107
Jess locked up the pharmacy tight before she headed out on her lunch break and tried to control how hard she was shaking.
She knew who had shot at Dr. Holden-Deane and that bitch.
He’d promised to take care of the COM problem and he’d tried. And failed.
Jess walked down the hall and tried to think about what was going to happen when Dr. Holden-Deane was killed.
She didn’t have anything against him personally. He’d not jumped her case or anything. Just poked his nose around the pharmacy.
He was beautiful, too. She’d looked a time or dozen, like any woman would. Of course, it wasn’t fair that he’d fallen straight down the rabbit hole over that little redheaded bitch but that was the way things fell this time.
Jillian Beck must have golden panties or something.
If Holden-Deane was gone, Allen would be in the running for the position.
She didn’t think that was such a bad thing.
He was definitely smart enough and talented enough to do the job. She’d asked him before why he hadn’t tried for it after Lanning was forced out of the position.
Allen had given her some spiel about just wanting to treat patients. But she suspected she knew the truth—he hadn’t wanted to hurt his friend.
Logan Lanning had mattered to Allen. And Allen was one of those genuinely good men who would remember that.
Sometimes she thought Allen was too naive. Too good.
He was definitely too good for her.
It disgusted her a little. Men like that who actually thought they could make a difference and who thought that friendship and loyalty actually mattered. She’d never understood that childish world view at all.
She sighed as she walked into the ER and saw him. He was finishing up with that redhead.
Jess should have expected it.
That red-haired witch drew him just like a flame.
She tried not to let actual hurt get to her. Allen was a man. They were led with their dicks each and every time.
She’d learned that lesson early on.
But Allen was hers. Jillian Beck didn’t need him. Surely Allen saw that?
Saw the way Dr. Holden-Deane was wrapped around Jillian Beck.
Women like her always got the best guys. The top of the heap. Never had to worry or fear anything.
Why didn’t Allen see?
Too bad that damned goon hadn’t hit Jillian dead on when he’d tried to take care of Dr. Holden-Deane. It would make Jess’s life so much easier if that girl was dead.
Jess just stood there by the nurse’s station and stared.
Allen was hers. He’d see that eventually. She just hoped it was sooner than later. Their first fight had changed things between them a bit more than she would have liked.
Someone walked in front of her, right between her and the trauma bay where Jillian Beck was holding court.
Jess looked up at the familiar delivery guy from Claireson Pharm.
The goon’s washed out blue eyes looked right at her. He smirked and pointed his hand at her, in a mocking gun gesture.
She shivered.
That man was going to be trouble. Trouble she wasn’t certain she could handle.
108
Jillian was not going to be wheeled out of the hospital again. She told Rafe that when he tried. He hesitated, then shrugged. “I’m not going to force you to. But I wish you would.”
“Not going to happen.” Even though her back was on fire.
Travis and Lacy had left a few minutes earlier, both obviously worried. Jillian knew Lacy understood exactly how she felt—and knew Jillian was lying about being fine. Ari had just hugged her gently and offered to help however she could.
Brynna had been far more vocal about not wanting to let Jillian out of her sight. Elliot and Chance had ganged up on Brynna and pointed out that it was Rafe’s house that had been hit—that Rafe was the target this time.
Jillian shivered when she looked over at him. He made a danged big target. Why would someone want to hurt him?
She didn’t like to think of him vulnerable.
From the moment he’d stepped into her back garden that first time, he’d been anything but that. Strong, sure, in charge. Safe.
Safe. He had turned into her safety far too many times for comfort lately.
The idea that someone wanted to hurt him...
And Elliot didn’t have a clue who it could be. Rafe was just left out to dry until something else happened, wasn’t he?
She let him help her into the car, then snuggled up close to his side. She had to sit slightly crooked to keep the pressure off her back. They were in the back of one of Houghton’s limos. Chance had one at his disposal whenever he needed it.
It had been waiting to take Brynna and the baby to Mel’s to work on their video game today, while Chance and Houghton did something across the city. She wasn’t too clear on the details.
The injection Allen had given her for pain was starting to really take hold of her. Jillian leaned closer until she could rest her head on Rafe’s shoulder. Her eyes drifted closed as her niece started fussing. It was such a good sound, the sound of hope. She needed that sound right now.
Rafe’s hand came up and he ran his fingers through her hair. Annie and Lacy had helped her brush it and pull it into a loose ponytail. She relaxed into sleep as his long fingers combed through her hair. As she snuggled up against his shoulder and just let the car take her home.
109
“What the hell is going on, Rafe?” His cousin asked as the limo made the drive between FCGH and their road.
“Solpalmitraln.” Rafe straightened the blanket around Jillian and just stared down at her. She’d turned as cuddly as a kitten, hadn’t she? The moment he had begun to stroke her. Her back was covered with almost three dozen pieces of gauze or bandages. She wore borrowed jade green scrubs with FCGH Trauma Dept. embroidered over the breast.
She looked small and pale and vulnerable and like Rafe’s entire damned world in that moment.
“You’re going to have to be a bit more specific,” Chance said.
“Logan Lanning had several times the recommended dosage in his blood of an experimental drug that FCGH has been trialing for the last year. It drove him crazy with rage and impacted his judgment. We’ve also had three patients die while on it for unexplained reasons. I’ve been digging into the drug. And why some of our trial files have been altered in ways that I can prove.”
“And you think the people responsible shot out your window?” Brynna asked, while holding a small bottle up for her daughter, who was snuggled in a carseat between her and her husband.
It was hard to imagine Chance as a father, but he was. People, times, changed.
A man’s world could change in an instant.
Rafe knew that intimately. And his world had changed again as the glass had shattered around her. “Why?”
“I’m trying to find that out. Everything appears as it should—except that there were three dozen files that had been altered.”
“You’re sure about that?” Chance asked. “Positive they were altered somehow?”
“Fourteen files have Lacy’s signature on them—and were dated while she was in St. Louis before Albright. I’ve already confirmed with her. Someone was trying to set her up. They weren’t counting on me catching it; or Lacy and I being connected. It’s someone in the surgical department with some clout. Or someone close to someone in that department.”
“So how is my sister involved, and does this have something to do with her getting hit over the head that day? And what are you going to do about it? How are you going to keep her safe? People at the hospital who did this are going to know that she was at your house. People talk. I don’t want my little sister hurt again.” Brynna looked at him out of the same eyes as Jillian. Rafe fought a wince. He wasn’t about to let anything else happen to the woman in his arms.
“I’m going to do my damnedest to see she is never
hurt by this again.” He shifted her slightly, until she was closer to his chest. He was careful to not press on her back.
“See that you do that.”
110
Rafe carried her into her bedroom again. It was starting to become a habit. His house was technically a crime scene, and he would feel awkward carrying her to his bed with her family all watching, anyway. But he didn’t want to leave her.
They hadn’t gotten to the what now question. What happened this morning made that a moot point. He knew that.
He’d known for a long time that he was attracted to Jillian. Probably from the first moment he'd seen her wiggling in her garden. To see her fall, to see her blood covering her and him being unable to prevent it, had cemented exactly how he did feel for the woman.
He rolled her onto her stomach gently so that she wouldn't put pressure on the wounds in her back. They would heal, none had required more than two or three stitches. Except for the largest one—but even that had only needed a dozen small stitches.
She had gotten lucky. Just how lucky was something he was not going to forget.
He’d failed to protect the one woman who mattered the most to him. Again. For a moment he was tempted to just pack up everything and run. Get away from her before he got in any deeper.
But Rafe couldn’t do that.
He didn’t think he could leave her and just forget her. Not her. Never her.
He brushed the red hair off her forehead and let his hand linger. Last night she'd actually made him feel.
Feel more than grief, anger, hurt, fear.
Someone had hurt her because of him. He had no doubt about that now. No more. He wasn't going to let someone hurt her because of him.
111
Rafe stood between Chance and Elliot and watched as the crime scene technicians processed his living room. Glass was everywhere, the window was ruined, Jillian's blood had stained the travertine floor.
It took everything he had to push the rage threatening to explode away.
Rafe looked back across the yard at her window. She was most likely still sleeping, Lacy sitting in the chair beside her bed much like Jillian had kept vigil at hers. The Becks were circling around, and were going to take care of her.
He had to be content with that.
Chance caught his glance. "So how long have you and Jilly been together? Little sister keeps things close to her chest. I thought she had better taste than that, too."
"Recently. It just sort of happened." He looked at her window again and then at the mess that was the front of his home.
Chance had found where the shooter had parked his car and walked in. He had men fixing that security weakness now. "She's safe, Rafe. I don't think she's the target of this. I think her involvement is incidental."
"Is it? She was the one that was hit over the head at the hospital. She was in the car with me when I was ran off the road. And now this. She was the one at the window. Not me." And that was what pissed him off the most. If someone had a problem with him, they should have damned well targeted him. Not her.
Had she been targeted because of something he had done, or was it something else? Just coincidence when someone had been attacking him? Whatever it was, Rafe was going to do everything in his power, use every resource he had to make sure Jillian remained safe. “She was hurt because of me.”
“We don’t know that for certain.” Chance smacked him on the back. Rafe looked at this cousin he hadn’t always gotten along with. There was understanding and compassion in Chance’s eyes. “We’ll help you keep your girl safe.”
"Tell me about this drug, Rafe." Elliot looked at him and put a hand on his shoulder. Elliot, much like Marcus, had a manner about him that calmed people. His father had been the same way.
Now Chance, on the other hand, he had a way about him that just pissed people off. Including Rafe. But Rafe knew his cousins took family seriously.
Rafe hadn't missed the two cars that had shown up on their block within moments of them arriving at the Beck house. Guards, put in place by Chance. Yes, Jillian was going to be protected.
But would it be enough?
It damned well better be. He looked at his cousin just as another limo pulled up and parked right in the middle of the street. Not that it mattered, Barratt had had that back alley blocked off weeks ago, Chance had told him. No one was going to protest the limo’s presence.
The back door opened and the governor of Texas stepped out. Family.
They were circling the wagons.
Rafe wasn’t alone any more.
Rafe headed toward his older brother.
* * *
Elliot wasn’t about to let Rafe return to his home until his cousin’s people had better answers. Chance’s security cameras had picked up an image of a 4WD truck parked at the back of the far alley. The driver had been a large man close to the same size as Rafe, but otherwise unidentifiable.
He’d lain in wait for Rafe to return. From the video, it hadn’t been evident Jillian was even with Rafe at the time. It led to the speculation that she hadn’t been the target at all.
No one had thought she was.
Her father returned within an hour of Rafe tucking her in her own bed.
Kevin Beck was pissed. After the knock she’d taken to the head, and the fender bender, he was definitely not happy.
And that unhappiness was now directed solely where it belonged.
On Rafe.
Elliot had allowed Rafe in to grab some clothes for himself and anything else he might need.
It remained unstated that Rafe wasn’t going to be too far from Jillian’s side.
Whether her father liked it or not.
Fortunately, Kevin Beck seemed to be the type of father to let his daughters make their own decisions.
Rafe walked inside with the rest of his family, after Travis and Lacy had come outside to inspect the damage. He hated to admit it, but for the first time, Rafe used his brothers as a buffer.
All he cared about at the moment was ensuring he could be there when Jillian awoke.
They had a lot to discuss, the two of them.
Her father watched him as Rafe started down the hall. “Guest room is next door to my daughter.”
“Thank you.” He had no intention of staying in the guest room.
Her father knew that.
“See she stays safe, and don’t hurt her. I haven’t forgotten the pool incident. My daughter has a kind heart, an open one, and I’d hate to see that heart bruised.”
“All I care about is her.” Rafe looked over his shoulder when Lacy laughed at something Marcus said, as Ariella walked in the Becks’ front door. He turned back to Jillian’s father, a man he’d always respected, even when he’d known him as a teenager. “For the longest time all I thought that mattered was my brothers and the kids. Thought that was all I was capable of. I learned differently that night I found her bleeding and alone in a damned stairwell. This morning just cemented that. I can’t not be with her now. I think I need to belong with her.”
Kevin nodded. “You always did struggle to find your place, son. I understand finding that place in a woman. My Susan was my world. When she got sick, I forgot that she’d left a part of her world behind for a little while. These girls, my family, they are where I belong. My world. The bathroom connects with Jillian’s room. Just so you know.”
Rafe knew exactly what the older man was saying. “Thank you. I’ll take care of her. And I’ll find the bastard responsible for this.”
112
Okay, she'd lazed around in the bed long enough. Her back felt like it was on fire, but that was just an excuse. There were things that had to be done. Lots of them. Number one was finding out who had tried to hurt Rafe and for what.
Jillian wasn't going to sit back and let someone hurt him. Period.
Something was going on at FCGH. Something that someone wanted to keep hidden. And had been willing to hurt Rafe to do it. He didn't deserve that.
Jillian had spent the majority of the day after the painkillers wore off thinking about just that. Thinking about how she wanted to deal with what had happened between them.
Though it had been a hot spur of the moment thing between them the night before, Jillian had never entered relationships lightly. When she was with a man it was because of how she felt about that man.
She had some seriously intense feelings for Rafael Holden-Deane; she'd already admitted that to herself.
Jillian didn't see that changing anytime soon.
It pissed her off that someone had thought they had the right to hurt him.
She was tired of being the one that everyone else wanted to protect. Jillian wasn't that weak. She wasn't about to sit back and let someone hurt the man she…
Jillian wouldn't say she was in love with him. She wouldn't. Despite evidence to the contrary, thanks to her sisters, Jillian had never thought whirlwind romances were smart or logical. She happened to think her sisters and Gabby had gotten lucky with what had happened between them and their husbands. It was just way too soon to tell after just one incredible night together. She didn’t roll that way.
Even Travis and Lacy had fallen for each other in the span of only two months. Jillian didn't understand that.
She desired Rafe.
Good old-fashioned lust was healthy. She knew that. But just how deeply she cared about him hadn't sunk in until someone had been shooting at him.
She’d been forced by her family to stay in her bed off of her back. It had given her a lot of time to think. To determine what she wanted from a relationship with that complicated, complex, and difficult man.
She had yet to come up with an answer.
Jillian just knew that she wasn't about to let him pull away from her. Which was exactly what she suspected Dr. Rafael Holden-Deane was going to try to do. Uh-uh. Not going to happen.
Wounds That Won’t Heal Page 24