“Hey,” Says a little voice from the doorway.
“Lottie. What are you doing here, babe?” I ask, trying to act as normal as possible.
“Your mom and Tara are with Spike, I need a drink. You busy?”
“Uh…yeah, I have some stuff I have to do. How’s the old boy doing?” I pull on my blazer as she talks. She shrugs before answering and her eyes start to glisten with tears.
“He doesn’t want me there.” Her voice cracks. I cross the room to pull her into me. When they brought Spike out of his induced coma, he was confused. Since he realized he can’t feel his legs, he’s been so angry, he doesn’t want anyone close. It’s not confirmed that he will never have the use of his legs, but there’s a strong chance. Lottie is taking his rejection personally, although at the moment, Spike is just mad at the world. I know that feeling.
“Why don’t you go upstairs and rest, Lottie? It’s been a tough few days.”
“Will you stay with me?” she asks.
“I-I’m sorry, Lotts, I have something I need to do.”
“Like what?” She narrows her eyes at me and I know I’m not covering this well. “Who’s he?” She tilts her head toward Aaron and narrows her eyes. Her radar is sharp, and I don’t know how I’m going to get out of this one. “Denham…What’s going on here?”
“I can’t tell you. Please trust me on this.”
“Has it got something to do with Arianna? ’Cause if it does, and I find out you didn’t tell me, I’m gonna…” She’s standing on her tiptoes, getting redder in the face with every second that she talks and as much as I would like to stay here and tell her everything I know, this is wasting time.
“Okay. I know where she is and I’m going to get her back. I can’t stand here talking all night; I will fill you in when I get back. Hopefully with her.”
I usher her out of the office door and stride down the corridor with her hot on my heels.
“I’m coming.”
“No. You’re staying here.”
“Not a chance, King. She means as much to me as she does to you. Where are we going? You can catch me up on the way.”
Fighting with her is futile. I know I should have made up another reason for where I was going, but my mind is so consumed with getting Arianna back that I can’t think of anything else but her. Nothing else exists right now.
“Fine, but you stay in the car,” I tell her.
“We’ll see.”
Fucking stubborn woman.
Aaron fills Lottie and me in, the best he can, on the way to Boulder City. I actually feel sorry for the poor guy. I know he hit her, once. And I want to knock his head off his shoulders for that, but I’m more grateful that he thought to come to me now. If he hadn’t, well, who knows what could have happenedto Arianna. I’m desperate to see her. I’m desperate to know that she’s okay.
I also find out that Jonny was indeed responsible for Tara’s situation the other day. He slipped a sedative in her drink at the bar that night then sent Aaron and someone else to dump her at The Kingdom. If I ever get my hands on that man, he’s going to be one sorry fucker.
We pull up to the medical center and park. There are a couple of other cars parked here, but everything is very quiet otherwise.
“Is his car here? Are we likely to walk into him?” I ask Aaron.
He scans his eyes around and shakes his head. “Nope. None of these are his that I know of.”
“Okay. Look, guys. I don’t have a plan. If she’s okay, I want to get her out. If she’s not…well, let’s just see, okay? Lottie, I want you to wait here.”
“No fucking way,” she yells.
“Lottie. I need eyes out here; you know what he looks like. Jack doesn’t. Can you drive this?” I ask her, tapping the dash of the car.
“Of course I can,” she answers indignantly.
“Well, then I want it running and ready. Just in case of…well, just in case, okay?”
