Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
Gina Musgrave winced as she stood. The guy, the sad one with the dying mother, stood over her, offering his hand. He pulled her up, temporarily making her forget everything. But the police brought her back to reality, one she didn’t want to experience.
What the hell was she going to do? Getting the police involved would only make the situation worse.
She took off, moving quickly away from the officers before they could get their claws in and mess her life up even more. She moved from one alley to another, winding her way back to the hospital.
When she touched her cheek, she felt the wetness and pulled her hand away.
Blood. Great, now she needed to take care of the cut on her cheek.
Damn him for hitting her. More questions would arise, and the administration would find out what was going on.
She would lose her job. No one wanted someone on staff mixed up in the crap she’d found herself in.
“Hey,” someone called from behind her.
Gina picked up her pace, trying to get into the hospital before another one of their goons could stop her. She was close to the hospital, and if she ran the last bit, she might be able to get inside before the jerk caught up.
Never do favors was the lesson she’d learned in all of this. Why had one small offer of kindness turned into this fiasco?
A hand came down heavy on her shoulder, and she turned to brush them off, or maybe fight them. Not that she would win in a fight, but she sure as hell wasn’t going to go down easy.
“Hold up.”
She spun, seeing that it was the guy from earlier.
He was her patient’s son, and not one of the goons sent to destroy her.
Relief slid through her, but it didn’t last long.
She needed to get into the hospital and fix her face.
She was sure her hair had come undone, too.
It was bad enough that this guy had seen her get hit.
She didn’t want him to see how messed up she was after the attack.
“What is going on with you?”
She took a step away from him. “Nothing.”
“That wasn’t nothing.”
She took another step back, coming close to the ramp that led down to the basement. “It wasn’t something.”
“Really? Because the cut on your cheek tells another story.”
She lifted her hand to cover the cut on her cheek, but saw dirt on her fingers and stopped. Great, the cut might already be infected. How had this become her life?
“I’m fine.”
“You shouldn’t be fine after getting punched like that. Let me help you clean up that cut.”
A man entered the alley and started heading her way. It was another one of Pete’s men. Why were they still after her? She’d explained more than once that she didn’t have what they wanted.
The man trying to help her glanced over his shoulder and took another step closer to her. “How about we get into the hospital before he gets any closer?”
Pete’s guy was headed her way. At least they had stayed out of the hospital so far. She couldn’t take much more of this.
“Sure.”
She used her badge to open the back door and stepped inside. This end of the building wasn’t used for much on this floor. It was mostly supplies, which served her well because she needed to clean her cut and make herself look presentable, or as presentable as she could.
Wave glanced back, seeing the guy turn around as they headed deeper into the hospital. Then the woman came to a stop and opened a door, leading him into a small room.
“My name is Wave—at least that’s what my friends call me. Real name is Aaron.”
The woman’s eyebrows went up. “Why Wave?”
“Because the first time I piloted a CRRC, a rogue wave hit and flipped us. We had to be rescued.”
“A what?”
“Sorry, Navy speak. A combat rubber raiding craft. I wasn’t the best pilot and opted to go down a different path.”
“Ah, you’re the Navy kid. Your mom spoke about you before she got bad.”
“Oh.” He didn’t know what to think about that. He forgave, but he never forgot. Cassandra was the reason he stayed in touch. His mom had told him many times about how disappointed she was in him.
“Your sister is really nice. Is she going to live with you?”
“She is. Sorry, but I don’t know your name.”
The woman’s lips turned down in a frown. “It’s Gina Musgrave. Well, my mom wanted me to go by Eugenia. But I never liked the name.”
“Gina fits.”
She rolled her eyes, letting out a harsh chuckle. “Like you’d know. You have no idea what I’m like.”
“You’re tough. I know that much.”
She drew in a slow breath, then shook her head. “I’m not tough. I just want to live my life, but I don’t think—never mind.”
Wave studied her. She had long brown hair, dark eyes, thin lips, and that was really all he could determine about her features with her thick makeup. She was attractive, even with all the makeup on.
“Want to talk about those men who were after you?”
She shook her head. “I need to clean this up.” She began opening drawers and cabinets, pulling out alcohol and cotton rounds.
“If you wipe away the blood, the makeup is going to come off, and people will see those bruises.”
She gasped and spun to face him. “What bruises?”
He pointed to the spot on her neck that wasn’t covered. “That’s a thumbprint. And based on the position and color of the bruise, I’m guessing he probably wanted to kill you. Did something interrupt him?”
She stared at him for a moment, then gave her head a quick shake. “He doesn’t want me dead, just scared. If I’m dead, they can’t get it back.”
He was about to ask her what they wanted back when the door opened, and someone wearing scrubs walked in.
“Oh, Nurse Musgrave, I didn’t know you were down here.”
“Yeah, I fell, and this nice man is helping me clean up.”
The other person nodded but looked doubtful. She’d probably seen the same bruises he had and wondered what was up with Gina falling so many times.
His phone buzzed, and he pulled it out of his pocket. It was his sister. She’d finished her test and would be here in about thirty minutes.
“Everything okay?” Gina asked.
He nodded. “Cassandra is on her way over. I need to get back up there.”
“I’m fine. You can go.”
“No, let me help you get cleaned up.”
He took the alcohol from her and poured a little on the cotton round before dabbing her cheek. She winced, but he didn’t let up. The other person left, leaving them alone.
Perhaps he wasn’t being nice enough with his touch, but she had at least two people after her who weren’t going to be nice. He wanted more information, but he had to put Cassandra first. Maybe later he could find some time to check with Gina.
Wave worried about his sister. So far, she’d seemed like nothing was bothering her, but there was no way she wasn’t upset.
The trauma of losing a mother would upset even the toughest person.
There was no shame in being devastated. He just needed his sister to accept the pain before she could learn to live with it.
Gina winced as he cleaned her cut with more alcohol. “I think I misjudged you.”
“What do you mean?” Wave asked.
“You’re not even trying to be gentle and pretend like you’re some nice guy who wants to get into my pants.”
His lips tipped up. “Sorry. I’m off my game, but I don’t think you need another jerk chasing after you right now. You have multiple people threatening you, and you aren’t accepting help from the police.”
Laughter slipped from her lips. “The police aren’t innocent here. They know what’s going on and won’t do anything to help.”
He leaned back and met her gaze. “What do you mean?”
She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Really? Do you think everyone in law enforcement is good?”
“I don’t,” he replied a little too quickly.
Her eyebrows shot up, and she winced before blowing out a breath. She reached out and grabbed a clean cotton round.
“It hurts, doesn’t it?” he asked.
“Yeah, it hurts. I guess with your job you’ve been injured?”
He snorted a laugh. “Sure have. It’s part of the gig.”
“I don’t like rolling over in bed and having to adjust because of a bruise.”
He should stay out of her business, but he wanted to know more. “Before you leave today, I want you to stop by and talk to me.”
“Why?”
“Maybe I can do something.”
She rolled her eyes again. “What could you do?”
He stepped back and held her gaze. “I know people. Just come by and talk. If I can help, I’d like to.”
Maybe he’d pushed too hard. She didn’t know him, but he needed her to trust him, at least a little, if he wanted to find out who was hurting her.
He shouldn’t care so much. His life was full at the moment with plenty of things to worry about. But turning off that part of him was hard. And she’d been here for his mom and, more importantly, his sister. Helping her was the least he could do.