Page 57 of Dangerously Tempting

I feel safe enough with Kat near that I’m able to relax for a moment, I’m sure it’s from the trauma, but I’m not really ready to sleep again. My brain and my body obviously have two different feelings on that because before I know if the world falls away as I drift to sleep.

Playlist: "Back From The Dead," Halestorm

I wake with a jolt, not sure what woke me, but pulling in gasps of air nonetheless. I stare at the ceiling, trying to calm myself down. The space beside me is now empty, but I’m sure Kat hasn’t gone far. I let the rhythmic beeping of the machines lull me into a sense of calmness, but it doesn’t last long before I hear a sound that doesn’t belong and one that I can’t place.

The hair on my arms stands on end, and I tilt my head trying to figure it out. Something doesn’t feel right. There’s nothing amiss in the room, but the bathroom door that was open before is now closed. I’m sure Kat probably got up to go to the bathroom and that’s what woke me up.

“Kat? You okay in there?” I call, loud enough for her to hear me. I pause, waiting for a response that doesn’t come. I purse my lips, confused, and open my mouth to call out to her again when the door swings open.

My blood turns cold in my veins as I meet a pair of blue eyes that definitely aren’t Kat’s. A smile pulls at Tori’s lips as she leans against the doorframe and smiles at me while I scramble to grab the remote with the call button on it, jamming the button several times.

“Don’t bother. It’s unplugged.” She steps farther into the room, and it’s then that I see Kat’s feet and lower legs on the bathroom floor, the rest of her body hidden from view behind the door. I clench my jaw, turning my eyes back to Tori to try and get a read on her.

I don’t know what state Kat is in, but I can’t let emotions overtake me. I’m free enough to have the upper hand this time, and I’ll be damned if I let this bitch pull one over on me again. “How did you even get in here?” I question.

Her grin widens even further, making her face look harsh and fully reflecting the crazed bits of her outwardly. “Isn’t it obvious?” she motions down her body at the scrubs she’s wearing, and I want to scream. “Nurse Vikki, at your service! Except, the only service I offer is getting rid of clingy bitches standing in my way.”

“I already told you,” I say through clenched teeth, “Jameson wants nothing to do with you. Why can’t you take a fucking hint and leave us alone?”

“You don’t know anything!” she growls back. “We love each other and you’re getting in the way! You’re like a flea, every time I think I’ve gotten rid of you, you’re back again!”

“So instead of continuing to be a great inconvenience, you decided to try and kill me?”

She scoffs, rolling her eyes. “That wasn’t my intention. I just wanted to scare you off but my temper got the best of me because you were being a bitch.”

I raise my eyebrows, blinking at her like I can’t believe what I’m hearing because I legitimately can’t. Only this bitch would somehow make her trying to kill me, my damn fault.

“And what’s the plan now? I could have already been scared off by this point. You didn’t even give Jameson long enough to get out of jail. We could have gone our separate ways after all this without you interfering again, so why are you here?”

“I can’t let you get me sent to jail. I’m trying to remove inconveniences, not create them.” She rolls her eyes again like this answer should be obvious.

She doesn’t seem to know that I’ve already talked to the police, and I’m not really sure if that’d be an advantage or a disadvantage right now. She’s clearly here to get rid of me, so I don’t know if letting her know she’s already fucked will make her back down or make her go further off the deep end. I’m willing to bet she’s a gust of wind shy of going over that edge, and I’m not willing to test that.

“What if I promise to not say anything? I’ll make up a lie about who did this to me, leave Jameson, and get out of your way.”

She narrows her eyes at me and I’m unsure if she’s considering my suggestion or trying to tell if I’m lying. “You think I’m stupid, don’t you? Why would I believe you’d do that?”

“Because when people are pushed into a corner, they’re often willing to do just about anything they can to get out of it,” I shrug, pursing my lips like I’m not at all worried about what her decision may be. On the inside, I’m pacing and pulling at my hair.

“That may be,” she concedes, but in a way that clearly means little to her based on her tone. “But more often than not, people change their minds. I’m not willing to chance you changing yours years down the road and deciding to come back here to ruin my life.” She bends her arms, hands palms up, and shrugs in a very condescending way.

I should have known better, honestly. Of course, she wouldn’t give a damn about how I’d feel about losing my life over her bullshit. She’s been playing this game for a long time so she’s not going to give up over something she sees as a minor little blip to her plan. It’s just a bit of blood on her hands, after all. Maybe a bit more than she anticipated if Kat is dead.

I try not to let my thoughts go there. She has to be okay because I’m going to get us out of this somehow so that we can find some kind of sick, twisted humor in it later. I don’t want to die, obviously, but especially not to this bitch.

“Well,” I breath, my irritation clear in my tone. “What next then? How are you going to do this? You do realize we’re in the middle of a hospital where anyone could walk in at any moment, right?”

“There’s a really simple thing called a lock. Ever heard of one?” she quirks a brow and I grit my teeth. “What happens next, is pretty simple.” She rounds the bed, going over to the IV machine. She pats the top of the machine like it’s a treasured pet. “Do you know how easy it is to kill someone with this?”

I swallow hard, panic locking my jaw. I don’t know what I expected from her, honestly. I guess I was expecting it to be violent like the last time, that she’d try to take me out with her hands around my throat again. Of course not. She’s not an idiot, and what better way to cover her tracks and never be caught than to do this in a hospital where mistakes can happen, where a single death is just a drop in the bucket, and someone else will get a slap on the wrist for a mistake that’ll be put on them instead of a prison sentence being put on Tori.

Son of a bitch.

“No guesses?” she asks when I don’t offer any answer. She waves a hand through the air like the answer doesn’t matter anyway. “There are so many medications these days. Too much can be fatal, an allergic reaction can be fatal… but the funniest thing of all is that you don’t even need all that.”

She smiles widely and pulls a syringe out of her pocket. “All I need is this, and something that’s readily available.” She spreads her arms out, indicating to the room as a whole.

I don’t understand what she means at first and she rolls her eyes. “Jesus. You should have watched some more TV, read some more books, or something. Air. I just need air.”

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