Aja glanced at the sleeping Seneca before lifting her eyes to him. They were sunken and red from all the crying she’d done since Seneca collapsed, and the sight made every muscle in his body tense with the need to take this pain away from her.
“She was drugged. Someone gave her Rohypnol.”
“What?” Colton’s voice cut through the quiet hospital room like a sharp knife. “How? She drank soft drinks from sealed cans most of the night, and I don’t remember her leaving any of them unattended.”
Jackson shook his head. “No, she didn’t. I poured a drink for Aja from a thermos in the fridge. Seneca took it and drank it instead.”
“But no one knew about that thermos of Long Island iced tea I made but you, me, and Seneca. I never mentioned it to anyone else until I sent you to get it.”
Cold fear tightened Jackson’s muscles as he made eye contact with Colton across the room, and they both came to the same conclusion. Jackson pulled his phone from his pocket and waited for Jennings to pick up on the other end. “Yeah, Boss.”
“I need you and Gleason and anyone else you can round up at Fresh Springs Medical now. I also need you to dispatch a forensics team to Restoration Ranch. You’re looking for a silverish chrome-colored forty-ounce camping thermos. It should be on the second shelf from the top inside the fridge. Someone tried to poison Aja Everett tonight.”
He ended the call and met Aja’s confused expression. “How do you know it wasn’t meant for Seneca?”
Jackson shook his head. “Because the thermos had your name on it.”
* * *
Why were hospitals so cold?
It was a near-constant thought as Aja sat rubbing her arms in the waiting area. Seneca’s nurse had put them all out of her room so “the patient” could rest. She was more than a patient—she was Aja’s friend, and keeping an eye on her was the only thing that helped Aja keep it together.
The waiting area was a few feet away from Seneca’s room, but it didn’t matter. Aja’s guilt fed off her anxiety, and not being able to see Seneca ramped her anxiety up to almost unbearable levels.
“You cold?”
Aja looked up at Jackson. He was sitting next to her, plastered to her as if they were somehow conjoined. From the moment he’d realized someone spiked her drink, he’d refused to leave her side except for when Gleason and Jennings showed up to take their statements.
“This is my fault.”
Jackson wrapped his arm around her, hugging her as tightly as the armrests between them would allow. “The only person at fault is the person who laced your thermos with roofies.”
Yeah, they were at fault, too, but Aja was the reason Seneca had been endangered. It wasn’t the first time she’d been responsible for harm befalling someone close to her. It seemed this was her destiny, to bring pain and hardship to the ones she cared about, even when she was trying her damnedest to help.
“I thought this was over. Eli Bennett is in prison.”
“We both know a man like Eli has the means to still pull strings on the outside while he’s locked up. We’ll sort this out, Aja. I’m not leaving your side until you’re safe for good.”
She pulled out of his embrace and walked near the window. The dark Texas sky met her like a mirror to her soul—ink black and cold, consuming all the surrounding light. The absence of light sparked fear of the monsters that lurked under its cover. She couldn’t see who was coming after her, and as long as she didn’t know who Eli’s henchman was, she and everyone close to her were in danger.
“You should go.” She remained positioned in front of the window like a sentinel waiting for the day to bring reinforcements and aid.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“People around me get hurt, Jackson. You signed up for fun, not to be my permanent bodyguard.”
He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her against him. Any other day, the comfort he offered would have been received with gratitude. And although she was grateful he cared enough to want to comfort her, she couldn’t allow herself to be weak enough to accept it. Not when being near her was becoming a prescription for trouble.
“That is the literal thing I signed on to be when I first landed on your doorstep.”
“My case is over.”
“Apparently not. Even if it were, I’d still be with you. I’d hoped you’d figured this out when I asked you to let me be the man in your life.”
She turned around in his embrace to face him, needing to see the truth of his words in his eyes, because her ears did not want to believe the steady, sure cadence of his voice. “I also remembered telling you how busy my life was. If you thought Pathways was gonna put a crimp in our alone time, I’m sure an attempted poisoning might be a tad too much for even you.”
His eyes searched hers, and she had to fight to hold back the unshed tears stinging her eyes. Jackson Dean would be the proverbial cherry on top of the new happiness she’d found for herself on Restoration Ranch. But more and more, especially with Seneca lying in a hospital bed now, Aja had to wonder if she were ever meant to experience any lasting joy.
