Page 84 of Gunner

“It gets worse.”

“How?” she asked cautiously.

“UGH! Missy, I screwed up,” I confessed, covering my eyes with my arm as I lay on the bed, not entirely sure I was ready to tell my best friend everything.

“What happened?”

“There is this guy.”

“You have a guy? Haizley Pearl Walker, why am I just now hearing about this?”

“Because I don’t really have a guy. He’s just—God, he’s an asshole. But he showed up outside my patient’s house. She was taking a nap, so I slipped out to tear him a new asshole for tracking me down after I told him I was fine. And before I could yell at him, he pulled me to him and kissed me. And oh God, Missy, can this man kiss!”

“So, what’s the problem?”

I took a deep breath and explained, “The guy who drugged and raped my patient must have been stalking her. Four days after getting out of the hospital, he attacked her in her home. Right after I went outside.”

“Oh, Haiz. That isn’t your fault. You know he would have found a way to get to her. What did he do?”

“Thankfully not much. We heard her scream, and the guy I was outside with ran in and kicked the door down. Scaring the man off.”

“Oh my God, that’s hot.”

“It really was.” I sighed. “But now we are staying somewhere else. And it’s getting difficult. She doesn’t want to leave here. She feels safe, and she is. But I have been with her every moment since she left the hospital.”

“And you are worried about transference.”

“Yea.” I knew she would get it. She might work with kids and not adults, but there was an even greater risk of transference with her patients than with mine.

“Where are you staying?”

I blew out a breath. I couldn’t tell her we were at a motorcycle club. She would think I was nuts, and I didn’t want to waste my breath trying to convince her we were safe.

Missy hated MCs. She would never tell me why. And I didn’t press. As close as we were, there were just things we didn’t want to burden each other with.

“It’s a gated building. No one can get in with the security they have here.”

“What are you going to do?”

Sitting up from my bed, I shook my head. Missy and I were so much alike. We tried so hard not to shrink each other, but it wasn’t always easy.

“I have gotten a couple of referrals for in-person sessions, so I will begin those this week. That will slowly give her a chance to adjust to me not being around every minute.”

“Sounds like you have a plan. So, what did you call me for?” She laughed.

“Because, bitch, I needed to vent.” I knew she heard the smile in my voice. We made a pact in college that we wouldn’t offer advice unless the other person specifically asked for it.

“You can vent to me anytime, babe.”

“Thank you. So, what’s new with you? I feel like we haven’t talked in forever.”

“Not much, just busy with clients. One in particular is tough. A little girl that was taken at birth. Her father just recently found her, and she’s barely two, so they are just getting to know each other. But she was so severely neglected my heart just breaks for her.”

“That’s awful. I don’t know how you do it, working with kids.”

“It’s not easy.”

Something in her voice made me change the subject. I heard the sadness mixed with apprehension, and asked, “Never tracked that guy down, huh?”

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