Page 38 of Out for Blood

He was woozy enough that he listened when Hawk barked the order at him. Hawk joined me in heading up the stairs to look for her.

“Try the fourth floor,” Chains said. I had no idea why, but I knew better than to not listen to him. We climbed the fire stairsuntil we got to the fourth floor. It was a quieter ward, private hospital section of the hospital. Hawk made a move up to the nurse’s station, the blond flirt taking over as he turned the nurse into a puddle. He had an uncanny ability with women, one I used to be jealous of. He’d even been this way in school.

I moved through the ward while he distracted her, but a lot of the curtains were drawn on the windows so I couldn’t figure out which one she’d be in.

“Ace,” Hawk called me over. I turned to see the nurse looking at him with concern, then over to me. I made my way back.

“Yeah?”

“You’re looking for Sheridan, right?” she asked me. I looked down at her name tag and saw it said Morena.

“Yeah.”

“You’re going to take her away from that bastard, right?” she asked me, her eyes looking into mine for confirmation.

“Yeah, Morena, I’m going to fucking kill that bastard as soon as she’s safe.”

She nodded. “Come with me.”

“You’re going to help us?” Hawk asked her.

She turned to us as we got to a door just down the hall a little. “Yes. Neal is a fucking asshole, and she never deserved what he did to her. Sheridan helped me…she got me into nursing school, she made my life better. When I saw her wheeled in here and him barking orders, I knew…please. Take her away from here. Hide her.”

I put my hand on her shoulder, feeling the tension in them. “Thank you.”

She nodded and opened the door. I looked over at the mass of red hair on the pillow around her. Her already pale skin was paler still, except for the black and blue bruises over her chin, eye and arms. I could feel my feet stop moving as I took in thewoman I loved with every fiber of my being and knowing I hadn’t been able to stop this. I hadn’t been able to protect her.

“Go on, man.”

Hawk pushed me in the room. Carefully, I moved toward her, seeing more of the extent of the damage that fucker had done to her.

Fuck.

My eyes filled with tears as I looked down at her, asleep, the machines next to her beeping for her vitals.

He was so fucking dead. I should have just done it at the house. Why had I let him get away?

Moving to the side of her bed, I took her hand in mine. Her soft warmth warmed me a little as her eyes slowly opened and she looked down at me. A slow smile made its way onto her face. It broke my heart all over again.

She trusted me.

She believed in me. In Us.

And I’d failed.

“Hey there,” she said, her words almost a slur from the drugs.

“Baby, I’m so fucking sorry.”

Her smile dropped. “For what?”

Oh fuck, she doesn’t remember?

“Do you know where you are?” I asked her. She looked around, her eyes widening when she noticed she was in a hospital bed. She tried to sit up.

“No, stay there,” I held her back down. “Do you remember what happened at all?”

She shook her head, a tear making its way down her cheek. I kissed the back of her hand as she fell apart, the pain probably starting to take effect.

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