Chapter 3
Andrew Quinn
When the alarms screech beside Sienna’s bed, I almost lose my shit. When a nurse and a doctor race by, my thoughts jump straight to murder. What if someone poisoned her IV. How would I know for sure?
Adrenaline pumping, I stand in the doorframe so I can hear better. Obviously, I need to up my game.
“What’s going on?” Jack’s eyes dart up and down the hall, gun hand reaching into his vest.
“Wait a sec… It’s okay. Sienna just told the doctor she had a bad dream.” While my heartrate slows and breathing returns to normal, Jack grimaces.
“I didn’t know nightmares were life threatening.” Standing next to me, he peers into the small, private room where a doctor checks her pulse.”
“He said it had something to do with the drugs.” I motion to Jack we should give the doctor some space to finish his evaluation. He seems competent enough.
However, neither Jack nor I will leave Sienna unguarded so we do what we’ve been doing for the last six hours, we pace the long hall outside her room.
Whoever decorated this floor must’ve been trying for cheery but the yellow on the walls is so badly faded, the hallway feels rundown. We walk by the room next door which houses an older man, alone. The next is abuzz with family members holding flowers and get-well balloons.
I can’t help but compare it to my stay when I was a kid. My mom cried at my bedside for a week because I think they arrested my dad.
“Did I ever mention how much I hate hospitals?” I head toward the vending machines where a florescent light buzzes overhead. As we pass by their station, nurses giggle and nearby, someone moans
Jack’s assessing eyes rove the exit signs, the stairwells, and the long hall. “We need to get Sienna out of here. It’s not safe.”
I couldn’t agree more as I put a bill into the vending machine and press A3 for peanuts.
“Want some?”
“I’m good.”
I ponder as we turn and walk in the direction we came. “You know, an orderly, a nurse, or even someone imitating a doctor could do plenty of damage with a syringe.”
“I’m guessing you think her accident was no accident.”
“She shows no signs of an addictive personality.”
Not even for sex.How long did she say it had been? Years? My cock stirs. I could be the answer to her drought. She’s easy on the eyes and her kiss indicated she has a wild side hidden under that snarky veneer. How tight would she be?
When we turn again at the end of the corridor, Jack eyes me with one brow raised. Damn, the man is a fucking mind reader. “Good Lilac had the forethought to call you.”
“She remembered how I helped her last summer.”
A cleaning person with a mop and bucket draws Jack’s attention and when he’s convinced all is well he relaxes and continues. “That was such a weird thing, finding a severed hand last summer.”
“Right? And now Slate’s completely hooked.” I chuckle at how one of our poker buddies went down for the count.
A confirmed bachelor like me, Jack shakes his head with a deep frown. “When’s the wedding?”
“Maybe Christmas. It depends on their schedules.” We pass the nurses station again where one of the younger girls eyes me like candy, then it’s Jack’s turn.
“I hope to hell it never happens to me. I like my life the way it is.”
“From your lips to God’s ears.” I glance in on Sienna as we reach her door and her pretty eyes are closed.
Something about her makes me want to visit my hometown. I want to put her beside me in my old pickup, take her to the fishing hole, and make love to her in the flatbed.
I shake my head, disgusted. This odd lusting is probably due to lack of sleep or the fact I haven’t had a steady woman for a while. It’s just when she grabbed my hand on the way to the elevator, something between us clicked.
