Chapter 7
HARPER-RAYN
Astupid smile plays on my lips as I pull my scrub top down into place while watching Knight behind me in the reflection of our bathroom mirror. Today is the day. My house arrest is officially over, and I’ve finally been cleared to head back to work.
Okay, house arrest is probably a little dramatic.
It really wasn’t that bad, and it’s not as though I wasn’t allowed to leave the house; Knight just made sure I didn’t have to.
Anything I needed, he made sure to have it here for me.
He was the perfect, delicious prison guard, though I doubt actual prisoners are getting the type of benefits I was getting during my lockup.
“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Knight murmurs, watching me dress.
“I’ll be fine,” I tell him, turning on my heel and walking straight into his open arms. “Amelia cleared me to work, and you know she wouldn’t have done that unless she was absolutely sure.
Besides, most of my shift is going to be catching up on reports.
I’ll only be on my feet for a little while, and if it gets to be too much, I’ll sit my ass back down. It’s not a big deal.”
Knight gives me a blank stare. “It sure as fuck is a big deal, and you know damn well that being on your feet isn’t what’s got me worried,” he reminds me. “We haven’t caught this fucker yet. There’s nothing stopping him from coming back and finishing what he started.”
“I’ll be okay,” I tell him, already having had this argument out a few times over the past couple days.
“I’ll have the hospital security walk me out to my car, and if for whatever reason the security guard is a dickhead and won’t do it, I’ll call you to personally escort my ass out to my car.
I’ll be safe, Knight. You don’t need to worry about me. ”
He scoffs. “You’re asking for the impossible, doll. I can’t help but worry about you, especially considering every damn phone call I get seems to be someone telling me that you’re being rushed into emergency surgery,” he mutters. “I might as well wrap you in Bubble Wrap and chain you to my bed.”
“Switch out the Bubble Wrap for skimpy lingerie, and you’ve got yourself a deal.”
Knight smirks, and I push up onto my tippy toes to press a kiss to his lips, but he’s so damn tall that he has to wind his arms around my waist and lift me off my feet just so I can reach.
I give him a quick kiss, and before I know it, I’m back on my feet, making my way up the hallway as a deep excitement pulses through my veins.
My work is my life. It’s part of my identity and gives me something to be proud of. It makes me feel as though I’m doing something good in the world, and without it, I’d feel empty. Knight knows this. It’s the same with his job, which is why he isn’t putting up more of a fight.
Reaching the front door, I pause and glance back, a smile lingering on my lips. “I’ll be home just after four.”
“Try not to get yourself killed.”
I salute him but can’t help the stupid smile that stretches across my lips. “Yes, sir. Bossy, sir.”
Knight shakes his head, fighting a grin. “Get the fuck out of here before you make yourself late.”
“And if I don’t?” I ask, hunger pooling deep in my core as I watch him watching me. “Are you going to punish me? Whip that belt off and teach me a lesson?”
“Don’t fucking tempt me, Morticia.”
Laughter tears from deep in my chest as I step out of the house and happily make my way to my old Honda that’s been living at the top of the driveway, completely untouched for the past four weeks.
I climb in, and just as Knight had so politely requested, I get my ass to work, because it’s one thing for him to want me to take time off to heal, but if I say I’m going to show up at work and make a commitment to my team, then he’ll walk through the darkest pits of hell to ensure I keep my word.
It’s a quick drive to the hospital, and I spend every minute of it singing along to whatever’s being played through my speakers, and truth be told, I sound more like a screeching cat with rabies trying to resurrect the dead, but I’m having a good time all the same.
That is until I turn into the hospital parking garage, and my good mood suddenly falters.
I haven’t been here since the attack, and because I’ve been so focused on how great it’d be to get out of the house and back to work, I didn’t take a moment to consider how it’d feel being back in this parking garage.
I didn’t realize I was the type to hold on to my trauma like this.
I always thought I was the chin-up kinda girl, the one who didn’t let things weigh her down, but the deeper I get into the parking garage, the harder it gets to keep going.
I find myself searching every dark corner, wondering if my attacker is waiting for me behind one of my colleagues’ cars, wanting to finish what he started, and as I reach the third floor and drive straight past the dark stain left on the dirty ground, a chill sweeps through my body.
I might be physically ready to go back to work, but it’s becoming more than clear that maybe I’m not mentally ready for this.
My chest heaves with shallow breaths as I finally find a parking space, and I quickly pull into it before looking around again.
There are a few people wandering around, locking up their cars and striding toward the stairwell to start their shift, and as I watch them, my heart calms. These people are witnesses, and while they’re here, nothing could possibly happen to me.
I’m safe.
No stalker, not even one as brutal as the man who attacked me, is dumb enough to make a move with this many people around. If he’s going to strike again, it won’t be now.
With that in mind, I scramble from my car and hightail it toward the stairwell, diving into it behind the other night shift workers.
I discreetly position myself right between them, forming a wall of protection around myself as we all make our way toward the main entrance of the hospital, and the moment I step over the threshold, all traces of fear fizzle out of my body, leaving me ready for the night ahead.
I arrive at the morgue barely three minutes later, and after swiping my access card and pushing through the big double doors, I step into my happy place to find Dr. McKullan busily working away.
“Dr. Madden,” he says with a fond smile. “Nice to have you back.”
“Good to be back,” I tell him. “I hope it hasn’t been too chaotic while I’ve been gone.”
“Oh, nothing that we can’t handle,” he says, though the way his brows arch and the stack of untouched files sitting in the to-do pile suggests that these past few weeks have been more than just chaotic.
On a normal day, Blackstone’s one and only morgue is run off its feet, and being down a doctor for four weeks could only result in disaster, and because of that, I don’t hesitate to drop my things on the edge of my desk and get busy.
I quickly scrub in and get myself prepped and ready before selecting a file off the top and finding the corresponding body in the refrigeration unit.
It’s a good twenty minutes before I’m finally able to get lost in my work.
As I go about the autopsy, I distantly notice Dr. McKullan hovering, and I realize that he has absolutely no intention of leaving.
“I’m okay, you know,” I tell him. “You don’t need to stay to make sure I don’t spontaneously die during my shift. Go spend the night with your family.”
“Oh, uhh . . . I know that,” Dr. McKullan says, clearing his throat and looking everywhere but at me, realizing he’s been more than sprung. “I just thought I’d try and help get on top of these autopsies. Detective Gray has been hounding me for reports.”
“Gray is always hounding us for reports,” I say, giving him a hard stare. “And you know that if you were really concerned about it, I’d be happy to come in during the day shift and help. You’re hovering.”
Dr. McKullan scoffs. “I don’t hover.”
I give him another hard stare, and he lets out a heavy sigh.
“Fine. I’m hovering,” he finally admits.
“But can you blame me? One minute you’re having a meltdown over missing bodies, and the next, you’re bleeding out in the parking garage.
I’m concerned about you, and I’m starting to wonder if the night shift isn’t in your best interest.”
“The night shift is the best thing for me,” I tell him, letting my attention fall back to the open body before me, feeling uncomfortable with the conversation.
Dr. McKullan has always been my mentor. He’s much older, and any communication between us has always been professional, so those rare times where it toes the line of becoming personal, I never know how to respond.
“This is where I can relax. Where I’m my best self. ”
I sense him watching me, a heaviness in his eyes.
“Okay, Dr. Madden. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, but I need you to be smart.
No walking through the parking garage alone at night.
I can arrange someone to walk you to your car, or if you’re not comfortable with that, I can come in early for my shift and escort you myself. ”
I offer him a small smile. “You sound like my boyfriend.”
“He sounds like a smart man.”
“More like overprotective.”
Dr. McKullan chuckles. “Give me your word, Harper. I won’t feel comfortable leaving you alone here unless I know you’re being safe.”
“You have my word.”
“See to it that I do,” he says. “Because just one slip-up, and I won’t hesitate to switch you back to day shift. I can’t have my staff dropping dead and showing up on my table.”
“Switching me back to day shift won’t be necessary. Really, I’ll be alright.”