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“This feels like a setup,” I said, and Chloe laughed.
“No, no setup. I just… saw what I needed to see from you.”
I furrowed my brow, confused. “Which was…?”
“Feeling. But, enough about that. Let’s discuss our plan of action.”
“Where is she? I want to see her!”
I looked up from the computer in my lap to glance at the door, wondering who the hell was being loud outside Monica’s hospital room. Whatever meds she’d been given upon arriving at the hospital last night had kept her asleep thus far, and I preferred to keep it that way. Based on what I knew about Monica, I doubted she’d been getting much sleep lately. She needed whatever rest she could get.
I hadn’t laid eyes on her yet. I was on the other side of the curtained partition, still digging for a culprit for all of this while her girlfriends took turns at her bedside. Chloe had left a few hours ago, and Kora Oliver – an award-winning stage actress and singer who Kay idolized – had taken her place. Now though, Kora peeked from around the curtain, a question in her eyes as I met her gaze, and nodded.
“Yeah. I hear it too.”
I put the laptop down beside me and stood, pulling out the concealed weapon I wasn’t technically supposed to be carrying. But getting caught with it was an issue I’d tackle only if it became an issue.
For now, I wanted whoever the fuck was on the other side of that door to be quiet.
I opened it just enough to see out of, and found myself face to face with one of the security guards that worked the floor. His hand was lifted like he was about to knock, but he dropped it when he saw me.
“Hey, man… sorry to bother you. But you have someone—”
“Asher Ross. Tell her it’s Asher Ross. I need to see her,” I heard, then looked past the guard to see some light-skinned dude with gray eyes looking pitiful.
“I don’t know who that is,” I told the guard, even though I’d just finished compiling a guest list from Kellen’s funeral, and identifying their relationship to the deceased. From my preliminary search, it appeared that “Asher Ross” wasKellen’sfriend.
What the fuck did he want with Monica?
For all I knew,hewas the person who’d attacked her last night.
“Did he say Asher?” Kora asked.
I looked behind me to see the curtain partially open, and behind her, Monica was awake – it was her hand using the remote control to raise the top part of the bed, but I couldn’t see her face.
“Yes,” I answered Kora’s question. “But I’m not sure if visitors are a good idea yet. Has the doctor even talked to her while she was awake?”
Kora frowned. “You might be right. But let me ask her if she wants to see him. I know he’s a college friend.”
My hopes that she would say “no” to a new visitor were quickly dashed when Kora came back with a smile. “She agreed to see him. You can let him through,” she said, looking at me expectantly.
I gave her a nod, and then went back to the door. “You patted him down?” I asked the guard, who nodded.
“He wouldn’t be down here with me if I hadn’t.” The guard glanced over his shoulder and then looked back to me, lowering his voice. “Look man, I’m sorry for even bringing his ass down here. He was insisting, and looked like he was about to cry, and—”
“You’re good,” I told him, then pulled the door open to let Asher come in, even though I didn’t want to. With everything happening, her homegirls were the only people in Monica’s life I trusted, and that was mostly because Chloe vouched for them. For now though, with nothing except my own suspicions about this dude and his begging-to-get-punched face, I couldn’t deny her seeing him if she wanted to.
But it wasn’t going to keep me from keeping an eye on that motherfucker.
For whatever reason, Kora seemed to have the same idea, because instead of leaving, she simply stepped back from the bed. She didn’t even close the curtain back before she came to stand next to me, crossing her arms in a stance like mine as we watched Asher bend to greet Monica.
A short prickle of anger rushed through me before it settled as a throbbing in my temple as I watched him kiss her forehead, then keep his hand cupped on her face. I had friendships with women, sure, but they never involved the type of lingering touches he was giving. I frowned a little, wishing I could see her face, seeherreaction to him, but at this angle, he was blocking my view of her.
I was getting ready to move to a new position when my phone started buzzing in my pocket. A quick glance told me it was Kay, who’d probably just realized she’d woken up to an empty house. I made a mental note to call her back later, then returned the phone to my pocket. I felt eyes on me, and I when I looked up, Kora was staring right at me.
“So… who is Kay?” she asked, keeping her voice low so we wouldn’t draw Asher and Monica’s attention. “Wife? Homegirl? Girlfriend?”
“An off-limits topic,” I answered, chuckling at her attempt to pry. “And none of your business. I don’t know you.”
