Chapter Seventeen: Rose
I was somehow beside myself since the night before. Finding out I was being watched was still a shell shock to me.
I wished I was just overreacting at the grocery store, but I wasn’t.
There really was someone watching me, and I didn’t know how to deal with it. All I could do was go to work and pretend everything was okay. I had gotten super good at that over the years—the pretending.
I was two hours in before I took a much-needed break to the restroom. When I saw my face in the mirror, I felt almost unrecognizable. I always had a permanent tired look that I covered with concealer, but this time I could really see it in my eyes. I didn’t get much sleep after Nate took off just because I was still scared, even though he took watch outside. I wished he could have just snuggled up in bed with me and did…well, more than snuggling.
I could still taste his lips, and the tang of his tongue fighting against mine. I don’t think I had ever gotten so turned on from making out. I was practically humping his leg just to relieve some of the pressure. He was just so warm and strong, his masculinity flooded through my veins and through my core. I wanted him so badly, as much as I wanted all of them—and I still wasn’t sure what to do about it.
I left the restroom and Dina was right there to corner me. “What’s up with you today?” She was chipper, always smiling.
I hoped I could be like that one day. Truly happy, as she was with her husband. I never really thought of things like that until a few weeks ago when I fell into a shitty situation, only diluted by the three men plaguing my every thought.
“Nothing. Just tired,” I lied.
I made my way back to the nurse’s station with her on my tail. She never gave up if she wanted information from someone. Especially me. It only took me a few minutes to finally spill.
“Someone was following me last night.” I took her to our usual hideout corner. I spoke quietly but she exclaimed loud enough for everyone to hear, defeating the purpose. I managed not to roll my eyes.
“What? Are you serious?” She grasped my arm like I didn’t have feeling in my extremity. When I winced she pulled away apologetically, but her eyes were still wide with worry.
“Yeah. I was at the grocery store when I first thought someone was following me, but I thought I was just being paranoid. Turns out, I was right. When I got back home, I saw someone taking pictures of me from across the street,” I explained.
A heavy silence fell over us. It was different saying it out loud to her because she wasn’t directly involved in the situation, so it felt more real. Nate was there from the beginning, so I never had to really get into it with him. Dina just looked at me all worried and concerned, and I almost felt like I had to convince her that everything was okay. Even though I knew it really wasn’t, and I feared how things would turn out.
“Holy shit. Are you okay? Shouldn’t you be under protection or something? That’s serious shit!” she shrieked.
I almost smiled at her response. She was such a supportive person, and she didn’t even have to be. I appreciated that from her, and I wished I could show it in return. But to be honest, her life was pretty normal. I didn’t even think people like that existed anymore, but there she was right in front of me.
“I’m okay. And…the two cops and that detective I told you about have been watching me. Nate was there with me, but he didn’t say much before he left. They’re all trying to tell me as little as they can.” I scoffed and rolled my eyes.
It was ridiculous, but I understood where they were coming from. I knew they trusted me but part of their jobs, I figured, just wouldn’t let them tell me every detail of the case. There was something more, but I was still a witness in their case on the surface.
“Okay…it’s still super scary. Sorry, that doesn’t help?” she said almost to herself. “Who is Nate again? And the other two?” she added.
I sighed heavily. My chest tightened at the thought of them. I definitely needed some girl talk about it, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to reveal everything. I was even still on the fence myself.
“Nate is one of the cops. He’s…well, they’re all beautiful. I mean, I thought super sexy cops were a myth, but they aren’t. Nate and Max are like magazine cops with muscles and sexy eyes. Alex is the detective, he’s always dressed up in a suit, even with a vest. But…they’re all kind and protective. It was weird at first but…I don’t know.”
“You don’t know? They sound amazing.” She giggled.
“Yeah, but it’s…isn’t it weird?” I said in a hushed whisper.
“Not really. It isn’t impossible. Lots of people are attracted to more than one man at the same time. As long as you don’t get your head all screwed up,” she added with a smile.
I grinned at the thought. “I think it already is.” I giggled.
“Hmm. As long as they’re there to protect you, that’s good. So, any other details?” She mocked a wink.
I just shook my head. “Yeah, right.” I hopped off the bed. “We should get back to work.”
It seemed as soon as I said it, the work came to us. Both of our pagers went off and we rushed into the ER. As soon as I saw the man being wheeled in, it was like being taken out of the room and transported back to that horrible morning.
The suit was almost exactly the same. Even the damned haircut. The only difference was that he wasn’t dead. In fact, he was screaming about just how alive he was.
“He tried to kill me!”
I thought he was just being hysterical, but he had a gun shot in his leg. I briefly noticed Dina nudging my side, and then leaving to take care of him when she saw I wasn’t responding. I knew I had to get out of my own head and focus. After a few calming breaths, I could.
“Sir, you need to stay calm, so we can take care of you.” I went into full nurse mode and tried to pretend like I wasn’t imagining him in a bunch of different scenarios.
Was he sent here on purpose to watch me? Anything was possible in my eyes.
“I was robbed. That dumb bastard…he took everything! The fucking Irish thug—I can’t believe this.”
At least he wasn’t yelling anymore, but he was still pretty hysterical. I was cleaning his wound and knew I would have to put him under because he wouldn’t keep still. The ER doctor wasn’t the most patient with those who didn’t stay still. The wound looked deep, and I hoped he wouldn’t need surgery or have any nerve damage. It was just above his knee on the side of his left thigh.
“I understand, sir. We’re going to take care of you. We’re going to give you some medication to help you relax.”
He nodded slightly and calmed down a bit. He was older, and slightly balding. I didn’t see a wedding band, but I figured he just wasn’t wearing it. I was probably jumping to conclusions thinking he had anything to do with the other murder, but I didn’t have much time to myself before the doctor showed up.
He took one look at his wound and decided to admit him. He was wheeled off in under two minutes. I groaned to myself and went off to the nurse’s station to do the paperwork. Dina had gone off, I didn’t know where. I watched the door every few seconds, waiting on the police.
When Alex walked in, Nate and Max were just on his tail. They spotted me instantly and I thought fuck the paperwork as I got up to meet them.
“I’m guessing you’re here for the gunshot victim?” I asked. They were so imposing standing directly in front of me.
Nate and Max were in their black uniforms, and Alex had on a stark white dress shirt that bounced off his eyes. I was a few feet away and I could still smell them. The scent mixing together…gah, it was maddening.
“Yeah,” Alex said. Though they were all looking at me like they had never seen me in a pair of scrubs. Or never seen me at all. I didn’t look all that special, but they made me feel like it.
“He was admitted. I can see where they took him.” I turned to step off, but Nate stopped me.
“Are you okay?” He came closer, blocking the others from my view. “I told them about last night.”
I had to actively stop myself from rolling my eyes. “Oh. I’m fine,” I said to all of them. Their hard looks told me they didn’t believe me.
“I can get his records for you. Usually you can’t get his statement yet, but—” I shrugged as I led them to the desk. The stark white walls did nothing to calm the screaming red of my desire.
“We get special treatment,” Nate joked. I grinned at his response.
The paperwork hadn’t taken me long, so he was already in the system.
“He’s on the second floor. Trauma unit. Do you think he has any connection to the other guy?” I asked them, thinking they had already seen him.
“Why do you ask that?” Alex cocked his head to the side, his brows drawn together. My eyes passed over his body and tried not to picture him naked. Try being the operative word.
“Uh, because he looked like him,” I shrugged. “I guess that’s pretty dumb. I’ll show you the way.”
They followed after me to the elevator. Every female in plain sight was ogling them and it made me jealous. Seriously, jealous? I couldn’t even believe it.
“It isn’t dumb. It’s an important observation,” Max assured me.
The elevator was too small for all of us, it seemed. Especially with them looking at me the way they were. Like they would stop the elevator right then and take turns claiming my body as theirs. I found it odd to believe: I had sex with Alex, made out with Nate, still imagined what Max tasted like…it was surreal.
“Yeah well. He was a real case. Kept screaming about some Irish thug robbing him. Said he tried to kill him.” I almost laughed like it was absurd, but they weren’t looking at me like that.
They were looking at me like they had seen a ghost, and exchanged a look I didn’t understand. Before I asked them about it, the elevator opened, and we were at our destination. I shook off the crazy feeling I was getting and took them to his room.
The man was doped up on meds, watching the television with a deep scowl on. The nurse was in there changing his drip and I told them they could go in. I stayed behind and used the computer at the nurse’s station on that floor, and tried to eavesdrop but it was useless. I definitely didn’t know how to read lips.
I just knew the handsy nurse was overstaying her welcome. She was pretty and thin and blonde and fucking infuriating. Ugh, and it was only two minutes maybe, that she was in there trying to talk the three of them up. I guess I couldn’t blame her for not being able to choose one?
I wasn’t being rational anyway. It wasn’t like I had some sort of insane claim on them, as much as I wanted one. Whoever the nurse was tried to take her sweet time changing his drip and checking his bandage when really, she could just leave. There was nothing wrong with any of his shit. My blood was almost boiling by the time she left with a dumb smile on her face.
“Hello. I haven’t seen you here before.” She plopped down at the computer next to me. I rolled my eyes at the thought of her actually trying to talk to me. I couldn’t believe I was being such a bitch about it, but then I realized it was exactly what Dina was talking about in terms of losing my head.
“I’m from the ER. I just had to bring the police up here.” I gestured to the three globes of muscle questioning the victim.
“Oh. Cool. I wish they would just do away with guns. Unless the cops are wearing them.” She giggled as she swooned over the men in uniform.
I managed a smile and finished updating my files before I logged out and took a walk around the corner just to clear my head. I kept running over the faces they made in the elevator. There must have been some sort of break in the case they hadn’t told me about. I didn’t expect to be told everything, but if it had to do directly with me, I would want to know.
It was the possibilities that were running crazy in my head the most, so I just wanted to set things straight.
When I came back around the corner, they were out of the room and nurse chatty was at it again. I nearly gagged but still came down the way. When I was a few feet away, they spotted me and charged at me like bulls or something.
“What the—” I started, when Alex grabbed my elbow and tugged me into the nearest supply closet, followed by Nate and Max.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
Alex gave me a stern look as he released my arm. Nate leaned against the wall, scratching his neck like he wished he had something to say to lighten the situation. That couldn’t be good.
“Look, Rose…” Alex trailed off.
He didn’t seem to be very good with words. Which made sense. Max stepped in, with a comforting voice I was sure he probably used on children. I tried not to frown.
“We think the guy, our suspect, is part of the Irish mob. The victim today matched his MO.”
“But…he was robbed.” I dropped my shoulders. “The others were killed.” I chewed the inside of my lip. I glanced at Nate, who was trying to drill a hole in the ground with the tip of his toe.
“Yeah. Um. A few years back there were a string of robberies similar to this one. We’re thinking the suspect either got sloppy three times or didn’t finish the job this time. The attack happened in a more public place this time as well.” Max continued.
I found the edge of a shelf and sat down slowly. I rubbed my eyes in frustration and tried to comprehend everything. But it was no use. I still wasn’t seeing the big picture.
“And…” I pressed, looking at all of them. “You guys don’t have to treat me like some delicate flower you know. I spent my morning digging a fishing hook out of some frat boys’ ass, so nothing can be worse than that.” I laughed humorlessly, and Nate actually laughed.
“Shit. I feel sorry for you.” Nate cracked a smile. The ease of it was exactly what I needed to loosen my chest. I took a deep breath and prepped for their explanation.
“We need to put some extra protection on you for the time being. But we’re going to do it off the books because we don’t want to have any records of it that someone can get into,” Alex said.
I stared blankly at him for a few seconds before I could respond. I was already used to them watching me, so I wasn’t sure what the difference would be. Except they obviously seemed more worried about it than before. But what had changed?
“O—okay…um, why? I mean why do you not want to have records of it? Why do you need to watch me more? If it’s about that guy from yesterday, he was probably just some creep. There are a lot of them in my neighborhood,” I rambled, standing up and pacing.
Nate touched my shoulder gently and looked right into my eyes. “We don’t think it was just a neighborhood creep, Rose.”
The severity of his voice seeped into me and I let it settle in. It was worse than I was thinking, and if they were worried about it, I knew I should be too.
“Oh,” I whispered. I turned and looked at Max and Alex, who stared me down with concern.
“We want to keep you safe. And we don’t want to put it on paper officially because there are some moles in the precinct. Not much can be done about that. But just trust us, we can protect you.” Max said.
I sighed and nodded. “Okay, but…why do care about that? Isn’t this more isolated? It isn’t like I was the one who was shot.” I almost laughed, but their faces were too grim.
Max circled around me, and Nate rubbed my shoulder gently. Alex finished, “We think the Irish mob has a hit on you, Rose. That’s why we need to watch you, and keep you out of the system.”
My eyes widened in shock and I stared back at them as my breath hitched. I didn’t know what the hell I was going to do. Of course, I trusted them, but how could I ever sleep okay again knowing I wasn’t safe? Knowing they were putting themselves on the line for me…I couldn’t ever fathom one of them getting hurt.
And that thought was even more scary than the possibility of getting killed.