Page 82 of Nowhere to Hide
“Nina Kendrick—we call her Nyx—is the cyber side of things. I knew asking her to look into the other victims was going to bite me in the ass.”
I drew my hand away from his knee and back into my lap. “I should have been asking you questions about all this.”
“It’s okay. It was more important for you to heal.”
“Hide, you mean? Kinda like you.”
He gave me a long look, but didn’t argue.
“Miss Barlow?”
I smiled at the receptionist and stood. “Yeah. We have a lot to talk about.”
I swayed a bit as the room spun. Locke gripped my arm and gathered me close. “I pushed you too hard.”
“Maybe a little,” I said shakily.
He helped me get to the room and boosted me on the bench.
I gripped his shoulders. “You must be tired of picking me up.”
His gaze dipped to my lips as he licked his before he stepped back. “It’s fine.”
The doctor came in, and Locke moved in front of me for a moment before he hugged the wall, his hands fisted at his sides.
The doctor was a sunny blond with a high ponytail. She wore teal scrubs under her lab coat frowned at him, then smiled at me gently. “I’m Dr. Hansen. Dr. Mercer ended up in surgery.”
“It’s okay, I barely knew her.”
“I heard it was a rather intense few days at North Shore for you. How have you been? Staying off your feet?”
“For the most part. Little hard on a boat.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “A boat?”
Locke cleared his throat. “She’s staying with me. I have a catamaran.”
“Well, that sounds like a nice place to rest and relax to me. Can you lift your legs and lie back so I can take a look?”
I nodded.
She helped me pull my dress up. “Have you been keeping it covered?”
“Only when I sleep. And today since we had to take the ferry.”
“Good.”
She pulled the bandage back and probed lightly. “Staples look good actually. Just a little bit of tearing which isn’t surprising because of the placement.”
“It pulls like a bitch.”
She laughed. “I bet it does. Okay, it’s going to sound worse than it feels.”
I nodded. “Ready.”
The snip of the staples being cut away made me jump.
Locke hurried over to me. I lifted my arm over my head, and he held my hand. I closed my eyes at the position. I wanted to hold his hand, but the position suddenly dragged me back into the darkness.
