I place my hands on my lap and look down to check the card that the nurse handed me sitting there. I pick it up. “What’s that?” Before I can answer, he comes over and takes it from me, brow raised in question as he reads over it.
“The nurse gave it to me. She thinks you beat me,” I inform him with venom.
He snorts, wads it up, and then tosses it into the trash beside my bed. “Well, you did give me a concussion and a sprained wrist.”
His face falls and regret flashes in his beautiful blue eyes. The same ones I’ve looked into so many times before. “I’m sorry.” He speaks softly. “I was just trying to …”
“I know what you were doing,” I interrupt him. He had moved quickly. I didn’t even know what was happening until it was too late. And the way his office looked afterwards, I would have been shot if he hadn’t saved me.
He clears his throat. “You can’t go home,” he declares going back to that same roughness as before.
Figures. I don’t know what the hell happened at the club exactly, but I know they do. And although he broke my heart, he’s proved several times I can trust him to keep me safe. “So where do I go?”
“You’re going to stay with me.” I open my mouth to protest. “There’s nowhere else for you to go.” He speaks before I can get anything out.
I narrow my eyes on him. “And whose fault is that?” I growl.
“You think I chose this?” he snaps.
I huff. “No. I think you saw an opportunity to get a piece of ass …”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” he says sounding put out.
He spins around, and I lean up to look around him when the curtain gets pulled back.“Okay, so …” The nurse enters the room sounding cheerful, but the moment she sees Case standing next to me, she stops. He throws her a charming smile, and I wanna roll my eyes but refrain from doing so. I don’t wanna make this situation any more uncomfortable than it already is. “I need you to clear the room,” she says eyeing him up and down with disgust.
“I’ll stay,” he announces as if she had requested he leave.
She narrows her eyes at him and then looks at me. “It’s fine,” I say softly. She gives me a look of disapproval but doesn’t say anything else as she starts to work on my wrist.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CASE
“Is he going to be okay?” Miller asks a woman in light blue scrubs as we stand outside of Brecken’s ICU room
“He has sustained some very critical injuries.” I can tell she’s trying to let him down easily, but she doesn’t know him as well as we do. He’s a fighter. He’ll pull through. He has to; I don’t know what I would do without my best friend.
“I’m going to stay here with him tonight,” he states as he turns to face me.
I nod. “I’m gonna take Taylor to my house and get her settled. I’ll be back in a few hours.” I look at my watch. Is it really eight in the morning? Shit!
“No. Stay with her tonight. Come back tomorrow after a long night’s rest.” He hangs his head. He feels responsible. He came back to check on Taylor and me when he should have run after and helped Brecken. I would have done the same, but telling him won’t make him feel any better.
I turn away from his room and see Taylor being pushed down the hallway in a wheelchair. The stupid nurse walking behind her. She leans down and whispers something into her ear as Taylor stares at me with narrowed eyes.
“Ready?” I ask once they reach me.
“Yes,” she says, the nurse not bothering to stop.
“Bastard,” the nurse whispers. I just ignore her because, in a sense, she is right. Just not the way she thinks.
I make my way to the car and open the door for her. She doesn’t even bother to thank me. We get on the highway going south toward downtown, and she swings her head around to look out the back window. “Where are we going?” she questions in confusion. “I thought we were going to the club?”
“Even if I hadn’t shut the club down, I still wouldn’t go there.” I give her a quick glance before placing my eyes back on the road. “I’m taking you to my home. My real home.”
“Right,” she quips. “You’re an undercover cop. Of course, you don’t live at the club.” She gives a dark laugh. “Did you only stay there when I stayed over?” She swings her head to look over at me. “You just needed a place to fuck me?” she demands. “Let me guess. You’re married. And you didn’t want your wife to find out about your little whore.” Her voice cracking proves how hurt and angry she is with me. I hate that’s what she thinks. That she thinks I could be that low of a person. But aren’t I? Does it really matter what I lied about? I don’t think so. You only have to tell one lie before you lose all trust.
I tighten my hand on the steering wheel. “No. I’m not married. And no, I didn’t just stay there when I fucked you. I have been living at the club since Brecken and I opened it. It was part of being undercover.”
