Officer Off Limits

by Tessa Bailey

  “It’s complicated.”

  “I’ll try to keep up.”

  Jack released a long, weary sigh. “This heart attack didn’t come as a surprise. My doctor had been telling me to slow down. That I was at risk. It was a wake-up call.” He gestured toward Fisher. “I wanted to make sure you would be taken care of if something happened. I couldn’t let you marry someone like him.”

  A hysterical sound sprang from her throat. “Oh, really? Did you have someone else in mind?” As soon as the question left her mouth, the answer flattened her like a falling piano. The last week passed through her mind in a series of flashbacks. Jack asking Daniel to drive her home that first day. Jack recommending she try Quincy’s Pub on a night Daniel conveniently was present. Jack’s insistence that she attend the Mets game with Daniel. Jack texting them both to come to the hospital, then sending them out together to get his breakfast.

  He’d been matchmaking. She’d been…match-made. All this week, she’d felt like she was finally coming into her own. Making decisions for herself. Doing what felt right, not simply what people expected of her. Instead, she’d been manipulated. By someone she trusted. Pain and embarrassment soured her stomach.

  Daniel looked at her with growing concern. “Story?”

  “Did you know?” she croaked out.

  His eyebrows drew together. “Know what?”

  She glanced at Jack, but his gaze was locked on Daniel. “He’s been pushing us together this entire time. I can’t believe I didn’t see it. I can’t believe you didn’t see it.”

  “No,” Daniel said, shaking his head briskly. “He told me to stay away from you. He told me to keep my hands off of y—” He dropped heavily into a chair and covered his face with his hands. “Oh, holy shit.”

  “About time, Danny,” Jack commented drily. “I thought your time with me had been completely wasted. We covered reverse psychology on day one.”

  “Reverse…” Story trailed off, the full scope of the situation hitting her. Her stomach rolled as though she might be sick. Her horrified gaze sought Daniel’s, but he merely looked stunned by what he’d learned. “This whole thing between us…it was just you wanting something you couldn’t have.”

  His entire body jerked, disbelief blanketing his features. “No. No.” He shot to his feet and cradled her face in his hands. “I was done the second I saw you. Done. How we got here is just details.”

  Fisher spoke behind her, his voice vibrating with intensity. “We’re both just victims here, Story. I made a huge mistake and I’m taking responsibility for it. I’m giving Jack back the money. We can work through this together.”

  Daniel’s spoke through clenched teeth. “Stop talking to her.”

  I need to get out of this room. Away from the three men in her life, or she would suffocate. Feelings of betrayal, disillusionment, and pain whirled inside her until she felt numb inside. She blinded herself to anything besides getting out of the hospital room and to the elevator, having no idea where she would go once she got outside. Just somewhere she didn’t have to look at any of them.

  She’d almost made it to the door when Daniel’s hand banded around her elbow. In a voice ringing with emotion, he spoke low enough that only she could hear. “Don’t walk away from me. You know what’s between us is real. You know.”

  Even now, Story wanted to throw herself into his arms and draw on his strength. Instead, she yanked her arm away and kept walking, vaguely aware of Fisher following behind her. “Right now, I’m not sure I know anything…or anyone.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Daniel felt the knife twist in his gut as Story and her ex-fiancé disappeared into the elevator that would take her farther away from him. Somehow, in the last ten minutes he’d fallen from the highest high to the dark pit he currently resided in and he still wasn’t quite sure how it happened. She’d been on the verge of telling Jack about them. He still couldn’t quite believe it. With a smile on her face, she’d stood next to him as though she couldn’t be more proud to reintroduce him to her father. This time as her boyfriend.

  For that brief moment, he’d been the luckiest man on the planet. He’d thought, hell, if she believed he was good enough for her, maybe he’d start to believe it after a while. I’ll learn how to make her happy. How to be a boyfriend. How to handle the fact that he’d fallen in love.

  He couldn’t deny it any longer. Now that he knew what it felt like to watch her walk away, he knew for sure. God, he wished he’d realized it before now. Wished he’d told her. In his entire life, he’d never uttered those words to anyone else, and now they threatened to burst from his chest. If he’d told her how he felt, maybe she wouldn’t be doubting him now.

  Swallowing his desire to sprint down the stairs after her, he went back into the room to face Jack alone. The older man sat propped up in the bed, staring out the window of his room.

  Daniel fell into a chair by the door and leaned forward, hands clasped between his knees. They were silent for long moments while Daniel gathered his thoughts. “You must not have very much confidence in me,” he finally said. “Telling me to stay away from your daughter, all the while knowing I couldn’t. Knowing I would fail.”

  Jack turned to him, surprise evident on his face. “You still haven’t grasped the point, have you? I have every confidence in you. You didn’t fail.”

  “I’ve about had it with mind games for the day. Just be clear.”

  “Very well, spoilsport.” Daniel sent him an exasperated look that he ignored. “What I said before earlier is true. I wanted Story happy and secure in case I knocked off early.”

  He snorted. “And that involved blackmailing her doctor fiancé to break their engagement, then sending her my way. Who, as you put it, has a fucked-up track record with women?”

  “Ah, you were listening.” Jack shifted on the bed. “I might have gotten a little carried away with that last part. You know how I get when I’m on a roll.”

  Daniel gave a quick shake of his head. “I’m sorry. I still don’t get it. You can’t actually want her with me.” Daniel searched for the right words. “Story…lights everything up. Where I come from, the things I’ve seen and done…took something out of me. I don’t know how to be good like her.” He stood and paced to the window, looking out over the river.

  “You just made my point for me,” Jack said quietly. “Danny, you’re the only one with that ridiculously low opinion of yourself. I saw the way she looked at you before that little fucker came in and ruined everything. She sees something more in you.” He cleared his throat uncomfortably. “I…see something more in you.”

  Daniel turned away before Jack could see how his words affected him. No one, especially his mentor, had ever paid him such a high compliment. For so damn long, he’d looked in the mirror and seen someone broken. Someone who couldn’t be fixed. Was it really possible that others saw an entirely different man? Yes, he thought tentatively. If Jack and Story, the two people whose opinions counted the most, thought he could be salvaged, then he had to believe it, too. He wanted to believe it. Some of the pain he carried inside him withered and died, to be replaced with something that felt like hope. “Why the reverse psychology, then? You had to know from the first day it wasn’t necessary. I asked her out before we even walked into this room.”

  “Because,” he stressed, “If I’d come right out and told you I couldn’t think of a better man for my daughter, you would never have believed me. You had to realize it yourself. She had to make you realize it.”

  Jack was right. A week ago, he wouldn’t have thought himself capable of coming this far. She’d done it. Pulled him out of the darkness where he’d been living for so long. He couldn’t lose her now. Once again resisting the urge to chase her down, he questioned Jack. “So what was your plan? Break up the wedding and have a heart attack to get us together? Seems pretty risky even for you.”

  Jack chuckled. “I had a hunch if I got you two in the same room, the rest would take care of itself. And th
e second you walked in, I knew I was right.” He gestured toward the beeping heart monitor. “I didn’t realize the meeting would happen quite so soon. The heart attack was fortuitous.”

  “And you just referred to a heart attack as fortuitous.” His eyes narrowed on the older man. “You sent those flowers, didn’t you? And forcing Story to give me Hayden’s number…?”

  “Nice touch, right? I’m sure it came in handy, too.” Jack stuck a pillow behind his head. “Now why the hell did you let her leave with that whelp?”

  “I didn’t exactly have a choice, thanks to you.” Daniel ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “After she found out she’d been moved around like a pawn on a chessboard all week, me telling her what to do wouldn’t have ended pretty.”

  Jack shrugged, but Daniel could see his self-satisfaction beginning to slip. “You met the kid, can you blame me for what I did?”

  “That’s not the issue here. She’s upset because you went behind her back, didn’t give her a chance to come to the right conclusion about him.” He pegged the older man with a look. “And you didn’t give her enough credit to draw her own conclusions about me, either. Now she’s doubting her own judgment. So your plan backfired, didn’t it? You’re an expert negotiator, but you’re obviously not an expert on your daughter.”

  “Oh, and you’ve somehow become an expert on her in a week?”

  Daniel held up a hand. He wasn’t going anywhere near that question. “Look. If she’ll have me, our relationship will be ours. No interference from you. I won’t let you use me to control her. Or vice versa.” His hand came to rest on his chest. “You chose me for Story, and don’t get me wrong, I owe you a huge debt for bringing us together. But now you have to back off. Or we could both lose her.”

  The older man scowled. “Is it too late to change my mind about you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, then,” Jack snorted. “What the hell are you doing here still talking to me? Go get her.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Story stepped off the elevator into the hospital lobby, Fisher following close on her heels. As she speed-walked toward the street exit, she couldn’t stop seeing Daniel at the end of the hall as she’d left, staring after her. He’d looked so devastated she wanted to sob under the weight of the memory. Could she possibly be feeling this way if their relationship was a product of Jack’s meddling? It couldn’t be true when even now she wanted to run back to him, throw herself into his arms, and never let go.

  Fisher entered her line of vision, bringing her to a halt in the middle of the crowded lobby. “I came all this way, let’s at least discuss this.”

  Through the grief and confusion brought on by the last ten minutes, she found the strength to respond to her ex-fiancé. “There is nothing to discuss. You lied to me about so many things, I wouldn’t believe a word that came out of your mouth anyway. Jack might have been acting like an entitled jackass when he paid you that money, but you’re the one who accepted it.”

  “But I’m giving it back! No more lies, Story. I swear it. When I heard you’d come to New York, I realized what a mistake I’d made. I hated the thought of you so far away.”

  All his impassioned speech served to do was annoy her. “Let’s be honest for once, Fisher. We barely saw each other during the last year. We were just going through the motions. I changed during that time, but I didn’t realize it until this week when I got a little distance. I don’t think you know me anymore. I sure as hell didn’t know you were the kind of person who could accept a bribe to break up with me.” She sighed, suddenly weary. “I really hate saying this, but Jack probably did us a favor. It doesn’t excuse what he did, but we shouldn’t be married.”

  “You’re wrong. I’ve changed, too. Let me prove it.”

  “No, I’m right about this one. Good-bye, Fisher.”

  “This isn’t over.” He vowed, backing toward the exit. “I’m not giving up.”

  Story didn’t respond. Not wanting to encounter Fisher once again outside, she waited until he’d been gone five minutes before turning once more to leave. But as she drew closer to the revolving exit door, she noticed her neighbor, Frank, out of the corner of her eye. He stood at the customer service desk to her left, growing increasingly agitated. Although the woman speaking with him remained calm and respectful, he shook a fistful of papers in her face, demanding that she look at them once more. A nearby security guard made his way toward them.

  “Sir, I’ve already looked at them and there’s nothing I can do. You need to speak to your insurance company about the matter. But we do have other options for your mother—”

  “I’m not interested. She needs to be here. I want to see a manager!”

  “I am the manager, sir.”

  Frank walked in a circle, shaking his head and muttering to himself. Then he turned and pounded his fist on the desk. The woman jumped, one hand flying to her throat. The guard reached Frank then, closing his hand around his elbow. He immediately started to struggle against the guard’s grip.

  Stay out of it, Story. It’s none of your business.

  But something wouldn’t let her walk away. Obviously, her neighbor had more than a few problems, but at the end of the day, wasn’t he simply a man trying to care for his mother? A mother who would be home alone, possibly in need of medical attention. If he got locked up or detained for causing a scene at the hospital, no one would be there to assisst her.

  If she could help his cause in any way, she needed to step in. Story made her way toward the desk and leaned forward to get the administrator’s attention. “Excuse me—”

  Everything moved so quickly, she hardly had time to comprehend it. With a burst of surprising strength, Frank yanked his arm free of the security guard, knocking him momentarily off-balance. His hand shot out and seized the gun holstered to the guard’s hip. For a split second, the four of them froze. Story’s eyes shot to Frank’s face, but his attention was centered on the gun as if he couldn’t believe he actually held it in his hand. The guard lunged, but Frank swung it around and pointed it straight at the man, who immediately ceased all movement.

  Another guard hastened toward them from her right and Frank noticed, too. She watched through wide eyes as his predicament registered on his face. The second guard would draw his gun any second and fire on him, but he couldn’t remove his aim from the first guard or he would be tackled.

  Frank had no options. Or so Story thought.

  Suddenly, he turned, grabbed her arm, and thrust her in front of him. With cold metal pressed against her neck, she watched both guards automatically hold their hands up over their heads. Her legs threatened to give out beneath her as fear, cold and sharp, lanced through her.

  Behind her, Frank shook, his breath rapid and hot against the top of her head. “Oh God, oh shit. I’m sorry. No, no, no,” he whispered. Then he started dragging her backward toward the bank of offices located behind the administration desk. Despite her overwhelming anxiety, she knew better than to struggle. Obviously, Frank didn’t make a habit of handling firearms and it would be unwise to startle him. As they backed into an empty office, she cast one desperate glance at the lobby. For once, the hundreds of medical personnel and visitors weren’t rushing to get where they were going, instead watching the unusual scene unfolding before them.

  Just as the door closed and cut off her line of vision, she saw Daniel a few yards away, watching with a look of horror on his face, gun drawn at his side.

  …

  Daniel didn’t have any awareness of the rush of activity taking place around him. An unknown length of time passed as he continued staring at the closed office door, trying to see through it. His nightmare was coming true in front of his face, only this time he wouldn’t wake up from it, shivering in his apartment. However, just like the event that had caused his nightmares, the outcome of this hellish situation rested entirely on his shoulders. And this time the stakes were much higher.

  He’d entered the lobby just in ti
me to see Story stop and turn toward a man arguing at the customer service desk, recognition sweeping across her features. Something in the man’s voice had immediately caught his attention, sending a warning signal to his brain. In addition to his extensive training in dealing with the emotionally unstable, his experience with Nora had given him the innate ability to detect notes of hysteria in people’s voices.

  A tingling had begun at the back of his neck, quickly spreading through his entire system, his heart beating loud and insistent in his ears. It had suddenly become vital that he keep Story away from that man. Something was definitely wrong. Automatically, his hand had slipped inside his jacket and closed around the butt of his gun, but dammit, there’d been too many people in the way. He could barely draw breath with her name stuck in his throat.

  That’s when everything went to hell.

  Story, his Story, trapped in an office with a mentally ill man wielding a gun. He couldn’t fathom how they’d gotten there, only that he hadn’t been quick enough. Hadn’t gotten to her in time. Just minutes ago, he’d been worried about her leaving the state. Now he faced the possibility of her…no, he couldn’t think about that. Refused to.

  The present snapped back into focus with the sound of sirens in the distance. If he didn’t pull himself together and focus, he could lose her. Daniel forced himself to build a wall around his emotions. Story’s life was in the balance. He had to find a way to get her out safely.

  Everything he’d worked and trained for had prepared him for this moment. His hand fumbled in his pocket where his phone buzzed incessantly.

  “Chase,” he answered, knowing dispatch would be on the other end. “I’m already here.”

  A minute later, NYPD officers and Emergency Services members swarmed the hospital lobby. He made eye contact with Matt, who entered holding a sniper rifle, although in this case it wouldn’t do them any good considering Story and the hostage-taker were holed up inside a windowless office. “What do we got?” Matt asked, tossing him a bulletproof vest. Several other ESU members formed a circle around Daniel as their eyes swept the lobby.