by Jayne Rylon
“Meh.” Valerie shrugged. The gesture drew Lacey’s gaze to the woman’s freshly dyed hair.
“Why did you cover the silver? You know I loved it on you.”
“Silver? It was grey!” Valerie shook her head and laughed.
Before they could reminisce any further, the call buzzer lit up like a Christmas tree. “Damn. I have to get that, Lace. I don’t like the way Mr. Hupple’s cough has been sounding.”
“Go ahead, I’ve got things under control out here.”
“You’re the best.” Valerie waved as she charged down the linoleum corridor.
Several hours later, Lacey admitted she might not be functioning at one hundred percent yet. Usually, she spent the whole day on her feet making trips here, there and yonder under high stress. The commotion of the station shouldn’t have fazed her but lack of sleep, grief and stress had taken a toll.
The yawns started around midnight. Unfortunate, since her shift didn’t end until three in the morning. A little while later, Jambrea urged her to throw in the towel and head home. “It’s quiet tonight, Lacey. Val and I can handle this with one hand behind our backs. Why don’t you get out of here and catch some sleep?”
“I’d rather stay and chat with you.” She started to panic thinking of the dark, empty house waiting for her. “Tell me about that book you’re writing?”
“Not tonight. You’ve had enough, Lacey.”
She blinked as her friend hugged her then walked away.
“What’s this I hear? Are you wimping out there, Lacemeister?” Jerome, one of the orderlies assigned to the floor, loved to tease her. Since he also covered the ER, he often stopped in to the break room to shoot the shit about their mutual appreciation for the hot doctors roaming the hallways. He always had the best deets on the hospital drama since people tended to overlook him as he attended to the tedious but critical tasks that fell under his responsibility. She beamed when he refused to handle her with kid gloves.
“Nah, just need to grab a coffee or something. It’s sitting at this desk that’s throwing me off. I’m used to being up and about.” She reached for the ringing phone. “See you next time around.”
“If you’re really nice, maybe I’ll snag you something resembling a caramel latte from the crapeteria.” The moniker was their loving tribute to the less-than-stellar fare they were forced to suffer through night after night.
Laughing, she waved in acknowledgement as the confused woman on the line insisted her son-in-law was at St. Ann’s not St. Steven’s even though Lacey had personally checked with the city’s other hospital a few minutes earlier.
By one thirty, Lacey battled exhaustion. She decided to take a quick break and laid her head down on her crossed arms. It figured Mason and Tyler chose that instant to amble into the ward.
“Son of a bitch, Mason. You were right.”
Her head snapped up at the familiar tone. “Right about what? I’m just resting my eyes a second. All these flowers are bugging my allergies.”
“My ass!” Mason’s glare cut straight through her bullshit. He stood, hands on hips, in his patrol uniform.
“And what a lovely ass it is, Officer Clark.” Dr. Joy bestowed a loving pat on it as she passed by to complete her final checkup of the night. She nodded at each of the partners in turn. They popped in enough to drop off suspects, take reports on injuries or accidents and to say hello to Lacey while on patrol that everyone on staff knew the notorious bachelors.
“Hey, Dr. McHottie.” Women soaked up Tyler’s incorrigible flirtations like a desert that hadn’t seen rain in a hundred years. Even Dr. Joy couldn’t resist his charm.
“Why hello there, Officer Lambert. What kind of trouble are you stirring up here?” Dr. Joy was nobody’s fool.
“We came to collect, Lacey.” He ratted her out in a flash. “She’s not ready for a full shift yet. She’s falling asleep on the job.”
“I trust you two will see her home safely?”
“Dr. Joy! I’m fine.” She sulked. “And I can get myself home, thank you very much.”
“Boys, I’ll be back through here in ten minutes. I expect you’ll have her bundled up and on her way by then.”
“Yes ma’am.” Tyler nodded for them both.
“You heard the woman. She is your boss, yes?” Mason’s tone brooked no argument.
“Yeah, whatever. I’m going.” Lacey gathered her belongings, shoving them in her bag with more gusto than necessary. Overruled, she agreed to go but refused to allow them to pamper her.
When she retrieved her car keys, Mason objected. “No way. You’re not driving in this condition.”
“Why do you think that just because we got it on, you can order me around whenever you like?”
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that. Drive safe!” Jambrea spun on her heel where she approached and headed into the depths of the unit instead.
Lacey shoved back from the desk, preparing to make a break for the door when she spotted Jerome striding toward them and met him halfway.
“Special delivery.” He proffered a steaming cup of coffee.
“You’re a lifesaver.” She pecked him on the cheek. Behind her, Mason grumbled then settled his arm around her shoulders.
“Down boy.” Jerome looked back and forth between the territorial display and Lacey rolling her eyes. “Your little lady isn’t my type…if you know what I mean.”
“Thanks, Big J. See you tomorrow.” Her sudden dismissal may have been rude but she didn’t need rumors of this flying around the hospital.
“Take care, Tiny L. I mean it.”
She shook off Mason’s hefty biceps then swallowed a big gulp of the rejuvenating brew before marching toward her Civic with the guys in tow.
“I’m going to get the patrol car from out front. Ty, you drive Lacey.” Mason peeled off from their impromptu parade, heading toward the short-term lot.
Lacey vetoed that idea. “You can ride with me but I’m driving.”
“What are you trying to prove, little one?” Tyler played the voice of reason but her pride refused to concede defeat.
“I do this every single day. I’m fully capable of getting myself home.”
“Today’s not every other day and I happen to be available. You look like shit.”
“Nice. Just what a girl wants to hear from the new man in her life.” She belted back another shot of caffeine. “Aren’t you supposed to be a sweet talker?”
“Damn, you know what I mean. Let me drive, Lace.”
“Thanks, but no.” She covered the slight dizziness stealing her balance by pausing to take another sip of her latte. It had to kick in soon. If the guys figured out how she felt they’d never let her leave the house again.
Especially right now, she needed to have some control over her life.
“Jesus Christ you’re stubborn, woman.”
“Better get used to it buddy.” She knew she was being a bitch but a sudden unsettling urge to surrender made her fight twice as hard. Sleepiness usually made her irritable but the vehemence of her reaction startled her.
Lacey concentrated on reining in her temper as they approached her car. A muted beep accompanied the flash of her taillights when she unlocked the doors.
“I don’t like the thought of you walking out here at the ass crack of dawn. It’s dark and there isn’t adequate traffic flow to discourage bad behavior.” Tyler scanned the lot as they climbed into her car and fastened their seatbelts. “I bet you don’t even have security escort you.”
“I’m a grown woman. I can take care of myself.” If he’d eased up on all the sudden, overprotective nonsense, she might have asked him to take the wheel. Instead, she reached for the paper cup then let a mouthful glug from the opening. She willed the potent concoction to jolt her system long enough to get her through the twenty-minute drive, then turned the key in the ignition.
Tyler seemed content to let the topic drop before it escalated into a full-blown argument. Instead, he leaned his head int
o the rest and watched the traffic stream by as she merged onto the highway. In her rearview mirror, she caught sight of Mason drawing wild gestures in the air above the steering wheel of the patrol car as he followed close behind. No doubt, he verged on blowing a gasket because she hadn’t done as he commanded.
The soulful strains of Leona Lewis singing about “Bleeding Love” reverberated through their temporary truce. She hummed along to chase off the lingering exhaustion. Though she’d listened to the song about a million times, the lyrics wouldn’t quite come quick enough to her tired mind for her to sing along. As it turned out, even such a beautiful distraction couldn’t invigorate her.
She rubbed her burning eyes with discreet swipes she prayed Ty wouldn’t notice from his angle. Then she snatched up the half-empty coffee, forcing herself to ingest more of the bitter liquid. She started to choke when a yawn startled her mid-swallow.
“Are you okay?”
No! She cleared her throat to rid her windpipe of the offending drops then replied, “Golden.”
Just when she thought they’d moved past the subject, Tyler continued his rational discussion. “No one’s saying you aren’t capable.”
“That’s how it feels to me.” He’d hit the nail on the head.
“Mason and I need to take care of you, Lacey.” He sighed when she tensed but dug himself deeper. “You’re our responsibility now.”
The lines of the road blurred, the headlights of oncoming cars transformed into starburst prisms, as stinging tears gathered in her abused eyes. Though they didn’t fall, they must have impacted her vision. She couldn’t focus. “That’s how you think of me? I’m tired of being a burden for someone to look after. You think I don’t know how much Rob sacrificed because of me? I won’t let you guys pick up where he left off.”
Alarmed by her limited visibility, she flipped on her blinker to exit the motorway for an alternate route home. Though longer, it made for an easier drive on less travelled roads.
“Where are you going, little one?”
They jerked to a stop at the traffic light topping the ramp, Mason still tailing. She took the opportunity to steal another fortifying sip from her cup. “The back way. I think it is some…”
“Some what?”
She shook her head to clear the distress retarding her thinking. “Huh? I meant it’s faster.”
Tyler didn’t argue but she noticed the curious stare he gave her.
While she waited for the signal to turn, she scrunched her eyes to clear the grit pricking them.
“It’s green, Lacey.”
Irritated for being caught off guard, she stomped on the gas a bit too hard but Ty was wise enough not to remark on it. On their way again, she wound through the sparse woods hiding affluent properties that comprised this neighborhood of the suburb. Without the distraction of other cars and the high speed of the interstate, she managed better even though her body continued to shut down for the night.
She flipped on the heat to counter the chills wracking her.
“What I said before, it didn’t come out right.” Tyler tried one more time to explain himself. “I don’t want you to think you’re an obligation. I meant that because we care for you, we don’t want to see anything else happen to you. We want what’s best for you, always. Maybe we don’t know the right way to handle this shit yet, but we’re trying. We’ll learn together.”
Lacey composed an answer in her mind. Or at least she thought she had but she couldn’t make her mouth articulate the thought. She reached for the dregs of her coffee but her uncoordinated hand bounced off the side of the cup holder.
A garbled noise drew her attention toward Tyler but she couldn’t make sense of the way his funhouse features swirled and rolled. She blinked to clear her vision, but her eyes refused to open again.
Then everything went dark.
“Lacey!” Tyler’s gut gave a sick lurch as her eyes rolled in their sockets. Then she slumped over the steering wheel.
He lunged across the cabin to grab for the free-spinning controls. They’d already drifted across the center line into the opposite lane. The crescendo of a horn blowing scared ten years off his life. Awkward angles, combined with the pressure of Lacey’s torso, resisted his efforts to correct their course. He yanked the wheel to the right, missing an oncoming dump truck with inches to spare. The tires squealed but held as he stabilized their trajectory on the gentle curve of the road.
In his peripheral vision, he caught the flashing red and blue lights Mason had engaged along with the siren to warn other motorists of whatever the fuck was going down here. The deadweight of Lacey’s leg rested on the accelerator, preventing them from rolling to a stop though his glance at the gauges confirmed they had slowed to about thirty miles an hour.
Tyler mentally raced ahead on their route, ticking off possible places to ditch the car, but he couldn’t come up with an alternative that would guarantee Lacey’s safety. He debated yanking the emergency brake but couldn’t predict how much control he’d retain over the vehicle at this speed. Her older sedan wasn’t equipped with all the safety features, like side-curtain airbags, that were standard in late models.
While steering with his right hand, he twisted in his seat to grab for her pant leg with his left. The clink of gravel and branches slapping the side of the car returned his attention to the road. He swerved back onto the pavement with a bounce and a curse.
“Fuck!” He couldn’t reach over the center console from this position. Without a lot of choices remaining, he unclipped the buckle on his seatbelt and scooted to the left. The fabric of Lacey’s baggy scrubs crumpled in his fist as he contorted his arm between her limp torso and thigh.
Tyler tugged but her knee banged the dash housing and he lost his grip. The added momentum of her falling leg surged the car forward. His eyes flicked between the road and her foot as he attempted to keep them on course while searching lower with frantic swipes of his hand until he encountered what he sought. Bingo!
Finally, he threaded his fingers through the laces of her ugly-ass white platform sneakers. He raised her foot free of the pedal and prepared to coast to the shoulder. When he glanced down to ensure the weight had shifted off the small pad, Mason flashed his high beams and laid on the horn.
Tyler looked up just in time to catch a glint of light sparkling off the chrome bumper of the muscle car backing out of a driveway up ahead, right into the road. In the split second he had to decide, he chose to swerve around the guaranteed collision.
Still propping Lacey’s leg off the gas, he spun the wheel in the opposite direction then yanked the parking brake and prayed.
Chapter Eleven
Mason couldn’t believe the nightmare playing out in front of him on the dark, winding road. More than anything, it tortured him to be utterly helpless to prevent the unavoidable horror assaulting Ty and Lacey. Other than alerting other drivers and calling in an ambulance, which he’d done the second he realized something had gone haywire, there was nothing he could do.
What the fuck had happened to Lacey?
If she’d fallen asleep, Tyler would have woken her up then forced her to pull over. Why the hell hadn’t he driven in the first place?
Mason wasn’t a religious person but, in those agonizing seconds that stretched into endless millennia of fear, he begged every source of supernatural power he could conceive of to let this clusterfuck end with minimal consequences. Anything else would be asking for a miracle.
Illuminated by the super-powered spotlights mounted on the patrol car, he caught the determination and terror on Tyler’s face as he wrestled the steering wheel for control. Lacey’s compact body had vanished behind the mass of her seat. His heart seized in his chest when Tyler ducked below the dash, leaving Mason to be his eyes.
That’s when he saw it.
Up ahead, the rear panel of a classic car poked into the lane directly in the path of Lacey’s car. He mashed the horn and the brake simultaneously to evade the imminent pileup. The bac
kup lights of the hotrod disappeared but the distance didn’t allow time for them to pull out of the way. They were going to crash.
“No! No, no, no, no, no, no.” He didn’t realize he repeated the cry like a mantra until the screech of tires drowned out his voice. At the last possible moment, Lacey’s car avoided collision with the heavy, steel-constructed vehicle by swerving toward the embankment lining the opposite side of the road.
With such a sharp change in direction, Ty had no hope of keeping control. Though it had slowed some, Lacey’s car had plenty of momentum left when it skidded sideways into the mounded dirt. It clipped a tree then bounced before toppling into the ditch behind it, sending up a cloud of pine needles and torn grass.
The crunch of sheet metal and the shattering of glass pierced through the scream of Mason’s siren. A fraction of a second behind, he abandoned the cruiser off the side of the road. He scrambled down the far side of the trench. When he caught sight of the wreckage, he froze.
Lacey’s car was totaled.
The entire right side had been smashed by the now cracked pine. One gnarled branch, the diameter of his wrist, had penetrated the windshield like a grotesque lance, stabbing straight into the passenger seat. Spider-webbed cracks radiated from the intrusion. The maze of fine white lines prevented him from seeing into the black interior of the car.
Mason’s stomach heaved. Though he dreaded what he would likely find, he flew to the less damaged driver-side door and ripped open the bent panel.
Tyler and Lacey were mashed together in a jumble of limbs that didn’t make sense to him at first. Then he realized the tree branch had skimmed the top of Tyler’s back as he hunched over Lacey’s limp form, pinning him in place.
“Hey.” The wheezed greeting sounded like heaven to Mason. “That last step was a doozie.”
“Don’t move, Ty. Where are you hurt?”
“Uh, pretty much everywhere. Remember that time…” he paused to cough then winced, “…Vinny Mancuso found out we fucked his sister then sent those four street thugs to beat the shit out of me? It’s sort of like that.”