“I insist on seeing my client this minute. As she’s the one paying my bill and it is visiting hours, you can’t stop me.”
“Or me!” Anya piped in. “I’m… I’m… the investigator’s sister-in-law and… and sidekick and flower delivery person. So I have as much right to be here as any of these bitches.”
“You aren’t helping, Anya,” Claudia sighed.
“I can shut her up,” Laney offered helpfully, followed by the click of a trigger cocking.
“Fuck you, Laney,” Anya said stridently. “I was willing to forgive our last incident owing to possible alcohol consumption on my part, but you need to step off and stop threatening my life.”
Addison laughed and sat up in the bed, shoving hair off of her face. She groaned as each and every stitch pulled agonizingly against her skin. “It’s alright, Daniel. I want to see them. Let them in before someone calls hospital security.”
“If they come in, I’m leaving,” he grumbled.
“I can’t really blame you,” she laughed as the four women piled into her small hospital room. “Will you come back?”
“I’ll find your doctor. See if he’s ready to discharge you. King’s in the lobby. He and Claudia want to drive us home,” Daniel said, leaning in to kiss her forehead before leaving the room.
Silence fell over the assembled women. Addison picked at her blanket, wondering if she looked so bad that they were all staring at her in horror. Finally, Claudia broke the silence.
“That was… eerily domestic for Daniel Mercer,” she said, her voice awe-filled. “I mean, he kissed your head, like some kind of caring husband or something. It was weird.”
“I think you broke him,” Jane said with a snort of laughter. “I honestly thought the only way to settle that feral dog down would be a bullet in the skull, but you proved me wrong. Well done.”
“I… thanks…?” Addison said skeptically.
“I hope this means training isn’t straight out of the pages of Art of War anymore,” Laney commented.
“You poor baby,” Anya said sarcastically.
“Could you not provoke my bodyguard?” Claudia asked with a sigh. “Or I might let her shoot you.”
“At least we’re close to a surgery if she does shoot Anya,” Addison piped up, accepting an armful of what smelled like tulips from Anya.
“Hey!” Anya complained. “Who’s side are you on?”
The light banter continued, with no one really touching on the subject of Addison’s stalker and near-death experience. She didn’t know if they’d discussed it beforehand and agreed not to talk to her about it, but she was grateful. She didn’t want to rehash the ugly incident with them. She didn’t even know how she was going to stomach chicken or white lace tablecloths in the near future let alone having to think or talk about it.
Daniel reappeared twenty minutes later and ushered the others out so he could help Addison dress in a loose-fitting outfit that Claudia had brought with her. Addison’s outfit of the day before had been given to the police as evidence. She shuddered. She never wanted those clothes back again anyway.
“You okay?” Daniel asked as he felt her shiver against him.
She nodded. “I just want to get home. I’m tired, but I want my own bed.”
“Of course,” he said and finished helping her get ready.
Claudia had also provided a toothbrush, hairbrush and shawl. Addison used the toothbrush, but she couldn’t bring herself to try to drag the hairbrush through the awful tangles in her hair quite yet. Especially with one broken wrist. She had Daniel help her tie her hair at the back of her head, which he did quite awkwardly.
“Did we finally find something you do badly?” she asked, amused.
“Never did this before,” he grumbled, dropping the messy ponytail and wrapping the shawl around her shoulders. “Let’s go.”
Claudia and King sat in the front seat of the SUV, while Addison and Daniel sat in the back. They didn’t speak much, but she found the silence comfortable, as though they were all friends that were grateful for each other’s company. Addison hoped that it could be true. At least she hoped Daniel would stop wanting to murder Claudia all the time. Baby steps.
When they arrived in the penthouse garage, Daniel insisted on carrying Addison down to her place. She tried to argue that someone might see, but of course he didn’t care. The man never cared what other people thought. With a sigh, Addison wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder. He let them into her condo and placed her gently on the bed as though afraid she would break.
She took a fistful of his shirt when it seemed like he was going to step back from the bed. “Don’t leave me,” she whispered, fear edging her voice.
“Never,” he said quietly, pulling the quilt over her and tucking her in. He slid into the bed beside her and gathered her against his side.
