Page 135 of Guarding Over You
“What happened? Where am I?”
“You’re safe. You’re in the hospital. Stop talking and let me look you over. Can you do that?” This was the voice he used in the ER when there was a child in front of him. A hysterical parent.
A soft authority.
She’d been trying to lift her head but let it fall back on the pillow in a silent surrender. If Blaze was asking, then he had her.
She did everything he requested. Opened her eyes one at a time, letting him flash the lights in them. As much as it hurt her head, she muscled her way through it.
Her hands were lifted, she squeezed her fingers on command, she stated her name, her address, her age. Everything. She just didn’t know why she had to.
“I’m thirsty,” she croaked.
He moved a straw to her lips for her to sip. “Take it slow. A little at a time.”
She did as was instructed because she trusted him. Trusted Blaze like no one else ever in her life.
When she got enough to wet her mouth and throat, she pushed it back and tried to sit up.
He grabbed the remote, hit a button and sat her up easily. “What is going on?”
“What’s the last thing you remember?”
“A coughing fit,” she said. “Pepper flakes. Leftovers from the night before. That’s it. You were with me though. Right? I brought you a sandwich.”
“Yes. You did. You were drugged. Given water laced with PCP. A high dose meant to kill you. If we hadn’t been together, it might have happened.”
“I don’t remember any of it.”
He dropped his head to hers. “I’m glad because I’ll never forget it. You don’t need to live with it.”
“But you saved me. Who was it? Is it over? Did they get the person?”
“Slow down,” he said, his fingers caressing her hand. “It was Erika.”
“What? Why?”
“Let me explain,” he said. “First, you were coughing, Maddy was going to get you water, then Erika offered, and Shelly snatched it to give to me. Erika had been just waiting for any opportunity and it fell into her lap. Your car, it was easy. She knew what you drove and would go out on her break to leave the note if she could when no one was around.”
It was hard for Arden to piece things together in her muddled brain, but she was catching up. “The bike and note to my house?”
“All of it. She confessed. It was supposed to be me until she saw us getting close. Then she realized that it’d hurt me more if I had to watch you die. She’d driven by your house that first night we were together. The night you heard the noise. The gray car? It was hers. She must have seen me on your porch looking around. I should have pressed Clay to look into it more with people, but I just didn’t think.” He shook his head. “She thought I caused her boyfriend’s death. That’s what this is all about. Revenge.”
“Toby died?”
“Not Toby,” he said. “Remember, I told you my second day on the job, the stabbing victim?”
She listened to Blaze retell what had been discovered. “It’s crazy. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. If Clay and Ford hadn’t been on top of it this morning, I don’t even want to think if she could have snuck in here again.”
“You said there was security outside the door.”
“There was. But she’d slipped by so easily already. Even Maddy is blaming herself. She was here that day when Tyler died. She remembered thinking he had a girlfriend with him,someone who was covered in blood and they pushed her out, but that was it.”
“It’s not on you or her to remember every patient.”
“No. It’s not. And you need to rest.”
“What day is it?” she asked. She didn’t even know how long she’d been out.
