Page 65 of Embattled Ever After

As she rode the elevator to the third floor, her heart rate spiked with anxiety. This was a little impetuous, coming here, but she’d been worried. Over the past month she’d talked to Shannon several times, and when she’d met her in person it had felt like they’d clicked. Maybe she was assuming a little too much about their relationship, but she had to salvage something out of this mess.

Alex lifted her chin as she stepped off the elevator, determined to appear strong. There was a possibility Duncan could be here, and she didn’t want to look anything less than fabulous, in spite of what had happened to her in the past week. She knew there was a very strong possibility she would break down in tears when she saw him.

Walking along the hallway, she counted down along the room numbers. Should be just around the corner. When she approached the room, though, a huge man slipped around in front of her. “Can I help you?

Alex gulped, looking up into his intimidating face. The man was dangerous. If she’d met him in a dark alley she would be running for her life. Skull trimmed hair, dark wraparound sunglasses even inside. It took her tongue a moment to peel off the roof of her mouth. “I’m looking for Shannon Murphy.”

She wiggled the vase of flowers.

“I’m sorry,” the big man said. “Shannon isn’t taking visitors right now.”

Alex narrowed her eyes, wondering why this guy was here. Her spine firmed. “I’m sorry, and you are?”

She waited patiently, not taking her eyes from the man.

“It doesn’t matter who I am. Shannon is not taking visitors.”

This guy’s attitude was beginning to irritate her. “So when I go down the hall to the nurse’s station and call her room to talk to her, I really don’t think she’s going to say the same thing. I suggest that you duck your head inside that door and see if Dr. Alexandra Hartfield can come in to see her.”

The man’s face flickered with some emotion, but she wasn’t sure what. If he was one of the guards who worked at LNF there was a very good possibility he recognized her name from gossip.

“Wait here,” he growled.

Then with a final glance back at her, he ducked inside the room. Within seconds he was back, holding the door open for her. “Shannon will see you.”

Alex brushed past the insufferable man without a word, and went into the room.

Shannon was sitting up in bed, grinning, and looked on the verge of jumping out to meet her.

“Don’t you dare move out of that bed!” Alex warned.

Sinking back against the mattress with a smile, Shannon gave Alex a searching look. “What are you doing here? You didn’t come all this way out here to see me, did you?”

Alex avoided her eyes, setting the flowers on a table. She didn’t need to tell her she was going hunting for a ghost.

“Oh, Alex, those are beautiful! You didn’t have to do that. I’m just in here for observation. Nothing is actually wrong with me.”

Alex gave her a look. “It doesn’t mean you’re not bored and need something to brighten the room.”

John sat in his chair near the window and he tipped his head at her as she walked over to give Shannon a hug. “Nice guard dog you have out there,” she told him. “What’s up with that?”

Huffing out a breath, Shannon gave John a look. When he shrugged and turned back to the window, she waved Alex to a chair. “Somebody deliberately tried to run me off the road. Nobody is sure why. Actually, nobody is sure it was meant to hurt me specifically, but we’re kind of taking the cautious route.”

Alex sat back in surprise. “Somebody hit you deliberately?”

“Yes. They ran me off the road, then left. A Good Samaritan stopped to check on me and the other guy left.”

Alex looked from Shannon to John. “What the hell?”

And now that she looked at John’s face she could see how angry he was. He stared out the window as if he were willing the man who had attacked Shannon to step forward so he could kick the shit out of him. Alex had no doubt that he could do it.

“Preston is very nice actually,” Shannon told her, referring to the guard dog at the door. “But he does take his job seriously.”

“I would say so,” she laughed. “Well, how are you feeling?”

Again, Shannon waved her hand. “I’m fine. No issues other than a knot on my head. Did you seriously come all the way out here to see me, or was it for Duncan?”

Alex avoided Shannon’s penetrating look. “I’ve had a lot of things going on the past few weeks and I took some time off to regroup. I also had a call from one of the guys I met at Harmony House about Aiden Willingham. He said he saw him on the street a couple of hours ago.”

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