Page 4 of Kiss for My Kraken
“What the hell are you doing in my office, Jekyll?” he snapped as he slammed the door shut, but neither of the two males standing over her seemed bothered by his bad temper.
“Don’t use that ridiculous nickname,” the doctor said coldly. “We found this young lady on the back porch. It appears she fell into the river.”
The newcomer’s nose twitched as he stared at her. “You one of my customers?”
“No.”
“Good. I don’t want some drunken idiot falling into the river and blaming it on me.”
“I’m sorry.” She started to struggle upright, and a wave of dizziness swept over her.
“Sit down before you fall down!” he snapped, and stomped back out of the office.
“Who was that? Is this his office?” she asked anxiously. “I didn’t mean to cause any trouble. And his couch is all wet.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Aidan grinned at her. “Ben’s always like that. Now, where do you live?”
Her mind went blank. She didn’t want to tell them she was living out of her car, let alone where her car was parked. But she couldn’t think of another answer. “In town,” she finally said vaguely.
They exchanged another look, but even though they clearly didn’t believe her, they didn’t pursue it.
“I should probably take you back to my surgery and keep an eye on you overnight,” the doctor said, and she immediately panicked.
He seemed nice enough, but she knew that appearances were deceptive. It wasn’t the first time a seemingly nice man had turned into a monster. And even if he was as decent as he seemed, she certainly couldn’t afford a medical bill.
“I’m fine,” she said quickly and tried to stand up again. The dizziness wasn’t as bad this time, but her legs were shaking too much for her to remain on her feet.
“Sit down,” the doctor said, gently but firmly pushing her back down on the couch. “And I really think?—”
The door slammed open again, and the big, grumpy male reappeared, carrying a tray and a plastic bag. “Clothes,” he said, dropping the plastic bag on the floor before putting the tray down on the small table in front of her. “Food.”
The tray contained an enormous bowl of chicken and dumplings, along with a large glass of iced tea and two huge biscuits with butter dripping down the sides. It looked and smelled wonderful, but she shook her head. “I can’t pay for this.”
“Did I ask you to?” Ben snapped. “I don’t want you fainting on my property again. Now, eat.” He stalked back out of the room before she could respond, and Aidan laughed.
“Don’t worry, his bark is worse than his bite.”
“If you want to get out of here on your own two feet, then you need to eat,” the doctor said firmly.
She looked from his determined expression to Aidan’s smiling face and gave in. “All right.”
“I suggest you change first.” The doctor pointed at the bag of clothes. “We’ll give you some privacy.”
Both of them left, leaving her staring at the closed door.
The doctor probably had a point. She had been short on both food and sleep for several weeks now. She drank some tea—sweeter than she normally preferred, but the coolness felt good on her sore throat, and it provided a welcome rush of energy. She had drunk half of it before it occurred to her that she was alone in a bar where she didn’t know anyone, and a strange male had just handed her a drink. God she hated this. Hated being suspicious of everything and everybody, but the world outside her community had taught her how naive and sheltered she’d been.
It’s still worth it, she reminded herself. Still better than a narrow, restricted life where she wasn’t supposed to think, let alone dream of anything different, where all of her actions dictated by others. And if the grumpy male really did have evil intentions, it seemed unlikely that he would have brought her food. Or tried to drug her in front of two witnesses.
Her wet clothes were clinging unpleasantly to her body, and she gave the bag Ben had left a longing look. She didn’t like the idea of taking charity, but it would be foolish to take a chance on getting sick just because of her pride. She climbed carefully to her feet, gratified that her knees actually held her this time, and made her way over to the door. It had a nice solid deadbolt on the back, and she pushed it closed before returning to the couch.
The bag contained two thick white towels that smelled vaguely of lavender, a pair of soft cotton sweatpants that were far too big for her, and an oversized hoodie. Keeping a wary eye on the locked door, she stripped quickly out of her wet clothes and toweled herself dry. The sweatpants were too long, but she was able to tighten the drawstring enough for them to stay up. The hoodie was ridiculously large, hanging down to the middle of her thighs, and she had to roll the sleeves up a dozen times before her hands were free, but there was something comforting about the giant garment, and she immediately felt better and considerably warmer.
She looked down and laughed. Ozzie hadn’t gone as far as to steal any of the food from the tray, but his nose was only about an inch away from the biscuits.
“All right,” she said, “I get the message.”
She only made it through half a biscuit and half the bowl of chicken and dumplings, picking out pieces of chicken to share with Ozzie, before her stomach protested and she pushed the tray away. It had tasted every bit as delicious as it smelled, and she sighed happily as she sat back. She packed her wet clothes neatly into the plastic bag, wiped down the couch as best she could with a towel, and arranged the blanket that had been on top of her across the back of the desk chair to dry. It wasn’t much, but it was the best she could do.
