Page 114 of Mensa's Match

A different nurse slid the door to Whitney’s room open and ducked her head inside. “I’m sorry, sir. You’re going to need to head out now.”

He nodded to the nurse, rose, and pressed his lips to Whitney’s forehead.

The door to the ICU slammed behind him. Most of his Riot brothers had left when he was finally led back to see Whitney, but Finn and Riley had told him they’d stick around.

He wandered back to the waiting room and saw them sitting on either side of Nadia. Each of them held one of her hands. Their heads were bowed, and Mensa suspected they were praying.

Whether they were done praying or they heard him approaching, they lifted their heads.

“Sorry to interrupt. Nadia, do you need a ride home?”

She gave him a feeble smile. “Far from it, Mensa. Sandy’s gonna be here in ten minutes to take me home. I had these two stick around because…” Nadia trailed off, emotion making her voice sound gravelly.

Almost as if she were a game-show host, Riley swung her arm out toward the windows. “It’s drizzling out there. In light of everything that’s happened today, she would like you to drive my car home and leave your bike here.”

Mensa cocked his head to the side a touch. “What about you? How are you getting home?”

Riley grinned. “Back of Finn’s bike, of course.”

Mensa locked eyes with Nadia. “Nothing’s gonna happen to me.”

Fire lit behind Nadia’s eyes. “The man I loved said the same damned thing to me on a night very similar to this one.” Her head tilted just a touch. “And he was wrong because the worst possible thing happened to him and I’ve never gotten over it. I’ll be damned if I don’t prevent that for my Whitney.”

Mensa swallowed against the emotion building in his throat. He hadn’t thought much about Brink’s accident since it happened. Hell, he’d only just earned his patch about three months before that awful night.

Mensa ran his hand through his hair and nodded. “All right, Nadia. I’ll drive Riley’s car since that will make you feel better.”

“It will. Thank you.”

Chapter 29

Ravaged

Whitney

Most of the time,I tended to be a light sleeper. Whenever I got sick, though, it took effort for me to wake up. The unexpected sound of my mom’s voice had the power to cut through any sleep fog.

“Oh, I think she’s coming around,” Mom said.

I forced my eyes open against the bright light. “Mom?”

“Yes, honey. The doctor said you should wake up any minute, and he was right.”

I scanned the room. My dad sat in a chair on the other side of my bed. “Hey, Dad.”

He leaned forward and grabbed my hand. “Hey, sweetheart. This is quite a scare.”

“Sorry about that,” I croaked.

Mom handed me a cup of ice. “I knew I should have called you last week. You haven’t been calling like you used to, but I know you’re a busy young woman.”

“Margo,” Dad drawled.

“What, David? I don’t know who to believe, Wyatt or Nadia. Obviously, I need to hear about her new man from her.”

Dad’s face set with an expression I hadn’t seen since I snuck out of the house with my high school boyfriend. I had no doubt Dad had gotten an earful from Wyatt, but he usually listened to me. Hard to say if that would be the case this time. Catching a last-minute flight because I’d been shot probably skewed his views quite a bit.

“As far as I’m concerned, there isn’t much I need to hear if he’s the reason you were in ICU.”

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