Page 59 of The Last Straw

Sonny picked up his package, then paused at the door to speak to the cop.

“I’m going to my apartment now.”

Satisfied that Sonny was someone who belonged here, the cop let him go, and Sonny wasted no time leaving the lobby.

Charlie made it to the hospital in record time and went running into the ER. The clerk saw his hands, and the blood all over him, and assumed he was coming in as a patient until he spoke.

“Jade Wyrick was just brought here by ambulance. I’m her only family. Where is she?”

The clerk was rattled by the request and kept looking at him.

“But, sir, your hands...”

Charlie’s patience was gone. There were people trying to kill her. Some nut had just tried to kidnap her, and she was unconscious when she’d left his sight.

“Ma’am! My hands are not the issue here. Where is Jade Wyrick?”

The clerk blinked, then typed in the name and waited for the info to appear on her monitor.

“She’s in exam room six, but—”

“Lady! She was abducted less than an hour ago, and I just tore up a wall to get to her. Don’t make me tear up another one to find her again.”

“Through those doors, straight down and on your left,” she said. “And get someone to look at your hands.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Charlie said, then headed for the doors at a lope, pushed them open with his shoulder and kept moving. He just needed to see her face. Then he heard her before he saw her and sighed. She was conscious enough to argue. He’d never been so happy to hear the sarcasm in her tone.

Wyrick couldn’t stay conscious, but when she was, she knew she was as vulnerable as she could possibly be, and that wasn’t good. Someone had cut the clothes from her body. She felt the air on her bare skin, and she heard someone talking about her dragon.

The dragon was hers. She was the one who chose when to reveal her, and when to keep her hidden. Some people were afraid of dragons. And people who were afraid of dragons always tried to kill them. Someone was trying to kill her dragon, but she couldn’t remember who.

When she finally came to enough to open her eyes and saw where she was at, and what they’d done to her, she was livid and locked gazes with the man leaning over her.

“Well, hello, Jade. I’m Doctor Julian. You’re in an emergency room. Do you remember what happened?”

Julian was waiting for a response when he realized he was looking into the angriest, darkest eyes he’d ever seen, and the tone of her voice confirmed it.

“Where are my clothes?”

“I’m sorry, but we had to cut them off you to examine—”

The sarcasm in her voice was impossible to miss.

“It had a zipper.”

He grinned. “Yeah, ma’am, but since there was blood all over you, haste seemed to be the obvious solution.”

Wyrick’s heart skipped a beat. “I have a headache, but I don’t have any other pain. Where am I bleeding?”

“You’re okay. It wasn’t yours. Now, can you—”

It wasn’t mine?

The last thing she remembered was Charlie’s voice.

“Where’s Charlie? I need to see Charlie! Was he hurt?” she yelled and reached for the IV, trying to pull it out of her arm, and trying to sit up.

One nurse grabbed her hand, while another was trying to keep her in bed.

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