“He had a friend, though,” Miles suddenly interjected. “A cop he came out of the academy with. He was shot not long before he moved uptown. I remember him asking about long-term care facilities. He wanted to help take care of the guy because he didn’t really have any family.”
I glanced at Sam, but she was watching Cullen with interest.
“That tattoo,” she said suddenly, gesturing to the man’s wrist. “What does it mean?”
Cullen pulled up his sleeve a little higher, showing off the narrow tattoo on his wrist. It was numbers, something that must have been personal to him. I glanced at Sam, wondering why she would ask such a question.
“It’s my badge number. A lot of cops tattoo their badge number on their bodies as sort of a badge of honor, if you know what I mean.”
“Like a soldier tattooing the emblem of his chosen branch on his arm?”
“Exactly.”
Sam nodded, sitting back again just as the waitress came with our meals.
Cullen and Miles relaxed once the food was there, telling us some stories about their time on the force. We didn’t really talk much about Dante after that, but I don’t think anyone noticed. I was fairly satisfied. The idea that Dante would pay for long-term care for a fellow cop was kind of nice. And it really wasn’t any of my business. I never should have looked at his phone. He would tell me about Honeysuckle when he was ready.
We spent another day shopping—as though Sam hadn’t gotten enough already. She bought an entire wardrobe, picking out clothes that would be daring even for me. She wore one of her new dresses to the Broadway show we went to that night, catching the attention of the ushers and several of the men sitting near us. I think she even caught the attention of one of the actors, though that could have just been him forgetting his line.
She tripped as we made our way to the car. I grabbed her arm and realized for the first time that she was pale as a ghost.
“Sam?”
She touched her chest, her breath coming in quick, tiny puffs. The chauffeur must have realized something was wrong because he was instantly at our side, lifting her up into his arms. I followed, snagging her purse just before she dropped it.
“Sam?”
I lay her head in my lap. She was conscious, her eyes staring right at me, but she couldn’t speak. I sat her up a little, frightened that she wasn’t getting enough air. She was breathing so hard, but she was blue around her lips.
“Drive faster!” I called to the chauffeur. A second later, I felt the car accelerate around me, but it still seemed to be going so slow.
When we got to the hospital, people came out of nowhere, lifting her out of the backseat, carrying her to a gurney waiting just inside the door. A woman was calling questions to me as they rushed her down the hall, asking about her health history. I said aloud the things I’d been trying to avoid saying since they’d slipped off the end of that cruel, ugly doctor’s tongue.
I didn’t like the sympathetic looks they shot in my direction.
I paced for more than an hour in the waiting room. Sam’s phone chimed over and over with the tone for text messages. It was odd because I’d never seen her get that many text messages before. And then it occurred to me that that was because most of the messages she ever got were from me.
I pulled it out, not meaning to read the messages. But they were from Hayden and he was clearly concerned. What should I tell him?
I didn’t know what to do.
I was about to call him and tell him that Sam was in the bath or some other stupid excuse, when the doctor came out.
“Ms. Bradford?”
I stared at him, remembering the lack of bedside manner the last doctor had. I crossed my arms over my chest, holding myself as tight as I could, preparing for the worst.
“She’s resting. Her blood pressure plummeted and her heart was stuck in an irregular beat. And she’s developed a little bit of fluid in her lungs. We were able to stabilize her, but she’ll need to stay with us for a few days.”
Relief rushed through me. “She’s okay?”
Rather than answer, the doctor gestured toward the swinging doors he’d just emerged through. “If you’ll follow me, I’ll show you to her room.”
Sam was in the CICU, the head of her bed sitting straight up. She had an oxygen mask over her face and there were wires coming out from under the chest of her hospital gown. She looked at me, her eyes filled with amusement.
“We look like a scene out of Beaches,” she said in pauses and gasps as she continued to struggle to catch her breath.
I sat beside her, slipping my hand through hers.
“You scared the crap out of me.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You should have told me you were getting tired. You should have told me that you weren’t up to this play tonight.”
“I was okay until about halfway through.”
I just shook my head. I was so full of my own thoughts that I didn’t notice her starting to crash. What kind of friend was I, aware of her condition but dragging her here anyway?
“Hayden texted multiple times. He’s wondering why you aren’t answering.”
“What did you tell him?”
“Nothing. I was about to call him when the doctor came out.”
She pulled her mask off her face, her eyes fierce on mine. “You can’t tell him.”
“Sam—”
“You can’t.” She covered her mouth with the mask again, taking a couple of deep breaths of the oxygen it was pouring against her face. Then she moved it aside again. “You promised you wouldn’t tell anyone.”
“Don’t you think he needs to know?”
She touched her chest, clearly too tired to move the mask again.
I lifted her hand and held it tightly between both of mine. I nodded even as tears slowly began to spill from my eyes.
“Okay.”
She reached over and touched my face. That wasn’t the only promise she made me make that night. We talked for a long time, much longer than we should have. She was so weak when it was done that I could actually see the life slowly seeping out of her. She finally closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
I sat back, her phone lighting up on the side table. Hayden. Again.
I picked it up and wrote a quick message.
Late night. We went to dinner after the show. Going to bed, but I’ll call you tomorrow.
He came back almost immediately.
Sleep well.
I wished I could. But I got the feeling I wouldn’t be sleeping much at all for a long time to come.
Sam was released from the hospital two days later. We went straight from there to the doctor’s office to get the results of her tests.
It wasn’t the news I’d been hoping for.
Chapter 10
Sam
My arms were covered in bruises and my side showcased a large puncture mark where the doctors had used a large bore needle to drain the fluid from my lungs. Not pretty. I stared at myself in the mirror, wondering what excuse I could use to explain all these marks to Hayden. I thought about makeup, but didn’t think it would stick for long. I thought about all the lies I could tell, but none of them made much sense to me. How would they make sense to him?
I glanced at the time and realized it wouldn’t matter if I didn’t get dressed soon. We’d gotten home late, or really, very early this morning. I’d only slept two hours before my alarm went off, calling me to get ready for work. It might be Christmas Eve, but there was still work to do.
I looked through my collection of new clothes and picked out a tan skirt with a fitted suit jacket and a soft pink blouse to go underneath. I liked the way it made my skin seem darker than it really was, and it made my hair seem less mousy. It showed much more leg than my mother would have liked, but my mother wasn’t living my life, was she?
I was humming when I walked into the office, bags stuffed with gifts for my coworkers in each hand. Angela, one of the security monitors,
looked up and whistled when she saw me.
“Wow, Sam! New York did you some good.”
“You think?”
“You look gorgeous!”
I smiled. Or, actually, the smile just kind of took over. I couldn’t stop if I’d wanted to. But I didn’t really want to.
I set my things down on my desk and began to unpack the bags, taking them around the room to set on the desks belonging to the intended recipients. Angela got up to help, squealing when she saw the bottle of perfume in her gift bag.
“You’re the best, Sam!”
“Of course she is,” a deep voice said from behind us. “There wouldn’t be a Dragon Security without Sam to hold us all together.”
I turned and there was Hayden, leaning against the wall with his ankles crossed, like he’d been watching us for a long time.
“What did you get for me, Sam?”
My eyebrows rose slightly, but I managed to hold off the blush even when thoughts of our parting words to each other on our last phone call last night crossed my mind.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”
He crossed to me, his hand slipping over my jaw as he drew me into him. Then he kissed me with a heat that couldn’t be ignored. One of the other girls whistled this time as a chorus of giggles went up around the room. Hayden didn’t seem to notice. He just turned me around and nudged me toward Megan’s office, slamming the door with his foot as he spun me around, making me dizzy with more than just his kiss.
“I missed you,” he whispered against my lips as his hands slid over my face, pushing my hair back so that he could see me clearly.
“I missed you, too.”
He kissed me again, roughly, pressing me back until my butt hit Megan’s desk. He lifted me just enough so that I was perched on the edge, his hand sliding slowly up, under my skirt.
“I like this,” he said, moving back just enough to take in my new outfit.
“There’s more.”
“I certainly hope so.”
And then he was kissing me again and all I could do was wrap my arms around his neck, going along for the ride.
And what a ride it was!
Business ended early. Megan arranged for a caterer to bring in champagne and hors d’oeuvres for the adults and treats for the kids. Everyone was invited along with their significant others and children. Megan’s parents came every year along with Cole, Amber, and PJ. Next year there would be more babies. Amber was already suffering morning sickness. I could see the green around her gills. And Marcus’ girl, Cadence, looked like she was in the same condition. I hoped it was a welcome addition for Marcus. He was so quiet sometimes it was hard to read him.
Dante sauntered in halfway through the party. He made himself a plate of food and sat at the back of the room, watching everyone through those dark, smoldering eyes. I watched the way his eyes followed Megan around the room. He clearly had feelings for her. But there was something more about it. It wasn’t just about the way he watched her, but also the way he watched her family. Even in the way he looked at Hayden and me. It was as if he had a deeper connection to all of us than he should have.
Maybe it was just my imagination. Those cops had been clear in their memories of him. They talked as if they knew him. But there was something wrong with their stories, with their behavior…I can’t say what it was, but it bothered me.
“What do you think about Dante?” I asked Hayden later that night as we sat curled up on the couch in my condo, sharing a bottle of champagne we’d stolen from the party.
“I think he’s dangerous. I think he’s putting his pecker in places where it doesn’t belong.”
“You don’t think he and Megan should be together?”
“I think he’s dangerous for her. I think she’s still nursing a broken heart and he’s just going to make that harder on her.”
“He’s not Luke.”
Hayden looked at me, his hand moving slowly over the back of my head. “He’s not Luke.”
I lay my head on his chest, sliding my hand slowly under the hem of his shirt. “Did you like him before he and Megan hooked up?”
“Not really. He was too distant and uninvolved. He wouldn’t talk to me even when we were on a job together.”
“Have you ever really talked to him?”
“No.”
That single word was the most dismissive word I’d ever heard. It was clear Hayden didn’t like Dante and he didn’t want to talk about him. And that bothered me for reasons I couldn’t begin to analyze.
Hayden’s cellphone rang, catching us both by surprise, I think. He sat forward and tugged it out of his pocket, glancing at the screen, but holding it in such a way that I couldn’t see it. He silenced it and tossed it onto the coffee table, clearly annoyed with whoever it was who saw fit to disturb the quiet on Christmas Eve.
“Do you have family?”
He glanced at me. “You run the background checks at Dragon. You tell me.”
I tilted my head slightly. “You have a grandma in Baton Rouge.”
“I do.”
“Are you going to see her tomorrow?”
“I wasn’t planning on it.”
“Why not?”
Hayden got up and crossed the room, disappearing into my kitchen. I followed, walking so quickly that I was slightly out of breath by the time I caught up with him. He was standing at the counter, pouring himself a glass of whiskey from my secret stash that was always hidden behind the cold cereal.
“How’d you know that was there?”
He smiled that charming smile. “Because I know you.”
“I don’t keep that for myself. It’s there for Megan.”
“I doubt that.”
“It’s true.”
“You want the world to think you’re this pious little thing, but you’re just as full of sin as the rest of us.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Is that how you see me?”
“I see you as this beautiful, strong woman who allows her mother to keep her under her thumb for reasons that continue to baffle me.”
“Because she’s my mother. She’s the only family I have.”
“No, you’re wrong there.”
“Am I?”
“You have us. You have everyone at Dragon. And all those people absolutely adore you.”
My eyes moved slowly over his face. “All of them?”
“Everyone single one.” He put down his glass and came over, pressing his fingers into my hair as he pushed my head back, forcing me to look up at him. “I’ve never met anyone who spoke just two words to you and didn’t fall helplessly in love with you.”
I tried to pull away, tried to shake my head. “You’re teasing me again.”
“No, I’m not. I’m being completely honest, something I rarely am.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“But I can’t help but be that way with you. You do something to me, Sam. You bring out the good in me and that’s incredibly hard to do.”
I laughed, stepping into him to press my face against his chest.
“Speaking of family,” I said, after a minute, “my mom’s expecting me for dinner tomorrow night. You wouldn’t want to come along, would you?”
“Do you want me there?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll be there.”
We kissed for a long moment, then I slipped my hand into his and pulled him toward the stairs. It was dark in my room and we didn’t bother to turn on the lights. It was fun seeking each other out without sight, exploring with hands and mouths, and touching in ways we might not do if the lights were on. I didn’t think I was capable of such ecstasy, but each time with Hayden brought me to new heights. And when it was done and the pleasure slipped back down to a simmer, there was still ecstasy in the feel of his arms around me as he fell into a deep sleep.
I only wished I could sleep that soundly.
I waited an hour, listening to him breathe and reveling in the feel of his arms. But my head wa
s refusing to shut off, and this sense of time running short made me restless. I carefully climbed out of bed and slipped into a new bathrobe, a long, soft, silky thing that felt like I was wrapped in satin sheets.
A computer virus had attacked my work computer a few weeks ago while I was reviewing notes a former CIA agent had made on a terrorist cell she was once tasked with exposing. There were arrests made in the case, but this agent, Emily Greene, felt as though they had barely touched the tip of the iceberg, and she’d made it her private mission to uncover the rest. Dominic Gil, our asset, was her partner on this case when he was in the military, in part because he’d had a personal relationship with her because Emily was his wife, Amy’s, twin sister. He brought us her notes after she was killed, notes containing information that he believed led to her death. But the virus corrupted everything on my computer, including her notes.
The worse of it was that Megan believed her brother, Peter, was killed in what was made to look like a simple car accident because he’d stumbled across evidence of this same terrorist cell. She believed there was information in Emily’s notes that could prove Peter’s murder.
I agreed with her. And I desperately wanted to fix the files so that she’d have the information she needed.
I’d brought it all home because I was suddenly paranoid that the virus that attacked our computers at work could happen again. I was pretty sure that the virus was uploaded onto a hard drive Megan took from Peter’s work computer long ago, maybe before he died, and that someone activated it at the moment I was about to learn something important about Emily’s investigation. I think someone at Dragon activated it. I couldn’t prove it. And all the people in the room at the time were trusted employees.
HAYDEN (Dragon Security Book 5) Page 8