“No. But you could have asked for help. You didn’t have to get hurt.”
“I’m not following your thought process here, Slick. You were in trouble, James told me what to do to save your ass. End of story! I did what needed to be done!” I was starting to yell and took a deep breath to try and calm down.
“Why?”
“What do you mean, why?”
“Why? Why you? Why not Chase? Or Mike. Why you?”
“Because … I … it was what I had to do. James called me, not them. He wanted me to suffer!” This was not going in the right direction. In frustration I tried to roll the wheel chair back to leave, but Sean reached out and grabbed the armrest with a surprisingly tight grip. Since I only had one hand to wheel with, I couldn’t pull away.
“Damn it, Sean, let go. You’re going to hurt yourself.”
“No,” he said firmly, “Answer the question. Why did you do it?” His voice was as calm as could be.
“Because I had to!” Forget being calm, yelling felt better.
“Why?” He said again as he held tightly onto the chair.
“Because I … I would have done anything!” I was now yelling to wake the dead.
Sean let go of the armrest and lay back with a smile on his face.
“Because you love me and you’re too damn stubborn to admit it!”
I saw red, a living, breathing livid red wall. I locked the brakes on the chair and stood up, grabbed his cup of ice water that was on the nearby stand and poured it over his head. But before I could manage to even sit back down in the wheel chair, Sean grabbed ahold of my robe and pulled me over on top of him. We both yelped in pain. We looked at each other and started laughing.
“Now what?” I asked.
“Well, eventually you’ll admit you love me, then you’ll marry me, and we’ll live happily ever adventurously after and have lots of kids.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “Adventurously ever after?”
“Well, yeah. With your penchant for getting into trouble what else would it be?”
“You’re not earning any points here, babe.” I had to laugh though at his audacity.
“Don’t have to. You’re going to marry me.”
“Nope.” I slid off the edge of the bed and got back in the wheelchair.
“You keep saying ‘no’ all you want, honey. It’s a done deal.”
“And you are the most arrogant man I have ever met.”
“Yep. But you love me anyway.”
I released the locks on the wheels and started to turn away. Sean grabbed the arm handle again. His smug look replaced by a look of concern.
“Please, Laney, let them do their job and guard you. I love you and it would destroy me to lose you.”
Since I knew exactly how he felt, I laid my hand over his and nodded. I wheeled away as Sean began humming the wedding march. Damn arrogant man.
I pulled open the door to find everyone who had previously been in Sean’s room, now pretending that they hadn’t heard everything. I looked up at Dr. Peter. “I want to go home now.”
“Tomorrow. As long as you stay off that foot, then tomorrow would be fine. You have one hell of a sprained ankle. I have no idea why you didn’t break it. I put fifteen stitches in your hand. Again, somehow, luck was with you and there is no tendon damage, but you will have to take time to let everything heal. If you don’t, you run the risk of more damage or infection. I will get you a cane to use to help take some of the weight off the ankle but the best way to take care of it will be to stay off of it.”
“She’ll stay off of it because she’ll be staying at the house.” Tommy announced in such a tone that would brook no argument. On principle I started to say something. “Little girl, if you say one thing I will turn you over my knee and tan your hide. I swear to God, the only thing keeping you alive at this moment is how grateful I am that you are alive for me to threaten!”
I looked at him in shock. I wasn’t the only one either. Molly even looked surprised. Mike was hard pressed not to laugh and, as God is my witness, I tried not to do it but I started crying. It was truly mortifying, but my mind was a swirling mass of too much information in too short a time and I had no other defense. Mike stepped in quickly and wheeled me back to my room as Molly put a restraining hand on Tommy’s arm.
“Is it so bad to have Sean love you so much?” Mike asked quietly, as he helped me back into the bed.
“It scares the hell out of me, Mike. I don’t know how to deal with it.”
“Why do you have to deal with it? Can it not just simply be? I can’t say I am a great guru of love. I’ve loved too many and too often. But not in the way he loves you. That is the kind of love they write stories about. I haven’t found that and frankly I’m not looking for it either, but fighting it will just make it harder on you. Sean is determined to have you in his life on a permanent basis.” He leaned down and kissed my forehead, “Bill is right outside if you need anything.” And he left.
I knew Mike was right. What was I so scared of? Losing Sean? Failing him? I didn’t know. But I guess for the next few weeks I’d have plenty of time to think about it.
Chapter Thirteen
Chase came in early the next morning. Here it comes, I thought, the real lecture. I looked at him as he sat down. His eyes had circles under them and it came to me, he probably hadn’t had much sleep in the past few days. I took a deep breath and dove in. “Hindsight is a great thing isn’t it?”
“It can be.”
“I screwed up.”
“Yes.”
“I should have told you or someone what was going on. I took it all on myself.”
“Yes.”
I rolled my eyes. I knew he wasn’t going to make this easy on me. “If I had told you or Mike or even the cops it could have gone a lot easier. But I let the anger and fear cloud my judgment.”
“Yes.”
“Are you just going to sit there looking so smug?”
“Pretty much.” He smiled at me. “Laney, you really didn’t do anything any one of us wouldn’t have done or have done at some point. Unfortunately, that can be an expensive lesson. One man got away, two men died. That could have been your fault, maybe not. You suffered, though, and that could have been avoided. Do you know the real reason why you took it on alone?”
I closed my eyes. I knew why. It had been eating away at me ever since I had awakened in the hospital. “Because I blamed myself. I think, in some way, that Sean getting hurt was because of my connection to James. But it could have been anyone else just as easily. James could have taken Tommy or Molly or anyone close to me.”
“Yes, he could have. Or his partners could not have killed Boris, which would have meant Sean was relatively safe. Boris could have not kept something for himself.” Chase leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees. “You did not make this happen. You did not cause it. James did. We all make choices and you had choices before you that you did not look at. Right or wrong, what’s done is done. Next time, think first and react later.”
Chase stood up and headed to the door. “Oh by the way. You got desk duty for the next two months. You get to take care of updating files. For everyone.”
I groaned, but didn’t say anything. It could have been worse, I thought, as I lay back and closed my eyes. I had not slept well last night. I kept seeing Sean laying on the floor and James standing over me in the closet. The two dreams fused together and made little sense. The night nurse had offered something to help me sleep but I had refused, and Mike was not around so I couldn’t talk about it. Didn’t want to talk about it, really. It would go away in time.
I lay there dozing off and on when I heard the door open and close. I figured it was Bill or the nurse. It wasn’t until I smelled a familiar perfume that I opened my eyes just in time to see a knif
e in Aunt Katherine’s hand, heading for my chest.
“Jesus!” I rolled off the bed and landed on the floor. I heard the knife rip through the mattress.
“You ungrateful little bitch!” she screamed at me, coming around the bed.
The woman had come unglued. I grabbed the base of the tray table and shoved it at her and rolled under the bed to the other side. There was no way I was going to get to the door. She had shoved a chair under the door handle. Where the hell was Bill? Anybody? Adrenaline had my heart going so fast I could barely breathe. I didn’t feel any pain, at least, and for that I was grateful, as I tried to use the bed rail to stand up before she got back around the bed.
“Nice to see you too, Aunt Katherine. Sorry to hear your baby boy is such a demented pervert and now a wanted man. But I guess you knew that already.” I tried reaching for the call button but she grabbed the cord and yanked it out of my reach. “Damn shame you hid that from everyone or you bought them off. How many victims did you pay off to keep quiet?”
Apparently all I was doing was making her even more irate, if that was possible. She may have looked old and worn out but the rage was keeping her fueled. Her eyes were wild with it and focused only on me. But, damn it, I had my rage too! “You’re the bitch, Aunt Katherine. You knew what he was doing to me! To other girls! How could you let that happen? You’re just as sick as he is!”
“You and those other girls led him on. All of you lied. You were only after the money.” Her voice was shrill.
“Oh yeah, that was all I wanted wasn’t it? When he beat the crap out of me that was me doing it for the money? When I took all the verbal abuse you could throw at it me, it was for the money? And when I ran away it was to get your money, wasn’t it? Yep, that is all I ever wanted from you.” I had grabbed the IV stand that had been left next to my bed and used it to balance myself.
Aunt Katherine was now advancing on me, knife at the ready. “You know, Aunt Katherine, if anyone deserves to be pissed it’s me. You’re the one who robbed me of any childhood I could have had. If anything I should have killed James when I had the chance. Might make up … ”
She lunged with the knife and I slid the IV stand across between us to block it. I put my bandaged right foot on the floor and lifted the stand and shoved it into her legs, forcing her backward to the floor. Pain radiated along my leg as I fell, the stand falling with me. The doorframe splintered and the door burst open, as Dallas and Bill came into the room.
Bill looked over at Aunt Katherine on the floor and put a foot on the hand that held the knife. It didn’t really matter anymore. Aunt Katherine was laying on the floor whimpering. I just lay on the floor looking at her. The anger that I had felt had dissipated and all that I felt for her was pity.
Dallas helped me up and back into the bed. I guess I popped a couple of stitches in my hand, because I was bleeding again. Hospital security took Aunt Katherine away and I knew the cops would be along soon.
“What took you so long?” I asked Bill.
Dallas glared at Bill who didn’t say anything. “Go tell Mike what has happened and call Chase. I got it covered here.” Dallas said to Bill. Bill started to say something, but then nodded and left the room. “Bill fell for the old fake nurse routine. Fortunately I had your room wired for sight and sound. Unfortunately I happened to be one floor below you.”
Dr. Peter and a nurse walked in, both shaking their heads.
“You ever go home, Doc?” I asked as he unwrapped the bandage from my right hand.
“Not when I’ve got two Woo employees to occupy my time. Besides, I’d miss all the fun around here.”
Mike walked in looking mad as a hornet. “Where is she?”
“Which she?” asked Dallas.
“Nurse Ratchet, who else?”
“Why? You gonna kick an old woman around Mike?”
“No, but I may kick you around you keep smarting off to me.”
I was enjoying the volleys between Dallas and Mike. Better anyone else than me.
“Go soak your head, Mike. You’re pissed that one of your boys screwed up tonight. Well you should be. You’re also pissed that no one told you I wired the rooms. Only Mason knew. It was her idea. You want to rant at her, go right ahead. Maybe she’ll get mad enough to tie you to a bed.”
My quick intake of breath was the only sound in the room. Mike’s eyes narrowed and he stepped forward. Dr. Peter cleared his throat. “Might I remind you two junkyard dogs that some degree of professionalism is expected from two of Woo’s finest? Now, if both of you will kindly leave, I would like to make sure my patient didn’t get any more hurt than she already was.”
Dallas and Mike left the room without any further words to each other. Dr. Peter shook his head and looked at my hand. “I am going to need to repair these areas here. I am not able to re-stitch them without risking an infection, but we can put some sterile strips across the openings.” He pointed to two areas of the gash where the stitches had popped open. “How does your ankle feel?”
The adrenaline high was wearing off and slowly being replaced by the shakes. I couldn’t even say anything for fear that I might just throw up all over him.
“I see. I’ll give you something for the pain and the nausea should pass. Try taking slow, even breaths. We will need to x-ray your ankle again to see if there’s any more damage.”
I nodded and closed my eyes. What I wouldn’t give to put my past back where it belonged and get on with my life? What a mess. Were Christina and Amy going to come at me now? I hesitated to even wonder what was next.
The cops arrived and took my statement just before Mason and Chase came in. “Swell, the gang’s all here.” I was feeling pretty damn nasty right about then and didn’t care who suffered for it.
Mason and Chase glared at each other, the tension running hot between them as she sat down and he leaned against the wall. Mason went first. “I don’t have to ask if you’re okay. I’d be pretty mad, too. Apparently, your Aunt Katherine read the newspaper article about you, which named the hospital you were in. Then she bribed the reporter to try and find out what floor you were on. He took it upon himself to help her in exchange for an exclusive. He scouted the floors to find the ones that had guards in the hallway and then told her. He also helped her procure a nurse’s uniform and ID badge. She is confessing as we speak and he will be arrested as soon as the police find him.”
I rolled over away from them. “It’s amazing what money can buy these days, isn’t it?”
Chase came around and knelt down by the bedside to look me in the eye. “Laney, Bill screwed up. He saw a nurse head into your room and didn’t even really look at her. I had not even seen your aunt as a threat. I should have.”
“Why should you? Why would anyone think that a mother would want to protect someone like James?”
Chase sighed, “Although I’m not thrilled I wasn’t kept in the loop, it was fortunate that Dallas had the room wired. I saw the video. You could take up stunt work if you don’t want to work for Woo anymore.”
I tried not to smile. “I just want people to quit trying to kill me. A reprieve from any form of violence would be nice.”
Chase laid his hand on mine. “I’ll see what I can do about that. Sean slept through all this but I will tell him in the morning. Get some rest, Laney. Mason is staying here tonight and Bill is on suspension for a while.”
“What about Mike and Dallas? You going to put them in separate corners and let them come out fighting or let them settle it at the OK Corral?” I really had no clue what I was saying. Whatever Dr. Peter had given me for the pain was kicking in and I could have cared less about anything, anything at all.
The next morning started with an x-ray of my ankle. Luckily, nothing more seemed to be damaged. The whole right side of my body felt like one big bruise from where I’d hit the floor. I was tired. B
one weary tired. I gave another statement to the detectives and I calmed Sean down when he called to see how I was and then Tommy showed up. I could hear him out in the hallway ranting and raving at Chase. “That’s it!” I threw off the covers, dragged my crutches under my arms and went toward the door.
Mason, who had been quietly reading in my room got up and opened the door for me. “Allow me,” she said.
Once out in the hall I put two fingers to my lips and gave a shrill whistle. Tommy, Chase, Mike, and Dr. Peter stopped talking.
“Thank you. Dr. Peter, I appreciate all that you have done for me but you are now relieved of duty.” He raised an eyebrow at me but said nothing.
“Tommy, stop harassing Chase for this, it was my decision to go after Sean. Right or wrong, I made the choice. Tell Molly that she can take care of Sean when he gets out but right now, I am getting dressed and I’m parking my butt on a chair in his room and that is where I intend to stay until he gets to leave.”
I then turned to Mike. “Bill screwed up. Just make sure he doesn’t do it again. Now, if you all will excuse me, I am going to get dressed and check out of Grand Central Station. That is my final word on this. If any of you persist in treating me like an invalid, then I will go and live with Mason.” Thank heaven Mason didn’t bat an eye at my announcement. She just held the door open so I could return to my room.
“You realize, Laney, that I live on a boat.”
“I know,” I said setting my crutches against the bed and sitting down. “But I had to do something. I can manage just fine on my own and I’ll get myself a room in a hotel if I have to, but I’ll take some measure of control over my life again!”
Mason put her hands together and applauded. “You’re getting a bit ahead of yourself there, Laney, but I like the confidence.” She handed me a small duffel bag. “See if you can manage to get dressed and I’ll be back in a few minutes. Don’t worry I won’t be far.”
“Who’s worried? I can take care of myself.” I said it and I meant it. I was also completely off my rocker. But as I’ve stated in the past, they are my delusions and I am happy with them.
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