shook his head. "I'll see you in the morning."
    "Bright and early."
    Still shaking his head, Arnie left the room.
    It grew very quiet, then. The infirmary was inside the main building, separated from the outlying cabins, where the boys were no doubt kicking up a fuss about going to sleep on their first night away from home.
    But none of that could be heard in the plain infirmary room. Here the silence felt like an additional layer isolating Kate with the man who lay very still on the hospital cot.
    She frowned at him.
    His response was a continuation of the helpless, supplicating look.
    She felt another one of those weird and unpleasant lurching sensations that started in her stomach and floated down to her toes.
    Strange. Why did looking at this guy make her feel like she was on a boat?
    Kate grabbed a chair and set it very deliberately by the head of the bed. She sat, crossed her arms over her chest and threw one jeans-clad knee over the other. She stared at him.
    He'd said he'd been grabbed. He'd obviously been beaten. Drugged too, Arnie thought. Why had somebody done that? And why leave him on her doorstep, of all places? The only clue they had were the man's shoes sitting below the cot, apparently all they'd been able to salvage of his clothes. They were a fancy Italian brand, Kate saw, the kind with a price tag in the triple digits.
    She shook her head. Certainly, there were plenty of troubling questions. But the most troubling question of all concerned the short moment in the dining hall before he'd collapsed. Between herself and the man something had passed. Something...almost personal.
    But how could that be? Frowning, Kate leaned forward to peer more closely at his face, just to make sure. She didn't know him. No. Truly, she didn't. Even the way he looked now, he could walk away with the leading role in some romantic drama; he had that kind of bone structure. She would have remembered meeting a man this good-looking.
    Kate's lip curled. Indeed. She had a good memory for pretty faces, and filed them under D for danger. In her experience, handsome men got so much mileage out of their outsides they didn't bother prettying up their insides.
    They could be real snakes inside.
    Maybe she was biased, but she'd bet the good-looking man lying on the bed — who was developing a shiner and whose jaw was bristling with new beard — was as reptilian as he was handsome.
    With a snort, Kate leaned back in her chair. Not that either quality was her concern. She sighed and rubbed her forehead. How was she going to send anybody home? Even one kid, let alone the eight who didn't have a counselor? And how to choose those eight? It was her job — her mission — to see that whoever came to Camp