Page 110 of No Good Deed

“You guys didn’t have to hang out here all day.”

“Why wouldn’t we? We weren’t going to leave you here all alone. We left last night, once we heard Dean was on his way.”

“Does Tara know Troy did this to me?”

“Yeah, she knows. She’s been trying to find him.”

“Tell her not to. I don’t want her anywhere near him.”

“I told her to stay away from him, but she won’t listen. She wants to find him so the cops can arrest him.” Sean pauses. “She was afraid to leave him. That’s why she was still going out with him.”

“Yeah, I know. I wish I’d figured that out sooner so I could’ve tried to get her away from him.”

“There was nothing you could’ve done. Troy told her he’d kill the guy she’d been messing around with. She wasn’t going to risk anything happening to you.”

“But he didn’t know it was me until I went to see him.”

“He would’ve figured it out. He suspected there might be something going on with you and her. He asked me if I thought there was, and I told him no. Then I told you to stay away from her because I didn’t want Troy doing anything to you. I thoughthe might beat you up. I never thought he’d stab you and leave you to die.”

Leo walks into the room, grinning at me. “You finally woke up. What took you so long?”

“I woke up this morning.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m just messing with you.” He comes over to where Sean’s sitting and stands beside him. “You see your nurse?”

“He hasn’t seen the new one,” Sean says.

“She’s fucking hot,” Leo says.

“I heard,” I tell him. “So were you with Sean when he found me?”

“Yeah, it was disgusting. There was blood all over the floor.”

“You didn’t need to tell him that,” Sean says, sounding annoyed.

Leo shrugs. “I’m just telling him what I saw.”

“I really lost that much blood?” I ask.

“Yeah, it was bad,” Sean says. “They told us if we hadn’t found you when we did, you might not have made it.”

“So you saved my life? Does that mean you’re going to bring this up every time you want something from me?”

Sean laughs. “That’s a good idea, but no. You don’t owe me anything.”

“He could buy us burgers at that place near his school,” Leo says.

“I could do that,” I say. “I got a job so I’ll finally have money.”

“Oh, yeah,” Leo says. “Your new boss was here.”

“He came to the hospital? I just met the guy.”

“He gave Tara a ride since she doesn’t have a car. He talked to the nurse for a few minutes, then left.”

There’s a knock on the door, then it slowly opens. Tara’s standing there, looking like she hasn’t slept all night, but she still looks beautiful to me.

“Can I come in?” she cautiously asks.

---