Page 129 of Guarding Over You
Now it’s Blaze’s turn.
Time to strike.
Time to watch for the crack, to find the opening I’ve been waiting for. Then to sit ready and quiet while he pieces it together.
Maybe he’ll beat me to her. Maybe he won’t.
Either way, I will be there to see him fail... and to watch him feel the same raw, familiar hurt that has been mine for years.
“Hey,”Arden said softly when she found him near the nurse’s station six days later. “I brought you a sandwich.”
Blaze turned, the tension in his shoulders easing the moment he saw her. “Thanks,” he murmured, leaning in to brush a quick kiss over her lips. Her presence always seemed to settle him, at least for a second.
But the waiting was grinding him down. Nothing about this made sense. Nothing out of place, no new notes, no new leads. Yet he couldn’t shake the feeling that the next move was coming.
And it had started here. At the hospital.
Which meant that whoever was behind it could be walking these halls right now.
Too many people knew where he lived. And he’d made no secret of the fact that Arden lived a few doors down. Their names were literally printed on the collection of mailboxes with their unit numbers. All it would take was one person to look and take a walk down.
He hated himself for thinking it, but he’d brought this to her door.
“Are you okay?” she asked quietly, studying his face while she twitched her nose some.
“Yeah,” he said, forcing a smile. “Just a lot on my mind.”
She nodded and opened her mouth to speak, then suddenly coughed, covering her mouth. “Sorry. I brought leftovers from last night for lunch. Too much pepper.”
He frowned, instantly alert as she coughed again, harder this time. “You did this last night too. Why did you eat more of it?” He set the sandwich down and rubbed her back, the movement automatic, her eyes tearing up as she fought back the laugh with the coughing fit. “Better?”
“Yeah,” she managed, still laughing between coughs. “I’m pretty sure I got a red pepper flake stuck on my tongue like last night. I thought I picked them out but might have missed one.”
“I’ll grab you some water,” Maddy said, already stepping around the counter. Always watching, always nearby, her protective streak showed as much as his.
The phone rang, and Maddy turned toward it. “Shelly, can you get Arden some water?”
“I’ve got it,” Erika said, passing behind them. “I’m heading that way anyway.”
She gave a little smile and cleared her throat again. “I didn’t know it’d cause such a commotion.”
He smiled and slid an arm around her waist, the small touch centering him. “Guess you’ve got everyone trained.”
“More like you do,” she said, her voice hoarse now as she sneezed once.
Shelly walked by, snatched the cup of water Erika had filled, then handed it to him to pass to Arden. Like the teamwork they all had with patients. “Here. Drink.”
She took a few slow sips, then the rest. “Better,” she said, exhaling. “Much better. I think I washed it down.”
He nodded, but his hand lingered at her back even after her breathing steadied. The laughter, the easy teasing. All normal. All ordinary.
But he couldn’t shake the itch under his skin that this was far from over.
He looked at his watch, then at Maddy when she hung up. “Have I got time to take fifteen and eat?”
Maddy looked at the cases on the computer. “Yeah, go. Nothing that can’t wait. Spend it with your girl.”
He looked at Arden. “Got the time?”
