Embracing the Wolf

by Catherine Bybee

  “Yes.” He seemed pleased with his answer, which told Kate he held something back. He’s probably worried about being sued.

  “Well, you’ve seen me. I’m fine. Now if you can just go get a nurse, I can go home.”

  Ritter made a grand gesture of scanning the room. “I don’t see anyone here to give you a ride, and from what I’ve seen you’re in no condition to walk.”

  She hadn’t thought of that. Kate pinched the bridge of her nose and tried to ignore the growing ache behind her eyes. “I’ll call a cab.”

  “I’ll give you a ride.”

  His constant ‘take-charge’ agenda began to annoy her. “You don’t let up, do you?” If she didn’t know better, she would think he was flirting with her.

  He shook his head and smirked. “Nope.”

  “Okay, whatever.” She gave a wave of her hand dismissing him. “Can you get a nurse in here? My sitter has to go to work, and I need to get my son off to school.” There…that ought to puncture his sails.

  It did. He stood back. His expression went from smug to contemplative.

  Figures, she thought, just another guy gun shy about kids. At least now, maybe he will leave me alone.

  “Can’t dad take him?” He stood up straight.

  “Ha!” Her gruff laugh erupted so quick it made her headache pound. “Ah, no! Dad couldn’t stick around through the first trimester, let alone get Joey off to kindergarten,” she snapped.

  “I see.”

  Doubt creased his expression, making Kate realize she had just gone off on a complete stranger. “Listen, I’m sorry. I need to get out of here. I’ve had a bad night…” Understatement of the year. “…and I need to get home to my son.”

  Ritter pushed away from the wall and headed for the door without further questions or commentary. Kate was a little surprised at how rapidly he left.

  Outside her cubical, Kate heard him talking with one of the staff members. Laughter came from beyond her door before he and a very pregnant nurse walked back in.

  The nurse smiled and tapped his arm. “Richard tells me you need to bolt.”

  Kate considered them both, then glanced down at the nametag on the nurses I.D badge.

  Janet Ritter.

  What a schmuck. The jerk flirted with her and his pregnant wife stood only feet away. Kate’s eyes flew to his, her sneer pointed.

  “Yeah, I need to get home.” Kate’s hackles rose.

  “How are you feeling, Miss Davis?” Janet asked while putting on a pair of latex gloves.

  “Fine, I’m fine.” Even Kate heard the hostility in her short words.

  Janet and Richard both glanced at each other.

  Ignoring the mounting tension in the room, the nurse moved forward and removed the small piece of gauze covering the bullet wound. Kate took notice of it as well, and felt what blood had risen to meet her anger drop to her feet. “Oh my,” she whispered. The room started to spin.

  Richard moved forward, pulled her legs up and onto the gurney. “You look like you’re going to pass out.”

  She felt like she was going to pass out.

  Janet’s swift movements leaned the gurney back and Kate along with it. With her head lowered, the room came into focus again.

  “You’re all right,” the nurse assured her.

  Richard placed a hand on her shoulder. “Are you sure there isn’t someone to watch over your son? You’re not in any condition to leave.”

  Kate glanced at his hand, then back to his face. “Why don’t you let your wife work? I can’t imagine she likes having you hover over her patients.”

  “My what?” Richard’s brow pinched together as he digested her words.

  Kate turned her head to Janet who had stopped taking her blood pressure, her mouth opened. “Your wife…Janet Ritter.”

  Janet burst out in laughter. The corner of Richard’s lips pulled into a smirk.

  “Janet is my sister-in-law. Not my wife.”

  Kate regarded them both. “Oh,” she said, somewhat embarrassed about the assumption she’d made. Janet continued to chuckle.

  “Max is going to love that one.” Janet removed several packages of gauze and antiseptic from a cupboard and set them up on the rolling table by the bed. “Max is my husband and Richard’s brother.”

  Richard’s amusement fell flat when Miss Davis glanced back down at her wounds. Her face went pale again, and for some reason he felt a need to distract her so she wouldn’t keep surveying the damage to her body.

  He could see her wheels turning, realizing, maybe for the first time that night that she survived a brush with death. Her resolve to leave the ER in an effort to get home for her son, exceeded her ability to think rationally about her condition. Obviously, she was used to taking care of others before herself.

  He dragged a chair alongside the gurney and made himself comfortable. “So, tell me about your son.”

  “What?” Kate stared up at him, then back to her arm.

  “Your son, Joey is his name, right?”

  She turned her head his way and leaned back while Janet cleaned her wound.

  “He’s six.”

  “What does he like to do? Ride bikes, skateboards or build forts in the dirt?”

  “He loves his bike, but our neighborhood isn’t the best.”

  Richard listened while Kate went on about her son’s life. Apparently, video games ruled when you lived in an apartment.

  He raised an eyebrow to Janet who noticed his antics and nodded her approval.

  Kate was distracted. Something told him if he’d asked questions about her personal life, she wouldn’t be so forthcoming with information. Talking about her son came easy, however.

  It took almost an hour for his sister-in-law to clean up the mess made by the thugs who robbed the restaurant. By the time Kate held her discharge papers, she had no less than three shots, five bandages, and a dozen stitches.

  Richard excused himself when Janet walked out of the room.

  “Are any of those scratches bites?” he asked in a hushed whisper.

  “Hard to tell,” Janet said. “Her right leg was cut up by the glass. Did the witnesses see the dog attack?”

  “Most of them cowered under the tables when the gun went off. One witness said the dog went ballistic and jumped on her.”

  Richard glanced back toward Kate’s room. “Now what?”

  Janet lowered her voice and stated the obvious. “Even if he turned her, we won’t know until next month, Richard.”

  He ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah, but she has a kid. And if the wolf marked her, he may come back tonight to seal the deal.”

  “Maybe Max can track him?”

  Richard nodded. Yeah, but will Kate let him anywhere near her?

  Chapter Two

  Wearing nothing but paper scrubs, Kate walked out to the nurse’s station and caught his eye. His lips pulled back into a small smile. Her straight brown hair came free from the rubber band holding it together. Her immobilized arm was swathed in bandages from elbow to shoulder. Small cuts on her wrists sported bandages and stitches.

  In short, she looked like hell.

  Still, beyond the cuts and gauze, Richard found a determined and beautiful woman. His mind flashed back to the sight she gave him through the hospital gown. Petite legs and a perfectly shaped ass met his memory.

  Her eyes fluttered from his to the phone on the wall.

  He stepped forward and stopped her before she could pick it up. “Where am I taking you?”

  “You don’t have to drive me home, Mr. Ritter.”

  “Richard, the name is Richard. My dad is Mr. Ritter.”

  She chuckled, shook her head. “Okay...Richard. Really it isn’t necessary.”

  He glanced at his watch. It was almost six. “What time do you normally get home from work?”

  “Six forty five.”

  “By the time the cab gets here you’ll be late.”

  He watched her weighing her options, flashes of frustration
visible in her eyes.

  “All right.”

  Relieved to have won this battle, Richard led her out the back door of the ER and to his car parked in the spot designated for the police.

  “Are you a cop?”

  “No, but I know one of the nurses.” He gave her a cocky grin.

  He held open her door and waited for her to buckle up.

  She rambled off her address. He had to restrain his expression when he recognized the neighborhood. It wasn’t South Central or South LA as they called it now in an effort to change the image of gangs and violence, but it was close. No wonder she wouldn’t let her son ride his bike on the street.

  “How long have you lived there?”

  “Only a couple of months,” she admitted. “I know what you’re going to say.”

  “I wasn’t saying anything.” Not out loud anyway.

  “Bad neighborhood, bad place to raise a kid.”

  “If you think that, why not move?”

  “It’s not that easy when you consider rent, food, and gas prices where they are. Waitresses don’t make very much money.”

  He wanted to ask about any family she might have to help her out, but didn’t.

  “Oh no!” She shot up in her seat, taking him by surprise.

  “What?”

  “I can’t work with this arm.”

  “I’m sure temporary disability will pay.”

  “Yeah, but not tips. They only go on estimated income, not actual income.”

  Her good hand wreaked havoc with the paper gown she wore. Richard pulled off the freeway, already backed up with the morning commute. Her graffiti filled neighborhood didn’t suit her. His Lexus stuck out like a sore thumb. Or maybe people would view him as a drug dealer. Either way, he didn’t fit.

  The sun had broken through the morning fog by the time he pulled up to the apartment complex. Bars covered all the windows, even those on the third floor, giving the building a bleak appearance.

  “You can drop me off here.” She pointed to a space in front of the building.

  “I’ll walk you up,” he said while putting the car in park.

  “That isn’t necessary.”

  “I insist.” He eyed her paper scrubs and didn’t give her room to argue.

  Richard came around the car and helped her to her feet. She still swayed slightly, making him catch her around her waist for support. Her lithe little body pressed close caused him to realize just how fragile she was.

  “I guess I’m still a little shaky.”

  “You had a rough night.”

  She chuckled. “Understatement of the year.”

  Kate pushed the buzzer at the door. Static, along with a Hispanic voice crackled over the intercom.

  “It’s me, Manuela,” Kate told the woman.

  “Why you not use key?” Manuela asked in broken English.

  “My purse is at work.”

  “What?”

  “Just open up, please.”

  A metallic click signaled an open security door. As they moved through, Richard glanced at the flimsy lock and knew he could bust into the door in less than two minutes.

  So much for safety.

  The broken elevator matched the rickety handrail on the stairway. Janet lived on the top floor. The sound of babies crying for their morning meal mixed with the blaring noise of TV’s turned up way too loud. A piercing female voice yelled out, “Get your lazy ass out of bed, you good for nothing deadbeat. It is time you got to school.”

  Moving through the shadows of the dimly lit hall, they stopped at the first door on the right.

  Kate’s knock met with an eye from the peephole and several chain locks coming free. When it opened, the woman he assumed was Manuela stepped back; her dark eyes took him in before settling on Kate.

  “Aye, aye, what happen to you?”

  “I had an accident at work.”

  “Mommy, is that you?”

  A bouncy, six-year-old boy attached to the voice, rounded the corner. His disheveled hair and Spiderman PJ’s indicated he had just leapt out of bed.

  Kate bent down to accept her son’s hug, her groan muffled when Joey squeezed her too hard. That must have hurt. But she’d done a good job of hiding it.

  “Hey, buddy. How did you sleep?”

  Joey let go and stepped back. His head turned to the side and his eyes squinted before coming to rest on her arm. “What happened?”

  Kate glanced up at Richard, clearly distressed over how much she should tell her son.

  “I, ah...”

  “She fell.” Richard interjected with a white lie. “Some guy spilled his coffee and your mommy fell.”

  The child’s discerning expression rested on him. “Who are you?”

  “My name is Richard.”

  The boy marched right up to him and put out his hand to shake. Richard had to swallow his smirk. Little Spiderman, with dried up drool on his lips, seemed so serious.

  “I’m Joey Davis.”

  Richard shook his hand and smiled. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Joey.”

  “You need to get ready for school, sport.” Kate stood and put a hand on her son’s back to guide him away.

  “Okay, Mommy.”

  “I go,” Manuela said while gathering her purse.

  She stopped long enough to extend her hand, palm up, in front of Kate.

  Kate shuffled slightly. “I’m sorry, my purse is at work. Would you mind if I paid you tonight?”

  Clearly irritated, Manuela placed her hand on her hip. “How I use the bus if I have no money?”

  Richard stepped forward, his hand already fishing in his back pocket for his wallet. “Here.” He thrust several bills at the woman.

  Manuela’s eyes grew large when she saw the amount. The money quickly disappeared into the pocket of her apron. Her scowl turned to a grin. “I like your man,” she told Kate with a wink.

  Kate turned her gaze on him, her expression unreadable. “He’s not my...Oh, never mind.”

  Just as she had coaxed her son from the room, Kate placed a steady hand on Manuela’s back, helping her out the door.

  Once it closed, she turned on him. “Why did you do that?”

  “She needed bus fare.”

  “I could have found something to tie her over. What you did wasn’t necessary.” Kate stood rigid. Her eyes never left his. “I could have managed.”

  “You can pay me back, if that’s what you’re so upset about.”

  “Oh, I’ll pay you back all right.”

  “Fine.” Richard stood back.

  “Fine,” she snapped.

  They stood, face to face. Neither of them moving or saying more. Kate’s breath came in short gasps, the temper hardly contained.

  Why is she so pissed? All I did was pay her sitter, and gave her a ride home. Hell, I’ve been a damned gentleman, and she looks like she wants to spit nails at me.

  Then he saw it, the flash of recognition. Her determination to remain mad started to crumble. Her lower lip started to tremble and her eyes swelled with unshed tears. Oh no. She’s going to cry. Richard hated when woman cried. It always made him feel so useless.

  “Hey, it’s okay.”

  “Really? I don’t think so.” She shook her head and nodded toward her son. “I was shot last night, I can’t work with this.” She lifted her arm. “And I can’t pay you back anytime soon because I won’t be able to earn any tips until I can hold a plate.”

  “But...”

  “I’m not done.” Kate turned away and started to pace. “My car is at work, and I need to get my son to school.”

  “I’ll drive.”

  “I don’t even know you.”

  Her frustration bit out each word. Luckily, Joey arrived in time to spare her from continuing.

  “What’s for breakfast?” he asked.

  Kate wiped one fallen tear from her cheek and smiled down at him. “Well, we have Cheerios or Lucky Charms.”

  “Duh,” he said, rolling his eyes. �
��Lucky Charms.”

  Richard watched her composure return. She led her son to the small kitchen on the other end of the room. Her little outburst told him how on edge she felt. Shit, she didn’t know the half of it.

  While she prepared a simple breakfast for her son, Richard took the opportunity to call his brother.

  Kate tried to ignore the man in her living room talking on his cell phone. It proved difficult at best. She couldn’t remember anyone in her apartment wearing a suit. Even the landlord wore nothing but T-shirts and jeans.

  Richard’s voice rumbled low so she couldn’t make out the conversation.

  Who was he, and why was he being so nice?

  Joey slapped his spoon against the bowl between bites. His big blue eyes smiled along with his lips. She was glad Richard had lied to her son. Telling Joey the truth would have wiped that beautiful smile away. She didn’t need Joey worrying about her any more than he already did. At times, she’d find him curled up on her bed when she arrived home from work. When asked why he was there, he’d say something about having a bad dream and her not coming home. No, telling him some ass had put a hole in her the night before would only give him reason to worry more.

  Joey amazed her. His world wasn’t like most kids his age. Being an only child with a working single mom meant he gave up a lot. He tried so hard to act grown up.

  She couldn’t afford many of the activities most kids Joey’s age did. No Karate lessons or T-ball teams to meet up with. No Soccer teams or days full of practices.

  Working nights gave her the ability to be home with him during the day, which meant a lot to both of them. She tried to get him out of the nasty neighborhood as often as possible. With gas prices on the rise, even that proved difficult. Graveyard shift also meant she could manage to take one class a semester in an effort to climb out of her rut.

  Richard stepped into the kitchen while putting his cell phone back in his pocket. “Are you ready?” “Almost.” Kate smiled at her son. “Go brush your teeth and let’s get you to school.”

  ****

  Within thirty minutes, Richard had her back in her apartment and propped up on her couch with a pain pill in hand.

  He’d taken over her life in the past few hours, and she felt unable to stop him. Not that she had the energy to try.