Chapter 4 #2
“No. I need to be alert. I need to figure this out.”
Dr. Meyer nodded. “Okay. But hit the Call button next to you if you change your mind. A nurse will be in to check on you again soon.” He glanced at Hawk, then back to her. “I’ll be back to see you in the morning before your discharge, unless something else comes up and you need me.”
“I hope I don’t.” She looked from him to Hawk and back again. “And thank you for taking care of me.”
“You’re welcome.” He turned to his friend. “You have my number if you need me.”
Hawk stretched his arm across the bed and shook the doctor’s hand. “Thanks for letting me stay with her through everything.”
“I know how you hate to break a promise.” The look they shared told Lucky that Hawk had kept a promise to the doc at some point.
She waited for the doctor to leave before she asked Hawk. “What was that about? What promise?”
“Our promise. That we wouldn’t leave each other alone.
From the second I found you, until right now, except for a few minutes to update Lincoln, I haven’t left your side.
I was in the ER with you, took you up to the operating room, where I watched the surgery from an observation room, then to recovery, and now this room.
” When he promised something, he delivered.
She appreciated his dedication. “The hospital let you do that?”
“He wouldn’t take no for an answer,” Lincoln supplied with a prideful grin. “One thing about my brother…he means what he says.”
“You must be tired of being here, staring at me. You should go home. Get something to eat. Sleep. Whatever. I’m fine.”
Hawk shook his head. “First, you’re not fine. Second, Lincoln brought me breakfast an hour ago. And last, there’s nothing I like more than being with you.”
“Man, you have it bad.” Lincoln teased his brother.
“Get used to it.”
She didn’t know if Hawk meant that statement for her or his brother.
“Lucky.” Jase leaned against the end of her bed and stared her down. “You need to tell me everything you remember. Even a small detail could help. Please. I know you don’t trust me, but I am here to help.”
She huffed out a breath. “The last thing I really remember is being at the bar with Desiree. Girls’ night. I didn’t really want to be there.”
“Why?” Hawk asked.
If he liked honesty as much as he lived by it, then she owed him the truth. “Because you might be there.”
He raised a brow. “You didn’t want to see me.”
She shook her head and winced at the pain in her neck and shoulders.
He brushed his hand down her arm. “Be still. Take things slow.”
Good advice. So she sucked it up and did the hard thing and admitted. “I really like you.” The blazing blush was back. “And we have this thing between us.”
“Yeah,” he encouraged.
“But it’s been at a distance and I didn’t know if you kept it that way for a reason. Like that’s how you wanted it. I didn’t want to go to the bar and mess things up by making you think I was crossing a line.”
Hawk glanced at their spectators, then back to her. “Maybe I did because in the beginning, I was really fucked up. I still struggle sometimes, but I’ve worked really hard the last couple years to heal and rein in my emotions and deal with the things I can’t control.”
Lincoln pat her arm. “It’s true. He used to just grunt a lot and go off unhinged in a rage.
Even worse, he’d disappear, or just be silent for days.
He’d get lost in a flashback and no one could pull him out until it was over.
Now, he talks about what’s bothering him.
He has coping mechanisms so things don’t go so bad. ”
Hawk patted her hand. “And I have you to remind me that there are good things in my life. You didn’t have to do what you did the past two years for someone you didn’t even know, but still you somehow saw me clearer than anyone else did.” Hawk shrugged. “Well, maybe except for my psychiatrist.”
She glanced at Jase, then back to him. “Maybe I understand because I’ve had some bad things happen to me, too, and I’ve not always handled it very well on my own. So I wanted you to know you weren’t alone.”
“You wanted me to know that it was possible to overcome my trauma and live again.” He kissed her fingertips. “Every book you left me had a happy ending, even when things seemed dire for a while.”
“Things change. We can change them.”
His warm gaze made her insides mush. “You really believe that.”
“I have to.” Or why try at all?
Hawk nodded. “Me, too. And we’re going to talk more about all that later. But first, answer Jase’s questions. I need to know what happened and who did this to you.”
She tried not to fidget when she looked Jase in the eye again. “He’s out. You know that.”
Jase wasn’t part of the investigation of her family’s death.
He joined the sheriff’s department years later and took on Lucky’s many harassment cases.
But he knew everything about the murders and how missing evidence kept Neil from serving time for the murders and her getting justice for her family.
She bit her lip. “I think he was there. At the bar.” A yucky feeling creeped over her skin, like she could remember him touching her. She wanted to shower and scrub herself clean.
“Keep going,” Jase coaxed.
“I remember talking to Lincoln about a job. Everything was fine then.” She looked at him for confirmation.
Lincoln squeezed her arm again. “Yes. We agreed to meet on Sunday, so you could see the house and give me a price.”
“Right. I gave you my card and Desiree and I walked away.” She closed her eyes, trying to remember. “You made me a drink.”
“Peach sangria. You loved it.” Lincoln’s gaze narrowed. “So did your friend. She kind of stole it from you for a second.”
Jase studied Lincoln. “Did Desiree say anything, do anything?”
Lincoln shrugged. “She seemed…” He winced at Lucky. “Jealous of you.”
“What? No.” Desiree was her best friend. “She was sore that you didn’t ask her out.”
“I told you the truth that night. I’m not dating right now. Plus…I didn’t like her vibe.”
“She can be a lot,” Lucky admitted. “After that, I don’t know what happened.
I have these flashes of memories. Hearing his voice.
Seeing the stars. Smelling pine. Being dropped.
Hearing critters in the bushes, crickets chirping.
The cold.” She shivered. “It was so cold. And then when I was finally more lucid, I just hurt everywhere. I felt trapped. I couldn’t really move.
I tried to call out for help. I didn’t see anyone or hear anything.
I tried to listen for a car. I felt…so alone. Lost.”
“You were about two miles from the nearest road.” Hawk pressed another kiss to her palm.
“Did anyone hit on you at the bar?” Jase asked.
“Not that I remember. But I’m not usually the one who gets hit on.”
Lincoln chuckled. “Like ten guys were staring at her while we talked.”
She shook her head. “You mean staring at Desiree. She’s the pretty one.”
All the men gawked at her.
“What?” They made her really nervous.
“You’re gorgeous, sweetheart.” Hawk nodded to reassure her. “Don’t doubt it for a second.”
The door swung open. “Well, aren’t you a lucky duck to have all this man candy surrounding you?” Desiree swept into the room with a smile and flirtation in her eyes.
Lucky didn’t realize she’d sunk her nails into Hawk’s wrist until he tapped the back of her hand and brought her attention to where she’d gripped him so hard. She tried to let loose, but something had gone haywire inside her as she stared at her best friend.
Hawk stood and moved in close, his lips at her ear. “Relax. You’re okay. No one is going to hurt you.”
She loosened her grip, but didn’t let him go.
“That’s it.” He kissed her forehead, staring into her eyes, grounding her in the here and now.
“I’m sorry.”
Hawk brushed his fingers through her hair. “Nothing to be sorry about.”
Jase caught her reaction and turned to her friend. “Desiree. Nice to see you again.”
“Love the uniform.” Desiree eye-fucked Jase, blatantly and shamelessly.
He seemed less than interested as his gaze turned stony. “Heard you and Lucky were at Gunn Brothers Bar Saturday night.”
“We were. We ran into Lincoln. My girl landed a job with him. We danced. My lightweight friend had too much to drink—and not enough sleep as usual—so we called it a night kind of early.”
Jase turned to Lucky. “Do you remember driving yourself home?”
She shook her head.
Desiree walked past Lincoln to her shoulder and dropped the overnight bag she carried on the floor at her feet. “Of course you don’t. I drove you home because you were snockered. Tucked you into bed myself.”
That doesn’t feel right.
“What time was that?” Jase asked.
“We got to the bar early and left early. So maybe nine. Nine-thirty.” Desiree shrugged. “I left her place before ten and got home a little later. My dad, your boss,”—Desiree unsubtly reminded Jase her father was the sheriff—“was asleep in front of the TV when I got home.”
“What was he watching?”
She shrugged. “Don’t know. Probably the news. I wasn’t paying attention. I went to check on Krystal, then went to bed myself.” Desiree turned to Lucky. “She wants to bake cookies with you again.”
Lucky loved Desiree’s little girl. Krystal called her auntie because she and Desiree were close as sisters.
So why did she have this odd feeling all of a sudden around Desiree? Why was her heart beating a mile a minute, like she needed to run away?
“I’m not up for having her at my place just yet. But soon. I need some time to recover.”
“From what? What happened? All I know is they found you in the woods. No one will tell me anything more.” Desiree waited for an answer.
No one filled her in.
Lucky didn’t have an explanation. “I don’t know what happened. I can’t remember. I think I was drugged.”
Jase asked her a question, but kept his gaze on Desiree. “You were found naked, except for a pair of pink and white polka dot panties that Hawk cut off you. Do you remember what you were wearing before your missing time?”