Here Without You [Red Hook, Texas 4] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Lee Rose

  “Give me the pills, now!” he shouted. His hand was trembling and she was scared he would accidently cut her. “I am not going to ask again.”

  The doctor motioned for Nancy to get them. Holly watched her unlock the medicine cabinet with shaky fingers and fill a bag with bottles of pills. They were being robbed? What kind of idiot robbed a busy ER room? Where were Gary and Katie?

  Nancy handed the man the bag without getting too close to him. Holly expected to be let go, but instead, he walked backward with her out into the hallway. She was afraid he would fall and accidently cut her throat. Now she was really scared, and she could feel her body start to tremble. Surely someone had called the police by now.

  “If I see you following me, I will kill your nurse!” the man yelled. Holly could smell his sweat and knew he was probably coming down from some kind of high. He was desperate and nervous. Not good.

  He walked her further down the hallway, past the guard desk that led outside.

  “Put the knife down now!” Holly heard Noah Blake, Red Hook’s sheriff, yell from somewhere behind her. She let out a sigh of relief. He would know what to do. He would not let this drug addict kill her. She heard the sliding glass door open and felt the humid Texas air bearing down on her.

  “Not until I am out of here, man.” He pressed the knife a little deeper and she felt the blood dripping down her neck. He turned around until they were facing Noah. Noah looked grim and serious.

  “Ouch,” she muttered and tried to struggle.

  “Quit moving!” the man yelled into her ear, moving her out further in the parking lot. “You’re my safe passage out of here. Surely these nice men would not want me to kill such a pretty nurse.”

  “You got the drugs you came for, Pete!” she heard Noah yell. “Don’t make this worse on yourself. You’re in a lot of trouble now. This is no petty crime.”

  Holly did not recognize the name, but Noah obviously knew him. Maybe he had a record. Holly looked at Noah and Drake Lopez, another deputy. Neither had their guns out, and she wanted to shout out loud to shoot the bastard before he stabbed her. She was not ready to die. She thought of her sister and niece, her friends, and even Matt. He was probably at home, sound asleep, and he would never know if she died.

  Great, they were in the middle of the parking lot, and so far none of them had done diddly-squat to save her. She could stomp on his foot or elbow him in the stomach, but what good would that do if Noah and Drake’s guns were not even out? There was no way she was getting in a car with some druggie.

  He was gripping the bag of pills tightly in one hand, and the knife in the other hand was pressing against her throat. The point was digging into her skin, and it hurt. She was afraid to even swallow. She could feel drops of blood trickling down her neck.

  Noah was giving her a look that said “stay calm.” At least that’s what she thought he was saying. Drake was backing up slowly, as if giving the man some room. Why was everyone so damn calm? Her heart was beating so fast she thought she might have a heart attack. She was sweating right along with her assailant.

  “I’m giving you one more chance, Pete. Let the girl go now,” Noah said angrily through clenched teeth.

  “I’m the one in charge here!” Pete yelled. He nicked her skin again and she winced.

  “Son of a bitch, stop doing that!” Holly yelled. This was turning out to be one hell of a Monday.

  Pete laughed in her ear. Holly looked around the empty parking lot, seeing no backup. “Feisty little thing, aren’t you? Maybe I’ll take you with me and we can get high together.”

  Holly rolled her eyes and looked at Noah. She was getting impatient. Did he have a plan? She spotted a beat-up car and assumed that’s where Pete was leading her. No way was she getting in with him.

  She stomped on his foot with all of her might. He dropped the bag and let her go. “Oww.”

  She fell to the ground as she heard a shot. She could have sworn a bullet whizzed by her hair. She looked at Pete who was on the ground holding his arm, which was bleeding. “Someone shot me.”

  Noah came closer while Drake picked up Holly off the ground. “You okay, Holly?”

  She nodded and got a good look at her would-be kidnapper. He looked to be nineteen or twenty. His eyes were red. His shaggy blond hair was messy. His clothes were dirty.

  “Great spot for it, although I am not sure these people will want to patch you up. Not after what you did to these nice people.” Noah grinned at him.

  “They have to. I am going to bleed to death.” Pete groaned with pain. He reached for the bag of pills, but Noah kicked it away.

  Noah picked him up and handcuffed him, ignoring Pete’s grunts and groans. He motioned for one of the orderlies to come and get him. Holly put a hand to her neck and saw her fingers came back with blood.

  “Who shot him?” Holly asked, feeling shaky and a little dizzy. Drake was holding her up. Her legs felt like wet noodles now that all the excitement was over.

  “Me.” She whirled around and saw Matt Smith with a rifle in his hand. He looked so good that she was tempted to fall into his arms. He was wearing army pants and a black T-shirt tucked into his pants. He had a pair of dark glasses over his eyes. His face was covered in a furious expression. “Damn it, Holly. Why did you take a chance? He could have seriously hurt you.”

  She felt the anger rise. She was the victim here. She hadn’t asked to be held hostage! “Because I was not going anywhere with Pete. Noah and Drake didn’t even have a gun in their hands. I was tired of waiting for someone to do something.”

  She glared at Drake and he chuckled. “We had Matt waiting for a clear shot. If we had guns in our hands, it would have made our friend more jumpy.”

  “He may be your friend, but he is not mine,” she stated grumpily. Her eyes kept going back to Matt. He was looking at her, and he looked mad. She glared right back at him and crossed her arms, hoping she looked like she meant business.

  Nancy came out to the scene. She still looked upset. This was going to be the main topic for quite some time. “Let’s get you in and take a look at that wound, Holly. You are bleeding.”

  Nancy dragged her back inside just as Matt removed his sunglasses. She caught sight of Matt’s eyes. He looked like he wanted to follow her in the hospital, or was she just wishing he would? She was just glad she was going to live another day. Mondays were hell for sure.

  Chapter 3

  Holly had just gotten out of the shower. It had been too long of a day, and she was exhausted. Everyone had heard of the incident and had come to check on her. Faith had stopped by the hospital as soon as Noah gave the all-clear. She wanted to see for herself that Holly was unhurt. Holly had assured her sister she didn’t even need stitches. The cut stung, but it would heal in days.

  Faith had wanted to postpone the family dinner until Holly felt better, but Holly insisted she wanted to have dinner with them. It would make her feel better to be around her family. The day had been rotten from breakfast to getting taken hostage and she wanted it to end on a nice note, and being with her sister would do that.

  She dressed casually in jeans and a blue sweater. The evening April air was cool and breezy. Holly pulled into her sister’s driveway. The Blake house was a large, white house with a big porch that had once belonged to Adam’s parents. Adam Blake was Faith’s husband and the middle brother. All three Blake brothers had once lived there. Noah, the oldest, had moved out when he married Alana Garcia a few years back. When Faith married Adam, she had moved in. Liam, the youngest Blake, also lived there. He was an emergency medical technician, and Holly was very close with him. He had become like a brother to her. He had a wicked sense of humor and she loved hanging out with him.

  She knocked on the wooden door, and it was opened by Liam, who pulled her in and looked at the white bandage on her neck. He hugged her tightly before letting her go. “Exciting day at work?”

  “You have no idea.” She grinned. She heard the TV on in the living room. Hope,
her niece, heard her voice.

  “Aunt Holly!”

  She held her arms out, indicating she wanted to be picked up. Holly picked her up and twirled her around in a circle, making the little girl giggle. “Where is your mommy? I am starving.”

  Faith came out of the kitchen with her husband Adam. She looked a little pale, and Holly set Hope back down on the floor, immediately concerned. Was her sister sick? Was that what all of this was for? Her heart sank.

  “You okay, sis?” Holly asked, walking closer to her. Faith smiled and nodded. She walked toward Holly and hugged her. “I should be asking you that question. Who knew nursing could be such dangerous work? I always worried when you worked at the bar, but I never worried about the hospital.”

  Holly laughed. “The hospital is the best place for getting hurt. I had special care and lots of sympathy. It’s just a scratch. Doc was worried I would get an infection from the dirty knife. He gave me a shot and I almost fainted from that.”

  Faith laughed. She knew her sister was afraid of needles, but she worked with them every day.

  Adam, Faith’s husband, greeted her with a hug. “Heard about your excitement. Noah is pissed at Pete. He is a known addict, but he has never done anything like this before.”

  They sat around the dining room table and Holly helped Faith bring the food to the table.

  “Meatloaf!” Holly sniffed the pan of meat. She gave her sister a happy smile. “I love meatloaf.”

  They sat down and ate dinner, keeping the conversation casual. Holly enjoyed these times with her family. After having such a rough childhood with Rebecca and her constant revolving door of men, Holly had shied away from making friends in school. It had been too embarrassing to explain her mother’s drunk episodes and strange men coming in and out. She had always been frightened of some of her mother’s men, and had learned to stay quiet.

  It had always been just her and Faith, until Faith met and fell in love with Adam Blake, a firefighter. The Blakes always included Holly in their family activities, and it made her feel like she finally had a family where she could belong.

  Once Hope finished her supper and went to finish watching her cartoon, Liam brought up what happened at the hospital. “I heard Dr. Campbell is demanding the board hire a security guard just for the ER. I hope the board approves it.”

  “That is a good idea,” Holly agreed. “I would feel better. Last week, we took care of some men hurt in a bar fight, and they continued their fight while we were trying to patch them up. They fell into one of the night nurses and she scraped her arm on the table. Things like that are happening more and more.”

  Adam shook his head with concern. “I hope they do hire a few guards. Our town is growing. Plus, I know George Henderson sits by the front doors and keeps an eye on that area and the parking lot. He has been there for years, and he is getting on in age.”

  “Besides, he can’t watch the whole hospital by himself,” Liam added. “I have had to break up a few fights while I was there myself. It gets old after a while. I am no bouncer.”

  Once they were all done eating, Holly looked at her sister. “So, you have me very curious. What is this news you want to share? It can’t be anything horrible, or you would have told me already.”

  Faith smiled, grabbing her husband’s hand. Adam puffed his chest out, looking pleased. “It’s good news. In seven months, you are going to be an aunt again.”

  Holly looked at her sister with shock, then happiness. She shrieked with joy and got up to hug her sister. “Congratulations, both of you! I can’t wait.”

  She hugged Adam next, who looked so happy. Faith had always said Adam wanted a large family. It had been Faith who had hesitated. “I’m nine weeks along, which is why I have been feeling so sick lately. I thought it was a simple cold or my allergies acting up.”

  Holly sat back down. “Have you seen a doctor? Are you okay?”

  Faith nodded and held her husband’s hand. “Yes. Everything is fine, and I have my vitamins. I am just tired all the time. I had a fainting spell at work.”

  “Scared the shit out of me.” Adam kissed his wife’s hand and Holly felt the loneliness overwhelm her again. Would she ever find a man who could love her, or was she destined to just be an aunt and an observer to other people’s happy life?

  “I had to drag your sister screaming to the doctor. Kind of reminded me of Hope when she knows she is going to see a doctor.” Adam chuckled.

  Faith laughed and agreed. “I’m going to call Mom in the morning and tell her. I wanted you to know first,”

  “What does Hope think of all of this?” Holly wondered.

  Liam laughed. “She informed me she is not sharing her toys and that is that. She asked why we couldn’t just get a puppy.”

  That made Holly laugh. Her niece had quite the temper to go with her red hair. “Aww, changes are always hard on kids. I will have to spend extra time with her so she knows we all love her.”

  “I wasn’t thrilled when you joined the family.” Faith teased her sister. “I had to share my room and my princess castle, which you broke. Meanie.”

  Holly leaned back in her chair and looked at Liam. “I was five, and I tripped over one of her stupid dinosaurs and fell on her castle. I hurt my butt. Shouldn’t I be the one angry?”

  Liam laughed. “You were lucky. I had two older brothers bossing me around. Still do. Hope is going to be the one able to boss everyone around.”

  They talked some more about the new addition to the family, and then Holly and Liam insisted on cleaning up so Faith and Adam could watch TV with Hope.

  * * * *

  Holly drove home feeling tired. It had been a long day with a good ending. She smiled, thinking of the addition to the family. She wanted the kind of love she saw between Faith and Adam, and Noah and Alana. Not that their paths to love had been easy. Adam had been afraid of commitment, and he had gotten her sister pregnant but refused to make a commitment out of fear. He had lost one fiancée and was afraid to let himself love again. Faith had thought she would be a single mom. Now Adam was a great husband and father. Holly wanted a family, too, but that goal seemed so out of reach. She had gone on a few dates since Matt broke up with her, but they hadn’t captured her heart the way Matt had.

  She still remembered the night she was at the local bar with her two friends, Jasmine Garrett and Alicia Garcia. Drake’s ex had caused some problems for Jasmine and a fight had broken out. Matt had showed up and she had felt so many emotions at once that she had been caught off guard. She’d felt lust and excitement, and a little fear, because he was not only big in size but also had an intimidating look about him that just screamed “bad ass, don’t mess with me.”

  He had been so sweet and gentle with her, though, that her heart had melted on the spot. His size had made her feel so feminine. She was tall at five seven, but Matt stood well over six feet. She had always been on the slender side, and Matt was hard and muscled, with dark tattoos covering his arms. He was a sexy package. They had started dating, and she’d fallen in deeper as she spent time with him. When he broke up with her it, had been a total shock and had come out of nowhere. She hated thinking about it. It still hurt all these months later. She had seen him around town with a few different women, and it crushed her.

  She pulled into her driveway and went up her stairs. She knew as soon as her head hit the pillow she would be out like a light. She was exhausted. What a crazy day filled with highs and lows!

  As she was climbing her porch stairs, she heard her name being called. Her first instinct was fear, but then she remembered Pete was in jail. She turned around and saw Matt getting out of his police cruiser, and sighed. She did not want to see him. It was too hard on her battered heart.

  “Can I help you, deputy?” She had to keep it businesslike and polite. She had her pride, and she didn’t want him to know how much he’d hurt her all those months ago.

  He sighed loudly as he stepped closer to her. He had his hands in his pants pockets
and she sensed he was nervous, but she didn’t know why. “Still hating me, doll?”

  She didn’t bother to answer. Her avoiding him and refusing to speak to him should let him know how she felt. It was hard, since her friend Jasmine was also one of his best friends. If she knew Jasmine had invited Matt to an event, Holly would make an excuse to not go. It was a very awkward situation.

  He looked at her neck and frowned. The white bandage stood out. “I should go and shoot him again.”

  Holly smiled. “Go for it. All day, I have been harassed by people wanting to know all the details of what it felt like to be held hostage, like it is something fun.”

  “Yeah. It is the topic of the day,” he agreed. “By tomorrow, it will be something else. If not, call me and I will have Tony scare them all away. He loves growling at people.”

  “So, did you need something, deputy? It has been a very long, tiring day for me.” She didn’t want to stand here and converse with him like they were friends. He had not stopped by her house since last summer. For so long, she had wished to see him, but now those days were over. The hope had turned into bitterness.

  “Can’t we at least be friends, Holly?” he asked, surprising her.

  “I don’t think so,” she answered quickly, fiddling with her keys. Her body always reminded her of her deep physical attraction to this man. She felt needy around him. She still craved this man, and she was afraid she always would. “You made it clear I was not good enough to be your girlfriend, so why would I want to be your friend and be around you? So you can shove all your dates in my face and let me know they are better than me in your eyes?”

  She hated that she sounded so bitter, but she hated and loved him at the same time. How crazy was that?