Page 28 of Run with Me

I hung up and removed some ice from the freezer, packed it into a bag, and wrapped that in a cloth. The scissors were missing from the drawer, so I grabbed the first knife there. I knelt beside the couch and took the soaked sandals off her feet before placing the compress to herhead.

Who wears sandals in October?

She was shivering. It was the first sign of life I’d seen from her, which was good, but the drenched clothes weren’t helping. I aimed the knife for the tangled mess of a dress between her legs. It had been tied so many times over, concealing rips and tears, that it barely resembled an outfit. As I cut through the fabric between her legs, a scream tore through the apartment.

“Ahh!”

I jumped back. “Whoa! It’s okay. I’m sorry. You’reokay.”

I looked at the carving knife in my hand and saw her gaze dart from my face to my tight grip, fear filling her eyes more by the second. As I hovered over the girl’s body like a psycho, I could only imagine what was going through hermind.

“No te arrimes a reso toda mi vida que vengan el diablo porti.”

“You know the devil personally?” I felt my brow rise in bemusement.

“You understand Spanish?”

“Si. But I see that you speak English as well, so we won’t have a problem understanding each other, willwe?”

“Who are you?” Her chin flew higher, in a cute way. Her spirit and charisma were electrifying.

“My name is Jack Madden.”

“I don’t know a Jack Madden.”

For someone who spoke Spanish so well, she barely had an accent. “Well, you know one now.” I extended my hand but forgot that I was still holding the carving knife.

“Stay away from me.” She sat up, digging her heels into the cushion as she scurried back to the end of the couch.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” I moved away at her request, but not too far. “I’m the goodguy.”

“It’s true. He won’t hurt you.” I heard from the hallway, as my friend entered through the frontdoor.

Her head turned his way, and she gasped. Xavier had that charm about him. Women threw themselves at his feet. Actually, they stuffed their panties in this eligible bachelor’s pocket any chance they had. I believed he had a collection of them in one of his drawers.

I picked up the pieces of ice that fell onto the carpet and put them back in the bag. “He’s a doctor. I called a doctor foryou.”

“You… you know him?” Her gaze flew from me to Xavier and then back. She didn’t know me either, but the earlier fear I saw in her eyes faded.

“His name is Xavier.”

“It’s okay, Jack. I’ll take it fromhere.”

My friend stepped in like a hero, as if the girl’s almost bare and caramel legs weren’t affecting him at all. The cuts didn’t take anything away from their beauty. I guessed we were playing good cop, bad cop again. That’s how I scored my wife, Mary.

I cocked my head to the side with amusement at how easily she seemed to trust him. I swear I taught my friend all the tricks of the trade, and he was using them to their fullest potential. Maybe that’s why we made such good partners. Business was booming, and though we’d considered hiring someone else to help us with the demand, we decided to keep a lower profile with the partnership. People like us, who hid better than ghosts, needed to remain out of sight.

“I’m not sure how I ended up here.” She let out a choking cough. It took her more than a minute to regain control over the convulsions, and all the while, she held onto her lower stomach. I narrowed my brows and reached for the box of tissues, passing one to her as Xavier listened to her lungs through a stethoscope. She didn’t even object to his touch.

“Thank you.” She blew her nose once, then once more. The rims of her nostrils were raw and swollen.

“You sound like you could have pneumonia.” Xavier shifted and motioned for her to turn around.

She coughed again, quieter this time, completely trusting my friend as he placed one end of the stethoscope over her back. “How… how did I gethere?”

Her voice trembled with fear, but I could see that she was coming around. At least that’s the way she seemed with Xavier. For the first time since she’d screamed, I moved and made my way to the kitchen to dispose of the melting ice. The stray on the couch eyed me like ahawk.

“I found you in the alley beside the building. At first I thought you were dead,” I called out toward them. “I brought you here because they’d ask you for documentation at the hospital. You didn’t have any on you, so I doubt they’d treat you there. I called Xavier instead. He’s one of the best doctors Iknow.”

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