by Janie Crouch
“Look, I’m not sure you staying alone is the best idea.”
She shrugged gingerly. “Except for the ribs and getting to a standing position and back down, I probably look much worse than I feel. There’s no medical reason I can’t stay by myself.”
“Annie—”
“I was thinking about it this afternoon. Coming up with a plan. I have an armband I use when I go jogging to hold my phone. I’ll just wear that all the time. That way, if something happens and I need help, I’ll have my phone in easy reach.”
“Woman, you are nothing if not practical.”
She tilted her head to the side. “Of course.” Her tone left no doubt of her certainty in the statement.
He started the truck. “Okay, so no medical reason. What about emotionally?”
Bleakness passed through her eyes before she turned away. “I have to be alone sometime.”
“And you will, but it doesn’t have to be today. You’ll be ready soon enough. But for right now, it’s perfectly fine to want to be around people.”
She nodded but didn’t look up. “I guess you’re right. I could get a room at The Mayor’s Inn. There’s always people around there.”
They both flinched at mention of the hotel. “Why don’t you come stay with me?” he asked softly.
She let out a sigh. “That’s probably not a good idea, Zac. I know we’ve been...hanging out a lot for the past week—”
He could feel his eyebrow finding a new spot in his hairline. Hanging out? “I’m assuming you’re referring to all the mind-blowing sex, not to mention a lot of great conversation, and just general fun being together.”
She continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “But we’ve both worked a lot of hours during that time, and I’m not sure you’re ready for me to be in your home on a full-time basis.”
He took a breath. Be reasonable. Use Annie-speak. “I’m not talking about you moving in permanently.” Although, honestly, the idea scared him much less than it probably should. “Just about you staying with me for a couple days until you’re healed. Or if not with me, with Riley or Wavy, although until we figure out more about who did this, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“You think he might come back?” Her voice was tight.
He smothered a curse. He wasn’t trying to scare her. “Not necessarily. I’m just not willing to take any chances with your safety. At least at my place, you’re on Linear property, and the guys and I are around all the time. More of a home-field advantage.”
She stared at him for a long minute before giving a small nod. “I’ll need some clothes.”
“Okay, let’s go by your house.”
They made the drive in relative silence. The farther they got from the hospital, the more pinched her features became. She hadn’t wanted to stay longer, but neither was she ready for regular life. It would all take time. The shadows would creep up on her without warning.
Zac couldn’t prevent that. She had an awareness now of her own frailty that she hadn’t before. An awareness of what could be done to her without her consent, despite her desperate fight not to let it happen.
As a doctor she’d known these things, of course. She’d seen it when she’d treated Kimmy and Veronica. But even then, she’d witnessed the brutality from a distance.
Now every ache and pain would remind her of her inability to control a situation in which her own safety had been involved. He’d known that sort of helplessness during the twenty-six and a half hours he’d spent in a Taliban prison before his men had gotten him out.
It was scary as shit to have no control over what happened to you, and he planned to help her through it in whatever way he could.
They pulled up to her house. Riley had grabbed a pair of scrubs from Annie’s office for her to wear home, but she needed other stuff. Zac pointed to the couch once she told him where he could find her suitcase, but she refused to sit.
“I’ll pack for myself.” She set her lips in a mutinous line.
“How exactly are you going to do that? You can’t bend because of your ribs and your hands are bandaged.”
He shook his head as she followed him into her bedroom, wisely keeping his smile to himself as she turned an adorable shade of pink when he picked items out of her underwear drawer. When he grabbed the matching red set from last week, she actually growled from the doorway.
“What?” No, he couldn’t keep his smile to himself.
“Move it along, Mackay.”
He reached into her other drawers, grabbing more of her favorite scrubs as well as some pants and shirts.
“That’s way more than I’ll need for a couple days.”
Zac just shrugged. There was no way he was letting her come back in a day or two. “We’ll pack it all, and if you feel up to coming home tomorrow or the next day, we’ll bring it back. No problem.”
Maybe she would feel up to it tomorrow, not that he wouldn’t try to talk her out of it. Maybe she’d feel like the worst was past, and she was ready to face everything on her own. But looking at her now—exhaustion and pain pulling at her more and more—he doubted it.
He got her to his place and made soup and some grilled cheese sandwiches. Zac was actually a very good cook, but the culinary arts were going to be lost on someone with a bruised jaw like Annie. Soft foods would be key for a day or two. And there was something to be said for a grilled cheese.
He set out her medicine, but she didn’t want to take it. “It’s going to make me sleepy.”
“Why wouldn’t you want to sleep? Won’t that help your body heal?”
“Yeah, but I don’t like just lying around.” The sullen pout in her voice made him want to kiss her. “I’ll help with the dishes.”
He rolled his eyes at her. “How about we watch a movie? I’ll even be a gentleman and let you decide which one. But first, I’ve got a surprise for you. Go sit on the couch.”
“I don’t like surprises.” God, he loved her skeptical, pouty little voice, so different than how she normally spoke.
“You’ll like this one.”
She glared at him. “What is it?”
He shook his head. “Couch. Now.”
He left the dishes in the sink. If he sat with her, she would relax. Otherwise she’d try to be up helping him with whatever he was working on. She grumbled but shuffled into the living room. He rushed back to the laundry room, easing the door open and grabbing the big surprise. “Just for a couple minutes, okay?” She didn’t protest, so he hurried back out, shutting the door behind him.
Her face settled into a grumpy, guarded mask as she sat on the couch. Pain bracketed the corner of her mouth, but hopefully the meds she’d finally agreed to take would ease that soon.
He kept the surprise behind his back.
“What is it?” She eyed him suspiciously.
As he brought it out her face lit up.
“Oh my gosh, Duchess had her puppies? She’s so beautiful, so tiny,” she said of the puppy he held in his hands. “Can I hold her?”
“It’s a he, but yes.” He placed the small, sleeping bundle of fur in her lap. “But only for a few minutes. Duchess will get worried. She had a litter of three.”
“When were they born? The last time I saw her she looked ready to burst.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You mean the morning you snuck out on me? They were born that afternoon. She and the pups are here now, but Finn and Ethan have had them at their house.”
She rubbed her cheek against the pup. “What’s his name?”
“I thought maybe you could name him. He’s going to be mine once he’s old enough. So, you’re going to be around him a lot too.”
“Is that so?”
He wasn’t sure if she meant him trusting her to name the pup or having her around a lot. The answer to both was the same, so it didn’t matter. “That’s so.”
“What if I want to call him Cuddles or something?” She snuggled him into her arms.
He winced. “Well, maybe he
won’t get bullied too bad.”
She smiled. “There’s really only one acceptable name for this little guy, particularly since his mama’s antics with you are what got him here.”
“Oh yeah, what’s that?”
“Harley.”
He reached over and kissed her smiling face. “You’re right. That’s perfect. Harley it is.”
A few minutes later, he returned Harley to his mom. He turned on the action movie she’d picked out, sat down on one end of the couch, and grabbed a pillow. Annie eased herself down next to him, then slowly lowered her head until it was in his lap. Zac relaxed for what felt like the first time since he’d found out about her attack. She was here with him. Safe. Maybe not perfectly whole, but not shattered.
Whatever pieces needed to be rebuilt, they would do it together.
His buzzing phone on the end table woke Zac up. Annie’s head was still in his lap. She’d fallen asleep before he had, and the movie was half over. He looked at the text from Aiden.
Got time to talk? Sheriff is here.
He tucked a stray strand of hair off Annie’s face and shook her shoulder gently. She was out cold.
Let me get Anne moved to the bed then you guys come over here.
He wasn’t leaving her alone. He doubted she would wake up until morning, she was a sound sleeper even without her meds, but he wasn’t taking any chances. She stirred a little, face pinched, as he eased her off his lap, then reached back down to pick her up and carry her to bed, leaving her in her beloved scrubs. He turned on the bathroom light and left the door cracked.
Sheriff Nelson was sitting at his kitchen table, looking over some notes, face drawn. Finn and Aiden were grabbing beers from his fridge, Dorian—God bless that man—was loading the leftover dinner dishes into the dishwasher.
“How’s the doc holding up?” Finn asked, sliding a beer across the table toward him.
“Sleeping now, meds knocked her out. I convinced her to stay here until she’s feeling ready to deal with everything.”
Aiden sat down across from the sheriff. “She’ll be ready physically before she is emotionally.”
The other guys nodded. Sometimes it took the mind a lot longer to heal from wounds than the body. Dorian was a prime example of that.
Zac grabbed his beer and leaned against the counter. “She can stay here as long as she wants. What did you guys find out?”
Sheriff Nelson leaned back in his seat, rubbing his hands across his face. “We definitely think it was the same guy.”
Zac took a sip of his beer. The news didn’t surprise him. “Why?”
“While Dorian was combing the scene, trying to find anything he could, I decided to look in to why Anne was walking in the first place,” Aiden said. “Why hadn’t she parked in the hospital lot? Turns out her car was parked at the Frontier. She’d gone in to grab some breakfast on her way to work.”
“Yeah, that’s not unusual for her.”
“I tried her car, Zac. It wouldn’t start. When I cracked the hood, I saw the problem immediately: some spark plug leads had been disconnected.”
“Shit.” Maybe that would’ve been understandable if he hadn’t just had her car completely serviced.
“Baby wouldn’t have missed that,” Finn said about his brother. “Not under any circumstances, but especially when you asked him to check out her car for the express purpose of her safety. Spark plugs would’ve been one of the first things Baby looked for.”
“So, like the other women, the rapist was targeting Annie specifically.” Zac put his beer down and looked at Dorian. “Did you see anything? The guy’s calling card?”
“No.” Dorian turned from the sink. “When Anne left the hospital, she would’ve had two routes to get to her car. So, he would’ve had to watch her from somewhere to see which she took. I expected to find some sign of him in the southwest corner of the parking lot, since it doesn’t get much light. But there were none of his little stacks of rocks anywhere.”
“Do you think he deliberately didn’t leave one this time?”
Dorian folded the towel in a perfect half and hung it on the rack. “I’m no criminal profiler, but I think he wants credit for each attack. That’s why he leaves them in the first place.”
“So, not bored while watching for his victim to arrive like we first thought?”
Dorian shrugged. “Maybe it started that way, but now he likes being able to brag.”
“Rubbing it in law enforcement’s face?” the sheriff asked.
“Yes. I think he probably wants to announce it to everyone but can’t, so he likes that law enforcement knows at least.” Dorian looked at Zac, then inclined his head toward the kitchen doorway. A few seconds later Annie walked through.
Zac had long since stopped being in awe of Dorian’s almost supernaturally developed senses, but damn, he was spooky sometimes. Zac hadn’t heard Annie at all.
He walked over and put an arm around her. “Hey, sweetheart. I thought your meds would keep you out for the whole night.”
She stared down at her bare feet. “I didn’t take them. It was ibuprofen instead. I was hoping that would be enough.”
And now she was paying for it. Zac shook his head. “You’re a much better doctor than patient, you know that? I’m going to have to watch you closer.”
Finn grinned at her. “You’re as bad as Ethan not wanting to take his vitamins.”
“I’ll take the meds now.” She smiled up at Zac, but it didn’t reach her eyes. She’d been afraid upstairs. He hadn’t been there to help her.
He trailed a finger down her cheek. “Let’s get what you need, then I’ll come get in bed with you, okay?”
“I feel like a ninny.”
“You would be the first person to say that taking prescribed medications does not make a person a ninny. Neither does wanting to have someone nearby.” He kissed her forehead. “Now, using the word ninny might make you one.”
She gave the tiniest breath of a laugh, then went to the counter that had her medicine and got out a pill. Annie tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Are there any updates?” she asked the sheriff.
The older man looked over at Zac, who just held out his hand toward Annie. “Don’t look at me for permission. She can handle it.” Annie wasn’t someone who needed protected from reality. She would function best knowing all the details.
The sheriff cleared his throat and turned back to her. “Sorry, Anne. I just don’t want to upset you.”
“I’m okay. I would rather know.”
Dorian handed Zac a glass of water, and he walked back to her, keeping one eyebrow raised as he watched her take her medicine for real this time. She gave him a sheepish smile.
“Trey didn’t see anything when he got to the alley,” Sheriff Nelson said. “With two ways in and out, it was a smart choice for the perp. Well thought out.”
She took another gulp of her water and nodded, her grip tight on the glass.
“Anne,” Dorian asked, “can you tell me why you chose to walk through town?”
“My c-car was broken. It wouldn’t start that morning, so I left it at the Frontier.”
Zac reached up and took the shaking glass from her. “We don’t have to talk about this right now. It can wait. I know you can handle it, but you don’t have to this minute.”
Everyone in the room vocalized their agreement.
“No. I’m okay. It’s just...” She shrugged, fading off.
“It feels really close right now,” Zac finished for her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her gently against him, mindful of her wounds. “Every single person in this room understands that sentiment.”
“I feel his breath on my ear. The heat of it,” she whispered. “That’s what woke me up.”
God, he wanted nothing more than to wrap her in his arms and never let anything or anyone ever hurt her again. “Let’s go to bed. I’ll be right there beside you.”
“Yeah, Annie,” Finn said. “We’ll even take
turns down here on the couch if it will make you feel better. Nothing will get to you.”
She hid her face against Zac’s chest and took in a breath before looking up at him. There were tears in her eyes. She turned to the guys. “Thank you, Finn. I know that I am more than amply safe here. But it means the world that you would make the offer.”
Finn winked at her. “Are you kidding? Purely selfish reasons on my part. Ethan’s staying with Aunt Wavy, and have you slept on Zac’s couch? It’s like the most comfortable place on the planet.”
She leaned on Zac’s chest, and his hand automatically wrapped around her hips, keeping her against him. “I have, in fact, and can’t say I blame you for that feeling.”
“Let’s go up to my room, and I’ll show you how comfortable my bed can be.”
Finn rolled his eyes and stood. “That’s my cue to leave before I say something that causes Mackay to punch me, and the sheriff to arrest him.”
“Wouldn’t arrest him,” the sheriff muttered.
Aiden just snickered.
“You didn’t finish, Dorian,” Annie said, stopping the banter. “It’s okay to ask it.”
“I think Dorian asked his question, sweetheart.”
Dorian shook his head. “No, she’s right. I actually did have another ultimate question. Why did you choose to walk through town rather than cut through the park?”
He felt her tense against him. “I noticed the lights in the park were out. Situational awareness. I thought I was being smart, doing what we talked about, keeping myself safe. But it didn’t make any difference.”
He met Dorian’s eyes over Anne’s head. It had been a setup from the beginning, the perp getting Anne to go exactly where he’d, wanted her to.
“That actually tells me why I didn’t find his calling card in front of the hospital. We were looking in the wrong place,” Dorian said. He grabbed his jacket off the chair. “I’ll be back.”
“We’ll come too,” Aiden said. “You’ll need as many eyes as you can get.”