by Christa Wick
His brow shot up, the look urging me to go on. I took a hard swallow, the spit more painful than soothing as it traveled down my raw throat.
"He thought he could make it look like we were in cahoots to get him off the horse farm." I paused. I wasn't about to tell Gillie everything. He didn't need to know about the outfits Stark had bought me, both before and in Dubai, or speculate as to why I had held onto them. But he deserved to know at least a little. "He wanted my prints on the funnels and some of the containers in there, to make it look like I blew myself up trying to frame him. He might have planted chemicals at your place or some clothes that look like they'd fit me."
My cheeks flaming even hotter, I looked to where the helicopter had finally come into view. Stopping Gillie's attempts at first aid, I stood and moved closer to where the ambulance team was moving Collin onto a hand-held gurney. They did the same thing for the second man. Unlike Collin, he was conscious.
I put my mouth close to Gillie's ear so I wouldn't have to shout so loud over the helicopter. "Is Evan...you know."
He didn't answer, just pointed toward the stable. I followed the line of his arm and outstretched figure. I had been so intent on watching Collin worked on, I hadn't seen them carry Evan's body from the stable and drape a red cloth over it.
"Sometimes they leave them inside until the investigator gets here," he said. "But not if the chemicals will eat at the corpse."
I nodded, misplaced guilt and relief churning in my stomach. I guessed I felt guilty because I felt relieved that he was dead. Not happy -- just relieved.
"Can I go with Collin on the helicopter?" Another spike of guilt slammed into me as I saw a guarded expression flash across Gillie's face.
"Medical staff only." He walked me toward the ambulance crew who had abandoned their two charges to the flight doctor. "You'll ride in the ambulance as they finish first aid on you."
Shaking my head, I tried to brush his hand off me. "I'm fine, I--"
"You're going to the hospital." He switched the hand holding my elbow then wrapped the other around my shoulder so I couldn't brush him off. "Your throat and lungs need checked. It could have been worse, but that was serious shit you inhaled in there, Mia."
My head dropped as the tears I had been holding back started to flow. Whatever I had inhaled, whatever my skin had come into contact with, Collin had been exposed far worse -- all to protect a woman who had turned him away.
********************
They took me to the same hospital to which the air evac team had transported Collin. Just past the county line, it had more experience with meth lab explosions. Thankfully, our exposure was less harmful than it could have been because Evan either didn't know how to cook or he had decided framing me would be easier if it looked like I was ineptly trying to frame him. Whichever reason, he had a number of the ingredients wrong according to Gillie, from the wrong kind of batteries to the wrong cold medicine. Although, for the pseudoephedrine, he probably didn't want his name on the buy list right before he murdered me in an explosion.
My head spun at the logic and from the lingering effects of ammonia as I left the hospital exam room. The receptionist at the desk handed me an envelope with my name on it. I opened it to find my cell phone and car keys with a note from Gillie telling me where he had parked the vehicle.
I called his private cell phone and was immediately shunted to voicemail. I hoped it was because he was busy working the scene at the horse farm. Hoping I hadn't killed our friendship with my reaction to Stark's injuries, I left a message thanking Gillie for his thoughtfulness.
To the doctor's dismay, my blood pressure hadn't dropped to a normal range the entire time I was being examined. It wouldn't until I knew Stark's condition, so I went in search of information. I hit my first road block in the emergency room, which wouldn't even confirm he had been brought in. I tried the receptionist in surgery with the same result.
Standing in front of the hospital directory trying to figure out my next move, a warm, feminine hand curled around my elbow.
"Miss James?"
I turned to find a fifty-something woman in scrubs with a name badge identifying her as Linda Parks, RN. I nodded and she immediately started tugging me to follow her.
"It's supposed to be family only," she explained, pulling me through the doors to the recovery rooms. "But I'm going to have to sedate him if he doesn't calm, which I can't do until his surgeon is out of OR again."
She opened the door on a private room to reveal Collin standing next to the hospital bed and scowling at his ruined pants.
"You are not to remove your IV." Her hands found her hips and her shoulders squared like she was ready to tackle block him.
His scowl deepened for a second and then he seemed to realize I stood behind her. Dropping the pants, he sat down, the scowl erased as his gaze remained on me.
She waggled her finger at him. "All the way on the bed."
He complied, not looking at her.
"Stay put while I get another IV catheter." She raised the safety rail then turned, mumbling as she brushed past me on her way out of the room. "And restraints."
Alone and knowing the nurse would be back any second, I had no idea what to say to him. He had saved my life and tried to save Evan's. That made Stark a better person than me, no matter what I thought about Collin and how he had treated me.
Better than me or not, being around him wasn't any less toxic for my mind than the chemicals that had surrounded us in the stable. I wanted to know he was okay, but I didn't want to talk to him, not when my emotions were as raw as my throat, maybe worse.
Catching the scent of the chemicals on his clothes, I huffed.
"I don't think these are supposed to be in here." Spotting a box with latex gloves, I put them on then searched the cupboard beneath for something to put the clothes in. I found a big red plastic bag just as the nurse came in.
"I was going to do that before he started acting like a--" Stopping short, she glared at him then started to work on re-inserting the IV.
Except for one wince when the woman's hand brushed against a quarter-sized burn a few inches up from his wrist, he didn't acknowledge her but kept his attention focused on me.
"How did I get out?"
"One of your team pulled you out," I started.
He shook his head. "I didn't have a team. Kane..."
He paused while the nurse finished. Done, she stared at him. He stared back, his expression wholly that of Collin Stark, Chief Executive Bad Ass of Stark International. I sort of felt sorry for her. Veteran nurses don't wilt easily, especially when pissed at a problem patient, but she withered in a heartbeat beneath that stare of his.
He waited until the door clicked shut behind her before he finished. "Kane cut me off -- my company, my accounts..."
I shook my head. "Two men rescued us. One kept me from going back into the stable, the other one went in right before it exploded then carried you out. I think he's here, too, but he was conscious when the air evac took the two of you away."
"I called Gillie, those men--"
"Weren't cops," I interrupted. "The second one never pulled a badge out."
Collin wasn't ready to relent. "Kane cut me off. I've spent the last two weeks in a sleeping bag outside your..."
Shaking his head, he closed his eyes, repeating Kane's disloyalty.
Picking up his jacket from the rack beneath the bed, I emptied the pocket onto the hospital tray then folded the jacket and put it in the red plastic bag.
"You know, when I was six and my mother started dating Evan, I told her I was running away." I wadded the ruined t-shirt and stuffed it in next to the leather jacket. "She helped me pack my book bag, had me say good-bye to my horse, explaining I couldn't possibly feed Corabelle. Then she sent me down the drive with three different stable hands following me until I finally sat down on a stump a few miles from the farm and started crying."
Shoes, socks and underwear followed the t-shirt as I paused to dam
the tears that threatened to flow. Setting the bag down, I picked the jeans up from the floor and began to empty the pockets.
"She showed up then and took me home. To this day I'm not sure whether it was a good lesson or bad." I placed what I had scooped out of the pockets on the metal tray, not paying any attention as I stuffed the ruined pants into the bag. "My father would have asked why I wanted to run away -- she never did."
Not really sure why I started the story, except maybe to exculpate Kane, a man I didn't even like, I stopped and looked at Collin. He stared at the hospital tray like I'd just put a grenade on it with the pin already pulled.
I looked, my gaze first taking in the bigger items like his cell phone and wallet before it landed on what must have held his attention.
A ring -- a woman's ring, with a large diamond solitaire and a platinum band.
"Why did you run away?"
The question broke my focus on the ring. Stepping away from the bed, I sealed the bag of clothes, placed it under the bed then removed the latex gloves before responding.
"Even that young, I knew Evan liked making people miserable." I turned toward the bed, realizing I had answered the wrong question when his gaze grabbed mine.
"I meant Florida." Collin tried to sit up again, grimacing as he pushed at the tray and looked for the locks on the safety rail.
I moved the tray back in place. The redness on his face had faded already and I didn't know where else I could safely touch him, so I placed my palm against his forehead and forced him back against the mattress.
I wanted to tell him he didn't deserve an answer, but that rang hollow after he had saved my life. I couldn't tell him the truth, though. The truth made me feel even more hollow. I had been able to spend four miserable months bouncing around the question of whether the doctors had lied to me in Dubai, but I couldn't stand another day at Stark International after I saw his new secretary touch him and heard the lurid speculation in the voices of the men around me.
"You need another bag for these." I gestured at the items on the tray, my gaze and outstretched finger avoiding the ring. I returned to the cabinet I had found the red bag in and located a smaller, clear bag marked "valuables." Returning to the tray, I started to put them inside until my finger brushed against the ring.
I dropped the bag onto the tray without finishing. "That second man on the team, the one they didn't admit to the hospital, he'll be able to get you fresh clothes."
I turned toward the door and managed one step away from the bed before Collin captured my wrist. "I told you, Kane cut me off."
His strength too worn down to contain me, I twisted my wrist free. "Clearly, he hasn't or we'd both be dead."
Collin reached again, his IV tube tangling so that I was forced to turn back and push against his forehead a second time. He gave me that look, the one he'd given the nurse, for all of a second before his gaze softened.
Snatching the call button, I paged someone to the room. He was their patient, they could sit on him or sedate him. I needed to escape before I left my heart on the floor.
"He cut me off until things were settled between you and me." His hand moved restlessly along the safety rail, but he didn't make another attempt to grab me. He drew a long breath in and released it just as slowly, the effect of the chemicals still audible from the rattle in his throat. Finished, he blinked then looked at me with an expression I had never seen on his face before and couldn't hope to interpret.
"Are they settled?" he asked.
No tears escaped as I nodded. "Yes, they are."
********************
I walked out of the lion's den and down the hall to find myself staring at a few more lions. Trent Kane stood at the desk of the same receptionist who had turned me away, the heat simmering on his face indicating he'd made no more progress with her in finding out Stark's condition than I had. Beyond him, bodies tense as they talked into their cell phones, were Reed Henley and the woman who had wrapped her hand around Collin's shoulder at the security conference in Miami.
Seeing me first, Reed stopped talking into his phone and jostled Kane. Sucking a deep breath in, I braced myself. Three long strides brought Kane to me. His hands gripped my shoulders. He didn't shake me, but his hands seemed to flex with the desire to do so.
"How is he?"
I looked over Kane's shoulder to the woman as I answered. "Well enough to give the nurses a hard time."
Her face relaxed enough for a half smile to creep up one side. Raising my hands, I brushed at Kane's arms. I appreciated his concern for a friend, but the time limit for him grabbing and holding me like that had expired five seconds after it started.
"He'll need clothes brought to him." I stepped left. Kane, no longer holding my shoulders, stepped with me.
"Hold on..." He started to reach for me again then raised his hands, his palms open and facing toward me. "Just answer a few questions for me. Please, Mia."
Four months ago, the entreaty would have worked. But Collin hadn't been the only one to flip switches inside me. Kane had flipped at least one on the plane ride out of Dubai and the first forty-eight hours in Florida as he detailed my new position within the company. The anger and disgust I had seen in Collin's face before I passed out in Dubai had been reflected in Kane's in Florida. So, too, had the remote indifference I would come to associate with Reed. A request from Kane meant nothing, just as my pleas to him had fallen on deaf ears.
I turned to the receptionist who stared at us, her chin in her hands, her lips slightly parted as she watched our improvised theater. "Mr. Stark is awake. I'm sure if you give him a message, he'll authorize these visitors."
I couldn't help but look at the woman as the final word left me. I spun, hoping I had done enough for Kane to let me pass, but he held his hands up again.
"Just give me a minute? Please?" He grabbed the woman by the arm and walked her several feet away to the set of windows that looked over the parking lot. He leaned in, whispering to her as he pulled something from his wallet. He handed it to her and she nodded, her hand coming up to cup his cheek as her lips met his.
Shocked by the unexpected intimacy, I looked to Reed. He looked incredulous for a moment, then confused then blank as he realized I was watching him instead of Kane and the woman. Something was off. I didn't know what, but I didn't need to. I just had to realize that I couldn't stay in an environment where I had to second guess everything and everyone.
That was Collin's world -- not mine.
Taking advantage of the distance Kane had opened up, I started down the hall, walking as fast as I could without looking like I was running. The next hand I felt on me wasn't Kane's, but Reed's.
"I need to apologize to you, Mia."
That slowed my steps. Someone at Stark International wanted to apologize? Not move me around like a chess piece or demand that I give them something after months of being invisible? Of course Reed could be playing his own game, softening me up.
I shook my head. "The receptionist will--"
"I don't care about that," Reed persisted. "Trent will get in and you're not in any state that would indicate Collin is in terrible shape."
"He was shot," I relented. "In his bicep. Some chemical burns and fumes..."
"We know that." Reed punched the button on the elevator then spotted Kane stalking our footsteps and waved him away. "I said I want to apologize."
"He had pulled his IV out and was trying to get dressed." I was babbling by that point, confused by Reed's earnest tones and ready to cry. "But the pants were ruined and the chemicals were on everything."
Reed tugged me into the elevator, waiting until the doors closed to thumb away a tear that had escaped me. He punched one of the elevator buttons, but I couldn't read which one through the remaining tears that were seconds from spilling down my cheeks.
"There's a cafeteria in the basement. Let me get you a coffee."
I shook my head and pointed at my throat. "They gave me a list, nothing that hot..."
That was wrong. Kane had been thinking -- about Collin.
Despite the comfort flowing through them, I didn't want Reed's hands on me any more than I had wanted Kane's. I shrugged them off and pushed the button for the main level before the elevator had a chance to take us down to the basement.
"Mia..." He gripped my elbow as the doors started to open onto the hospital lobby. "I lost a baby, too."
That stopped me cold, my feet so frozen to the floor it would have taken a blow torch to unstick them. The doors closed, we stayed on and the elevator carried us down to the basement, where I heard the heartbreaking story of Reed's wife, Katherine.
His voice cracked with each word. His hands shook too much to drink the coffee. By the time he finished, I was able to wrap my arms around him in a hug. I understood why he had been so distant. I understood Kane's aversion to me after Dubai.
And, at least a little, I understood Collin.
Overflowing with understanding and tears, I still walked out of the hospital intent on never seeing any of them ever again.
********************
With Evan dead, I had no idea what would happen with the horse farm. I spoke with an attorney who assured me my life estate in the guesthouse would remain intact, but the farm itself would go to the bank, which might sell it whole or break it up into parcels. So I went to the bank where I met with the loan officer to discuss taking over the mortgage.
That conversation lasted less than ten seconds. It started with his "no" after finding out I worked for Mr. Keppler and had a savings account no bigger than a quarter of the remaining mortgage. It ended with my "no" after he inquired whether I wanted to relinquish my life estate for an amount little more than what I had in said savings account.
The answer to my pressing question of what would happen to the farm started to materialize a week after I had left Reed Henley crying in his coffee in the hospital cafeteria. Leaving for work, I saw the loan officer, Mr. Richards, standing outside one of the remaining stables, his car blocking the lane so that I would have to drive on the grass to get around him.