Chapter Seven #2
“When I came back to the room, the monitor was unplugged. I plugged it back in and hit the alarm when I noticed he was struggling.”
“I’ll have security pull the cameras outside of the room, just to be sure someone from our team didn’t accidentally unplug it. You can go back in now. It’s a good thing you were here and acted so quickly.”
Unease tightened in her belly, but she refused to think about what might’ve happened if she’d gone to lunch with Sully’s family.
Had Bentley wanted her to go with them so she didn’t go back to the room and discover he was in distress?
And if so, how did Sully’s brother know he’d be struggling to breathe…
unless he’d done something hoping to silence him or make his condition worse.
She blew out a hard breath. She was talking about murder here.
Like something out of one of the crime books she loved so much.
Maybe it was just a weird fluke, but the second she thought it, her gut tightened with unease.
Jane stood at the side of the bed, staring at Sully for a long time.
He had a mask over his face and mouth, ensuring he got the oxygen his body desperately needed.
She leaned down and kissed his forehead like she had earlier.
“I’ve got you,” she murmured softly against his skin.
“And I’m not leaving this room again until Red and Thalia get here.
” Jane went to the corner where she’d been keeping her things and grabbed her phone from the tote bag on the floor.
It rang once before Red picked up.
“Jane, everything okay?” A horn honked in the background. “Thalia and I just landed in Baltimore. We got a red-eye.”
“I’m happy you’re here.” Jane sunk into the vinyl chair she’d been sleeping in and hugged her knees to her chest.
“What’s going on?” he asked over the sound of suitcases rolling over concrete.
“I’m not sure.” She paused, biting the inside of her cheek. “Now that I know you’re coming, maybe it would be better for us to talk in person.” She glanced toward the door and wondered if there was a way to keep it locked.
“Are you safe?” The urgency in Red’s tone snapped her back to their conversation.
“Yes, I’m in Sully’s room.” The guardian who’d so selflessly rescued her should not be laid up in a hospital bed. Shouldn’t have that oxygen mask covering his face. One that was the most intoxicating mix of hard, masculine lines softened by those gilded eyes.
“And Sully? He okay?”
“He is now.” She’d do better to protect him, even if it meant guarding the damn door.
“Okay. Stay where you are and we’ll come straight to the hospital. GPS on my phone says twenty-five minutes.” There was the chirp of a key fob and the click of locks. Doors opened, then quickly slammed shut. She was thankful Red and Thalia were so expeditious.
“They’re only allowing one person in the room at a time, and I don’t want to leave Sully to come out and talk.” Even talking about leaving the room made her break out in a cold sweat.
“We’ll find a way. See you soon.”
*
True to Red’s word, the door to Sully’s hospital room opened approximately twenty minutes later. Somehow, Red had not only convinced the nursing staff to let him in, but also the beautiful dark-haired, green-eyed woman at his side.
“You must be Jane.” The man standing in front of her was shorter than Sully, but she’d be hard pressed to find someone who wasn’t. He had kind cobalt eyes, red hair, and was tattooed to the hilt. “I’m Red and this is my fiancée, Thalia.”
Jane stood and crossed the room with a few steps.
Thalia immediately stepped forward and pulled her into a hug, then to her surprise, Red leaned in and kissed the top of her head.
“Thanks for being here for him.” Red’s voice was thick, as though it was taking every ounce of his strength to hold his emotions at bay.
Maybe it was her frayed nerves or lack of sleep, but a self-depreciating, slightly hysterical laugh left her lips. “He wouldn’t be here at all if it wasn’t for me.”
Red narrowed his eyes. “If I know Sully at all, which I do, he’s feeling pretty damn lucky to have you here with him.”
“You can’t know that.” Her words faded into a whisper as she looked at the unconscious man in the hospital bed.
“Wrong,” he said with absolute certainty. “He gave you my number and Ransom said he was adamant that you take the MEDEVAC flight with him. That tells me everything I need to know. Now, fill us in on why you called earlier.”
Jane paced toward the window by the door and peered out. If Red was able to convince the nurse stationed at the desk to let him and Thalia back, she couldn’t be sure that Bentley wouldn’t be allowed, too. “Did you see Sully’s parents outside? Are they still in the waiting room?”
“No, I didn’t.” Red rubbed circles on Thalia’s back as the woman stared down at Sully with glassy eyes. “They were here?”
She nodded. “And his younger brother. His sisters had to go back to Massachusetts.”
Red jerked his head back. “Bentley? Are you sure?”
“Yes.” She licked her lips, which were impossibly dry and scabbed from the sunburn. “What do you know about him?”
“Only met him once when I was at Sully’s parents’ horse ranch. Thought he was self-absorbed and immature.”
“He came in to visit Sully this afternoon.” Jane explained what had happened with the machine and how Sully had been in respiratory distress when she arrived. “I confronted him in the waiting room, and he denied shutting off the monitor, but his reaction didn’t inspire much confidence.”
“Shit, Jane.” Red scrubbed his hands over his face. “You confronted him? Sully is going to kick my ass for not getting here sooner. It’s dangerous to back someone into a corner.”
“I didn’t think of it like that, but I guess you’re right. If Bentley does have ill intentions toward Sully, now he knows I’m suspicious.”
“Who was in the room before Bentley?” Thalia asked.
“First me, then I went out to the waiting room so Kelly could see her son. After that, Sully’s dad went in, and last was Bentley. John said the monitor was on when he left the room.”
“I know Kelly and John well. John’s former military and Kelly runs a nonprofit ranch for abused horses.
She has some cows and donkeys, too. They live simple.
I’m not so sure what Bentley has his hands into, but Sully mentioned he moved to Vegas.
I’m going to call our friend Jude. He runs a task force for the Department of Homeland Security and has connections I don’t.
I’m interested to see what Bentley’s been up to, but I can’t think of a reason he’d try to purposely hurt his brother. ”
“People do bad things,” Thalia said. “Money, jealously, power.”
“Unfortunately, there are no cameras inside the hospital room, so I have no way of knowing or proving Bentley did anything.” Jane’s shoulders slumped as she pulled the blankets up over Sully and repositioned him.
Red nodded and wrapped his arm around his fiancée’s waist. “Then we’ll be vigilant until we know more.”