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“Okay,” he said, none the wiser as he rose to take his phone out. She assumed anyway, it was just a black blur. “I don’t have his number. I’ll need to call Immie.”
“Great,” she said, closing her eyes.
So if he didn’t already have the story from Imogen’s point of view, he’d get it then. Dumping one shock on another.
“Hey… No… No… Thanks… Listen, can you… Yeah, how did you know…? Okay… I’ll tell her.” A moment later, he picked up her hand again. “Im says you should get better soon.” Wow, okay, so she didn’t hate her guts. “And she already knew you’d want her dad. Want to tell me what’s going on?”
“Another time,” she said. “You should go tell the doctor people I consent to the exam before I pass out again.”
“Are you dizzy?”
“My vision’s blurred… I feel sick.”
“I’ll tell the doctor, but—”
A door burst open. “Scamp.”
She smiled. “Strat.”
“What the fuck?”
“I know.” He grabbed her heavy hand, sending a shudder of searing pain up through her arm. “Ow, don’t do that.”
“Shit, I’m sorry.”
“Strat,” Lachlan said. “Want to tell me how you’re involved in all this?”
“Go talk to the doctor,” she said, using all of her energy to squeeze his hand. “I need to talk to Strat for a minute.”
Her brother would be confused. Of course he would. But he kissed her hand again and retreated to depart.
“What the fuck happened?” Strat asked, striding around the bed to grab the hand Lachlan had held.
“Are we alone?”
“As far as I can see, yeah,” he said, sinking down, probably into a chair. Had Lachlan been sitting? “You were on your way to Stag? Why the fuck were you walking—”
“I was at Stag. I mean, I got a cab there and… He’s done with me. We’re through.”
“Wait,” he said in a puff of breath. “Tell me he didn’t do this to you.”
“No,” she said, using his grip to pull herself up a little more. He adjusted her pillows, helping her sit straighter. Nausea washed over her again. She breathed until the worst of it passed. “You need to talk to Conn.”
“Okay, want me to kick his ass?”
If her torso wasn’t so sore, she might have attempted a laugh. “No. I don’t. I need you alive.”
“He break your heart?”
“No,” she said. “We’re over, that’s fine. You have to tell him they’re on the edge.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t know who it was, but they wanted information… I didn’t tell them anything, but whoever they are, they’re getting desperate. Tell him it was about the Harvest deal.”
“The Harv…Shit, Scamp…” He let go of her hand when he surged to his feet. “They hit you because you’re a McDade? He cuts you loose and then you get your ass handed to you for being his girl?”
“It wasn’t like that. It doesn’t matter,” she said. “If it wasn’t me, it would’ve been someone else. And that’s the point. If they’re desperate enough to lean on an alderman’s granddaughter, they’ll lean on others who aren’t so well-protected. He needs to shore up his defenses.”
