Page 38 of Swept for Forever
“A few days.”
The nurse moved efficiently, inserting the IV. Cool liquid flowed into my veins. My head swam a little, but the fever buzz began to ease.
When they finished, the doctor gave me a final note of instruction. “Rest, drink plenty of fluids, and let the antibiotics do their thing.”
I let my head sink into the pillow. Now all I needed was Dom back in here.
A few minutes later, the curtain shifted, and there he was. His eyes flicked over me first, checking and assessing, before settling on the IV drip.
“Is it bad?” he asked.
I shrugged. “Nothing crazy. Just a couple of days here. I’ll live.”
Once everything was cleared, they wheeled me to a real room. Dom walked beside the gurney the whole way. Then he hung back, sitting next to my bed.
“You still feeling needy?” he asked, wearing that crooked smirk no sane girl could resist.
I grabbed a clean towel from the table and lobbed it at him, fighting a grin.
“Hey!” He laughed, catching it. “I’m not complaining.”
“Well, I am. What happened to ‘I’m not going anywhere, Autumn.’? That one actually had charm.”
He sobered a little. “You look better, that’s all. But if you want me to stay, just say the word.”
“No, it’s fine,” I muttered, instantly annoyed at myself. “Go do…whatever it is you need to do. I’m good.”
He studied me for a beat. And yeah, he knew I was full of it. “Okay, tough girl. I’ll grab us some food. You need to eat.”
Right. He wasn’t leaving me. My alpha nanny was feeding me. How the hell was I supposed to be mad at that?
I nodded and watched him go, the door clicking shut behind him.
With no one left in the room, my mind slipped free and headed straight back to where it had all begun.
Stiff-Neck.
He hadn’t hesitated to kill me then. By the time he pulled the trigger, he’d probably already worked out where to dump my body. And he’d made it clear, he’d use the people I loved to draw me out.
I squeezed my eyes shut, but the memory played on an endless loop behind my eyelids.
If he figured out who I was, I was dead.
No doubt about it.
Shit!
My social media. If that bastard found a way to match my face, social media would’ve been the first place he scoured.
What had I posted? What breadcrumbs had I left behind without even thinking?
I’d set my accounts to private a long time ago, but still, my profile photo was out there. My banner too.
A sunrise from my last trip to Alaska? Probably wouldn’t offer any meaning or clue.
A close-up of me at dinner with Jimmy? That was another issue. It was one of the few pictures where I didn’t look like I was dodging the camera, and it was on my profile.
I needed to change that. If only my phone weren’t toast.
