AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I’d told my co-workers all about Deacon, most of whom thought I was naïve for not questioning things when he disappeared as quickly as I’d let him into my life. But I wasn’t sure what all I could tell them about what he did for the Navy, so I hadn’t told anyone that he was a SEAL.
“I mean it, Piper.” She wagged her finger. “You’ve been too tired to give me your usual chipper answer when I ask you if you’re ready to help deliver some babies at the start of your shift for the past few days. That isn’t like you at all.”
There was something else I hadn’t shared with my co-workers, and it was a bigger part of the reason I was barely getting any sleep. At first, I thought I was just imagining things because I was sad and tired, but weird things started happening only a few hours after Deacon had pulled away from my house.
It was little stuff that I shrugged off at first. On my first day back, another latte was waiting at the nurses’ station with “I’m the one who knows what you like” written under my name, but Stephanie wasn’t working the same shift, and nobody else admitted to bringing the drink to work for me. The following day, a chocolate chip muffin from my favorite bakery down the street was waiting for me with “See?” handwritten in block letters on the bag under my name. At the end of the shift after that, I found a gift certificate for a massage tucked under the wiper on my windshield.
I spent the next four days inside my house, afraid to go anywhere. I kept the curtains closed and was even more grateful to Deacon for everything he’d done before he left. The fridge was fully stocked, so I didn’t need to worry about who was going to knock on my door if I ordered delivery from the grocery store or a restaurant. And after teasing him for being overprotective, the security system he’d installed was the only thing that allowed me to feel safe in my own home.
Pretending that the outside world didn’t exist only worked when I didn’t have to be at the hospital. As soon as I walked up to the nurses’ station four days later, there was no avoiding the fact that something creepy was happening. The cycle repeated with my scary secret admirer leaving little gifts for me at the start of each of my shifts for the next three days, and me holing up at my house again on my days off.
I was tempted to confess everything to Cindy, but I didn’t see how it would do any good. The notes had started getting creepier, so I’d finally broken down and popped in to speak with hospital security about the gifts two days ago. The guard I’d spoken with had shrugged off my concerns and basically told me that I should be glad some random guy was so into me that he put so much thought into the presents he was leaving for me.
My faith in anyone believing me was shaken, and I wasn’t sure I could handle it if someone I’d looked up to since starting here thought I was overreacting. Instead, I upped the wattage of my smile and murmured, “Don’t worry. I plan on getting as much rest as I can over the next four days.”
“Good.” She patted me on the shoulder before walking away.
I finished up my final notes on a few charts before clocking out and heading to my car. My steps slowed when I spotted a flash of white on the windshield. Heaving a deep sigh, I forced myself forward, clenching my eyes closed as I removed the note from underneath the wiper. I was tempted to crumple the paper up and throw it away without reading what my secret admirer had written, but morbid curiosity got the better of me, which I quickly regretted.
It’s a good thing you ditched that guy.
Now we can finally be together.
Soon.
I couldn’t keepmy head in the sand any longer. I needed help. The kind that the hospital’s security couldn’t give, even if I could get someone there to pay attention to the problem. After briefly considering a trip to the police station, I decided to give Merrick a call.
Deacon had programmed his number into my cell phone and told me to call him if I needed anything while he was out of contact. If I couldn’t go to my man with my problem, then reaching out to his friend was the next best thing. I wasn’t sure what Merrick did for work now, but as a former Navy SEAL, he had to be better equipped to handle this situation than I was.
After checking the back seat and trunk of my car to make sure nobody was hiding back there, I climbed into the driver’s side, slammed the door shut, and quickly engaged the locks. Yanking my phone out of my purse, I pulled up Merrick’s number and scanned the parking garage while I waited for him to pick up.
After four rings, I was starting to worry he wasn’t going to answer. Then the call connected, and he growled, “Ashford.”
I heaved a deep sigh, filled with relief at the sound of his voice. “Hi, Merrick. It’s Piper Amherst, one of the nurses who helped with Kohen’s birth.”
“Yeah, I know who you are.” I heard a baby crying in the background. “Deacon’s woman.”
As much as I loved that Deacon had talked to his friend about me, I felt horrible for calling. “I’m so sorry to bother you. I know how crazy things can be when you have a newborn, but I need your help.”
He must’ve covered the phone because I heard the muffled murmur of his deep voice and then the sound of a door closing before he asked, “What’s going on?”
I gave him a quick rundown of everything that had happened over the past two and a half weeks. When I was done, he barked, “Where are you now?”
“On one of the employee levels of the parking garage at the hospital.” I did another scan around me. “I was a little slow leaving today, so there isn’t anybody else around.”
There was a tapping noise in the background that sounded as though he was typing on a keyboard, and then he said, “I don’t see anything suspicious in the garage, but I don’t like the idea of you being somewhere this guy knows where to find you.”
I didn’t want to know how he could see me, so all I said was, “Okay.”
“Do you have any cash on you?”
I rifled through my purse to make sure the emergency stash I kept in the zippered pocket was still there. “Yeah.”
“How about a change of clothes?”
“Yup, I keep a bag in my trunk in case I need to change out of my scrubs before heading home.”
“Perfect.” He rattled off an address before saying, “I’ll meet you there in thirty minutes. Leave now and drive to the nearest grocery store. Head straight to the bathroom and change your clothes. Then find a female employee, tell her you’re running from an ex, and ask if you can use her rideshare app to get a car. Give her enough cash to cover the ride and then some.”
