“I’m starting to believe you. I woke up and you were there and I…”
His gaze intensified. “What? Tell me.”
“I was really happy to see you.”
“I wish it hadn’t taken this to bring us together.”
A knock on the door made her jump.
“Come in,” Hawk called, squeezing her leg to let her know he was there. Everything was fine. He wouldn’t let anything happen to her.
An orderly walked in with her breakfast tray and set it on the table at her feet.
Hawk stood and hit the button on her bed to raise her head up. “Eat. You’ll need your strength to get through being discharged.”
The orderly lifted the lid on her tray. “Eggs, bacon, roasted potatoes, coffee and juice.”
“Thank you.” Her stomach rumbled the second the bacon smell hit her nose.
Hawk almost grinned beside her. “Go on. Eat it while it’s hot.”
“If you want to hit the cafeteria, I’ll be okay.”
He shook his head. “I’m not leaving you alone.” He pulled out his phone and checked his messages. “Lincoln is on his way up with breakfast for me.”
She bit her lip. “You guys are so close. It must be nice to have someone who has your back like that.” It made her think about what she and her brother Danny would have been like now. As close as they used to be? Or even closer as adults, once they realized how much they needed each other?
Hawk squeezed her hand. “My brothers are always there for me. And you’ll get used to us having your back, too.”
While Hawk used the restroom, she dug into the bacon and downed half her coffee. It wasn’t great, but the bacon made up for it. All in all, she was feeling fairly good, despite the pain in her shoulder that spiked every time she moved even the slightest bit.
Suddenly the door swung open without the knock that usually preceded it. Her heart sped up with a shot of adrenaline through her veins. The room morphed into the bar and she was lying on her back and her worst nightmare was looming over her.
Neil. Her ex. The one who killed her family.
A scream lodged in her throat.
She swore he was there the night she’d been drugged, abducted, and dumped in the middle of nowhere. Was he here to finish what he started with her family and kill her, too?
Terror had her scrambling off the bed, her arms up to ward him off. “No!” she screamed. This time, she wouldn’t cower. She’d fight. She rushed him, slamming her fists into his chest, pushing him back. After one blow, the pain in her shoulder made her arm useless as she kept on hitting him with her good arm. “No. No. No. Stay away from me. I hate you. I hate you!”
Hawk burst out of the bathroom and hooked his arm across her waist and pulled her back from that piece of shit.
She hadn’t realized that Neil had put up no resistance. He hadn’t said anything. She didn’t believe for a second he was here for any other reason than to taunt and hurt her again.
She tried to go after him again, but Hawk turned her toward him, picked her up, and pressed her back into the wall, his face right in hers. He cupped her jaw in one hand and forced her to look at him. “Do you see me?”
The haze of rage and terror washed away as she stared into his hazel eyes, gone dark gold with concern. “I won’t let him hurt me again.”
“Who?”
“Neil. He’s going to kill me. You have to stop him.”
“Okay. I believe you. Now look past me and tell me who is standing there.”
She narrowed her gaze and wondered why he was asking that and not kicking Neil out, until she shifted her gaze and found Lincoln standing by the door, coffees in one hand, a bakery bag in the other. “Lincoln?”
“Hey, sweetheart. It’s just me.”
