I kept quiet.
“You let him call you that?”
I glanced down the opposite end of the corridor. “For a little while. I wanted to try something new.”
“Alexandra Robertson,” a nurse called.
I stood along with Rafferty and went to the counter.
She handed me my discharge papers and tilted her head to the side. “There’s a small office to the right, here. Officer Peterson is waiting for you there. When you’re done with him, you’re free to go.”
I stepped out of the small office with a pounding headache forming behind my eye. It was most likely because of the car crash, but my mounting frustration also might have been a culprit. Reading between the lines of Officer Peterson’s questions, Porter and Brantley had blamed me for the accident.
Rafferty shoved his bulky body off the wall where he’d been leaning next to the doorway. “You’re done?”
“Yeah, but I’d like to check on Ines.”
His lips quirked to one side like he didn’t want to speak. “Doubt you’re going to be able to. She’s in ICU.”
“How do you know that?”
Another brother, and I probably wouldn’t have been able to read him, but I knew most of Rafferty’s tells. The way his eyes slid side to side, he really didn’t want to tell me anything.
He dragged a hand down his face, his fingers pulling at his short beard. “This accident opened my eyes. I didn’t know what to expect coming in here, and I heard a man on his phone say ‘She’s gone into ICU.’ I thought he might be talking about you, but before I could turn to ask him, he said the name Ines. It isn’t cool of me to say this, but I’ve never felt so relieved.”
My chest seized up like a heavy weight sat on me. “Well, let’s get up there. I can’t leave her if she’s in ICU.”
His lips pressed into a hard line for a beat. “I knew you’d say that, so while you were in there with the cop, I asked a nurse about visiting. She said family only, and she was a real bitch about it.”
I lifted my chin in a slow nod, then shrugged. “I don’t care. I’m going to see if I can sweet talk someone into letting me see her.”
Twenty minutes later, Rafferty and I exited the hospital into the thick, Southern Georgia humidity. The glare of the late-morning sun intensified my headache.
Rafferty grabbed my hand and intertwined our fingers.
My gaze darted from our hands to his profile. “Why are you holding my hand?”
He stayed focused on the parking lot. “To remind myself you’re still here and in one piece.”
“That’s sweet, but as you can see, I’m fine.”
Rafferty stopped us at the bumper of his beat-up Nissan Titan. My eyes darted to his gleaming silver motorcycle strapped down in the truck bed. I wondered if Blood knew he’d done that… then I thought better of it. Very little slipped past Blood.
Rafferty’s words cut into my thoughts. “I’m not sweet and you know it.”
I pulled my hand back.
He held firm.
“Then you can let go,” I said.
Something shone in his eyes again - it wasn’t concern this time - it was something I couldn’t figure out. “Not until I get you in the truck.”
My seatbelt locked with a snick. I glanced up at Rafferty when he angled into the driver’s seat and closed his door. “Thanks for picking me up. I really appreciate it.”
He stared at me and kept quiet for a long moment. Long enough to make me nervous. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked finally.
“Yeah. They told me I’d be sore tomorrow, but I’m still concerned about Ines and Brantley.”
