Chapter 1 #3
‘She kept trying to give it to me when I found her in the tunnel. She was confused. She said she couldn’t hear me. I guess from the explosion. I took it because it seemed important to her.’
He lets out a long sigh and opens the bag for me to see.
‘Envy? She brought it all with her?’
Shade closes his eyes. ‘She barely got out, Mav. Look at her.’
He brushes his fingers against her cheek gently. ‘She wasted precious seconds saving it and she almost got buried in that fucking cellar. Because of these fucking pills. Because of me.’
I snort. I can’t help it, and his eyes snap to mine.
‘Your fault? Our fault? Her fault? Naw, bro. It was whoever did this. It’s their fault. And we’re going to find the son of a bitch and end him.’
Shade goes quiet.
‘I’m going to check on Blake,’ I say. ‘Let him know we’ve seen her.’
I give Daisy a gentle kiss on her bandaged forehead.
‘I’ll be back in a little while, Tulip,’ I murmur. ‘I love you. Come back to us, okay?’
I turn away quickly to hide my glassy eyes, but Shade isn’t even looking my way. He’s just staring at Daisy, both his hands encasing one of hers like he’s praying. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he was.
‘She’s going to be okay, right?’ he whispers.
I nod. ‘She’s strong. She’ll pull through.’
I turn away so he doesn’t see my uncertainty. My fear.
‘Helluva Christmas,’ I hear him mutter.
I leave the room and go up the hallway to find Blake.
He’s in a room almost exactly the same as Daisy’s. His eyes are closed. When he hears me come in, he opens them and pulls off the oxygen mask that’s over his nose and mouth.
‘How is she?’
I don’t sugarcoat it. He wouldn’t thank me for that.
‘Head injury. They’ve put her in a medical coma because her brain is swelling. We don’t know any more than that right now. But she’s alive.’
‘Fuck,’ he whispers, closing his eyes again. ‘I should have been there. I should have tried harder to get to her.’
‘You would have died,’ I say quietly. ‘The first floor caved into the cellar. She got out on her own, Blake. She’s capable and strong.’ I huff. ‘She even saved the fucking pills.’
‘But she’s…she’s…’ He breaks off with a hard breath. ‘Fuck. I don’t care about Sauvage and his deadlines. I care that our girl is laying in a hospital bed and might not ever wake up.’
My heart lurches at his words. It’s nothing I haven’t already thought, but hearing it out loud… I won’t believe that she’s not going to be okay. I refuse.
‘Don’t discount her that fast. She’ll pull through,’ I say, my fists clenching.
‘She has to. I don’t want to care about the pills either, but the fact is, we have to.
She made sure she got them because they’re important, not just to us, but to her as well.
I’m not going to let everything that’s happened be in vain and neither should you.
Focus on getting better. Go sit with her when they let you.
Shade is speaking to Sauvage now. He’s going to make sure everyone knows it was a gas leak. ’
Blake nods. ‘Makes sense. Who do we think it was?’
‘You first,’ I say.
He puts his oxygen mask back over his nose and mouth, taking some deep breaths and coughing before taking it off again. ‘My money is on the stalker.’
‘But why?’ I ask, half to myself. ‘What does he gain? He wants her to find April’s murderer, not kill her.’
‘Who the fuck knows what he actually wants?’ Blake snarls. ‘He’s a fucking nutjob. He’s playing games…and they’re getting more dangerous.’
‘Maybe he didn’t know she was in there. Maybe it was just a message. Like Black.’
Blake doesn’t look convinced, but he shrugs. ‘Go back to Daisy,’ he says. ‘Stay with her. I’ll be there as soon as I have the all-clear.’
I nod and go to the door but turn back just for a second. ‘Glad you’re okay.’
He gives me a rueful grin. ‘Take more than a gas leak to get rid of me.’
Then he frowns and looks away, obviously remembering where our girl is right now.
I leave him, a heaviness settling deep in my chest as I walk back to Daisy’s room.
Shade is just outside, talking quietly on the phone, I guess to Sauvage.
I’m about to go inside when I hear a familiar voice close by.
Frowning, I go in search of it, and I find Applegate two rooms down on the other side of the hallway.
He’s muttering to himself, agitated and looking upset.
‘Just like before,’ he whispers. ‘Just like before.’
‘Professor Applegate,’ I say. ‘Are you okay? What happened? Do you want me to get someone?’
He startles and looks over at me, only to relax and shake his head.
‘They don’t care. They’re telling me it’s not true, saying I have PTSD, but I know it is. Don’t they think I’d remember something like that? The smell in the air, the color of the smoke? The way it tasted when I breathed it in? My best friend died in it. I remember every second, God dammit!’
I step inside his room and close the door a little, remembering the eavesdropping nurses. ‘Professor, what are you talking about?’
He looks impatient and frustrated. ‘The fire. The fire in the lab.’
Shit! The fire in the Novelle Center. With everything else, it had sort of slipped to the back of my mind.
‘You were in there when it happened?’ I ask Applegate.
He shows me his bandaged hands. ‘I tried to put it out. Fire suppression system shorted. That’s not supposed to happen. It was tested just last week. Doesn’t make sense unless…’
He shifts in the bed angrily, making it creak under him. ‘They’re saying they have to investigate to be sure. I could see they didn’t believe me. But I fucking know. ’
‘Know what?’ I ask.
‘The fire. It was the same as the one in Allentown.’
I frown at him. ‘The one Daisy’s dad died in?’
He looks surprised that I know about that.
‘Yeah,’ he says faintly.
‘You’re sure?’ I ask, wondering if I can really trust the professor’s version of events.
The guy looks like he’s aged twenty years in a night. He’s clearly been through the ringer. He might not be remembering things right.
‘Hundred percent,’ he replies, looking me in the eye. ‘It was the same. I’d stake anything on it. My life. My reputation. Anything, Maverick. I’m sure.’
‘But that was years ago,’ I mutter, half to myself. ‘Copycat?’
He looks down at his bandaged hands. ‘Not unless they were actually there the first time. The specifics, the accelerants used, were never public knowledge. The company we worked for covered it up.’
‘You think the same person who started the fire that killed Mark Evans also destroyed the Novelle lab?’ I ask.
‘I don’t know. But the similarities between them both… There’s no way it’s a coincidence. They spread so fast…’ He shakes his head as if to clear it.
‘The campus lab is going to be out of commission for a while,’ he says with a grimace.
I nod, having already been assuming the worst, and Applegate’s eyes find mine, narrowing in confusion.
‘You aren’t here to see me. Why are you at Richmond Memorial?’
‘Our club was destroyed today,’ I mutter. ‘Daisy was inside. She hurt her head. She’s in the ICU right now.’
‘Jesus.’ Applegate lets out a long breath. ‘Is she okay?’
‘She’s in pretty bad shape,’ I answer honestly.
‘Poor girl,’ he mutters, glancing at me. ‘Keep me posted, huh? Her father was my best friend. I knew her when she was a little kid…’
He lets out a breath and goes silent for several seconds before seeming to remember that I’m still there.
‘I made mistakes back then,’ he says quietly.
‘I’ve tried to keep things professional with her at Richmond U.
I didn’t want anyone getting the wrong idea, thinking she was being given things she doesn’t.
..but you know her. You know how brilliant she is.
Just like Mark was. You know she deserves her spot in the lab. ’
‘Yeah.’ I nod like I knew Daisy’s dad. ‘I know.’
‘How did it happen? The club. Her getting hurt.’ He looks suspicious.
‘Gas leak,’ I mutter.
His dubious eyes find mine. ‘Gas leak?’
Mine don’t leave his. ‘Gas leak.’
He nods. ‘I hope Miss Evans is okay. I promised Mark that I’d look after her and her mother.’
‘Why didn’t you, then?’ I grind out, suddenly angry that yet another adult let my girl down when she was too young to save herself. ‘Where were you when April married John and they sent Daisy away for a fucking decade?’
He frowns. ‘I didn’t know about April and John until long after they tied the knot.
I was in the hospital. I was dealing with my own…
I didn’t realize Mark had left them with nothing but debts.
If April had come to me… I would have helped as much as I could have.
And I had no idea that Marguerite had been sent away.
I cared about her. I would have helped any way I could if I’d known how bad. ..’
He looks down at his hands and doesn’t speak again.
I leave, my anger draining away. It was years ago and what the hell do I know? I wasn’t there back then. But I do file everything Applegate just said away to tell the others later.
I go back to Daisy and sit in the chair by her bedside, staring down at her still form.
My strong, beautiful girl looks so vulnerable like this. I hate it. She doesn’t deserve the shit that life has dealt her.
But do any of us?
I scooch closer and take her hand, resting my cheek in her palm and willing her to be okay. Because, the truth is, not only am I reluctant to imagine my life without Daisy in it, I no longer can.