Page 76 of Bad Seed

The necklace was still around her neck, Brendan hadn’t left her side, and there was a police officer on guard outside her door. She kept drifting off to sleep, then crying out and waking up reaching for a gun.

Wiley’s wife, Linette, had been on duty when they brought Harley in and kept checking in on them until her shift was over. She clocked out at 5:00 p.m., but came back for one last check and slipped into the room long enough to whisper a quick goodbye.

“BJ, honey, I’m going home now. Is there anything I can get you before I leave?”

“No, I’m okay, and thank you for everything,” he said.

Linette eyed the readouts on the vital signs monitor, satisfied all was well. “I know this scared you to death, but her vitals are good and her fever is down. She’s due pain meds again in about an hour. Have they had her up yet?”

He nodded. “A couple of times. Trips to the bathroom.”

“Hopefully, they’ll let her go home soon.”

Brendan frowned. “Her home is a long way away. I know Harley. She’ll be set on finishing her work here before she makes any other plans. After that, I’m taking her home with me. She can finish recuperating there in safety. Thanks to Sean, I have security cameras everywhere, and I’m taking off work until she’s one hundred percent and they have all the bad guys behind bars.”

Linette hugged him. “I would expect nothing less of you. Take care. I’ll see you tomorrow morning,” she said, then left the room.

***

Harley was dreaming she was on Brendan’s Harley, but no one was steering it, and it was flying down a highway with no destination. She could hear a robotic voice saying over and over, OUT OF CONTROL. OUT OF CONTROL.

She woke up crying, and Brendan was at her side within seconds.

Her tears shattered him. He could do nothing to stop the drug-induced dreams or ease her pain, but he was the face she saw first every time she opened her eyes, and he knew it eased her fears. “Another bad dream?” he asked.

“Yes. Drugs always do this to me. Either hallucinations or crazy dreams.”

He wiped away the tears with a handful of tissues, then kissed the places where the tears had rolled.

“Harley, darlin’…you fought for your life today, and it breaks my heart that you had to do it alone. You’re not being a baby. This is PTSD. I’m going to have them bring you some food. You’re being shot up with pain meds without a damn thing in your stomach. Do you want soup, or maybe something sweet or savory?”

“If I was home, I’d be squirting cheese in a can on Ritz crackers.”

He grinned. “There are cheese crackers and peanut butter crackers in the waiting-room vending machines. What do you want to drink? Pop, coffee, milk?”

“Anything cola…Coke, Pepsi, Dr Pepper. I don’t care. Just something fizzy.”

“I’ll be right back,” Brendan said. “And don’t worry. Your police guard is still in the hall.”

He left in long, hurried strides and was back in under five minutes with pockets full of cheese crackers and peanut butter crackers and carrying two Dr Peppers and a couple of straws.

He raised the head of her bed up just enough to keep her from choking when she ate and swallowed. When she was finally at the stopping point, he lowered the bed a little and cleaned off the wrappers and empty cans, then tucked her back in.

Harley sighed. “You were right. I feel better with food in me.”

“Good. So, before you drift off again, I have a couple of questions. How far away are you from being done with the audit?”

“Half a day at most.”

“Then I’m coming back to the suite with you, and when you feel ready to work again, I’ll be there until you finish. After that, I’m taking you home with me to finish recuperating. Thanks to Sean, I have a state-of-the-art security system. Had it set up when JustineBeaumont was stalking me. Nobody’s going to sneak up on us there. And nobody needs to know where you go after you leave the hotel. You won’t be safe until whoever is running this cleanup sweep is behind bars. You know that, right?”

“Beaumont was actually stalking you?” she asked.

“Among other things,” he muttered, thinking of the knife she’d pulled on him, too.

“I can’t believe what a mess I’m in, but I’d do it all again just to have you in my life and to have you bringing me into yours,” she said.

He tucked a curl away from the corner of her eye. “Love you, darlin’. Now, try to get some rest so that fever will keep going down.” He lowered the head of her bed, covered her up, and then kissed her. “Sweet dreams this time, okay?”

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