Chapter 21 Harper-Rayn
HARPER-RAYN
The early-morning sun streams through my small private hospital room, shining against my face and forcing me awake, and as I stretch, I’m immediately reminded of how much everything hurts.
It sucks. Actually, it more than sucks.
Becoming the object of someone’s affection sounds like a walk in the park. It sounds fucking splendid if you’d ask me, except if that person whose affection you have just happens to be a raging psychopath with fuck-you money and a God complex that makes him far too big for his boots.
Elias thinks he’s untouchable, and I’m starting to wonder if he’s right.
He’s a billionaire, for fuck’s sake, and he has the ability to do whatever he wants and pay off anyone who gets in the way of his twisted games.
When he approached me in the parking garage, he didn’t stutter, he didn’t falter or second-guess himself.
That tells me I’m not his first victim. Elias is well-versed in the art of stalking women, and I just hope that those who’ve come before me didn’t end up on my table down in the morgue.
Fuck, wouldn’t that just be poetic. It would be like a full-circle moment.
“Girl, you know you fart in your sleep,” a familiar tone comes from across the room.
My head snaps up from the pillow, finding Diesel sitting in the armchair in the farthest corner that gives him the best view of the door, the window, and the private bathroom.
Embarrassment floods through me, but I quickly shrug it off.
After having both Diesel and Ace walk in while I had the devil vibrator stuck inside me, I don’t think there’s a point in being embarrassed anymore, not with these guys.
I lost all my dignity on that couch, and I don’t think it’s coming back any time soon.
“You know, Izzy told me that she thinks Ace is packing more than you,” I tell him. “And for the record, Knight thinks my sleep toots are adorable.”
“Knight’s been knocked around a few too many times,” he smirks.
I grin right back at him. “And you haven’t?” I tease. “But speaking of, where is he? I didn’t realize he was capable of walking two feet from my bedside.”
Diesel shakes his head. “Don’t ask questions you’re not ready to have answered,” he warns me. “All you need to know is that he’s on his way back. He should be here soon.”
A chill sweeps through my veins. There’s only one place he would have gone, and that’s to deal with his brother. “Shit. He was with Elias.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Is he okay?”
“Define okay,” Diesel says. “Physically, I believe he’s alright, but Elias is his brother.
What he had to do couldn’t have been easy, and while he would do anything for you, that kind of shit leaves scars.
Not to mention the guilt that’s been riding on his shoulders ever since he realized he was wrong. The man’s a mess, Harper.”
My whole body slumps, and despite having a full night’s sleep and being reenergized, I suddenly feel as though I haven’t slept in years. “Shit.”
“I know he’s all about groveling right now, and so he should be, but don’t be too hard on him. All he ever wanted was to make sure you were okay.”
I nod just as a soft knock sounds at the door, and Dr. McKullan strides in, a strange hesitance about him. “Dr. Madden,” he says with a polite smile, welcoming himself in before sending a questioning glance toward Diesel.
“Protection detail,” I tell him.
“Uhhh, understood,” he says before awkwardly standing at the foot of my bed and looking around as though unsure of why he’s here. “I just thought I’d come see how you were doing before my shift.”
“Alright,” I say, choosing not to call him on his bullshit, seeing as it’s first thing on a Saturday morning, and as long as I have known Dr. McKullan, he’s never once volunteered to work a weekend.
“I didn’t need to have emergency surgery or be forced into a psych hold, so that’s a nice change of pace. ”
Dr. McKullan smirks. “I don’t know whether I should be pleased for you or angered that this happened in the first place.”
“Angered,” I say with a small smile. “When in doubt, always go with angered. People tend to leave you alone when they think you’re pissed off.”
“I’ll be sure to remember that,” he says, scooping up the chart at the end of my bed and quickly scanning over it. “Concussion?”
“Yeah. It’s nothing too serious, but I suppose that’s bound to happen when a psychopath slams your head against a toilet bowl.”
“Very true,” he says, dropping the chart back into place before stepping around the edge of the bed and offering me an uncomfortable smile that sends a wave of nervousness crashing through me.
“Listen, Harper. I think it’s in not only yours, but everyone’s best interest, if you were to return to day shift until your attacker has been caught and dealt with. ”
“Why do I feel like I don’t get a say in the matter?”
“You don’t,” he tells me. “I should have listened to my gut after you were stabbed. I should have pushed harder for you to return to day shift then, but I didn’t, and that’s on me.
As the head of the department, I am responsible for the safety of my team, and I let you down by allowing you to continue on the night shift.
You were left vulnerable, and I won’t allow it any longer. ”
The need to burst into tears rips through me, but I manage to keep my cool and force a weak smile.
While I don’t like it, I’m also not willing to risk my career over it, so if day shift is what I have to do for the time being, then that’s exactly what I’ll do.
“It’s okay. I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t see this coming,” I tell him, hoping like hell he truly is open to discussing returning to night shift after Elias has been put away.
“Good, it’ll be nice not to have to worry about you dying every time you step into my morgue.”
“Yeah, I’m looking forward to that too,” I say. “But is it too much to ask that the day shift be brought into the twenty-first century and listen to music while we work?”
“Of course,” Dr. McKullan says. “Music, yes. Your music, no. I don’t need to be listening to some woman sing about a WAP while I’m trying to dissect a brain. I have some beautiful classical music from my childhood that I can bring in. The team will love it.”
Ahh, fuck. But also, he knows what a WAP is?
“Great,” I say. “Looking forward to it.”
“Wonderful.” Dr. McKullan gives me a firm smile before nodding toward my security detail, turning on his heel, and making his way back to the door.
Only he pauses with his hand on the door.
“Don’t hurry back, Harper. I know you too well.
If you’re given two weeks of bed rest, then I expect you to use every one of those two weeks before you return. Understood?”
“Yes, Doctor.”
“Good.”
He pulls open the door, and with one last smile, he slips out of the room, but before the door gets a chance to slam shut, it swings open again. Knight appears a moment later, and as if on cue, Diesel gets to his feet. “How’d it go?”
“It’s done,” Knight says with a nod, his gaze shifting to me and checking me over as though counting every single one of the bruises decorating my face. “Thanks for staying with her.”
“Sure, man,” Diesel says before striding past him to the door. “Let me know if you need anything,” he adds before stepping over the threshold and pulling the door closed behind him, leaving me and Knight alone.
“You were gone,” I say, clearly stating the obvious but unsure how to bring this up.
Knight nods and comes to sit at the edge of my bed, his hand resting on my thigh. Only as my gaze sweeps over his knuckles, I find them split and covered in blood. I suck in a gasp. “You’re hurt.”
“Huh?” he mutters, glancing down at his hand and taking it in as though only just seeing the blood for the first time. “Oh yeah. It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
I scoff and throw the blankets back before climbing out of bed.
“Doll,” Knight warns, getting to his feet, his tone suggesting he knows exactly what I’m about to do. “Get your ass back in bed. I’ll worry about myself later.”
I fix him with a hard stare. “Your hands are in worse condition than any of the bruises on my body,” I tell him, anger rising in my chest as I dig through the supply closet in the small room, finding everything I need to fix him up.
“So sit down and shut up. I’m going to do this whether you like it or not.
But for the record, the sooner you man up and let me help you, the sooner I’ll be back in bed. ”
He lets out a huff and sits right in the center of the bed where I had been only a moment ago, and with all the supplies in my hand, I make my way back over to him, dumping everything on the little snack table.
I climb up onto the bed, not stopping until I’m straddling his lap, and I’m pleased when he voluntarily lays his hands on my thighs, letting me assess them properly.
They’re bad. These aren’t just the kind of injuries someone gets from punching someone once or twice.
These are from repetitive, full-force strikes with the intention to cause as much damage as possible.
“If this is what your hands look like, I’d hate to see how Elias turned out,” I murmur, distantly noticing that, apart from his hand, there’s not another scratch on his body, meaning that Elias didn’t even get a chance to swing.
“It’s settled,” he tells me as I clean him up, sucking in a breath as I realize just how deep some of these cuts are. I’m gonna have to give him a few stitches. “He’s going to turn himself in to the police with a full confession. He won’t be able to hurt you again.”
I close my eyes and take a breath, the deepest relief coursing through my veins. “It’s finally over?”
“Yeah, doll. It’s over.”
“Assuming he actually turns himself in, that is.”
“Right,” he mutters, his thumb brushing back and forth across my thigh. “He knows what will happen if he chooses not to confess.”
My gaze shifts to his, a shakiness in my voice. “You’ll kill him?”