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He joins me, raising an eyebrow.
“Jerry,” I say gravely.
“The doorman? I don’t really interact with him. Is he on the night shift?”
Oh, fuck. “Probably not.”
Still, we make the trip down and talk to the overnight guy and determine that Jerry clocked out at eleven-thirty. There was a little overlap between the two guys, the latter being more security than doorman. He sits behind the receptionist desk with a radio strapped to his hip and shrugs when we try to question him further.
Back in the elevator, Jacob slaps my shoulder. “Go take care of Aurora. There’s nothing else we can do tonight. We’ll talk to Jerry tomorrow.”
Right enough.
Except, I hesitate outside my door.
Like she’s going to bite?
No.
Shaking my head at the irrationality, I unlock the door and drop my key and hers on the side table. I kick off my shoes and find her passed out on the couch, the bag of peas resting on half her face.
Her breath whistles with every exhale, her sleep apparently deep.
Which means she feels safe here?
I slip past her and into the bathroom, showering and doing my best to ignore the bloody washcloth in the sink. I pull on clean sweatpants and flop in bed.
Then get right back up again.
Because… well.
I can’t just leave her out there.
18
AURORA
Everything hurts.
This is worse than waking up after the emergency surgery, because at least then I had drugs. Right now, the vibrating pain radiates through my whole body. There’s a noise buzzing in my ears.
“Pain meds.”
Knox’s rough voice overrides the buzz.
That gets my eyes opening. Well, one eye. The other cracks a little, but I can’t see much through my eyelashes. And the rest of my face refuses to cooperate.
“You look like you went through a meat grinder, sunshine.” He cradles the back of my neck and guides me up without asking. He runs his thumb along my lower lip, pulling my mouth open. In goes a few pills, and the cool rim of a water glass touches my lip a moment later.
I swallow, covering his hand holding the glass and tipping it higher. My throat is sore, although I don’t remember being choked… or screaming.
“Enough,” I finally mumble. I push his hand away. “I’m fine.”
“You’re the opposite of fine, and you’re going to talk to me. Right now.”
Okay, maybe I am the opposite of fine, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to tell him everything that’s happened.
“I don’t want to drag you into it,” I eventually say.
