Page 29 of Nowhere to Run
Twenty-One
Jo
The day was longerthan I expected, with a few scheduled patients who came in to see Dr.Foster and a handful of walk-ins we treated.Seeing Macie come in covered in bruises from her brother had shattered my heart because no child should ever experience pain at the hands of their sibling.Macie was only fourteen, so she wasn’t legally able to emancipate herself from his care.
I hated that there wasn’t more we could do for Macie, aside from killing her brother.But even then, what would that do?She was still too young to be off on her own and needed the support of someone willing and able to take care of her.
I finished inputting my notes and turned off the computer so I could call it a day when my phone rang.I looked at the caller ID and answered it, holding the phone between my shoulder and ear as I took Axel’s call.
“Hey,” I said.“What’s up?”
“Where are you?”
“I’m at the clinic.Why?”
Something in his voice made me tense immediately, and a sense of danger washed over me.
“Fuck,” he growled.“Is Dr.Foster still there with you?”
“Yes.Why?What is going on, Axel?Are Charlie and Molly okay?”
“Some fucking asshole just showed up at the bar looking for you.”
A gasp escaped my lips as my heart sank.
“What are you talking about?”
“I was there to get stuff ready for tomorrow when he showed up.I told him we were closed, and he said he was looking for someone.There’s a fucking bounty on you, Jo.You need to get the fuck out of townnow.”
I grabbed my purse and walked into the waiting room, where Dom was talking with Dr.Foster.They both stopped, their expressions changing from happy to serious when they looked at me.Dom immediately stood up and came to my side.
“What’s wrong?”he asked.
Dr.Foster stood up as well.I put the call on speaker phone and held my hand in front of me so everyone could hear.
“Axel said someone just showed up at the bar looking for me.Apparently, there’s a bounty—”
The words stopped in my throat as a wave of emotion rushed over me.I shook my head and swallowed hard, trying to force it away.
“Jo needs to get out of therenow.I don’t know where they went.I can’t see anyone on my cameras.But their car is still in the parking lot.It doesn’t look like anyone is in it, though.”
