Chapter 14
Tessa closed the door of her office at Bay County Memorial behind her. Leaning against it, she put her hand over her mouth and screamed into her palm. “Dammit, Frank. You couldn’t stay away, could you? You had to come back and screw things up again.”
She covered her head with the towel she’d swiped from the ER staff locker room and wrung out the excess water from her hair.
The list of things Frank had wrecked since yesterday read like a to-do list from Satan.
Why in heaven’s name did the one thing that paled in comparison to the others piss her off?
Hudson had been about to kiss her, but Russ and his announcement that the ambulances were leaving with Lia and Malcolm interrupted the moment. Instead of distracting Lia on the way to the hospital with a replay, she’d ranted about the missed opportunity.
She didn’t have much experience with men, but she’d paid attention to the ones who’d shown interest—from the teenage boy on the beach in Jacksonville she’d stupidly trusted with her body and her secrets to Shawn, who was terrible at hiding his crush. She knew when a guy was intrigued.
Everything, from the deep rumble in Hudson’s voice to the attention on her lips, indicated an imminent kiss she’d silently begged to get lost in.
She needed a distraction to get lost in now.
She tossed the damp towel across the room.
A place to live would be great too. Since she’d been evaluated in the emergency room, fear about who turned her life into a crime drama had swelled into anger.
The patients and staff didn’t need to witness her epic meltdown.
It was bad enough that she might have to live in her office.
Between her mountain of student loans and the cost of buying new clothes and furnishing an apartment, she couldn’t afford a hotel until her renters insurance came through.
She couldn’t stay with Lia and her mom. They’d take her in without hesitation, but her mom was battling cancer and that family had done so much for her already. And while it was sweet of Shawn to offer his spare bedroom, that wasn’t happening either.
She tugged on the hem of the scrub top she’d borrowed from the stockpile in the locker room after she’d showered and tossed her smoke-drenched clothes in the garbage.
Everything else she owned was garbage too.
According to a report Lia obtained from her contacts at the fire department, Sam’s side had only sustained smoke damage.
Her side, her bedroom in particular, was toast.
Thank God she had a fireproof lockbox where she kept her birth certificate, her passport in case she ever needed to put an ocean between her and Frank, and photos of her mom. But everything else was fried.
A sob expanded in her chest with such force it hurt. Tears fell down her cheeks as she grabbed the glass vase on her desk filled with seashells and threw it at the wall.
Her door burst open. Hudson’s broad frame consumed the doorway. Droplets of water flew from his hair as he scanned the room. He crossed the carpet holding an energy drink like a weapon and stopped in front of her. “Are you okay?”
The only threat in here was herself, if she didn’t get her anger under control. “Get out. Please.”
God, and these four walls she whispered to when her past and fears demanded a voice, were the only audience she needed.
Hudson was not. She’d never even been one-hundred-percent honest with Sam about her past. Would he have understood and told her it wasn’t her fault?
Yes, she had no doubt. But it wouldn’t have erased her shame.
Telling Hudson was too much of a risk. He trusted her because Sam had, but if he knew her secrets, he’d flip his “pretty little thief” nickname to an ugly label as quickly as the boy from the beach had done when she’d been sixteen.
Hudson touched his ID badge. “I’ve been part of this hospital far longer than you have. Nobody tells me to get out.” He smirked. “They actually beg me to stay.”
“I bet they do.”
He probably had his own corner office waiting for him when he came home and graced the hospital with his time and wisdom. She thought he’d been treated like royalty at the police station. When they’d walked into the emergency room he’d been treated like a movie star.
Damn, did he look like one straight out of a medical drama.
Like her, he’d showered and changed into dark blue scrubs.
Did the hospital order a custom size to accommodate his broad shoulders and thick biceps?
She’d have to check the stats to see if visits by females spiked when Dr. Hudson Langley was in town.
He eyed the remains of the vase. “Is throwing things against the wall part of your daily routine?”
“Only on days when everything I own burns in a blast.” She pulled in a deep breath and pressed pause on her meltdown. “Did Malcolm’s test results come back yet?”
“Yes. I looked at the scans myself. No sign of a brain injury, to which he took great pleasure in telling me, ‘I told you so.’”
“Did you check on Lia?”
“I sutured her wound and left Malcolm to keep her distracted.”
Tessa’s hand drifted to her hairline. “You stitched her up? How bad was she hurt?”
“The forehead laceration was fairly deep. She’s had a rough day. I wanted to make sure she was taken care of quickly so she could rest. I also know my work won’t scar.”
Tessa’s heart did a little flip. He’d been through a lot today too. A half-dozen staff members in the emergency room could have attended to Lia, but Hudson had made sure her friend had been taken care of. “You’re that good?”
“Yes, but I can’t do much about the damage she may do to Malcolm. Seems he hit his head hard enough to cause dizziness. She kept trying to help him up, so he pretended to be unconscious to make her run for help. She’s pretty pissed he duped her into letting him burn.”
Tessa smiled, her body tired but her heart a smidge lighter as she backed to her desk and leaned against it. How could Hudson have known her for such a short time and already be so good at pulling her out of her own head?
Because he was Sam’s grandson, and Sam had been good at that.
Hudson stepped up to the desk and placed the energy drink next to her. With his thumb, he wiped away the remains of a tear. “You’ve stopped flinching when I touch you there. Glad to see you aren’t afraid of me anymore.”
“I was never afraid of you. Just of a memory.”
“Tell me about it.”
She shook her head. “I can’t.”
He shifted his fingers to her chin. “You will. Soon.”
Bracing both hands on the desk, he leaned into her.
“The police will be here shortly to take the rest of our statements. I need to talk to you first, but you look like you’re about to either have a heart attack or break something again.
” He reached for the energy drink and unscrewed the cap.
“Drink this. I need you sane and conscious to get answers and to tell the police what happened.”
She took the bottle from him. “Do I look that bad?”
He picked up a damp curl from the neckline of her top and curled it around his finger. “You look like a warrior who just walked through fire. Tell me what else you need from me to reset and recharge.”
“I need—”
I need you.
Her body remembered how unrelenting and secure he’d felt when he pulled her against him after the fire. When their lips had brushed, he’d tasted of flames and sweat and coiled tension. Everything a superhero running on adrenaline and emotion should taste like.
Now, his hard features inches from her face, and even harder muscles bunched to explode like her house, needed an outlet.
So did she.
Nothing would get broken. How could it? They were both already shattered.
Or maybe she needed to break down completely.
Let him wreck her. She had no doubt he could in the very best way until she couldn’t think any longer.
Maybe it would help him forget, and not just about everything that had happened since he’d come home.
She knew the signs of PTSD firsthand. Her mother had suffered from it thanks to Frank.
She died from it thanks to Tessa.
Hudson’s eyes dropped to Tessa’s lips. “What were you about to say? Tell me what you need.”
Saying she needed him to lock the door and fuck her on her desk was riskier than telling him about her past. Once she told him the things she’d done, he’d look at her like the boy on the beach had.
So far, Hudson had been everything that sixteen-year-old boy hadn’t. But Hudson thought Frank was the only criminal in the family.
She blew out her fears along with her breath and lied about what she needed. “Tell me the things you need to say before the cops come.”
Something dark and dangerous flickered across Hudson’s face. Frustration? As in frustrated because he needed her as much as she needed him?
The look cooled into professionalism, tense and controlled, as he perched on the desk next to her.
“My contact analyzed the photo of Frank you lifted from Fry Jack.”
She gathered her damp hair in her hands. “Wow. That was fast. What did he find?”
“The photo is legit and was taken yesterday.”
The shiver that racked her body had nothing to do with her wet curls spilling from her hands and onto her shoulders. “He’s here.”
Hudson nodded. “My contact also sent me a video he uncovered. He said it’s also legit.”
As Hudson tapped on a message, she recognized the video feed from the casino parking garage in Atlantic City as soon as he hit play. Even though she’d watched it a dozen times last night after she’d procured it from the casino’s network, her breath still caught.
The man breaking into Sam’s car looked exactly like Frank. She couldn’t see his face, but his build and his hair color were the same. He even wore dingy, old clothes that matched Frank’s lack of style.
She stayed quiet until the video ended in case she missed something. “I found this last night.”
He held up a hand as he slid in front of her. “Wait. So, you’re a pretty little hacker too?”