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“But you could help without getting into trouble with the police, or… or other people you don’t want to cross,” I tell him, in case the thought hasn’t occurred to him. It should have since he’s a doctor and there’s less chance of them being stupid or ignorant than the average person you’d bump into on the street. Especially after what he just did for me.
No, he’s not stupid. He can’t be.
A smile ghosts across his lips. “I could. But cops have never been my favorite people in the world. Bullies either.”
“Why?”
“Bullies, for obvious reasons, and cops? They see what they want to see, and once they’ve made their minds up about something, changing it is impossible.”
I blink at him in surprise.
The ghost of a smile kicks into a real one that’s so cheeky I would never have expected from such a sober-faced doctor. “Just because I went to medical school doesn’t mean I didn’t have a life before.”
No. I guess it doesn’t.
Maybe he was the stoner.
“Now, are you ready to go?” When he holds his hand toward me, I take it without hesitation and let him pull me out of the room.
As we run down the hospital hallways, we attract a few glances from the few doctors and nurses we pass. To my relief, no one tries to stop us and no one calls out to Dr. Trevor.
Eventually, we come to a stop at a door with a coded lock. He taps out a code too fast to read, and after pushing the door open, we emerge into a parking lot.
With night upon us, it’s hard to know if it’s reserved for hospital staff only, or if he’s just led us through the back way to the main hospital parking lot.
All I know is it’s cold enough for the chill to penetrate the areas of my body that Dr. Trevor’s coat doesn’t cover. I guess it’s more of a shock to the system because the hospital was overly warm. Except for the floor, which was strangely cold.
But as he leads the way past the rows upon rows of parked cars, the bright lights of the city glitter from several feet away.
Finally, Dr. Trevor stops beside a black car that’s as indistinguishable to me as all the others we’ve passed so far and swings around to face me. It’s not so dark yet that I can’t read the seriousness stamped on his face. “I don’t know what that guy wanted with you, but from the terror I glimpsed earlier, I’m going to take a stab in the dark and say it wasn’t anything good, and that he won’t stop looking for you anytime soon.”
After Nathan getting a direct order from Rylan to hunt me down? Stop?
I shake my head. “No.”
He glances at my right wrist, the one with the scar in the shape of a handcuff I’ll likely wear forever. “And that he played a large part in you having such a hard life.”
After a moment, I nod.
When he reaches a hand toward me, I back up. He stops. “It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to show you something. Can I do that?”
Although I examine him for any sign he’s lying, I don’t see it, so I nod.
He plunges his hand into one of the deep coat pockets and draws two items from it. A black wallet and a set of keys. “Can you drive?”
Not well, but yes.
I nod again.
His heavy breath ruffles the hair around my face. “Good, because trying to get a cab from a hospital…” He shakes his head. “Do you know Rosewood Park?”
“No.” But that’s true of most places in the city. When I was with Rylan before everything changed—beforehechanged—I never left east of the city. According to him, there weren’t any restaurants, bars, or stores worth visiting anywhere else. So we didn’t visit them. Ever. Before that, I was with Dad, and until I know what kind of response I’ll get if I go back there, wandering down those streets would just be asking for trouble. “But I can find it.”
After a searching gaze, he unclips his pen from the pocket of his white coat and pulls out what looks like a crumpled receipt from his wallet.
It takes him seconds to scrawl on the plain side, and once he’s done, he tucks the wallet with the scrap of paper back into my pocket. “My address. My wallet, if you need to order takeout because once you see the state of my refrigerator… well, you’ll understand. I have menus pinned to the front so order what you want.”
Who is this guy that he’s giving me his car, wallet, and telling me where he lives?
