Wounds That Won’t Heal

by Calle J. Brookes

  39

  Allen just needed to see a friendly face for a moment. He’d spent most of his day off going through Logan’s place. It hadn’t been an overly large place, but it was in a wonderful neighborhood and a real asset.

  Logan had left everything he had financially to Allen. And the house, he’d left it...to Shelby.

  Logan had always loved Allen’s little sister. Allen hadn’t told her about the house yet. She’d probably sell it and use the money for college. It would help her out a lot.

  He’d not known his friend had done that.

  Allen dropped by the pharmacy before he made rounds. He just needed to see Jess for a moment. Have someone beautiful smile at him. He’d be checking on Lacy in a minute, but seeing her now brought memories of Logan.

  And probably would for a very long time.

  He could have lost two friends in that parking garage, and he knew it.

  He usually waited at the counter for Jess to let him into her sanctum—she ruled over the pharmacy used by the hospital like a beautiful little despot when her supervisors weren’t there—but this time he didn’t wait for that.

  She’d told him the security code to the pharmacy a long time ago, and when he’d been filling in for Logan as COM after Logan had been shot, he’d had access anyway.

  She was in the back, moving heavy boxes and didn’t hear him enter. His brows rose when she let loose a stream of curses. He didn’t think Jess knew the meaning of half the words she was using.

  “Jess?”

  She jerked around. “Allen! I didn’t hear you come in.”

  “I just slipped in. Let me help.” He didn’t wait for permission, just grabbed the heavy box with Claireson Pharm labeled on it for her. “Where’s it going?”

  She paled. He stepped closer. “Jess, you ok?”

  “Yeah. I think I’m getting another ear infection. I stood up too quickly. It needs to go on that shelf there.”

  Allen moved the box, then pulled her into his arms. Just for a moment. She did feel a bit warm.

  He really needed that friendly face at the moment.

  40

  Jillian and Lacy kept busy playing video games all day. Mel had written the adventures for the game—which they still hadn’t named—and Brynna and Gabby had done the rest of it. But it was kick-ass seeing the three little characters that suspiciously resembled her, Lacy, and Ari as they fought their way through the evil healer’s castle.

  The evil healer was starting to look suspiciously like Rafael Holden-Deane and had been named Raddeal Holdeen.

  Yeah, she definitely saw Mel’s snark-ass sense of humor bleeding through there.

  Travis had a few suggestions on the game before he left to check on his ranch. He wanted the blonde healer Macy to wear more revealing clothing. Just because. Lacy had informed him that wasn’t going to happen—the game was intended for women and girls, and didn’t need to be revealing to get the message across.

  Jillian’s avatar was a smaller, kick-ass redhead who had fighting skills with a wooden staff. Ari’s was a magical fairy type who moved things with her powers. Lacy’s was the healer who could fight, if necessary, but her greatest skill was in keeping the other players alive.

  Jillian’s was the biggest fighter with some healing ability—she could heal herself. She liked that.

  Travis made it back right before her lunch and Jillian left them alone for a bit—once Lacy googled videos of Jillian’s television days, just to entertain Travis for a while. They were busy making gooey eyes at each other again.

  They were just too cute for words. Just like Brynna and Chance and Mel and Houghton.

  41

  Rafe bit back a curse as Leonard Rowland caught him just as he was about to leave the cafeteria. The head of the hospital Board was a dumbass. And that was putting it lightly. Rafe stepped out of the path of traffic—and stopped directly by Jillian’s table.

  Dark eyes met light. He didn’t miss the humor. She was going to enjoy watching him squirm under his boss’s thumb.

  Well, he supposed she deserved the entertainment.

  “Dr. Holden-Deane? A moment.”

  “Yes? I’m rather busy at the moment.” He had to be in a meeting with Claireson Pharm in five minutes.

  “We have some questions for you regarding what happened with Dr. Lanning. And the impact it’ll have on the hospital. No one is going to sue, are they?”

  Rafe’s mood immediately plummeted. The only ones who could reasonably sue were the ones Lanning had targeted. Namely Lacy, Travis, Ariella, and Jillian.

  “Not that I’m aware.”

  “Good. I’m sure you know what such an incident would do to the hospital’s reputation. I’m sure the woman involved—”

  “Her name is Lacy. Dr. Lacy McGareth. She’s in room 503, if you’d like to visit her. See how she’s recovering from the multiple attacks on her.” Rafe would not have her suffering trivialized as an issue of the hospital’s damned reputation. “We can head that way now.”

  He wasn’t going to take no for an answer. It was time the Board saw the people of FCGH and the cost of that.

  He looked at the woman behind him. She had actual approval in those eyes of hers. He leaned down to her and dropped the files in his hand in front of her. “Do me a favor, Nurse Beck. Deliver this to Fin for me? And this one to the pharmacy. They’ll have to take the Claireson rep for me.”

  “Of course, sir.”

  42

  Jillian took the back way to Lacy’s floor after leaving the cafeteria. She didn’t mind swinging by the pharmacy to deliver his latest orders—just call her his little errand girl—and it was on her way.

  She had to admit the poor guy hadn’t deserved to be ambushed like that right in the middle of the cafeteria. But he’d given a good accounting for himself.

  Sometimes she actually half tolerated that man. Sometimes.

  Since he’d stepped in front of Lacy that night, she’d tolerated him a bit more.

  The pharmacy window was closed. Jillian knocked on it quickly. She still had a few minutes to track down Fin before she had to clock back in.

  Jessica, the tech, answered quickly. Jillian took a step back at the irritation in the woman’s eyes.

  “The COM asked me to bring this to you.”

  Jess took the file quickly, obvious impatience in her movements. Jillian didn’t stick around for long.

  Sometimes she really didn’t like that woman.

  43

  Jess took the file of information she was supposed to pass on to the Claireson Pharm rep and fought the urge to slam the window closed.

  She definitely did not like that damned Jillian woman. It was the second time Jillian had interrupted her when she was doing something she most definitely shouldn’t be.

  Jess had studied the inventory sheets with a microscope back when Lanning was the COM. She knew how to move product.

  Yet every time she’d tried lately, someone had interrupted.

  How much had Jillian overheard this time? Had she been there while Jess was talking to her own personal rep on the phone?

  She couldn’t afford anyone to stand in her way on this.

  Not the COM, not that damned perky Fin Coulter, not even Allen.

  And definitely not Jillian Beck.

  44

  Rafe knew what he was doing was probably one of the damned stupidest things he'd ever done in his life, but the location was perfect. Up-and-coming neighborhood. Near the hospital and other amenities. Large house, well decorated modern taste. Room for a man his size to roam. It was slightly under four acres. It was perfect.

  The only drawback that he could see was the little she-devil that lived across the yard.

  Rafe watched her house for a moment from the large floor-to-ceiling window in the living room. The room he was in was entirely white. He didn’t know how practical that was going to be, but since it was just him… He didn't see much of a problem yet. The only thing—the window looked right out toward the
Becks’ home. Jillian’s home was one of the older, smaller houses on the block, though it was still relatively spacious.

  Rafe had been at his new place for two hours and had already seen four cars pull in to the Becks’ drive. One had also parked in front of Chance’s place. He wasn't certain how he felt about living so close to his cousin, but he supposed it could be worse. If that particular neighbor started acting like an ass, Rafe would have no compunction of telling him that.

  For the most part he tolerated the rest of the Beck family. And the security checkpoint onto the street.

  But there she was. On her front porch directing her family every which way. Rafe looked closer.

  Hell, she was even directing his family. His brothers were right there.

  Travis had Lacy cuddled in his arms. Travis carried the woman over the steps and into the Beck house.

  Lacy should have been able to walk on her own. Rafe was pretty certain of that. It had been almost three weeks since that bullshit on the top of the parking garage. She was healing.

  Hell, maybe his brother just liked having his hands on her? She was a beautiful woman and she loved his brother. The last three weeks had just shown that.

  They reminded him of Marcus and Carissa all those years ago. Sometimes it hurt to look at them.

  Rafe was the idiot that had jumped at the chance to rent the home off Houghton Barratt. The guy had made sense. The house was too close to Barratt’s wife’s family. With Barratt being the wealthiest man in Texas, anyone in the neighborhood could be a threat to Barratt's family; apparently the house had been owned by the Barratts since Jillian was an infant. Barratt wasn't comfortable selling the home to someone he didn't know. And since technically Rafe was related to Barratt's brother-in-law, it made things okay.

  The billionaire had made him promise no more problems for Jillian. Rafe had grudgingly agreed.

  Weren’t they beyond the point of causing problems for each other now?

  The instant he’d realized what house Barratt was talking about, Rafe had wanted the damned house. When Chance had shown it to him, he’d agreed quickly.

  Once he’d rented it for six months, then he’d decide if he wanted to buy. He had the cash to do so easily.

  It all depended on how well he tolerated having Jillian in his sphere on a regular basis.

  Rafe was testing himself. He stood at the window and watched her for a long time. Her and his family.

  And the dark-haired woman following behind Travis and Lacy.

  Lacy McGareth equaled Jillian Beck and Ariella Avery. Ariella. He was more closely related to that woman that he did not know then he was to the two brothers he would do anything for. They were all over there now, and once again, Rafe was the odd man out.

  And he didn't have a clue what to do about it.

  45

  They sent the governor to get the new neighbor Jillian most definitely did not want.

  Houghton had dropped the bomb on her three days ago that not only would she be dealing with him at the hospital—though he had become a bit tamer since Lanning—but that Rafe would be right there next door in their private little neighborhood sphere.

  Since Houghton had abducted Mel and carried her away, their neighborhood had changed drastically. She didn’t mind change—the annoying neighbor who liked to cause problems for Brynna had been bought out quickly, the house that had needed torn down three hundred years ago was gone. The yard to that place had been split between her father’s property and the one right there.

  Where Handley Barratt had once spied on her family.

  The house always creeped her out, especially since they'd learned Houghton’s father had been the one to own it. Handley Barratt had lived in it, and used it as he spied on her family for Jillian's entire life. The living room of that house looked straight out onto their front porch. Their street wasn't linear, nor was it a cul-de-sac. It was in a cluster of houses set away from a small creek. The creek was an offshoot of the original Finley Creek and ran behind Brynna’s place. Their house set off to the left on a two-acre parcel, Brynna and Chance were at a diagonal, on a five-acre tract. Chance had purchased the house that her sister had always wanted for Brynna back in the winter.

  There had been another house right next door to Brynna's, but it had been over one hundred years old and needed a great deal of repair to be functional. Houghton had purchased it and currently had men repairing it; it was the smallest on the block. Not that that was saying much, as there were only the four properties on their street for at least half a mile. Houghton had bought up all of the land that he could, to provide a safe, secure place for Jillian and her family. There were some drawbacks to having the wealthiest man in Texas as one’s brother-in-law. But that still left the home Handley Barratt had purchased right after Brynna's birth.

  It was in too good of condition to destroy, yet Houghton and Mel would never live there. Not after knowing Handley Barratt had used it to spy on them all—especially Melody, whom the older man had been obsessed with, in a lot of ways. Chance had found some journals in that house about a month earlier. What had been written in those journals about how Handley Barratt had cataloged Melody’s life almost in weekly detail freaked Jillian out.

  That had just magnified when they’d found the journal about Jillian.

  Theoretically she understood renting it to Chance's cousin, and Ari’s brother. The house shouldn’t just sit there and be empty forever, and it was a very beautiful home.

  That didn't mean Jillian was thrilled with Rafe being right there.

  Jerk of a man and a creepy house—the two seemed suited to each other. But why did he have to be so close?

  Her luck sucked.

  For the first time since her mother had died, Jillian seriously contemplated moving away from home. She could get an apartment. Or rent the apartment next to Ari’s. Her friend lived over Lucas Tech’s Finley Creek office. There were three apartments, one was occupied by the guard assigned to Ari every so often.

  As the governor stepped outside to go fetch his brother, Jillian seriously wondered how much Carrie would charge her in rent each month—her eldest sister owned an apartment building—and whether St. Louis needed a good trauma nurse.

  It was a very tempting thought.

  But then she’d have to leave her loved ones behind.

  She just busied herself getting Lacy comfortable—her friend was not taking the doctors' orders to stay still seriously enough for Jillian's comfort—and helping Mel prep for Sunday dinner.

  She grabbed the pan of fried chicken from the stove and moved it to the island where they were setting up buffet style. Then the door opened, and there he was. Satan, himself.

  "Dr. Holden-Deane. Getting settled in?" He had to know how irritated she was with him at the moment. They’d come to a temporary truce while caring for Lacy, but Lacy was mending. And life was going to get back to normal at any time.

  Normal should not include having him right there in her home, damn it.

  She half-suspected that’s why the man had said yes to Houghton’s house.

  Just to get under her skin.

  "Jillian. I am. Thank you.” Did he realize he was glowering at her? Or was that just his usual expression? "Let me help you with that."

  Jillian shifted the pan with the potholders as his hands covered hers, taking the heavy pot from her. "We’re setting up here on the buffet. You might head into the living room. Your brother and Lacy are already in there."

  * * *

  Her greeting hadn't been all that welcoming, but she hadn't tossed the hot chicken at his head, either. Rafe considered that a win. Things between the two of them had cooled down since Lanning’s death.

  He preferred it that way.

  Rafe was tired of arguing with her constantly, although the urge was always there just beneath his skin the first moment he saw her each time. He did as she instructed, joining his youngest brother—and from the ring now flashing around on McGareth’s hand, his future sister
-in-law—in the living room of the Beck home.

  He had to admit it was a warm, comforting, welcoming place. There were people everywhere.

  Including his half-sister, who eyed him warily from the chair she sat on—and a teenaged boy who looked just like her.

  The boy at him out of eyes Rafe saw every day in the mirror.

  Shit. Another one.

  46

  Jillian had forgotten Simon. How had she forgotten him? Simon attended a year-round academy in St. Louis. He was currently out for a month on vacation before moving into the next grade level. He was only thirteen, but was already two grades ahead of his age mates.

  He was also tall and thin like Ari, their sister Paige, and their brother Luc. Although Luc was ripcord lean and muscled. Simon would probably be built along the same lines as Luc one day.

  Not at all like the massive behemoth that was his older brother Rafe.

  She knew Ari had warned Simon that one of their missing siblings was actually the governor’s younger brother, but what the kid thought about that Jillian hadn’t had a chance to ask yet.

  She hadn't meant to leave the boy facing his older brother—the older brother who had made no qualms about the fact that he wanted nothing to do with his biological siblings. But Lacy was in there if Rafe got to be too much for Simon to deal with.

  Jillian grabbed the potato salad out of the fridge and slammed it onto the island quickly. And then she stepped up next to Simon and Ariella.

  "Dr. Holden-Deane, this is Ari’s younger brother, Simon. He's visiting for a few days from St. Louis." She put a hand on Simon’s shoulder, to reassure him that nothing bad was going to happen to him. Simon had had a pretty crappy time of it himself.