I bury that thought. “That man.” I point to where the stretcher disappeared. “I’m his…fiancée.”
“Oh!” He grasps my hand and squeezes. “They’re wheeling him to trauma for evaluation. Once they determine what care he needs, he’ll be moved to a room. I’ll take you back to a different waiting area, okay?”
A few minutes later, I find myself in an empty beige space, sitting on an uncomfortable brown chair with a paper cup of black coffee in my palms.
I have no idea what I’m doing. Finn would throttle me if he knew where I was. I know this isn’t the wise decision.
But stealing a car and driving away while a man succumbs to injuries he incurred while trying to protect me can’t be the right choice either.
I gnaw the inside of my cheek. Staying feels just as impossible as leaving.
I don’t know what to do.
If I call Finn, he’ll chew my ass out for daring to show empathy for the enemy.
If I don’t call Finn, he’ll assume I’m sticking to the plan and will expect me to meet his men in Austin in a day or two. It’s still possible, but…
At least another hour sails by with my butt glued to the waiting room chair. Finally, the kind-eyed nurse emerges to escort me to a patient room, where Brody lies unconscious in a hideous hospital gown.
He looks like hell.
A short, dark-haired woman hovers at his side. She glances up at me and smiles. Her doctor’s coat is monogrammed with the wordsDr. Elizabeth Payo, MD.“Hi there. Are you with this man?”
I repeat the lie I told the nurse. “I’m his fiancée. Is he okay?”
“He’ll be fine. He’s got a nasty wound on his thigh, but we stitched it up and gave him some fluids. He lost a bit of blood and sustained a few other cuts and bruises, but he’ll be right as rain in a few days. Do you know what happened?”
For a moment, my brain freezes. “Um, no. I was here visiting a friend and saw him get wheeled in.”
The doctor’s forehead creases, but she doesn’t question me further. “All right. Well, when he wakes up, call the nurse, okay?”
After I nod, she exits the room.
In the bed, Brody’s short-cropped dark hair, closed eyes, and serene expression give him an almost angelic appearance. Hisstrong chest rising and falling beneath the thin hospital sheet soothes my nerves.
For the first time since I met him, I don’t see a monster, captor, or dizzyingly handsome bastard. I see a wounded man, and my heart swells with unwilling empathy.
At some point, my conscience decided that I can’t abandon him here like a sitting duck for the Russians. At least, not until he wakes up. And…maybe not even then.
Which means I need a plan.
Fast.
Or else we’ll both wind up dead.
Chapter 23
Brody
I wake with my mouth drier than desert sand and my leg aching like a bitch. My head pounds, thumping a terrible drum beat behind my eyes.
What the hell happened?
The last thing I remember is Trinity staring at me like I’m a monster.
My pulse leaps, followed by a corresponding beep.
Trinity.
