by Marla Monroe
“She screams anytime someone gets close to her. Move slowly, Paul.” Mac backed up and gave him plenty of room.
“Lana? It’s Paul and Justin. We’re here, baby. Let us see about you.” He carefully approached her as he talked to her.
She stared right through him as if he wasn’t even there. She was still living whatever nightmare she’d been stuck in before they got her to the hospital.
“I think we need to crawl over there instead of walking so that we’re not towering over her.” Justin’s idea had merit.
Paul nodded and got on the floor to crawl toward her. “Lana. Listen to me, baby. It’s Paul. I’m coming to get you, baby.”
She whimpered, but didn’t start screaming as they slowly moved closer to her. When he was within touching distance, Paul reached out and gently touched her face.
“Hey. It’s just us. Everything is going to be fine, Lana. Let us help you.”
Once Justin was close enough, they picked her up and gently laid her on the stretcher. When they tried to pull back so the doctor and nurses could get to her, she grabbed hold of Paul’s arm and refused to let go.
“Stay there. As long as you’re there, she might let us treat her. We need to see where all the blood is coming from and stop it.” The doctor nodded at him.
Justin stepped back but stayed within easy reach of her should she need him. Paul stroked her hands as the nurses began to slowly pull away the bloody sheet. Paul had to grit his teeth to keep from cursing at the tiny cuts on her abdomen.
“There’s the main culprit. She’s been stabbed in her thigh. Move up some, sir, so we can get to it.” The doctor changed places with him.
“Justin, hold her other hand. She’s starting to shake all over now.”
He watched as his brother eased up to the stretcher to try to take her other hand from where it had been wrapped around Paul’s arm. She resisted him at first, but Justin kept whispering in her ear and she finally let him have it.
“Paul?”
He jerked his head back in her direction at the sound of her raspy voice.
“Yeah, baby. I’m right here.”
“He was going to kill me.”
“Shh, baby. Just relax and let the doctors fix you up.”
“I was so scared. I didn’t want to die.”
“I know, baby. It’s over. No one is ever going to hurt you again. Justin and I will take care of you.”
Lana stared into his eyes then slowly closed hers and passed out. He was relieved. Looking into her eyes with all of the fear and pain in them had been gut wrenching. He looked over at Justin and knew his brother felt the same way. No one would ever hurt her again for as long as they were alive to protect her.
Chapter Nine
Lana slowly woke up to the sound of low, murmuring voices and pain. Lots of pain. Her head throbbed and her leg ached. Everything seemed fuzzy at first, then it all came back, and she sat up in bed with a scream.
“Shh, baby. You’re safe. Everything is going to be fine now.” Justin’s voice soothed her as his hands slowly eased her back down on the stretcher.
The pounding in her head kept her from turning to look around the room, but it didn’t stop her from hearing Paul and someone whose voice sounded familiar talking close by. They had stopped when she sat up, but resumed once she had settled once again. Justin didn’t leave her side once she had relaxed against the stretcher. Instead, he held her hand as he listened to the other man talking. It finally dawned on her who it was as his words sank in. Sheriff Tidwell.
“One of her neighbors heard her scream and called us. We got there as soon as we could.”
“Thank God you did.” Paul’s voice shook.
“She was unconscious when we arrived and when the paramedics loaded her up. Evidently she woke up about the time they were wheeling her into the room. They couldn’t touch her until you arrived.”
“Thanks for calling us, Mac. She’s important to us.”
“Are you and Justin claiming her, Paul?”
“Hell yes. She’s ours. She won’t spend another night in that hellhole.”
“Good. She deserves better than that.” Mac’s voice sounded strained.
Justin squeezed her hand as he looked down at her. “She sure does.”
She heard the swish of the door as it opened then closed. She assumed Mac had left. Lana wanted to know if they had caught the man who’d hurt her, but she was afraid to ask.
Paul’s face appeared over her. His features appeared tense as he gently ran a finger along one side of her face.
“Hey, babe.”
She blinked then tried to talk. “Did they catch him?” Her voice was scratchy, and her throat ached.
“Yes. They got him. He won’t be hurting you ever again. I promise.”
“What happened?”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s over and you’re safe.” Paul stroked her head, moving her hair away from her face.
“I need to know, Paul. What happened?”
He sighed and glanced over at Justin. She looked from one to the other of them. She wasn’t going to allow them to keep anything from her. It was obvious that they didn’t want to tell her something.
Finally, Paul drew in a deep breath and blew it out in a slow rush. He touched her other hand but didn’t take it. She glanced down and realized that she had a tube with fluids in it running into that hand.
“When Mac and his deputies arrived, they couldn’t get inside because your door was still locked. They found the window in the front broken and one of the deputies climbed through and ran straight for your bedroom. He walked in right when the man was about to stab you. He shot and killed him. You never have to worry about him again, Lana.”
She closed her eyes and swallowed past the scratchiness in her throat. “Thank you. I needed to know what happened. I thought I was going to die.”
“When we first saw you…” Justin’s voice faded away.
She opened her eyes and looked up at him. There were tears in his eyes. From the sound of it, she had been covered in blood, hers and her attacker’s. She could imagine what she looked like.
“I’m okay, though, right?”
“You’re going to be fine, babe.” Paul’s voice brooked no argument.
“I want to go home.”
“Just as soon as they discharge you, we’re taking you home with us, sweetheart.” Justin smiled down at her.
“How long?”
“I’ll go find someone and let them know you’re awake. They were waiting for you to come to before they made any decisions on whether to admit you or not.” Paul turned and headed toward the door.
“Please, Paul. I don’t want to stay here.”
He stopped and turned to smile at her. “You’ll do whatever the doctor says is best for you. No arguments.” Then he walked through the swinging door.
“Don’t worry. We won’t leave you alone, Lana.”
“Thank you. I was so scared, Justin.”
“I know. But you don’t have to be anymore. We’ll take care of you.”
She closed her eyes once again to wait for Paul to return. She didn’t want to stay in the hospital. It brought back too many sad memories of when her mom was dying. As small as the hospital was, she might even end up in the same room. That thought had her heart racing once again, and she started to shiver.
“Are you cold?” Justin asked.
“No. I guess I’m just nervous. I want to go home. I don’t want to be here anymore.”
“I know. Paul will be back in a few minutes.”
The swinging door to the room opened, and several people walked in with Paul leading the small group. He had a grim, determined expression on his face.
“Hi, Lana. It’s good to see you awake and resting. I’m Dr. Deering. How are you feeling?” The stranger was nice looking with a genuine smile that reached his hazel eyes. His light brown hair was short but mussed as if he’d just run his hand through it.
“Fine. I want
to go home.”
“Let’s check you out and we’ll see.” He looked up and a nurse began checking her blood pressure while he checked her eyes and had her follow directions and answer silly questions.
After a few minutes of examining her and conferring with the nurse, he smiled down at her.
“I think it would be safe for you to go home as long as someone will be there to wake you up every few hours and check on you. You have a good-sized knot on your head, so I’m a little worried about a mild concussion.”
“She’ll be going home with us. We’ll take care of her.” Paul’s deep voice interrupted them.
“Good, good.” He smiled down at her. “It looks like you’ll be in good hands. I’m going to write a prescription for some antibiotics and a pain pill you can take starting around two this afternoon. We’ll give you some Tylenol for your headache. I’m sure you have one.”
At her nod, he looked over at the nurse. She quickly disappeared through the door only to return in a few seconds with two pills and a cup of water. Justin helped her lift up enough to take the pills and drink the water. They scratched her throat on the way down. She guessed her throat was sore from screaming.
“Okay, I’ve written your prescriptions and your discharge orders. Let the nurse take out your IV and get your paperwork finished and you can leave. You need to follow up with your own physician in five to six days to see about removing the stitches.”
“Stitches?” Her eyes settled on Paul. “I didn’t know I had stitches.”
The doctor smiled and started telling her about her injuries. “You’ve got a bruised throat from being strangled and probably from screaming as well. You’ve got four stitches in your head up here.” He pointed to her forehead.
She reached up with one hand to feel, but the doctor stopped her hand in midair.
“Don’t touch the area. I have a small bandage on it, but it’s going to be tender. You shouldn’t be able to see it under your bangs, and it shouldn’t leave much of a scar.” He patted her hand. “You’ve got a stab wound to your right upper thigh that we left open to heal naturally. It’s covered in a bandage as well. You also have some small cuts on your abdomen, but none of them needed stitches. There is some bruising along your ribs on the right side and your right shoulder and down your back, but nothing was broken.”
Lana shivered at the list of her injuries. She knew she was sore all over, but she hadn’t really thought about what hurt or why other than her throat and her head.
“I want you to get lots of rest over the next few days then follow your primary physician’s orders after that. Understand?” He looked down at her and smiled before nodding at Paul and Justin as he turned to go.
They nurse began taking the IV out of her hand, covering it with a small bandage once she was finished.
“I’ll go get your paperwork finished and find you a set of scrubs to wear home. Then we’ll get you out of here.” She winked at her before leaving her alone with the men.
“Not much longer, sweetheart. We’ll have you home before you know it.” Justin’s concerned expression was almost more than she could take.
She squeezed her eyes shut to stop the tears. Too much had happened, and she felt like an emotional wreck. She didn’t want to cry anymore. She remembered crying when…She didn’t want to remember that, either.
“Shh, babe. Everything is going to be fine. Once we get you home we’ll help you clean up and then settle you down in the bed so you can rest. You’ll feel better once you’ve had some sleep.”
Lana wasn’t so sure about that. She was a little afraid to fall asleep, certain that when she did it would come back to her in her dreams.
After about fifteen minutes, the nurse returned with her paperwork and a set of scrubs for her to put on. The nurse reviewed the paperwork with them and had Lana sign the discharge form before leaving so she could get dressed. Lana had refused her help, believing she could dress herself. When she started to get down off the stretcher, Justin and Paul were immediately by her side helping her down.
“You can wait outside while I dress, guys.”
“We’re not leaving you to do this alone. You’re weak, babe. You could fall.”
She frowned up at them and started to cross her arms, but pain in her ribs and her right shoulder stopped her.
“See, you’re sore all over. Let us help you.”
Lana sighed and nodded. She realized that she probably did need the help. She should have asked the nurse to help her. Instead, she found herself letting them help her remove the gown, holding it to her breasts as they settled the scrub top over her head. Then they pulled the pants up her legs but let her tie the drawstrings herself. By the time they were finished, she was worn out and shaking. As much as she didn’t like to admit it, she had needed help.
Justin left her with Paul to pull the truck up outside the emergency room then a nurse pushed her out in a wheelchair, Paul following behind with her paperwork and prescriptions. He picked her up and sat her on the seat in the truck then climbed in next to her. Once they were all buckled up, Justin pulled out of the hospital. Lana immediately felt better to be away from the place.
They pulled up outside the local pharmacy, and Paul took the prescriptions inside to have them filled. While they waited, Justin stroked her hair and told her about the yard they were working on outside of town. Before she realized it, Paul was back with her medications and they started out once again.
It suddenly dawned on her that they were driving in the opposite direction of her apartment. She quickly realized they were headed toward their house. She looked over at Justin then back at Paul.
“Why are we going to your place? I want to go home.”
“First of all, you can’t right now, because it’s a crime scene and the sheriff’s department is there. Second of all, you don’t have a window in the living room, so you can’t stay there for obvious reasons.” Paul squeezed her hand before bringing it to his lips and kissing it.
“Oh.” She didn’t know what more she could say to that. “What about my clothes?”
“They wouldn’t let you take anything from there anyway. You can wear something of ours until they let us get your things.”
She rolled her eyes. Like anything of theirs would fit her. They were over six feet each, and she had curves. Oh well, the scrubs would do for now. She should be able to get to her things soon enough.
Once they arrived at the house, Paul helped her out of the truck and carried her inside despite her protests. Justin led the way upstairs and turned down the bed in the master bedroom. She tried to protest, but they pointed out that they didn’t have another room for her to sleep in. Justin gently laid her down and pulled the covers up to her waist before kissing her lightly on the lips.
The bed felt wonderful to her aching body. She knew Justin was working hard not to tease her about her sigh of appreciation by the grin on his face. She stuck her tongue out at him despite it being juvenile.
“How about something to eat?” Paul held up one of the bottles of pills she was supposed to take. “It says here you should take them with food. What sounds good to you?”
“My throat hurts, so I’m not sure what I could eat. I’m not really hungry.”
“How about scrambled eggs?” Justin suggested.
“That sounds good. I could probably manage eggs. Thanks.”
He hurried out the door, leaving her alone with Paul. He eased down on the side of the bed and smiled at her. She realized that she hadn’t seen him smile all that often. It gave him a much younger look to his face, smoothing out all the harsh lines that were normally there.
“Oh, I need to call the school to let them know I’m not going to be there.” Panic grabbed her as she looked at the time on the clock by the bed.
“Don’t worry about it. Justin called them earlier as soon as someone answered. He told them you wouldn’t be back at all this week.”
“What? I can’t leave them like that. It’s my last we
ek. I need to be there to tie stuff up.”
Paul frowned at her. “You’re hurt, Lana. You can’t work like that. Maybe if you’re feeling better on Friday, you can go for a few hours and square things away. We’ll see how you’re doing then.”
“Paul, you can’t tell me what I can and can’t do.”
“Watch me. You’re our responsibility now. We will make whatever decisions we think necessary to keep you safe and healthy.”
“I am not your responsibility. I can take care of myself.” She couldn’t believe he was being so arrogant.
“Arguing already?” Justin walked in carrying a plate full of fluffy scrambled eggs and a glass of milk.
He waited while Paul helped her sit back up, propping a pillow behind her for support before he handed her the plate. Then he set the glass of milk on the bedside table. They both stood back and watched her as she prepared to dig in. She looked up and cocked a brow at them.
“What? Did I forget something?” Justin asked.
“Are you going to stand there and stare at me? I can’t eat with you doing that. Don’t you have something you need to be doing? Like go to work?”
Justin chuckled. “We took the day off to see about you. We’re not leaving you alone when you’ve just gotten out of the hospital from being attacked.”
She resisted the urge to growl. They were taking things entirely too seriously now. She was fine. They didn’t need to hang over her no matter how sweet it sounded.
“Why don’t you go get something to eat? You’re bound to be hungry as well.”
Paul shrugged. “We can wait until you’re finished. You might need something.”
Since she had never had anyone to watch over her before, she didn’t know how to react. It was obvious that they cared about her. It thrilled her on one level and worried her on another one. Hopefully, they would lighten up as she proved to them that she was okay. Until then, it looked like she was stuck with an audience to watch her eat and rest. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.
Chapter Ten
She was going crazy. They hadn’t left her alone all day long. Even when she had fallen asleep, it was to find at least one of them there waiting on her to wake up again. It was as bad as actually being in the hospital, she decided. Wasn’t it driving them crazy just sitting there doing nothing?