Chapter 10
Chapter
Ten
Narelle had woken the second the door clicked shut behind Andy. She’d been floating to consciousness when he’d told her he had to make a call. Her cheek still tingled from the brush of his lips, and he’d been gone a long time.
Or maybe it was only a couple of minutes, but it felt like an hour.
The door opened, and her hopes that it was Andy returning were dashed when a woman in blue scrubs and dark hair bustled into the room.
“Good to see you awake,” she commented as she came up and placed her fingers around Narelle’s wrist to check her pulse; her grip a bit firmer than the other nurses had been when they’d done the same thing.
The nurse’s gaze kept flicking to the door, as if she were worried they would be interrupted.
A sense of unease filled Narelle, like it had when she’d almost been taken in Bali. The only problem this time was that she couldn’t move. She was stuck in a bed with a broken leg.
She surreptitiously reached for the buzzer that was near her other hand.
Her heartrate kicked up, and the machine monitoring it begin beeping a little faster.
So much for keeping the nurse unaware of her uncomfortableness.
Her flight instinct was kicking in, and if her left leg wasn’t covered in plaster, she’d have already gotten out of the bed.
Narelle gasped when the nurse pulled out a needle. Where had she been hiding that? “What are you doing?” she asked, inwardly groaning when she heard the way her voice shook. Another dead giveaway that she was panicking.
“It’s just your pain medication.” Her voice was soothing, but Narelle didn’t trust her at all. She didn’t know what it was about the nurse that was tugging at Narelle’s instincts, but she wasn’t going to ignore what her intuition was screaming at her.
“I don’t want any. My pain level is fine.”
The nurse patted her hand. “Yes, you do. You’re in a lot of pain.
” A hint of hardness had entered her voice.
Narelle fumbled for the buzzer. Surely another nurse would come in if she kept her finger on it.
“And I don’t think you’ll be needing that.
” The nurse flicked the cord away, and it clattered down the side of the bed.
Her life was in danger.
Why was this happening to her?
Sweat pebbled on her brow as another thought struck her.
Was her accident not an accident?
Was someone actively after her?
She opened her mouth to scream, but the nurse clamped a hand over it. “That wouldn’t be a good idea. Now just be a good girl and let me do this. You’ll be out of here in no time.”
What did she mean by that?
“What the fuck?”
In a flash, the nurse removed her hand from Narelle’s mouth, and shoved Andy as she rushed out of the room.
Everything froze for a minute. Andy’s mouth dropped and he frowned. His head swinging from the nurse to Narelle.
As though the play button has been pressed, he jerked into action and dashed out of her room. Narelle wanted to call him back. She didn’t want to be left alone. Helpless, because of her injuries.
What if the nurse hadn’t been working alone?
What had the woman meant when she’d said that Narelle wouldn’t be there for long?
Was she going to be kidnapped out of the hospital?
Was what happened to her in Bali connected to this moment?
“Darling? What’s going on? Are you okay?”
Relief swept through Narelle at hearing her mum’s voice, and all the emotions of the last few minutes poured out and she burst into tears. Her mum gathered her close, the familiar scent of Red Door, her mum’s favorite perfume, comforted her.
The room bustled with activity. People entering the room. Her father, demanding answers as to why his daughter was in tears.
Why there seemed to be a trail of debris through the hallway?
Narelle could probably answer that one, but words were impossible, her sobs seemed never ending.
“Breathe, darling. Mum’s got you.” Her mum repeated the words over and over, and eventually they sank in, and her crying calmed down, until Narelle gathered control of herself.
“I’m okay.” She hiccupped as she spoke, but the flood of crying had been cathartic. Her mum gave her a pat on the back and pulled away. Narelle’s tears had left a wet patch on her mum’s red t-shirt.
“Can someone please explain what the hell is going on?” Her father’s rough voice filled the room.
“I think someone tried to drug me,” Narelle answered.
“What?” Dad’s brow furrowed.
“The nurse that was in here, she had a syringe, and told me that it was pain medication, but something about her and the way she was acting seemed off.”
Saying it out loud gave it a sense of fakeness to it all. As if she’d been hallucinating. But she hadn’t dreamed the hand over her mouth. Or the way she’d pushed Andy out of the way.
“Andy! Where is he?” Panic filled her again.
What if he was hurt?
What if whoever the nurse had been working with had got him?
What if he was lying on the ground somewhere, dead?
Her breaths started coming out in shallow gasps.
“Narelle, calm down, darling. You’re going to hyperventilate. Slow breaths.”
Despite what her mother was saying, she couldn’t stop how her body was reacting to the situation. This wasn’t like anything she’d ever experienced before. Even after her attempted kidnapping in Bali, she’d been able to regulate her breathing.
She didn’t want anything to happen to Andy. He’d just returned to her life, and it seemed so unfair if something bad happened to him.
“Did. Anyone. See. Where. He. Went?” she asked after a few seconds, her words hitching on every breath she took.
Her parents and the medical people in the room didn’t say a word. Did no one see what happened?
Had she imagined it all?
No, she hadn’t. What happened was real.
“I saw them running down the hall as I came in.” The doctor, who she recognized from her short bouts with consciousness, appeared by her bedside. “Now, how about we do give you something to help you relax? You’re not helping your recovery getting your heartrate up so high.”
The last thing she wanted was to be drugged, not after what had happened. “No, please don’t. I’ll be okay. Give me a couple of minutes.” She would be better if she knew what was happening with Andy, but she had a feeling she wasn’t going to be told anything if she didn’t get herself under control.
Focusing inwardly, she made a concerted effort to control her breathing. To slow it down and take normal breaths instead of the short, sharp ones she’d been sucking in.
Narelle had to believe that Andy was going to be okay. He was a former SAS soldier. He told her that. He also told her he did other things for other government agencies now. He could handle the nurse and whoever she was working with.
Tiredness lapped at her heels as she steadied her breathing. She wanted to stay awake, but after everything that happened, it was impossible. Her body was dictating what she needed to do. “Don’t leave me alone,” she mumbled.
“I won’t.”
Narelle was sure the voice sounded like Andy’s, but it couldn’t be. He wasn’t there.