Chapter Fifteen
Waking up with an extreme hangover is never good. Waking up with an extreme hangover knowing you didn’t drink the night before is terrifying. My head is pounding, my body feels like I’ve been run over by a truck, and my mouth feels like a cotton ball.
I slowly open my eyes. The room is dark, so that means it’s still night out. I’m still in the living room but I’m alone now. The only light on is the one in the hallway, everything else is dark. I try to move but my muscles scream in pain. I groan and rest my head back down on the arm of the couch. I hear footsteps coming towards me from the kitchen.
“Riker?” I choke out. My mouth is so dry. I close my eyes and try to take a deep breath.
I feel someone come up beside me and kneel down. Cold finger run down my cheek and I know right away it’s not Riker. I try to jerk away but the pain is too bad.
A loud ringing has whoever it is pushing away from the couch and walking away. I know something is wrong. I know I need to try and move and getaway, but I can’t. So, I steady my breathing and try to take in everything I can.
“She’s waking up. What the hell did you make me give her? She’s acting like she’s been beaten to death.” I hear the man say. He’s sounds like he is right between the kitchen and the living room. I’m not having to strain to hear him and he’s not yelling. “I don’t care. I’ve done my part now let my family go!” Ok, now he’s yelling. His voice is starting to sound more familiar. “Look, I’ve drugged one of my best friends and his girlfriend. I tied Riker up and locked him in the storage unit downstairs. What more do you want?”
Oh, no. Riker! My heart starts racing. I quickly try to calm myself, so I don’t miss out on anything else that is said.
“We don’t have another hour damn it! Greg has already texted Riker’s phone three times. Knowing him he’ll check the security feeds first then storm over here to check on his brother. I blacked out the feed but knowing Greg that will send him rushing over here even faster.”
Oh shit. I know this voice now. It’s James! He has to be talking to Bradley. He said he had done his part and to let his family go. Does that mean Bradley kidnapped James’s wife and kids? Is Bradley on his way here? Is he going to kill me this time? Is he going to kill Riker?
Before I can get the thoughts in my head to slow down the alarm starts going off. All the lights come on. I squeeze my eyes shut tighter because the lights are killing my headache. I hear James scream into the phone that it was too late then I hear something break. Like he threw the phone at the wall and it shattered.
He’s beside me again. His cold hand cups my cheek. “Darcy, please know I didn’t want to do it. He has my family. I had no choice.” Oddly after his confession he lays a blanket over me then I hear the door open and slam shut.
I try again to move. I push myself into a sitting position. It takes everything I have not to fall back down onto the couch. I look around as the alarm continues to blare loudly. It’s killing my head, but I have to find away out of here. I see my bag on the floor by the door. Knowing my phone is still in there since I don’t usually look at it unless I hear it go off, and don’t plug it in until I go to bed, I try to stand to go get it. Bad move. I fall straight to the floor. Well, if I can’t walk over then I’ll crawl over.
Inch by inch I crawl over to the door. Trying my best to ignore the pain shooting through my body. I’m almost within reach when the front door swings open.
“Darcy!” I look up praying to see Greg but it’s Luke. What the hell?
“Help me.” I barely get the words out before he lifts me off the ground and starts running. When I feel the cold night air I grab onto his shoulders the best I can and dig my nails into him. “Riker.” I whisper his name.
“Easton went to get him. They are going to meet us at the hospital.” I sag in his arm in relief. “Just rest Darcy, I’ve got you.” Luke says softly. I close my eyes and let the darkness over take me.
***
Beep
Beep
Beep
Where the hell is that beeping sound coming from? I go to turn over but strong hands on my shoulders stop me.
“Don’t try to move around too much.” I hear someone say.
I have to blink a few times before I can fully open my eyes. When I finally realize where I am, a hospital room, I start freaking out, and the beeping sounds gets louder and louder.
The door to the room flies open and a nurse wearing hot pink scrubs rushes in.
“I said you could stay with her, I didn’t say you could upset her!” She snaps at Luke.
“Calm down Lynn, she just woke up and started freaking out.” Luke defends himself.
“Darcy, sweetie, I need you take a few deep breaths for me a calm down.” Lynn tells me. I do my best to take a deep breath, but my mouth still feels like cotton.
I slowly lift my hand to point at my mouth, but Lynn is two steps ahead of me. She pours me a glass of water from the pitcher by my bed, pops a straw in the glass and gently holds it to my lips.
“Small sips, if you drink too fast you’ll get sick.” She says kindly.
I take several small sips then turn my head, pushing the straw out of my mouth. I look over at Luke. “Riker?” I ask him.
“He’s in surgery. When he woke up in the storage unit he tried to break out but ended up breaking his collar bone. He was drugged, just like you, and wasn’t fully alert. When he tried to use his shoulder to force the door open he ended up hitting the brick wall beside the door instead of the door itself. Luckily, Easton got to him not long after that and was able to get him to the hospital.” Luke moves closer to my bed, taking my hand in his, he gives it a little squeeze. “What do you remember Darcy?”
“No, Luke, it’s too soon. She needs to rest first.” Lynn snaps at him again.
“Damn it woman, don’t you understand what is going on?” Luke growls at her.
“Yes, I do. But my job is to protect my patient.”
I look back and forth between them. It’s obvious they know each other. What else is also obvious is the sexual tension between them. The longer they stare at each other the more awkward I feel. I fake a cough. This causes Lynn to go back into nurse mode. She starts taking my vitals and asks if I’m in much pain. I’m sore but not really in pain. She tells me they gave me a big shot not long after I was got here. When I asked how long I’d been here I was surprised to when she said just a little under two hours.
“Where is everyone else?” I ask Luke.
“Most of them are in the waiting room. Demon and Easton are helping the police track down Bradley. Last we heard they had caught a break but wouldn’t tell us what it was.” Just hearing Bradley’s name sends chills down my back.
“James was talking to him I think.” I mutter.
“When?” Luke asks.
“Darcy, you don’t have to do this right now. If you don’t feel up to it, I’ll kick Luke out and you can get some rest.” The snarl I hear from Luke almost has me agreeing with Lynn just to see if she could really kick him out but I know just need to get this over with.
“No, it’s ok.” I assure her before turning back to Luke. “I don’t know how he got there or how he drugged us. When I woke up on the couch, without Riker, I didn’t know what was going on. I heard someone walking towards me, I thought it was Riker but it wasn’t. He didn’t say anything to me at first because his phone rang. He was worried about me. He wanted to know what he had been forced to give me. Then he begged for whoever, I guess Bradley, to let his family go because he had done his part. Only I don’t think Bradley was going to let them go. James told him about drugging us and tying Riker up and locking him in the storage unit. I think Bradley wanted more time, but James told him that Greg was likely on his way over because he had texted Riker’s phone three time but got no answer. He talked about how he blacked out the security feed but that he knew that would make Greg rush over there faster. I think he threw his phone and broke it. Then he did something weird.”
I take a deep breath but wince at the pain in my throat. Lynn imminently holds the straw back to my lips and lets me take a few more sips.
“What do you mean by weird?” Luke asks me.
I thank Lynn for the water before answering Luke. “He told me he had no choice to do it because his family had been taken. But before he left he covered me with a blanket. It was like he was trying to comfort me in some weird way.”
Luke’s phone rings and he answers it imminently. “What?!” He screams causing both Lynn and I to jump. “Take him down if you can but I have an idea, call you back in a minute.” He hangs up but holds his hand up to stop us from questioning him. “Bradley was just spotted on the back side of the hospital property. It’s a highly wooded area, no way for them to corner him.” He looks over at Lynn. “I need you to change Darcy’s room number in the computer, to an empty room on this floor. Setting a trap is the only way we are going to catch this SOB.” Luke types something into his phone as he’s talking to us.
The door to my room flies open once again only this time it’s Greg rushing in. “Easton has eyes on Bradley.” He tells Luke then looks down to me. “How ya feeling hun?”
“Been better.” I give him a small smile. “How’s Riker?”
“He’s out of surgery and should be brought up here soon.”
“I can’t believe you got the hospital to break their coed rule. Never have I seen a male and female patient in the same room.” Lynn says.
“When the CEO of the hospital is your own father, rules can easily be changed for the best reasons. Plus, Riker would have thrown a shit fit if he woke up and Darcy wasn’t with him. This way no one has to deal with his crazy ass. He’ll wake up, look over and there she’ll be, no worries.” Luke tone of voice is slightly annoyed but also slightly snooty. His father is the CEO of the hospital? Wow, I never knew that.
“We don’t have time for this.” Greg says, cutting of whatever Lynn was about to say to Luke. “We need a plan either to get Darcy and Riker out of here or kill Bradley before he gets in here.”
“I’ve got a better plan.” Luke tells him. “Lynn’s gonna go change Darcy’s room number in the computer to an empty room. We can set a trap for Bradley. The second he steps into that room you can either have him arrested or save everyone some time and just kill him.”
“We only have one open room right now. I can change her room number in the computer but what if he already knows what room to come too? What then?” Lynn asks.
“Could we move her to another floor?” Greg asks.
“No, a doctor would have to order that, and it would draw too much attention to her. But we could probably move her and Riker into the nurse’s break room. It’s about the same size as these rooms. All we’d have to do is move the tables against the wall.”
Lynn, Greg, and Luke talk a little more on what to do. They finally come to an agreement, but it took Greg holding Lynn back a couple times when Luke smarted off to her. I almost said forget locking me and Riker in the break room, someone needs to lock Lynn and Luke in there. It would either end in murder or end with them screwing each other.
Ten minutes later Lynn helps me get comfortable on the new hospital bed in the break room. We couldn’t roll the one in my room out of there because as soon as Bradley saw the room was empty he would run. He’s the king of running so who knows if they would be able to catch him.
Riker is still in recovery. He should have been brought up here by now, but Lynn made a call to a friend of hers down in recovery and asked if he could be held down there a little longer. She lied and said one of the other nurses spilled my dinner tray and instead of getting yelled at by the cleaning people they decided to clean it up themselves, only it was going to take a little time to get it done. Sad little lie, but it worked.
Greg called in every single man he had to come help. He wanted eyes everywhere. Last I heard Bradley was still out back in the wooded area, but he could make his move at anytime.
They decided not to change my room number in the computer because with me safely out of the room there was no need to change it. Plus, if Bradley did already know my room number than the two guards Greg would have to put in the other room would have been wasting their time in there.
It’s a dreadful feeling waiting to see if a man who wants to hurt you, kill you even, is going to make a move to come find you. Knowing Bradley is this close has me scared shitless. I wish Riker was here with me, but he is safer in recovery. Knowing him he’d want to be the one to wait for Bradley just so he could kill him.
Luke walks in a few minutes later to update us.
“Bradley is still in the wooden area but has moved to a closer spot. Easton assured Greg that Bradley hadn’t seen him, but who knows.” Luke takes a seat on the small sofa by the door. “One of the other nurses was looking for you when I came in here.” He tells Lynn.
“I probably need to sign off on a chart. I’ll be right back.” She promises me as she rolls her eyes at Luke.
“You’re never gonna win her over by being a jerk to her.” I tell him matter-of-factly.
“Who says I want to win her over?” He smirks at him.
“Get over yourself Luke. A blind man could see that you want her. It’s also clear that she wants you just as much.” I watch as several different emotions cross his face.
“Yeah, well, nothing’s going to happen between us so lets just leave it at that.”
I let it go for now. It’s clear as day that they both are attracted to each other. Why they don’t just do something about I don’t know. We sit in silence for a few minutes, until something pops into my head.
“Hey Luke,” I call his name to get his attention. “How did you know what was going on today? How did you know Riker and I needed saving?”
He turns to look out the window. For a second, I thought he wasn’t going to answer me.
“I didn’t know what was going on at first. Brice had called me and said something was up with James. We all knew that Riker had cut James completely out of his life for not telling him about Bradley. Hell, we all had basically quit talking to him. But Brice tried to call him earlier today, I don’t know what for, but he said that James sound off, like something was wrong but he wouldn’t tell him. I think it freaked Brice out a little, so he called me. Riker had broken down and told us everything James had done with Bradley and the apartment, not long after it happened. I told Brice that if James was acting weird that it could have something to do with that. I was going to talk to Riker first, then call Greg. When I heard the alarms going off I started to panic. Easton had just shown up when I got there. Greg had sent him because he was closer, but Greg was on his way too. James tried to rush by us but Easton caught him. He told us where both of you were and what he did. Easton handcuffed him to a bike rack and told me to go get you while he went to get Riker. He told me to take you to the hospital and he would meet us here once he got Riker.”
Luke’s voice is steady, very much like an auto tone voice. It’s like he was trying to focus on telling me everything without getting upset about what actually happened. I replay everything he said in my head.
“Is James in custody? Did they find his family?” I don’t see Easton just letting James go because he told them where we were, but he could have gotten away some how.
“Surprisingly enough Bradley had already let James’s wife and two kids go. They were brought to the ER and checked out. None of them were hurt, thank God, but they are down at the police station with James. Turns out it was James’s wife who was the mystery cleaning lady from your office. James finally confessed everything to her and told her if she didn’t help him they would all be killed. She planted the cameras and microphones, and left the package on your desk. James is telling Erik everything he knows about Bradley. He’ll probably serve a little bit of time for his part in all of this but with him helping the police it won’t be too harsh of a sentence.” The emotion is back in Luke’s voice. Hurt and anger towards his life long friend.
“Do they know how and what he drugged us with?” I ask him.
“The what, they don’t know yet. The how, they can only guess at. They know you were both injected with something because you have matching needle marks on your necks. Whatever it was it had to be quick acting. How James got around Riker’s security system is beyond me. Blocking the feed is one thing but getting inside in totally different thing. Guess we won’t know until the police ask him.” Luke shrugs.
The door to the room opens. I expect to see Lynn standing there but instead it’s Riker.
“Riker! What the hell are you doing?” Luke snaps as he jumps up to help Riker into the room. He looks drunk, I know it’s from the meds they gave him but it’s almost laughable to see my big strong Riker stumbling around like an old drunk.
Luke tries to get Riker to sit down on the small sofa by the door, but he pushes past him to come sit on my bed next to me.
“You left recovery without them knowing, didn’t you?” I lightly scold him. I should be angry at him but it’s so good to see he’s ok. I reach out my hand to cup his cheek.
“They probably begged him to leave.” Luke jokes. “I’ll go make sure Lynn knows you’re here incase the hospital puts out a missing person warrant on you.”
Luke opens the door only to be pushed out of the way by Demon.
“I should knock you’re lights out for that stunt you just pulled.” He snarls at Riker.
“You’ll get over it. I needed to see her, and I wasn’t letting you or anyone keep me from her any longer.” Riker tells him as he lays down beside me. I move over to make room for him. He wraps his good arm around me and I lay my head on his chest.
“Darcy, when all this is over I want you to let me punch your boyfriend just one time. One good hit will be all I’ll need.” Demon tells me, like I could really stop him from hitting Riker if he really wanted too. “Do you know how much danger you just put Darcy and yourself in? Bradley is in the building now. I told you that. The trap is set but if he would have seen you, then you would have lead him straight to Darcy.”
“He’s in the building?” I gasp.
“Easton watched him enter from the loading dock. Greg is monitoring the security feeds and has followed his every move. He stopped at the laundry and changed into a pair of scrubs. He’s been casually walking around the main floor for the last five minutes. We think he is casing out an exit for his escape.” Demon starts pacing the room as he checks his phone.
Riker leans done and nuzzles my neck. “How are you feeling?”
“Sore, but I’m ok. How are you? You really shouldn’t have left recovery Riker.” Again, I know I should be mad but being in his arms again is the best feeling in the world.
“I couldn’t stand not knowing for myself that you were ok.” He whispers. “I needed to be with you, staying down there was driving me crazy.”
“Just don’t do it again.” I playfully scold him. He kisses my forehead and holds me closer. The world around us is tense and crazy, but right here, right now, I’m at peace because I’m with the man I love.