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“Miss Lainey.” He reaches his arms out to let me walk into a hug, gently pulling me in once I’m close enough.
“Thanks, Samuel. I needed a hug.”
“I’m sorry what happened tonight. I wish I was there to stop him.”
I warm at his gesture, but the graying curls in his hair and the weathered, dark skin on his face place him a few years older than Suzie, and I probably would have jumped in to protect him as well.
I met Samuel on one of my first days at this hospital. When I was the new girl, I decided to win over everyone’s hearts with baked goods. Each shift I’d bring a double batch of something new, and the day I made toffee truffles, Samuel found several excuses to spend extra time on our unit, hovering over the treats. He’s been a frequent visitor ever since.
“I’ll survive,” I say, pulling out of his embrace. “What are you doing here?” I tilt my head to the lounge door.
He tucks his hands in his pockets, rocking back on his heels as he looks down the hall behind me. “Dr. Ryan is in there; the boss of this whole place told me to escort him out once he is done with his work.”
My stomach drops that the hospital is taking Ryan’s threat so far as to have a babysitter perched outside of his room. “He’s not the criminal here,” I crack, feeling my eyes begin to water. From the brief story Jim told me tonight, he and Ryan had suspected something might happen and formulated a plan to protect everyone before the house supervisor got involved.
Maybe if they had taken safety this seriously to begin with, tonight wouldn’t have turned the way it did.
“I know Miss Lainey. Dr. Ryan’s a good guy.” He jingles a set of keys resting deep in his pocket, looking again down the hall behind me before turning around. Once he’s satisfied that we’re alone, he turns back, his voice lower. “I’ve known Dr. Ryan since his first day at this hospital. I’d like to think working the last forty-five years in security taught me to read people. I can tell a mile away what someone’s true intentions are … and I know that man in there is good, through and through.”
I nod along. I can’t blame Samuel for simply doing his job, but it still hurts the same.
“I’ll tell you what,” he says after a long silence. “I thought I heard some racket in the boiler room.” He pulls a set of keys in his pocket, leafing through until singling one out. With another glance over his shoulder and down the hall behind me, he reaches to unlock the door in front of us. “I’m going to make a few laps down the hall, for security reasons, of course. If a batch of your homemade toffee truffles found its way onto my desk one of these days, I could probably find a reason to keep myself occupied. That is, if you promise to escort Dr. Ryan out when you leave the building.”
The smile on my face is so wide my cheeks hurt. I nod a few times before the words follow. “I think that is a great idea, I thought I had heard some racket in the boiler room, too.”
Samuel reaches a hand up to squeeze my shoulder and throws one more glance to the office door before starting his path down the hall.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Ryan
The restlessness won’t subside. The rattle of my scrub pants against the desk sets the hyper-metronome for the beating of my heart. I should have kept my fucking mouth shut.
I meant what I said, that they needed to get that asshole out of this hospital before I could get my hands on him again. The same goes for whoever hurt Lainey in the past. If I were to ever learn his name, I’d end him. Plain and simple.
But if I had kept my mouth shut, I could still be downstairs in the ER. I could be with her, holding her, trying to be some sort of calm to the storm she is probably experiencing right now.
Instead, I’m a caged animal, suffering, feeling my mind about to splinter.
The creak of the outside door echoes into my ear, and I internally groan. Samuel is a great guy, hell, he’s been a security guard here longer than I’ve been alive. I’m glad it’s him out there and not some young punk who’s going to goad me into acting out. But I don’t want to see anyone right now.
Anyone but her.
“Ryan?” her soft rap on the door catches my attention, and for a second, I think I’m dreaming. I heave a sigh of relief as I push back from the desk. Reaching out, I pull her to me as soon as my fingertips graze the fabric of her soft jacket. She buries her face into my chest, and I wrap my arms so tightly around her that I worry I’m hurting her, but I can’t bear to let her go.
“Firecracker.” I breathe her in, feeling a twinge in my chest start to relax now that she’s safe in my arms. “God, I’m so sorry.”
She shakes her head no, well, the best she can anyway with my arms wrapped tightly around her. A muffled croak leaves her throat, and I feel her legs weaken. I hold her tighter, pulling her weight to me because if she wants to fall – if she can’t hold on anymore, then I’ll hold her up for the both of us.
She starts to pull back, and I loosen my grip a little as the doctor in me takes over.
I stand back, unzipping her fleece and gently brushing her hair over her shoulders, tracing my thumbs along the horizontal bruises lining her neck. “Fuck.” Maybe I will go finish him off after all.
I move to flick the overhead light on, and she squints with the change in brightness. It’s then that I see the exhaustion written all over her beautiful face. The scratches that mar her cheeks. I smooth her matted hair back, combing my fingers through the tangles the best I can.
Her head hangs low between us, and I rest both hands on her shoulders, wanting to crush her to me again, while at the same time not wanting to hurt her.
She reaches for my hands, her small one in my large, and she circles her fingers around my marred knuckles. The fluorescent lights reflect off the glue that holds my busted skin together.
