“You aren’t fooling around with Rog—”
“No!” I objected heatedly. “He’s got a wife. And Ezekiel would murder him. And I don’t see him like that.”
“He’s quite a looker.”
“He’s my bodyguard, Yogi. Nothing else. God, why do I have to explain that to everyone? Do I look love-struck or something?”
“Of course not.” Yogi sniffed. “It’s just that he seems like a very nice man, and any girl would be crazy not to jump his bones.”
I elbowed Yogi with as much of a smile as I could muster at the moment. “Stop it. Don’t be getting ideas. He’s married.”
Yogi rolled her eyes. “Not for me. I’ve learned my lesson when it comes to chasing pretty faces.”
As far as I knew, Yogi had no real romantic interests, but I hadn’t known her for more than a few years. It was hard to picture her falling in love—she was so pragmatic about everything—even though she was a very loving person. She handed out love to Kenny and her girls—but never to a man.
“We’d best get back to the waiting room.”
Chapter 27
Yogi and I returned to the waiting room. Kenny was still where she’d left him, reading a children’s book with a look of pure concentration. Yogi sat beside him and began petting his hair. He curled against her with a satisfied sigh. I returned to my worrying, pacing the waiting room when I wasn’t fiddling in my seat.
“Melissa Thatcher?” came a call from the desk. I rocketed from my seat and approached as fast as I could in my heels.
“Yes?” I asked the doctor standing there. She looked haggard and overworked, but she did try to give me a semblance of a smile, which I wasn’t sure I appreciated.
“You’re Mimi Thatcher’s sister, correct?”
“Yes.”
The doctor nodded and looked down at her clipboard. “Well, the good news is that your sister will pull through. She’s had rather severe head trauma and a few broken bones, along with some internal bleeding, but it seems to be under control at the moment. From what we can see, there doesn’t seem to be any sense or movement impairment, but it may be too soon to tell the true extent of her injuries. She’s heavily sedated right now, but you’re allowed to see her. Briefly, please. You have five minutes.”
I nodded and didn’t bother arguing. I followed the doctor down the hall of the ER, waving to Yogi before I vanished behind the swinging doors.
The doctor showed me into a tiny room without windows. On the bed in the center lay my sister. At least, I thought she was my sister. The hair on the pillow was hers, but as for everything else, I couldn’t begin to recognize her.
Her entire face was either swollen, bruised, or bandaged. There was heavy padding wrapped around her head. Her left arm was in a cast, as were a few fingers. God, did he beat her with a tire iron and then shove her off a bridge? A sob caught in my throat, and I rushed to her, throwing myself into the seat beside her. I took the hand that wasn’t bandaged.
“Mimi?” I whispered.
One eye—the other looked like it couldn’t open—fluttered. God, she looked horrible. I was torn between wanting to cry and wanting to throw a chair at Joel out of anger. I’d always known he’d been a dick, but he’d never done more than slap Mimi here or there. What had driven him crazy? Even if he was into something more hardcore, it couldn’t have been street dust. Street dust didn’t make people violent. It had to be something else, something much stronger.
“Mimi?” I asked again, squeezing her hand lightly.
“Melissa?” Her voice cracked. I noticed she was missing one of her bottom teeth. “Is that you?”
“Yeah. I’m here.” I tried smiling through the tears that rose in my eyes.
“I’m sorry for yelling at you on the phone,” she murmured. She sounded very out of it indeed, but I was glad she was loopy instead of in pain.
“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”
“I’m just worried about you.”
“You’re worried about me?” I laughed lightly, then pressed my lips together to keep from sobbing. “Look at you.”
“Where’s Joel?”
“In hell, I hope.”
“Melissa, I…”
“Yes?”
“I love you.”
Now I was definitely crying. I squeezed her hand harder, hoping that it wasn’t hurting her to do so. I kissed her knuckles, then lightly, her forehead. “I love you, too, Mimi.”
A nurse stepped in. “I’m afraid you’ll have to return to the waiting room, miss.”
I didn’t bother arguing, because I felt like it might upset Mimi. “Okay.” I stood, but leaned over to kiss her cheek. “I’ll be back, okay? I’m here for you. Always.”
But Mimi was already asleep, which made it easier to leave. I released her hand and returned to the waiting room.
* * *
Cops probably should have interrogated me, but this was Metro, and the few cops we had were always busy investigating more important things, like kids killed by drug dealers when they couldn’t pay up. It didn’t really matter, though, because I knew who did it and I knew exactly what was going to happen to him. If I had my way, that is.
I didn’t even have to go looking for Joel. He showed up at the hospital around two in the morning.
The hospital smell was making me sick. I told Yogi I had to go outside for a few minutes because I was going to vomit. Yogi promised to tell me if they called me, so I stumbled outside, taking in deep gulps of summer Metro air. It was dirtier than the hospital air, but at least it didn’t carry the scent of antibacterial soap and latex.
“Melissa?”
I froze at the sound of his voice. And before I could move, his hand clamped down on my arm. I almost slapped him, as I had done before when he got too grabby, but then something cold pressed against my side. My heart nearly stuttered to a stop.
“Joel,” I said slowly. “Put the gun down, please.”
“It’s all your fault,” he hissed. And I knew. He was still on something, something that didn’t wear off in a few hours.
Blue Kitten, perhaps? That was what Broderick had been talking about in Goddess. Ezekiel had expressed disdain for it, claiming it was the new “super drug” that was killing off customers faster than they could be made. And while I’d never hung around anyone on Blue Kitten, I’d heard the rumors of what it did. Hallucinations. Extreme paranoia. Violent tendencies. And the high lasted all day. It burned neurons like firewood. Overdose was exceedingly easy, and even those who were careful ended up with health issues, either from contaminates in the drug or from the drug itself. No wonder Ezekiel didn’t like it.
“Put down the gun.”
“I killed her!”
“No, Mimi’s alive. Joel, please. Just put the gun down.”
“She’s not alive because I killed her. I killed the woman I loved, and now I’m gonna kill you.”
I wanted to snap at him like I usually did, but his finger quivered on the trigger.
“You need help. Just put the gun down, and I’ll get you help.” My eyes crept toward the hospital entrance. I noticed a security guard standing near the front desk. It was too dark for him to see us, but if I could just get Joel screaming or firing the gun in the air, we’d gain notice.
I turned back to Joel and spotted tears trickling down his face, his pupils blown wide. Sweat dribbled down his top lip, along with a trail of snot. I almost felt bad for the bastard.
“They’re gonna come for me. They’re gonna strangle me, and I’m not goin’ without you.”
“Who’s coming for you, Joel? The police? Probably. But they’ll lock you up where you can’t hurt yourself or another person ever again.”
“Not the police. Them.” His lips quivered around the last word.
“Them?” If I could just keep him talking until someone noticed… “Who is ‘them?’”
“The shadow men,” Joel whispered in terror. “And they’ll come for me if I don’t blow your bitch head off.�
��
“It’s not real. The shadow men or whatever you think they are aren’t real. You’re high. Probably higher than you’ve ever been, and it’s all just a bad trip. So put the gun down, and let me get you help.” Or let me shoot you and put you out of your misery.
The hospital door opened. Joel freaked. But instead of putting a bullet in my head, he misfired and the bullet ended up in my side.
Chapter 28
It was now eight o’clock in the morning. Yogi slept in the chair by my hospital bed, Kenny drooling on her shoulder. I’d slept for four hours, but while the anesthetics they put me on helped calm me somewhat, I realized I hadn’t had a hit in a while, and I was beginning to get the shakes. I needed out of this hospital before someone noticed it. If no one had already.
Since I’d been bleeding out of my side, I didn’t get to see my sister again while care was administered. The guard had indeed spotted us after that gunshot. I think he got excited because, for once, he actually got to tackle a guy and beat him into submission. Hospital security probably wasn’t that action-packed, but hey, this was Metro. I’d bet security at an old folks’ home could get exciting in this neighborhood. I was admitted to the ER, but they found the bullet missed internal organs and fixed me up rather quickly. They assured me the injury wasn’t too bad—it probably wouldn’t even scar.
Too bad? Clearly they didn’t have a drug-lord “boyfriend” who would murder my bodyguard when he found out Roger hadn’t been there to protect me.
I called Roger when I woke up, because, while they’d taken my clothes, Yogi had taken my phone from my bag and gave it to me when I asked. I didn’t tell him about the bullet wound. Maybe we could all pretend it didn’t happen. Or that it had happened differently than it actually had. Ezekiel wasn’t supposed to be back for another three days, and, by that time, the injury would have at least scabbed over. We would explain that Roger had been there, but he’d been inside and hadn’t thought I’d needed an escort for a two-minute breather. Roger was the one to tackle Joel. I’m sure Ezekiel would be angry, but honestly, how could he fault me for being at the hospital where my severely injured sister was being held? I could understand Ezekiel’s anger if Roger and I had just been cruising the streets of Metro—he had expressly wished that I not visit this neighborhood—but I had a legitimate excuse to be here.
Roger told me he was coming to pick me up. I almost told him the truth, because who knew when the hospital would let me go, but I chickened out. Roger would kill me. That is, if Ezekiel didn’t first.
Yogi wasn’t allowed to visit Mimi in the ICU because she wasn’t family, but I had a nurse ask around and was told Mimi was doing fine. Because I’d been quickly moved out of the ICU, my visiting rules were less strict, so Yogi kept me company.
One thing was for sure. I was sick of guns. Guns and bullets. If I never saw another one in my whole life, I’d die happy. That is, if I didn’t die in a gun-related incident.
Roger must have been shocked to arrive and realize I was in a hospital room, not in the waiting room, and I supposed they’d told him what happened at the desk, because he did not look happy when he showed up at the door, scowling.
“What the hell happened?”
Yogi woke with a start, jolting Kenny, who slept on her shoulder. “Huh?”
“Um, hi, Roger.”
Roger glared at me, his fists clenching. I knew he wouldn’t hurt me, but damn, he sure looked like he wanted to.
“Melissa was shot,” Yogi explained with a yawn. “By Joel. Right outside the hospital.”
“Shot? What happened to ‘nothing will happen because I’m in the middle of a waiting room all night’?”
“Look, I didn’t expect a whacked-out Joel to come take revenge on me and Mimi. I went outside for two minutes!”
“You—” Roger jabbed a finger at me, struggling for words. “Fuck, Melissa.”
“How’s Bahiya?”
“Don’t change the subject! Do you have any idea how much hot water we’re in right now?”
“This doesn’t have to be a big deal. I’ve got it all worked out. We tell the whole truth, except tweak it and assure Ezekiel you were there. You couldn’t have done anything if you had been there. You probably would have let me slip outside for some air—”
“At two o’clock in the morning in Metro? I don’t think so!”
“No one could blame you for not following me out. I was going to stand right outside the door for two minutes. I never would have thought Joel would be stupid enough—high enough—to come to the hospital where he put his girlfriend. You can say whatever you want, but you probably wouldn’t have thought anything of it. And it’s not that bad. It didn’t hit anything—”
“Please don’t.” Roger ran his hands over his face wearily. “Please don’t say it could have been worse. It’s a bullet wound. In your side. Fuck, he’s gonna kill me.” Roger looked over his shoulder, as if expecting to see Ezekiel standing there with a gun in his hand.
“Just think of this as pay back. You took that bullet for me in Goddess. This can be like my bullet for you. Kind of.” Not really. Oh well.
Roger leaned over and shook me, instantly sending a shot of pain up my side. But he was too panicked to notice my wince. “Don’t you understand how much trouble we’re going to be in?”
Yogi touched his arm, and Roger let go of me as if I’d been on fire. His hands returned to his face and hair, and I don’t think I’d ever seen him so worried. And he worried a lot.
His anxiety was contagious. I had assumed Ezekiel was too busy to worry about a bullet in his whore’s side, especially when I’d been put in situations like this before. Lately, he hadn’t even been spending much time with me. I was sure I was losing my allure. And even if I wasn’t, this was a perfectly understandable incident. It wasn’t like we were out playing beer pong, drunk and reckless. This had been a freak accident. I was fine. Hell, if I sat still, it didn’t even hurt that bad.
But then doubt slipped in. Who said Ezekiel behaved logically? What if this really enraged him? I’d seen the extent of Ezekiel’s wrath. I’d seen him kill people without a flinch. I started shaking again, wishing I could get a hit and quell some of this fear.
“Ezekiel shouldn’t be back for a few more days,” I said softly.
Roger said nothing, still rubbing his face, looking terrified.
“This isn’t your fault, Roger.”
“It’s all my fault!”
“No. It’s not.” I frowned. “You left for a very justifiable reason. Even more, you didn’t leave me alone in a dangerous place. You left me with Yogi, in a crowded hospital. No one could have predicted something would go wrong.”
“It doesn’t matter.” He shook his head. “It won’t matter to Ezekiel. I should have been there.”
“Then we’ll lie and say you were there but couldn’t do anything. Hell, even if you’d been standing next to me—right next to me—what could you have done when Joel pointed that gun at me? Nothing. I would have gotten shot, no matter what. But we’ll tell Ezekiel you were at the hospital.”
“He’ll know it’s a lie. He can read people…”
“Then tell the truth! But he should be able to understand that you were only going to your—”
“He won’t understand. He’ll never understand. God.” Roger cradled his face in his hands, clearly at a breakdown point.
Yogi glanced at me, then Roger. She took a step toward him and put a hand on his shoulder.
“Roger, dear—”
“We need to go. Now.” Roger shrugged off Yogi’s hand and glared at me.
“Um, but the hospital—”
“We sneak out. If that’s what it takes.”
“I’m not wearing any clothes.”
“We can get some at Ezekiel’s. But we can’t stay here any longer.”
“Roger—”
He ripped off the thin sheet covering my legs. Elbowing Yogi aside, he stood beside me.
“Come on. Get up.”<
br />
“I’m sort of in pain—Roger!”
Instead of waiting for me to get up, he put one arm under my knees and the other on my back and picked me up, seemingly without effort. Yogi let out a sound of protest, but Roger ignored her as he carried me to the door.
“Roger, you can’t—”
He set me down roughly at the entrance, probably figuring it would be easier to sneak out if he weren’t carrying me. He pointed to the wheelchair in the corner. When I frowned, he pushed me into it. He turned to Yogi.
“Are her expenses paid for?”
“I told them to put her on the same card as Mimi,” Yogi murmured, keeping her distance from Roger. She seemed slightly frightened of him.
“Do you have any of Melissa’s clothes?”
“No, but I have her phone—”
Roger snatched it out of her claws without another word and pocketed it. I wanted to protest more, but he had already grabbed my wheelchair and yanked me out into the hall.
“What about my sister?” I asked. “And I didn’t even say good-bye to Yogi.”
“I’ll call later to make sure your sister is fine.”
“Why not make sure of that now, while I’m here? I haven’t seen her since she was doped up.”
“Melissa, now is not the time to be arguing with me.”
“You’re acting crazy!” I hissed.
“That makes both of us.”
“This is kidnapping.”
Roger didn’t seem to care. He wheeled me out the door. The car was parked in the no parking zone. Since I was apparently incapable of walking, Roger picked me up out of the wheelchair and put me in the passenger’s seat a bit too roughly. I winced and clutched my bandaged side as he rounded the car to the driver’s seat. In seconds, we were peeling out of the hospital driveway, my face pressed against the window, hoping that Mimi could survive a few more days without me.
Chapter 29
That night was quiet, which I expected, because while a few servants, Roger, and I lived in the penthouse, we weren’t particularly noisy without Ezekiel around. I watched the news, wondering if my encounter with Joel would come on, but a crime had to be big in Metro for the news to talk about it. People had to die. I had taken a hit right after I’d gotten home, but it had worn off about two hours ago, leaving me bored. And since I hated sitting around worrying about what Ezekiel would say about the bandage on my abdomen, I went downstairs to Roger’s room.
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