“Hey,” she said softly as she went to the sink and washed her hands.“How are you feeling?”
“I’ve been better,” I admitted.
“I can imagine.”She dried her hands and then stood beside me as she slowly lifted the sleeve of my hospital gown and looked at the bandage.“You gave us quite the scare.”
“So I heard.I’m sorry about that.I had no idea anything was wrong.I just felt tired and figured it was from the stress of everything that had happened.I never gave it a second thought that there could be hemorrhaging.”
“Neither did I.Next time we’ll be more thorough.”
“Next time?”I asked with a raised eyebrow.“Just how many times do you plan on me getting shot?”
Dr.Foster shook her head and laughed, making the energy in the room lighter as it floated through the air.
“Well, I hope thatyounever get shot again.I meant in general when we’re seeing patients at the clinic.It’ll be something I’m more mindful of from now on,” she replied.
I nodded in agreement, then stopped when it hit me that I hadn’t seen Al’s body this morning when I woke up.
“Hey—what happened toyour dad’s friend?”I asked, lowering my voice so no one would hear.
Dr.Foster’s face tightened as she fought the smirk that played across her face.When she spoke, her voice was lowered as well.
“Last I heard, he went out for a walk this morning, a few miles behind the cabin.There’s a cave he loves that is always filled with random wildlife, so who knows what he encountered this time.”
I nodded, reading between the lines to know that she meant that Axel and Dom had taken care of him while I was sleeping.I leaned back against the pillow and didn’t allow myself to think about how hard that must have been to carry his body through the snow in the blistering cold.I also didn’t allow myself to think too much about the cave or what lived in it, which now had a fresh meal waiting for it.
Thirty-Five
Dom
After Jo was releasedfrom the hospital, I booked us a room at a hotel in Timber Falls.There was no way we would be able to make it back up the mountain to the cabin, and part of me felt better about being so close to the hospital in case something happened.Watching Jo take a turn for the worse and almost die had been enough to traumatize me for the rest of my life, and I wasn’t willing to take any more chances.
The room was nice, with a king-sized bed and a couch tucked into the corner.Jo was currently sleeping while I sat in the dark, looking at the newest text message I had gotten from Lauren.It had come from Tray’s phone, which meant that he could easily track us to Timber Falls since he was texting me.
Keith and I had talked for a while at the hospital while Dr.Foster got Jo discharged.There wasn’t a safe place to take Jo without risking that Tray would find us.We knew the original plan had already been compromised and that we would have to abandon it while we figured out something else.
I had a few guns on me and some ammunition, but it didn’t feel like enough when I thought about what Tray and his men were capable of.Keith and Ashley were staying at the same hotel, just down the hall from us.Thankfully, Tray wasn’t aware that I was working with Keith or that there was a whole team on their way to Timber Falls to intercept Tray if he decided to show up.Or at least I hoped he wasn’t.
