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He strode in like he owned the entire hospital, Italian shoes snapping against the linoleum as he circled the room, cataloging every disappointing decoration, like I’d been responsible myself for the decor. Finally he turned his judgemental gaze on me, looking me up and down with the same regard one gives a drowned rat they find in their pool. “Richard wanted to come, but you know his schedule. Packed as usual and now with this attempted murder situation, well… you understand why it was safer for me to come in his stead.”
Did it sting that I was in the hospital and my father had sent his lap dog to check on me? Yes. Was it anything new? Not really. I honestly hadn’t expected either to show up and wouldn’t have minded it that way. The last thing I needed was to be lectured and made to be the entire cause of two lovely people dying, a road closure, and three totalled vehicles. And whatever they said would worm its way into my subconscious and eat me alive with a guilt that I knew, logically, was completely unfounded.
“I thought it wasn’t possible to want anyone in this space less than my father. Yet, here you are.” I was embarrassingly aware that the heart monitor that had pulled me from unconsciousness was now beeping faster. Instead of trying to calm myself, I yanked the monitor off of my finger, crossed my arms over my chest, and shot a look of pure hatred at Dom.
“I thought it wasn’t possible to end up on the evening news while under armed protection. Yet, hereyouare.” His head jerked to the muted television across from my bed. The news was showing footage of the wreckage of three SUVs. One completely burnt out, the other upside down and mangled, and the third riddled with bullet holes and the front of it smashed into one of the abandoned buildings.
Ignoring the spawn of Satan, I turned my attention to Decker and softly asked. “Who was… in…” I couldn’t get the words out as I felt tears pricking at my eyes. I wanted to know who they’d lost on the team and Decker seemed to read the question easily from my face as he murmured the names of the men who had been part of the computer crew that had always sat posted in the parlor turned command center. Two men who hadn’t potrolled like the rest, and were probably hired for their tech skill, weren't the gun toting military men that marched around me.
Two more additions to the body count around me. Two more people who I’d liked and appreciated in the world taken brutally. I was starting to feel like I was a curse on those in my proximity. “I’m sorry,” I whispered, trying to blink back the tears.
“For what?” It wasn’t Decker that had spoken, and it wasn’t a gentle question. It was Dominic with a sneer and sarcasm dripping from his tone. “For getting yourself into a situation where two men were killed because of you? Yeah, I suppose I’d be sorry too.”
“That isn’t her fault,” Decker growled, glaring over at Dominic who took an immediate step back before remembering himself and rolling his eyes.
“Not a single person has been harmed while Robert and I have been around armed guards. And now there are… how many, Lake? Four bodies piled up at your feet?” He shook his head and tsked like someone reprimanding a school child. “Now, I’m not saying you did anything to them yourself. Just an interesting little math problem if you ask me.”
“No one asked you.” My tone was icy and distant. I didn’t want him to know that he’d gotten to me. He’d been needling me for years, and I’d thought I had mastered my reaction to him. But with no sleep, a possible head injury, and a body that was starting to feel like it had been through an industrial dryer, I didn't have the energy to appear civilized with him in front of others like Robert demanded.
“No, you never do.” We watched each other, both narrowing our eyes as we sized the other up. The glint of hatred was present in his whiskey eyes, and I knew it was a glint mirrored back through my own eyes. But mixed with that normal hatred, there was something else swirling in the depths of that gaze. Something that caused my stomach to tighten and the urge to vomit reappeared. I was the first to look away and heard a small huff of satisfaction fall from his lips before he spoke again. “Mr. Mullins, may I speak with you outside for a moment?”
I turned and watched as Decker gave a curt nod and left the room following Dominic who hadn't even stopped for an answer. When my father’s right hand turned to glance at me before closing the door, I turned my face pointedly toward the darkening window in an effort to express how little he meant to me. It was the door reopening less than two seconds later that had me turning back, ready for another verbal volley of insults. Only it wasn’t Dominic or even Decker; it was a petite nurse who looked almost shell shocked as she closed the door quickly. She looked at me and narrowed her eyes.
“Am I going to have to call security about the two men out there?” I looked past her to the small window where I could see Decker speaking and Dominic looking like he was about to piss himself. Unable to hide the grin on my face I shook my head at the nurse.
“No, trust me, if the asshole in the loafers gets hit, he totally had it coming.”
Warily glancing back, the nurse gave a small sigh and shook her head. Turning back to face her patient, I noticed her entire demeanor had changed and was bright and caring in an instant. “Glad to see you awake Ms. Harrington. You had an entire Army Ranger team in here and not one of them would allow us to look at them until you’d been seen to!”
Heat rose from my neck to the tips of my ears and I tried to keep my heart rate under control. This nurse had no idea the gift she’d given me with those words. An entire group of men who cared about me before their own well being was a new feeling I couldn’t quite swallow. “Navy SEALs actually,” I said, adopting my normal mask for the world. “And I’m honestly not surprised. They’re literally paid to make sure I don’t die.” I pretended not to notice the falter in the nurse’s smile and the color drain from her cheeks. “So how bad is it?” I asked, finally acknowledging that while Decker looked like he’d been bitch slapped by Freddy Kreuger, he wasn’t the one laying in a hospital bed.
“Concussion and shock. In a nutshell,” the nurse feigned a serious face. “You’re dying. But!” she chirped, smiling again. “The good news is you’re not dying any faster than the rest of the human race.”
I laughed and knew I already liked this woman. Not many in her line of work would joke darkly with a patient, and it had eased the tension left in the wake of Dominic fucking Parker. My laughter was cut off by Decker stepping back into the room, no sign of Dom, luckily. “How bad was he this time?”
Decker looked at me for a few moments before giving a nonchalant shrug. “He’s not intimidating like he thinks he is, but still, I can see why you aren’t fond of him.”
“Not fond?” I scoffed. “I have a hard time telling who is worse between him and Hitler. That should tell you how bad he is.”
“Family can be like that,” the nurse commented quietly as she rotated around the bed, checking the lines and liquids attached to me.
“As much as Dominic thinks he’d be a better child to my father, we aren’t related,” I argued with a shudder of disgust.
“Oh I’m sorry, it was just… I was told only family is allowed on this floor and I assumed.” Her cheeks were reddening as she tried to explain herself and I waved a dismissive hand letting the other woman know there was no harm or offense taken.
“Brianna, when will the doctor be in here to speak with Ms. Harrington so she can be discharged?” The reddening deepened as the nurse flitted her gaze to Decker, and suddenly I was very glad the heart monitor had been removed already.
“I’ll go get him right now, Decker!” She gave him an almost lustful smile and hurried from the room. And there went all the warm and fuzzies I’d had for this woman only moments before.
“So I’m Ms. Harrington but you’re ‘Decker’, huh?” I’d never experienced this type of jealousy before. Usually it was a silent simmering rage over how well Dominic was treated as opposed to me by my father, but this was far more intense and actually had me glaring across the room at the man who’d caused it all.
If he’d noticed my withering glare, he didn’t show it, instead coming to the side of the bed and reaching a tentative finger to gently brush away the few strands of hair falling into my face. “You had everyone worried there. Kasey almost had to be restrained so he wouldn’t drive down here himself.” He gave me a serious look. “You seem to have all of my men wrapped around your finger.”
And yet, I just want to wrap myself around you, I thought to myself. Smirking at my wit even with a concussion, I was saved from having to respond by a slender middle-aged man in glasses gently tapping at the door before he entered.
“Ms. Harrington, happy to see you awake!” He exclaimed cheerfully and side stepped Decker’s hulking mass to see me more clearly. “You were very lucky! I saw the remains of your car on the news and a concussion is almost a miracle if you ask me! How all three of you walked away from that… well, anyway.” He waved off his own comment and redirected, asking me to look ahead as he shined lights into each pupil.
After an exhaustive exam, pressured by Decker, the doctor had run out of tests, and I was ready to give him a matching scar on the other side of his face. “As I said before, Ms. Harrington, you’re going to be fine. However we will want someone,” he cast a slightly irritated glance to Decker, all hints of his earlier cheer gone, “to watch over you for the next 24 hours, and don’t hesitate to let someone know if headaches worsen with no relief.” He stood up and held out his hand to me. “It was a pleasure meetingyou. I’ll get the discharge paperwork started so you can get out of here.” Neither Decker nor I seemed to miss the emphasis on “you” and while I bit back a grin, Decker remained stone faced and impassive.
