Tony and Tyrese rushed through the emergency room doors at Alta Bates Hospital.
“Donathan and Sydney James,” Tony said, summoning the older woman sitting behind the desk. He was out of breath.
“Are you a relative?” the woman asked, barely looking up from her computer.
“Yes, we’re his brothers,” they said in unison.
The nurse gave them both an I’m-not-stupid look, then said, “You and all the rest of these damn reporters who’ve been running up in here. I’ma tell you just like I told them, I can’t give out medical information.”
“Look, lady, we know they’re here because Sydney James called us,” Tyrese roared, slamming both palms flush against the desk. The frustration he was feeling wasn’t just about Donathan. His heightened emotions were also about the state of his job and Joi leaving him. He was still in complete shock that she had taken everything except for a roll of toilet paper. He was embarrassed and hadn’t told anyone yet; never in a million years would he have thought Joi had the guts to leave him and take his children. His boys didn’t have anything to do with this shit and he wasn’t going to take this lying down. Boys needed their father, and he would give Joi a few days to cool off. But there was no way he’d let her ruin the lives of his children. His boys were coming home with or without her.
* * *
After the catastrophic day Sydney was having, she was glad to hear Tony and Tyrese on the other side of the door, making a fuss. She sent one of the nurses out to get them as the doctor placed the last stitch in her hand. Her wound was deep, but the cut was clean. The doctor gave her a tetanus shot and assured her that in a few weeks her hand would be fine. Donathan, on the other hand, wasn’t so free and clear. They wanted to keep him overnight for observation, but he’d refused, insisting that Tyrese drive them home while Tony went back to Cavour Street to oversee the Triple-A towing of their cars.
On the drive from the hospital, Sydney sat in the backseat and checked her texts and voice-mail messages. There were no texts from Miles, and she was worried about him. She had no idea what had happened after she left Lois the Pie Queen, and there was no way she could ask Donathan.
When they arrived home, Sydney left Donathan and Tyrese talking downstairs and made her way to the bedroom to strip off her clothes. She found her favorite jazz station on the Bose system, then made her way to the shower and engaged the overhead water tile. She stood under the ceiling-mounted showerhead and melted into the surge of hot water beating down on her. She was too tired to think, too tired to feel, but she lost herself in José James’s “Dream.”
Sydney was so wrapped up in the melancholy music that she didn’t hear Donathan when he entered the bathroom and was completely surprised when he slid into the shower beside her. Without a word, he washed her hair, and she washed the remnants of dried blood the hospital had missed from his chest and then carefully dried the invisible trauma from their bodies.
Sydney wandered back into the bedroom, with Donathan following closely behind her. He helped her into the bed and then spooned his body around hers. She prayed she would drift off and when she woke up this all would have been just a bad dream. But sleep didn’t come easy.
There were so many things Donathan didn’t know. And there were some things she didn’t know if he could handle the answers to. Mental health issues weren’t her specialty, but she would never feel safe until they caught up with Austyn Greene.
When the Oakland Police arrived at the scene, a search of Austyn’s apartment yielded a drug used by anesthesiologists to slow down the body and paralyze patients during surgical procedures, which was what she’d used on Donathan. They also found the jars of human testicles, the newspaper articles, and some paperwork on Lois Greene, who was presumed to be Austyn’s mother. Now Austyn was a strong suspect in the deaths of two blue-collar workers who’d bled to death after their testicles had been surgically removed. The detectives had made an extensive search of the neighborhood, but she was nowhere to be found.
The police had questioned Sydney about Lois Greene, and she’d assured them she had no clue who that was, though the name sounded awfully familiar. Even though she didn’t know who Austyn’s mother was, she sure as hell wouldn’t want to be her; Austyn was on a mission of payback and she wouldn’t stop until she completed it.
Sydney closed her eyes, haunted by the dreams of a helpless little girl who was unable to defend herself from the evils of sick-ass men and a sick-ass mother. Her thoughts were interrupted when Donathan stirred. She turned to face him and looked into his eyes. His voice was faint, barely above a whisper.
“Did you fuck him?” he asked, never breaking eye contact. His face was conflicted with his love for her and all the other things she could see he was struggling not to feel. Sydney nuzzled in closer, intercepting his thoughts and searching for the strength to do what she needed to do. She couldn’t run from his question this time. This was her nightmare—her consequence—and the shit was real.
Want more? Keep an eye out for . . .
In this page-turning follow-up to Dangerous Consequences, a serial killer wants revenge—but two surprising people stand in her way . . .
Abandoned by her mother as a kid, Payton Jones wants no reminders of her past and no commitments. She’s beautiful, educated, rich, and gets what she wants—even if her favorite friends-with-benefits, Tony Barnes, is a hot complication. But her life of shopping, spa appointments, and mindless sex is interrupted when the most wanted woman in the Bay area starts hunting for Payton’s estranged mother. Curiosity leads Payton into unfamiliar—and risky—territory.
Psychologist and local radio show host Donathan “Sex Doctor” James almost became a victim of the killer, who bared her every twisted thought to him. He knows she won’t stop until she commits the most personal murder of all. But when his wife’s best friend, Payton Jones—who Donathan isn’t quite sure he can trust—uncovers a shattering connection to the killer, they team up to find her.
Now, surviving the chase puts Donathan’s marriage, career, and life on the line while Payton comes face to face with everything she’s been running from for years . . .
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