She did, coming to the floor and tucking herself against me, giving me something to lean on. I drained the water bottle and pushed myself up further, leaned forward over my knees, soaking in her comfort. Minutes later, I lifted my head, ready for the next step.
"Give me a hand?"
Parker stood, reaching down. I closed my fingers around her wrist. She did the same on mine, leaning back as I levered to my feet, swaying as my legs protested carrying any weight.
"I think we should take you to the hospital, have them check you out," she said, leading me to the sofa. I collapsed into it, welcoming the pillows helping me stay upright.
Parker went back to her mini fridge, rummaging around until she emerged with a bright blue bottle of sports drink. "Try this. You still look thirsty."
I was, and I was halfway through the blue drink when the alarm finally cut off. In the silence we caught a rustle in the hall outside the suite. Parker's phone beeped with a text.
Door disarmed. Coming in.
A few seconds after the text alert, the handle of the door turned, the door swinging open to reveal Hawk followed by Griffen. I'd almost forgotten that Griffen used to be an Army Ranger, and later in private security. His eyes hard, face without expression, he looked more like Hawk than the billionaire head of Sawyer Enterprises.
Those calculating eyes scanned his sister, then me, and finally the room. "We recovered a homemade device from the door handle. You said you heard Sterling in the hall?"
"Is she okay?" Parker cut in. "I was going to open the door and Nash stopped me." Remembering, she swung her head in my direction. "How did you know?"
I shrugged, the motion sluggish. "I don't know. It sounded like Sterling, but not like Sterling. Is she okay?"
"She's fine," Hawk said. "Whatever you heard, it wasn't her." He was still scanning the room. I had no clue what he was looking for.
"You recovered a device?" I prompted.
Hawk gave a short nod. "You were tased by the door."
The words didn't compute. "Say again?"
Griffen shot Hawk a look. "There was a rigged up device on the door, basically wires jacked into an overpowered taser. Whoever set it did it shortly before you grabbed it, based on the after effects. Not a lot of time for the battery to run down."
"They lured you with the voice, probably a recording of one of your sisters," Hawk said to Parker. "Then they activated the device and took off. I'll get it to West for prints. Maybe whoever set it up was stupid enough to leave some."
"Do you think–" Parker began.
Griffen shook his head. "We aren't making assumptions. The last time we did that, Daisy and JT almost got killed. It could be another attack by whoever sent Vanessa and the others after us. Or it could be coming from inside the house."
"You mean Tyler," Parker said. Her eyes flashed to mine, heavy with remorse. "Nash."
"No." I raised a finger and pressed it to her lips. "Not going there."
"He wouldn't be here if it weren't for me. And neither would you."
"Don't be a dumbass, Parks," Griffen said. "I'm not sure Tyler could pull something like this off. But even if he was behind it, he is not your responsibility."
Seeing that Parker wasn't going to argue further, I asked, "Did the device take a lot of skill?"
Hawk shrugged, sharing a glance with Griffen. "Not necessarily. You can probably find the instructions on the internet. It's just hard to imagine your brother planning something like this."
"He's not as stupid as he looks," I said, remembering what Tyler had said.
I'll get what I want in the end.
The last week played out in my head in fast forward, and something clicked into place. "He might not be working alone. He and Bryce have been inseparable."
"Fuck," Griffen said, just as Hawk swore under his breath.
"I need a bigger team," Hawk said to Griffen. "I know you don't like security in the house, but–"
