Page 92 of Keep You Close

“What cameras?”

“The ones all around,” she said, waving toward the main area of the building.

“Kingston has that covered, I’m sure. This is the kind of shit he does,” I reminded her.

“Right,” she agreed. “Okay.”

She was shutting down a little. Normally, I would let her have that, knowing she would come back to me. But if I was going to shuffle her to the emergency room in the near future, I needed her not to seem traumatized.

The doctors and nurses at the hospital were seasoned professionals, they would be suspicious if she seemed shut down or in shock.

“You texted me,” I said, watching her vision clear, seeing her pull back out of her own swirling thoughts.

“Yeah.”

“You could’ve texted the police. You didn’t. You texted me.”

“I knew you’d come,” she said. “And that you’d know what was going on without me having to spell it out. Though, I also wasn’t sure the police could trace a burner,” she added, lips trying to turn up until the cut made her wince.

“They would have come,” I told her. “Just for future reference. And you can text them an address. You don’t have to call anymore if the situation is dangerous. But I’m glad you called me. Can I get you some a acetaminophen for your wrist?” I asked.

“I have some in my purse,” she said. “Under the desk.”

“Okay. I’ll be right back,” I said, getting up, then pressing a kiss to her head before moving out, glad to have a second to talk to my brother without her overhearing.

“How is she?”

“She’s… okay. This isn’t the first time he’s found her.”

“This is her ex?” Rush asked.

“Yeah. He’s been stalking her since she left him. She’s moved a lot. But he finds her each time. She usually figures out how, and then makes sure she doesn’t make that ‘mistake’ again.”

“Fucker,” Rush growled.

“Yeah. This is why I wanted the security system at home. I thought she was safe here.”

“So, what now?” Nixon asked, coming out with a wet Samson following behind, shaking hard, and sending water flying, landing on all of us. “That room has a lot of blood on the walls.”

“It’s Joss’s,” I said. “She stabbed his arm.”

“Tossed the scissors in the sink,” Nixon said, nodding.

“Now, we clean shit up. Get all the blood inside and out. At least until the tree line,” King said. “We don’t want anyone finding that and asking questions. I will check the security feed in the office. If Joss didn’t disable it, I will erase it and create a loop for each feed, so it will look seamless.

“Once we’re done with that, we can have AJ call her boss, tell her that she fell in the parking lot, trying to get something out of her car and she had to go to the hospital.

“We will all leave. She will lock up. And then someone else will likely show up to take over her shift. That’s it.”

I found AJ’s purse, then made my way back to the break room to hand it to her while I made her a cup of coffee.

Rush and Nixon walked past, taking Samson with them again. A moment later, I heard the purr of the dog hair dryer.

AJ took her meds then waited with me until Kingston came to tell us we were all clear.

I was impressed at how well AJ pulled it together to fake a frantic call to her boss, talking about the fall, about the break, about needing to leave.

On the other end of the line, I could hear her boss begging her to take care of herself, not to worry about the dogs, that she would come over within the hour to take over.

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