Chapter 4 #3
Her gaze shot to Hawk and she blushed again. “Uh. I guess you got an eyeful.”
“I was more focused on keeping you alive.” His fingers swept up and down her forearm. “Don’t worry about it. You’ve got nothing to be embarrassed about.”
She tried to focus on what happened. “I wore those panties that night, along with a blue maxi dress.”
“Which is still on the floor in your room.” Desiree volunteered. “I went by your place on the way here and picked up some clothes and things I thought you’d need when you leave here.” That was really nice of her friend. And maybe a little out of character for her to do anything without being asked.
“How did you know I was here?”
Lincoln raised his hand. “I called your company to let them know Hawk had found you and that you were here. A few of the ladies stopped by last night, but Hawk told them to come back later, that you needed your rest more than anything. One of the ladies—Joellen, I think was her name—said she’d call Desiree and let her know you’d been found. ”
She put her hand over his on the bed. “Thank you.”
Desiree noticed that she’d touched Lincoln and frowned, then stared hard at Lucky.
Lucky took her hand off Lincoln and stared at the sheet.
“They tried to file a missing person report for you,” Jase explained.
“But there was some rule or whatever that you had to follow, so you didn’t take the report,” Lucky groused, knowing how these things went.
She’d had nothing but trouble trying to get justice for all the things that happened to her.
“You left me to fend for myself like always, because you could give a shit about me.”
Jase folded his arms over his wide chest. “For all I knew, you’d decided to take a vacation and leave town for a few days.”
“Yeah. Without telling anyone and ditching work. Because that sounds like me!”
Jase tensed, then sucked in a breath and reined in whatever argument he wanted to make. “Just because I didn’t file the report doesn’t mean I didn’t look for you, because I was worried.”
That caught her off guard. “Well…um…that’s surprising.”
Jase kept his defensive posture. “It shouldn’t be. I do take you seriously. I just can’t always find any evidence to back up what’s happened. Like I couldn’t find anything to prove you’d been kidnapped or whatever this was.”
“Then how did she get out there where Hawk found her?” Desiree asked, a not so subtle hint of anger in her voice.
“That’s what I’m investigating. We have some evidence to follow, but nothing that points to one person. So any and all details you can remember are helpful. Since your car is still at your home, someone else took you out there.” But Jase obviously couldn’t identify who.
Which meant, yet again, nothing would happen. Nothing was solved. The person hurting her would continue to harass her. Or worse. Because it felt very much like this time, they wanted her dead.
Was it Neil? Someone he’d sent?
Would she ever be free of this and her past?
“So basically we know nothing except that I was tossed down a hill?”
“Not exactly,” Jase argued. “Based on your injuries, we know you went down the hill incapacitated like you’ve told us.
There was plenty of stuff you could have grabbed or used to stop your fall, but you didn’t.
We’ll test the blood we collected from the scene to confirm and determine what was used to drug you.
Pictures from the scene show clearly that you rolled continuously, hitting your head, slicing your leg, and scraping your body along the way. ”
“Is that why my hip and back hurts?”
Hawk put his hand on her shoulder. “You hit some pretty big rock faces that tore up your skin. The nurse has been putting salve on them and changing the bandages regularly. They look better today than they did yesterday.”
“Someone’s getting a show,” Desiree teased, but the room went silent. Neither Lucky, nor the men found it amusing or appropriate. But Desiree could be like that.
Jase finished writing some notes in his notepad. “So you don’t remember getting home that night?”
“No. But if Desiree says she took me, then I’m sure that’s what happened.”
The skeptical frown on Jase’s face spoke volumes. “Did Lucky say anything once you got her home about going out again or seeing someone?”
Desiree shook her head. “Not that I can remember.” She tilted her head and tapped her lip with her index finger.
“Come to think of it, there was the guy she danced with at the bar. He didn’t seem to want to let her go.
Maybe he followed us to her place.” She shrugged like it could have happened that way.
Lucky couldn’t even remember dancing with anyone. She usually liked to watch, instead of participate.
Desiree was the life of the party, not her.
“Okay. Well I have the surveillance footage, so I’ll check it out and see if I can ID the guy and if he followed you out.” Jase held up the thumb drive.
“Wow.” Desiree’s eyes went wide. “This is like a real life Dateline going on here.” She seemed excited by the mystery.
Jase shook his head at Desiree. “Did anything seem out of place or disturbed at Lucky’s place when you stopped by there earlier to pack her bag?”
“No. Well, come to think of it, the bed didn’t look all that slept in. Lucky’s a neat freak. I guess it goes with the job. Anyway, the cover was pulled back, but the bed wasn’t messy like she’d slept in it.”
“Anything broken or turned over, like there’d been a struggle?”
Desiree shook her head. “Not a thing.”
Jase sighed. “I checked with your neighbors already. No one saw anything unusual since Saturday. Of course your place is kind of isolated. As far as I could see, no one broke in. The locks didn’t look tampered with.”
“You went out to my place?” Lucky couldn’t believe Jase had already started investigating.
“I told you, just because I couldn’t file an official missing person report didn’t mean I wasn’t looking for you.”
“I appreciate that. I’ll try to be more grateful and less agitating.”
Jase put his hand over her ankle.
She twitched and he took it away.
He held up his hand. “Sorry.”
She nodded, wishing she wasn’t always pushing people away.
“I understand how frustrating this must be for you. How frightening. I’m going to do everything I can to figure this out. Okay?” Jase seemed genuinely determined to do something this time.
“Yes.”
Jase turned to Hawk. “I know she’s important to you, so don’t bust my balls anymore. I’m working on it.”
Hawk agreed with a nod. “Get it done. Someone out there tried to kill her. I want to know who and why. And I want them locked up for good.”
“Me, too, man.” Jase’s gaze met hers. “It isn’t right, what happened to you. What keeps happening to you. None of it. I really hope this time we catch whoever’s doing this to you and stop them for good.” Jase folded his notepad, tucked it into his pocket, then left the room.
It felt like he meant everything he’d said, and that eased her mind.
Lincoln headed for the door, too. “I’m going to the cafeteria. Anyone want anything? Hawk, I’ll bring you some lunch.” He looked at Desiree with a question in his eyes.
“I’m good. Not staying long. I need to pick up Krystal from daycare.”
Lincoln left.
Desiree eyed Hawk. “Mind giving us some time alone?”
Lucky kept her hold on Hawk’s arm, trying not to dig her nails into him again. The thought of him leaving made her feel desperate, like if he left he might not come back and she’d lose this chance with him.
Irrational? Yes.
But she’d earned a little bit of time to be out of her mind, hadn’t she?
And for some reason, Desiree made her feel…unsettled.
Hawk stayed sitting by her side. “No can do. I made a promise. I’m not breaking it now.”
“Okay.” Desiree focused on her. “Lucky, I’m really sorry. I had no idea you were gone until Joellen called me, looking for you when you didn’t show up to the office on Monday.”
“It’s okay. Thanks for filling in some of the missing time.”
“You really can’t remember?” Desiree stared her down, looking for cracks.
Lucky wished she knew what really happened. “Not really. Bits and pieces of the time when Hawk found me are starting to come back . Even that’s scraps because I was so out of it.”
Hawk laced his fingers with hers. “I’ll fill you in from the time I found you to the helicopter ride to the hospital. You already know I haven’t left your side since you got here.”
“Helicopter ride?”
He winked at her. “I’ll take you up some time, so you can enjoy it. You’ll love it. A bird’s eye view for miles.”
She couldn’t help her shy smile. “I’d love that.”
He loved flying and she wanted to share that with him, even if flying in a helicopter seemed a little scary. He was experienced and wouldn’t let anything happen to her.
Desiree pointed between them. “What’s up with you two all of a sudden?”
Hawk kept his gaze on Lucky, but answered her friend. “We’re together now. Isn’t that right, sweetheart?”
“Unbelievably, yes.” She hoped it wasn’t wishful thinking or some delusion she’d had in the forest.
Hawk gave her an indulgent look. “It’s real. Believe it.”
“Wow.” Desiree took a step back. “This seems awfully fast.”
Hawk shook his head, his gaze locked on her. “It’s been a long time coming. Right, Lucky?”
She nodded, a tear slipping from her watery eyes.
“Hey.” Hawk stood and leaned over her. “What’s this? Are you in pain? Want me to call for the nurse to get you more meds?”
“No.” She grabbed his shirt and held on to him. “I’m happy. And a little overwhelmed.”
“Me, too. But don’t worry. Everything’s going to be okay. You’ll see.” He brushed his thumb over her cheek, wiping her tears.
She wanted to believe him, but some instinct inside her told her this incident was different from the others. She’d nearly died. Was this just the beginning? It scared her to think they’d try again and this was just the beginning of the end.
Desiree’s heavy stare made her look up. “What?”
“I never thought this would actually be a thing, but you did it. You actually got the guy. You must be really happy.” Desiree sounded anything but excited for her.
She didn’t seem jealous. More like annoyed, even though her voice remained neutral.
Maybe the pain meds were muddling her head and she was reading things wrong.
“I’m…” She didn’t know what to say under the circumstances. “I’m trying to catch up to everything that’s happened.” Everything with Hawk seemed so new and fragile, but also absolute. Like he’d said, this felt like something a long time coming.
“You got the guy. What more do you want?”
“To know who hurt me and why?” To stop them from doing it again. And succeeding.
“Seems to me you might owe them a thank you for getting the two of you together.”
What an odd thing to say.
Stunned, Lucky shook her head in disbelief, then glanced over to Hawk, who wore a similar expression. “I don’t think I’ll be thanking someone who tried to kill me.”
Desiree seemed to catch herself. “Oh. Right. I’m just saying there’s a silver lining here, that’s all.”
Lucky sank deeper into the covers. “I’m tired. I think I’ll try to get some rest.”
Hawk brushed his hand over her hair. “Close your eyes. I’ll be right here the whole time, waiting for you to wake up.”
She bit her bottom lip. “Um. Don’t you have work or something?”
He bent close and looked her in the eyes. “I’m not leaving here without you. Especially when I don’t know if you’re safe.”
“Looks like you’ve got everything you need.” Desiree started for the door.
“Don’t go. You just got here.” She had questions for Desiree about that night.
“I have to run an errand before I pick up Krystal. I’ll call you later and check on you.
Your phone is in the bag.” With that, Desiree opened the door, only to find Lincoln on his way back in.
“Hey, if you change your mind about that date,” she purred, “we could double.” Desiree grinned at her and Hawk, then looked back to Lincoln, who looked flustered.
“Uh, I’ll think about it.” Lincoln’s voice held little conviction.
Desiree knew he was just pacifying her, but kept her smile in place. “You know how to get in touch with me, since my bestie is your brother’s new flame.” Desiree sauntered out, leaving Lucky with the guys.
Lincoln handed a container to Hawk, along with a can of soda. “I don’t know if you’re allowed to eat anything yet, or I’d have brought you something, too.”
The smell of pasta and garlic hit her nose and her stomach growled.
Hawk laughed. “I bet the nurse will bring you something soon.”
Lincoln pulled a brownie out of his Gunn Brothers Distillery hoodie pocket and set it on the table beside her bed. “For later. You deserve a hell of lot more than dessert after what happened.”
She blushed. “Thank you, Lincoln. I appreciate it.”
They both took their seats and opened their containers, revealing a heaping pile of pasta Pomodoro, salad, and a chunk of garlic bread.
“Wow. They must have a really nice cafeteria here.”
Lincoln shook his head. “They don’t, so I ran across the street to a food truck.”
“Well enjoy. I’m just going to close my eyes for a bit.” She did just that and as she fell asleep she felt Hawk press a kiss to her forehead and whisper, “Sweet dreams. We’ll talk more when you’re feeling better.”
She couldn’t wait, because as dire as things felt, she had hope that with Hawk she might find some happiness.