He continued speaking, saying something about visitation, but Chloe could barely hear him through the ringing in her ears. Jayla had been covering Chloe when she’d been shot. She’d taken a bullet for her, and now, she may never walk again.
Erik may have said that Jayla had known what she was signing up for, knew the risks, but it still felt so wrong. She and Jayla had become friends, and when Jayla wasn’t in protective mode, she had such a bubbly personality. Quick to smile and laugh, she made everyone else want to smile, too. What would this news do to her? Would she lose that bright light?
“Chloe.”
Chloe jerked and blinked the haze from her eyes. By the way Erik was looking at her, she could guess that it wasn’t the first time he’d said her name to try and get her attention.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded quickly. “Are you?”
“I will be.” He had a determined look on his face, almost like he had some sort of plan, but before she could ask him about it, he said, “Come on. I’ll get you set up at my place. You can call your dad, grab some food, or sleep, or whatever.”
The mention of sleep brought on a yawn that she quickly stifled, and she suddenly realized she was exhausted. So much hadhappened that day. It felt like a week had passed in the span of twenty-four hours. She glanced up at the large analog clock hanging on the wall. Less than twenty-four hours. Jackson was dead, Jayla had been shot, and amidst all that violent chaos was the memory of what had happened earlier that day. She and Erik had professed their love for each other. A brilliant, beautiful moment, now tainted by ugliness.
“I love you,” she blurted as Erik led her out of the building.
Stopping, he turned to her, his fingertips gliding softly along her cheek. “I love you too, Chloe.”
Tears sprang to her eyes, and she sniffled as she nodded and tried to compose herself.
He hugged her close and kissed the top of her head. “Come on. We’ll get you settled in.”
Chloe shouldn’t have been surprised by Erik’s apartment, but she still drew in a sharp breath when he opened the door and flicked on the light. There was no furniture in his living room, but on one wall, a large pack of wolves raced through a forest backed by snow-capped mountains. On another wall, their prey, a herd of white-tailed deer, bounded away, heading for the third wall with a majestic waterfall that fed a lake shining with the wavery reflection of a rising moon.
“Amazing.” She moved to the center of the room to get the full effect. The blinds on the two windows were closed, and he’d painted them as well as the backs of the doors, so as not to break the imagery. She tipped her head back. He’d even painted the ceiling to look like dusk. If it wasn’t for the kitchen area that took up the fourth wall, she might have thought she’d been transported to some distant woods. “How long did it take you to do all this?”
He shrugged. “Not long.”
“It’s incredible.”
“I like to sleep in here most nights. Pretend I’m sleeping under an open sky.”
Before Chloe could comment on that, he pointed to a door. “Bedroom and bathroom are in there. There’s food in the kitchen if you’re hungry. If you can’t find anything you want, text me, and I can grab you something from the mess on my way back.”
“Way back?” He was leaving? “Where are you going?”
His mouth pinched into a grimace for just a moment, as if he found whatever it was distasteful. “I need to go see someone.”
Chloe was about to ask who when he opened the door. “Make yourself at home. I’ll see you later.”
A moment later, he was gone, and Chloe sat down hard on the floor.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Erik marched into thebrig and got exactly the greeting he expected when the guard on duty pointed a rifle at him.
“You can’t be here, sir.”
He’d been restricted from entering this area the moment Doctor Dietrich showed up at Black Bay. He wasn’t the only one banned, but his name topped that long list. Everyone knew that if he got within arm’s reach of the geneticist, she’d be dead before they could react.
“I just want to talk to her.”
“Not without clearance from the general.”
“Fine. Call the general. I’ll wait.” He leaned against the wall and stuffed his hands in his pockets to make himself look as nonthreatening as possible. Despite his efforts, the guard looked leery about taking his eyes off him for even a second.
Unsurprisingly, General Davies wanted to talk to him.
