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My mind whirls with excuses to tell her as for why she’s the one who dressed me and not Cash, but I’m too sick—too tired to come up with anything that makes sense. So, I just say, “Thanks.” And then I’m overwhelmed by black.
twenty-one
Cash
Arsenic poisoning. Fucking. Arsenic. Poisoning.
Someone tried to murder my girlfriend with arsenic. Thankfully, as I’ve been assured by the specialist my father’s doctor contacted after verifying Wrenlee’s poisoning, the dosage wasn’t enough to do severe, long-lasting damage. Either the intent hadn’t been to murder, but rather to harm—or the person simply hadn’t known what they were doing. Either way, Wrenlee has been on aggressive intravenous for the last forty-eight hours. She’s been given shitloads of crap to help absorb the poison, and they’ve started a treatment I’ve been assured will bring my girl back to normal soon.
Still, the warning that another dose like this could kill her plays on a loop in my mind. I have half a mind to force her to stay here in my condo for the rest of her life, away from whoever wants to harm her. Hell, maybe it was someone at the bar last night. Maybe it was random, some twisted fuck looking for kicks. Maybe it was meant for someone else, because I don’t know a single person who hates my girl enough to kill her. Far as I can tell, everyone, men and women alike think she’s sweet.
A big hand claps my shoulder and I crook my neck to see Kane. We’ve cancelled the weekend’s shows—something we never do—because I couldn’t leave Wrenlee’s side. Not even with the home nurse I hired to stay round the clock, twenty-four-fucking-seven.
There’s never been a moment in my life I’ve worried like this. I haven’t been able to sleep. Every time I try, every time I close my eyes, I see her pale and weak. I feel the violent shaking of her tiny body and hear the sharp stab of her sobs echoing in the very core of my soul.
How did this happen? How did my fake girlfriend come to mean everything to me?
Scrubbing my hands down my face, I loose a sigh. “She’s going to be okay.”
“Yeah,” Kane agrees darkly.
“Someone tried to poison her.”
His jaw works. Anger and fear flashing in his eyes. “Any ideas who or why?”
There’s a dark danger to the way he asks. Most believe Kane to be a flirty devil without a care, but I know different. I know the darkness that exists beneath the flashy grin. I know what he’s capable of deep, deep down. And I know that for those he loves, there’s no destruction he won’t enact. No sin so dark he won’t bathe in.
In the time she’s been mine, Kane has begun to care for Wrenlee. That much is clear.
The echo of his question thunders in my mind and I shake my head. I’ve gone over this time and again. “No.”
He slides onto the stool beside me. “She wake up yet?”
“Nope. Doc says she should today.”
“But she’s okay?”
“As okay as she can be for someone who was poisoned.” I curse under my breath, swallowing down another bitter pill of rage. “Who the fuck poisons someone?”
“Think maybe it was a mistake?”
My head swivels to Kane. “A mistake? A fucking mistake? Who poisons someone by mistake?”
I’ve thought it, but somehow saying it out loud just pisses me off.
He shrugs. “Don’t know, man. Maybe it wassomeone at the club. Maybe some pissed off ex decided to play God and Wrenlee got the wrong drink.”
My head falls into my hands as I grind my teeth. I don’t know what happened or who attacked Wrenlee, and I don’t like not knowing. I’m not the kind of man who deals well with uncertainty of any kind.
“I ever find out who did this,” the words are low. So low, it’s a surprise when Kane finishes, “No one will find the body.”
twenty-two
Wrenlee
It’s been a rough week. Somehow, apparently, I ingested arsenic. I’ve combed over memories of that day, but nothing stands out. I can’t imagine anyone I know purposely trying to kill me. I’m left with the assumption that however I came to ingest the poison; it hadn’t been intended for me. Thankfully, they hadn’t given me enough to finish the job—although while I’d been vomiting my guts out, I’d almost wished for death. Now, the specialist tells me I’m lucky that the only lingering side effect I have is a numbness in my hands that comes and goes. Thankfully, it’s happened less and less as the week went on.
I’m told I should be hopeful for a full recovery, butas the poison is so toxic, I’ll have to be tested regularly for lasting effects.
