Page 28 of Rogue

“I guess,” she says. “I’ll let you know what I get off the earpiece.”

“And I’m getting some shut-eye,” I say and leave the kitchen, still only seeing my bed.

But Skye’s not wrong to be worried. We have a problem and we’ve barely scratched the surface of finding out exactly how big it is.

All our connections won’t save us if we get on the wrong side of a cartel. Which I’m afraid is what we’ve done here.

But that’s all the more reason to meet this thing head on and not from behind a computer screen.

12

Melody

It was slow today in the ER, the best kind of day, so I actually managed to take a four-hour nap in the on-call room. My nurse bestie Shelly made it happen, since residents aren’t supposed to sleep away their shorter, eight-hour shifts. And the best thing about the nap, I managed not to dream.

Ever since San Diego I’ve been dreaming about it. Dreaming about the guys lying on the dirty floor of the clubhouse’s garage, trying to stay alive. Dreaming about them all dying because I couldn’t do a thing to save them.

Those nightmares are all scratching to get at the surface now, as I stand on the sidewalk outside the ambulance bay. It’s almost eight PM. Rogue is an hour late for our date.

The strange warm wind is tickling my skin from the inside out whispering that I’m a damn fool in a very shrill voice directly into my ear.

Of course, Rogue didn’t show up.

I should’ve known he wouldn’t.

But he had me totally fooled with those deep, intense gazes and grand gestures like spending the night on the beach justtalking, and chasing after me right into the trauma room. The way he calmed that patient down had a lot to do with it too. She spent the rest of the day asking when he’d be back. Not until tonight, I told her at one point. A damn lie.

I’m no stranger to reading more into things that there is when it comes to guys.

While Edge might not have meant to be romantic when he killed the man who destroyed my life, I sure read that into it. I’d spent years pining over him, while he turned into more and more of a killer with no time for love or anything like it. He wasn’t the only one. And it took me a long time to finally accept that I’d find no love in that world. Not as a club girl. Not the kind of love I yearned for.

I’ve only just met Rogue but he’s already showed me a lot of his heart—and he has a huge heart. So, I let myself believe some of it could be for me. Let myself spend all day looking forward to tonight like some crushing teenager. Only to be left standing on the sidewalk alone on a windy and dark night.

But I’m not waiting a minute longer.

I need to find a place to live. I need to get some real sleep. And I need to stop thinking that Rogue is good for me. He’s not. He’s just the last tie to the world I left behind.

I have a new job and a career to worry about. And a new life to start.

I rush back into the ER and run smack into Shelly on her way out through the sliding doors.

“Whoa, you’re still here?” she says as she grabs my upper arms to steady me.

“Sorry,” I say. “I’m on my way out. Right now.”

“You find a place to live then?” she asks.

We had coffee in the lounge earlier and I told her how I haven’t had the time to go apartment hunting yet. Or hotel hunting, for that matter.

“I’ll do that right now,” I say and smile at her.

She shakes her head. “Doctors. You take care of everyone but yourselves.”

“That goes for nurses too,” I say and she shrugs.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” I add.

“You should try the Sunrise Hotel a couple blocks down,” she tells me. “And tomorrow I’ll help you find an apartment. If you want.”

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