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"I'll be right behind you," he promised.
She swallowed tightly. "They won't let you. "
He stared fiercely into her eyes. "I'll be right behind you, Kia. "
She stared at him, and she didn't trust him. Hell, he couldn't blame her, but he'd show her. He'd be there, no matter who stood in his way, no matter what.
He moved aside as the ambulance pulled to a stop and he watched them rush her away.
"Chase!" Timothy Rutherford was out the door as Ian's limo pulled to a stop. "Is she okay?"
"She's coherent. " He turned to Ian. "I had a call put in to Sanjer. "
Ian nodded. "I called him from the car and talked to him personally. He should be here waiting on her. What happened?"
"Techs said it was a mugging. " The hairs at the back of his neck lifted, a primal warning, a premonition he couldn't seem to shake.
"Mugging?" Timothy snapped. "That apartment building is supposed to be one of the most secure in the city. "
"It is," Ian snapped. "It's one of mine. I called the manager for all security disks, and the detective in charge of the investigation will be contacting me. He should be at her apartment when she returns there. "
"She won't be there. " Chase turned toward the hospital doors as his brother, Jaci, Ian, Courtney, and Kia's parents watched in shock. "She'll be at my place. "
He didn't see the shock on the faces of those who watched him disappear into the hospital. He wouldn't have cared if he had seen it. He'd promised Kia he would be right behind her. And he meant to keep that promise.
The headache was killing her. Kia had endured the exam, biting back a curse, and suffered in silence as the doctor stitched her head. When the nurse handed her two pills, she had taken them eagerly. It had felt as though gremlins were digging her brain out with their dull-assed fingernails.
She had flashed on a nightmare from her childhood. When she was a little girl and got horrible headaches, her doctor would always have her placed in the hospital. There they would run tests, poke and prod at her, and she would beg her parents to let her go home.
And they never would. Her mother would cry. Her father would get that miserable look on his face, and they would promise to let her go home. But they always made her stay.
Now her
parents were in the room they had taken her to from the emergency room. They sat side by side near her bed. Chase stood silently at the foot of the bed, and Ian Sinclair and his wife and Cameron Falladay and Jaci were waiting outside.
Kia just wanted to go home. She wanted to curl up on the couch in front of the fire and just sleep.
"There's no sign of a concussion," Dr. Sanjer announced.
Portly and rugged, the middle-aged doctor smiled way too much.
"I'd like her to stay overnight, though," he continued.
"No. " Kia didn't bother to stare up at him, just snapped the word out.
The effort caused her to wince and rub at her temple. If she could just get to her apartment, close her eyes and sleep, then everything would be just fine. She was certain of it.
"Now, Kia, leaving is a bad idea," her mother started, her voice worried.
"That's what you said when I was a child," she muttered. "I'm not staying. " She looked at Chase. "You promised. "
He stared back at her, his green eyes brooding, his expression so hard it was granite. But she saw his decision as he glanced at the doctor, and nearly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Dr. Sanjer, I have an extra room at my apartment," he told the doctor. "You'll be spending the night there. "
That she didn't expect. Evidently, the doctor hadn't either. He was Ian's personal physician, but a friend of Chase and Cam as well.
Sanjer sighed. "It's a good thing I like you, Chase. That order doesn't sit well. "
