Shit.
“She could have just ignored it,” I said, trying hard not to remember the betrayal that led to me not speaking to my friend. “She is my ex-wife after all.”
“That’s just not Mimi and you know it,” Kemp replied.
“Well you can report back to her and tell her not to worry, I’m fine.”
“You look fine,” he said, sarcastically. “I should have known a fire wouldn't bring down the unstoppable Kane Garrick.”
Fire?
Sparks of memory flooded back, coupled with a crippling headache of Maurelle, what we did on the spider web board she had tied me to, and how good it had felt, how it felt to have her all but confirm she would kill me.
Then the fiery flames licking at my skin before I passed out.
“Seriously, Kemp, just leave, I’m good.”
He stood up, his smile gone. “We still care about you.”
“You certainly didn’t think that when you moved in with my ex-wife,” I said. “I’ll have her name removed from my next of kin tomorrow.”
“You can’t go through life alone, Kane. You know where we are when you need us.”
I didn’t respond, watching as he left the room, downtrodden. I felt remorseful as I watched his shadow leave my sight and I was plunged into the loneliness of the room. The beeping was still driving me crazy, but I was able to tune it out when I focused enough.
Maurelle’s vision haunted me as I closed my eyes. She’d gotten away and had almost taken me out.
I’d fucked up, royally.
Grace popped her head in the room again with a beaming smile that made it hard to hate the intrusion.
“You hungry, Detective Garrick?” she asked me.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t mind some food.”
She grabbed a tray from the trolley she’d been wheeling around and brought it over to the table, wheeling a tray holder over to sit over the bed. She placed the tray down and helped to unpeel the foil from the top of the bowl and subsequent jello tub.
“Press the button on the side of the bed to call if you need anything,” she said with a bounce in her step as she left me alone. My hands felt numb, but I was able to move them so I could pick up the plastic fork to eat the jello. My throat was sore as the cool jelly slid down it.
My mind raced as to what was waiting for me when I got back to work. The captain was going to be furious, I’d probably get my badge taken, lose my retirement, or something worse, be demoted.
And then where would I be?
I finished the jello and started on the sandwich, looking out the window at the skyline. How the hell had I gotten her so stuck in my head that I would abandon all my morals and fuck her senseless?
The sick thing about it was I wanted to do it again.
What was it about this woman?
Two Weeks Later
Captain O’Leary was a mean SOB but he was damn good at his job, and running this precinct. He was also tired of my ass driving me up the wall, making his already hard job even harder.
“You’re looking better than you did when I dragged your ass out of that house fire,” he said as he barged into his office where I’d been waiting for thirty minutes. It was my first official day back since the incident, but O’Leary wasn’t happy with me diving back in, probably because he wanted answers as to why I had been there in the first place.
“You dragged me out?”
“Yes,” he said. “You aren’t an easy man to carry so I dragged you. Hope the scratches weren’t too severe.”
