3. Piper
THREE
PIPER
From where I sat on a couch in the motel’s lobby, I tried not to squint as the doctor shined a bright light into my eye.
“I don’t see any evidence of a concussion.” His voice was craggy with his age.
He’d already butterflied the wound, deeming actual stitches unnecessary.
Of course, at my insistence, he first examined Finn and my grandmother.
Both had been cleared of any injuries.
“I think you’re going to be just fine,” he continued. He clicked off the flashlight and tossed it into his medical bag.
The doctor was nothing like I’d pictured, but what I’d been picturing, I wasn’t entirely sure. Maybe someone right out of med school who had just as many tattoos as Theo.
Vicious beneath a white lab coat.
Not what had to be a seventy-year-old man with shaggy white hair.
Theo had introduced him as Dr. Reynolds, his uncle who still headed a local family medical practice here in Moonlit Ridge.
The man was kind and thorough and skilled, and I couldn’t stop the rush of gratitude that Theo had facilitated this.
I’d needed the reassurance that we were all fine.
I cleared my throat. “Thank you, Dr. Reynolds. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you coming out in the storm like this.”
“No need to thank me,” Dr. Reynolds said with a gentle, crooked smile. “I’m always happy to help out someone in trouble.”
He glanced at Theo when he said it.
Theo who had been loitering entirely too close while the three of us had been examined.
Refusing to budge.
I’d suggested that he leave us and our belongings on the sidewalk under the covered drop-off area in front of the lobby when we arrived, but he’d only sent me one of those grins as he’d said, “You wouldn’t want me to lose sleep tonight not knowing if the three of you are fine or not, would you?”
Then he’d hopped out of his truck and rounded to my side to help me down.
I’d again tried to refute by telling him he’d done too much, and his mouth had come far too close to my ear when he’d murmured, “It’s my pleasure.”
Chills had streaked far and wide as we’d stood too close in the passenger door of his truck.
This intensity zapping from him that had lit across my skin.
Compelling.
Provoking.
Chains that I could so easily get tangled in.
Now, Theo tipped his chin up at his uncle, their gazes locked like the two were sharing some silent conversation.
A thousand words passed between them without either of them making a sound.
The old man finally pulled his attention from Theo, and he was quick to latch up his medical bag. “I’ll get out of your hair so you can get settled in a room.”
I popped up from the couch. “Will you send a bill or…?”
I had no idea what a house call would cost. I didn’t even know that was a thing anymore. But whatever it was, the peace of mind was worth it.
The old man rumbled a tender laugh. “Oh, no, dear, there is no charge.”
My brow pinched. “What do you mean?”
He glanced at Theo again. “I owe Theo a favor or two.”
Disbelief shook my head. “But I’m not one of them.”
“Sure, you are.” That growly voice skated over me from the side.
A shiver lifted in its wake.
I whirled that way, and I nearly stumbled back at his proximity.
Overwhelmed by the shock of energy that Theo Mallin emitted.
I got myself together enough that I could speak, though the words were low and jagged, “Theo, absolutely not. I know you’re trying to help us and all, but this is ridiculous. I have no idea what a house call costs, but I’m sure it’s plenty. Save your favors for someone who’s earned them.”
Someone who meant something to him.
Someone who wasn’t a stranger passing through.
And that’s all I would ever be.
A stranger.
Something intense traipsed through those dark eyes. “We take care of those who come to this town and are in trouble.”
“Bye-bye,” Finn giggled, and I glanced back to find the old man was already slipping out the main lobby door before I could stop him.
I turned back to Theo.
He loomed over me.
Tall and powerful and rippling with that unnerving strength.
An alarm blared in my consciousness.
Warning me that this man was dangerous to everything I was fighting for.
“I’m not in trouble.” It gritted out through clenched teeth. Pure defense. Because I got the sense Theo could read me like I was a page that had been written in his book. One that was tattered and torn and barely clinging on.
“Think your car sitting on the side of the road says otherwise.” He pushed away, that easiness riding back to the surface when he did.
I opened my mouth to give him every reason why the things he was doing were highly inappropriate when Nelly cut me off. “You’ll have to understand, our Piper here is used to doing everything on her own. I’m afraid I’m not of much help in my old age.”
She said it like she was on her deathbed and was a burden I had to drag around, rather than her being an intrinsic part of this team.
I couldn’t do this without her. She was the strongest person I knew.
She’d also been pressing me to make a change.
Urging me that we couldn’t go on the way we’d been.
But what else were we supposed to do?
She knew what happened the last time we tried.
“People don’t pay for strangers’ doctor visits, Nells.” I hissed it under my breath.
“You’re in luck, Pipes . Today they do.” Theo cocked his head.
A shiver sprinted down my spine.
Why did he have this effect on me? Why did my flesh feel as if it were electrified and there was a low hum that buzzed in my belly?
I nearly scoffed at myself.
As if I didn’t know my type.
As if I didn’t know what I was drawn to.
Panic churned. I had to get away from this man. Put a thousand miles between us. Because I’d never had such a strong reaction to a stranger before. To anyone, for that matter. “I don’t need you to take care of me.”
He took a step forward.
The air thrashed and the ground trembled beneath my feet.
The man a ball of energy that snapped and flickered, drawing me into his orbit.
Angling his head toward me, he lowered his voice. “We all need someone to take care of us sometimes, Piper.”
His potency smacked me in the face. The mossy woods and crisp snow and the leather that was coming from the jacket he’d finally donned when we’d arrived at the motel. One that was roughened and distressed from years of use, as if it’d traveled a lifetime of miles with him.
“I was the one who stumbled on you tonight,” he continued.
“So in my book, that means I am supposed to take care of you. Any decent person would have picked you up and given you a ride. Plus, it’s a lot closer for my uncle to come here to check you out rather than driving all the way to his office in town, so it wasn’t out of his way.
Besides, I can promise you, he would have been pissed if I hadn’t called him.
So, I’m going to need you to swallow that pride and accept it, yeah?
None of it was a big deal. Now let’s get you a room. ”
He turned away while my head spun. Trying to catch up to this whirlwind of a man.
“I can get my own room,” I rasped, needing to put an end to whatever this was.
I couldn’t keep accepting his generosity. Whatever this overbearing care was that he offered. As if he somehow believed that we’d become his complete responsibility.
I needed to get away from him.
Never see him again.
Because he was dangerous to my sanity. To my reserves. To the purpose that drove me forward.
I could feel it like a threat simmering all around me.
How easily he could get under my skin. I couldn’t let him.
He had the audacity to smirk back at me. “I might need to pull a few strings.”
My mouth dropped wide, and I watched in horror as he strode for the counter across the massive lobby.
“My, my, he is one to contend with, isn’t he?” Nelly tsked.
Her voice finally shot me into action, and I mumbled, “Watch my bags,” since my purse and duffel were on the floor next to the couch.
I raced after him, and I barely caught up as he splayed his tattooed hands out on the counter.
It was the first time I noticed the tattoo on the back of his left hand.
For some reason, my attention zeroed in on it.
It had two stacked Ss with an eye sitting directly in the middle. A dagger ran through the entire thing, and sitting on top of the handle was a skull.
Disquiet pulled through my being.
There was something about it that struck me.
Something about it that hit me like a warning.
An omen of death.
Theo looked down at the woman behind the counter.
Her name was Madge, and she was probably ten years younger than Nelly. She’d jumped up when we first came in, flitting around us in distress before Theo had told her not to worry because Dr. Reynolds was on his way.
“I’m so glad to hear you’re all okay,” she gushed, her dyed red hair cut in a long bob that brushed her shoulders. “I might have been eavesdropping, but I couldn’t help myself. Your little man is adorable.”
“He is, thank you. And I’m relieved, too,” I told her, trying to keep the trembling from my voice.
Theo leaned farther over the counter, completely casual as he said, “They’re going to need Unit B.”
Madge rocked back for a confused moment before she jolted forward, and her fingers began to fly over her keyboard. “Right, right, of course.”
“I am perfectly capable of getting my own room.” My words were shards.
Madge shook her head, and she pressed her lips together like she had a secret that I wasn’t privy to.
“It’s the only one that’s going to accommodate all of you,” Theo grunted. He cut me a glance, and my chest clutched at the sight of his obscenely handsome face.
“I’m sure Madge can help me pick out the right one,” I argued.
He tipped his head toward me. Seduction filled his tone. “Maybe I want to be sure you’re thinking about me while you’re lying in that bed.”
Heat rushed.
A throbbing of greed while he sat there looking at me with that grin.
Like I was going to be thinking of anything else.