“Hey, Angel, have you seen Kat?” David had looked all over the ranch for her. He’d forgotten to get her phone number and he wanted to kick himself. He finally found Angel and Susie on the Teen Center playground.

“She left, early this morning.”

“Damn.” David had gotten called out to a crime scene at three in the morning. Kat was sleeping heavily and he hadn’t wanted to wake her. He did leave a note and he put his phone number on it, hoping that she would call him. “I got called out to work.”

“Yeah, Handsome told me…and I read it on the note the girls found when they cleaned the room you spent the night…with Kat…in.”

“They found it? Where?” Angel was sitting on a bench watching Susie in the sandbox with a few other small kids. David sat down next to her.

“Are we going to talk about the part where you spent the night with Katrina Brown?”

“Are you serious? Look around us, Angel. You’re a former cop who is married to the president of the most powerful criminal organization in this area…”

“Alleged criminal organization,” she said.

David rolled his eyes. “Changing the terminology doesn’t make the facts any different outside of court, counselor. My point is, that when Kyle and everyone else was having apoplectic fits about you being with Dax, I trusted your judgment…for the most part.”

“I can’t deny you’ve always been supportive. But…I don’t understand, David. I don’t get how you can forget what she did.”

“I didn’t forget, Angel. But everyone makes mistakes…should we keep dwelling on your husband and his less than stellar history?”

Angel smiled slightly and said, “Alleged less than stellar history.”

“I love her, Angel. I never got over her and I’ll be damned if I didn’t try. Five years is a long time and not one single day went by that I didn’t wish she’d come home. I wasn’t sure what I’d do if she did, but as soon as I saw her the other day I knew I wouldn’t be able to just go on with my life without trying. She’s not a bad person. As a matter of fact, she’s an amazing person. You’d like her if you ever gave her a chance.”

Angel snorted. “That’s the third time I’ve heard that this week.”

David smiled. “It’s good to know I have back-up.”

“I don’t have to like her,” Angel said with a sigh. “I just hope that you’re more careful this time. I hope you won’t trust her as easily as you did before. She hurt you so badly, David…and it wasn’t just a broken heart. She struck at the very core of your beliefs.”

“Like I said, Angel, I didn’t forget. And I hate to keep turning things around on you…but how many of your own beliefs have you compromised to be with Dax?” Angel didn’t answer him, but he could tell he hit another target. He wasn’t trying to make his sister feel bad, he just wanted her to understand. “Where did they find the note?” he asked, steering the conversation back to him. “Do you think she saw it?” Suddenly David was worried. What if Kat thought he just left in the middle of the night after…Geez, if that’s the case, knowing Kat, she might never speak to me again.

“Naomi was the one that brought it to me. She’s still over at the clubhouse cleaning, I think.”

David stood up. “Thanks.”

“David?”

“Yeah?”

“You know that I just worry because I love you, right?”

He sat back down and took his sister’s hand. “Yeah, I know. I know that after Mom died you became our unofficial mother, even though most of us were older than you. You gave up a lot to help Dad raise four boys. You should get a medal just for getting Kyle to twenty-one.” She laughed and he went on to say, “You don’t have to worry about me anymore though, sis. If you haven’t noticed, I’m really the only one in this family who hasn’t been involved in some kind of shameless scandal.”

“Hey!” She laughed. “Okay, point taken. Just be careful with your heart.”

“I will.” David hugged Angel and walked back up to the clubhouse. He saw Naomi as soon as he walked in. She was wiping down tables in the bar. “Hey, Naomi.”

The pretty, leggy, well-endowed blonde stood up straight and, if David wasn’t mistaken, pushed out her chest even further. “Hi, David.” Her voice was sultry like a porn star’s…no matter who she was talking to or what she was talking about. David had almost hooked up with her once, but he’d decided that getting involved with the girls around his brother-in-law’s club was probably more trouble than he wanted in his life.

“Hey, Angel said that you cleaned the room I stayed in last night and you found a note?”

Her lips suddenly looked pouty. “Yeah, I gave it to Angel.”

“Where did you find it, exactly?”

“It was on the floor, by the nightstand.”

Shit. If Kat got up on the other side of the bed, she probably didn’t even see it. “Katrina was already gone when you cleaned the room?”

She made a distasteful face and said, “Yes.”

Shit. “Thanks. Have you seen Dax around?”

“I think he’s in the office. Hey, we’re having a little get-together over at the house tonight…”

“Thanks, but I’m busy. Have a good day, Naomi.” David didn’t wait to see the pout. He turned and went over to Dax’s office and knocked.

“Come in.” David pushed open the door. Dax was behind his desk with his phone to his ear. He motioned at David to close the door and come in and then he said, “What do you mean it’s all locked up?” Dax frowned as whoever he was talking to answered the question. “The van is there?” Another pause. “Okay, let me call her and see what’s going on. Hang tight and I’ll call you back.” He ended the call with a sigh and then looked at David and asked, “You haven’t spoken to Kat this afternoon, have you?”

Worry began to coil in David’s core. “No. I was coming to ask you for her number. Why? What’s wrong?”

“I sent Gunner over there with a payment for her and he says the place is locked up tight. Handsome had Monte follow her home this morning and he said she got there fine…”

“Did he go inside with her? Maybe there was someone waiting…”

“I don’t think so,” Dax said, thoughtfully. “Street Chaos was pretty busy last night. I’m sure they weren’t sending guys out to torment Kat. She’s not on their hit list anyways.”

“They were busy doing what?” David asked. The look on Dax’s face made him say, “Never mind, I don’t want to know. I just need to find Kat. Will you call her, please?”

Dax was already pressing in her number. The worry had begun to worm its way through the rest of David’s body. If anything happened to her…he didn’t know what he’d do. He had kept tabs on her in California, just to make sure she was doing okay. He knew she’d be pissed if she found out he was using his job to track her movements, but as long as she was safe, he didn’t care. Dax ended the call and said, “She’s not answering.” David was already on his way back to the door when Dax said, “Hang on, I want to try something else.” He pressed in a number and David waited, impatiently, until he heard him say, “Hello, I was wondering if you could ring the room of Dillon Brown for me. I’m not sure where they moved him…Okay, sure, I’ll wait. Thank you.”

“You think Dillon got sick?” David asked.

“It’s a possibility we need to check out before we go tearing things up looking for her.” A few seconds later Dax said, “Yes, I’m here. Thank you.” Another few seconds that felt like an hour later to David he said, “Kat?” David breathed a sigh of relief. “What’s going on with Dillon?” Dax listened and it was all David could do to keep from tearing the phone out of his hand. At last he said, “Okay, darlin’, I’ll be by as soon as I can. In the meantime, you call if you need anything at all and I’ll make sure you get it. Hang on a minute, David’s here…” The look on Dax’s face told David that she’d hung up before Dax did.

“What room is he in?” David asked.

“I don’t think she needs any extra stress right now.”

“I’m going to tell you the same thing I just told my sister—it’s not up to you. I’ll find her myself.” He was almost to the door when Dax said:

“ICU nine, but don’t upset her, David.” David didn’t turn around. Regardless of what any of them thought, Kat needed him, but he knew her well enough to know that she’d die before she’d ask him for anything. He was going to be there, to make sure she didn’t have to ask.

* * *

Kat hung up the phone and sat back down next to Dillon’s bed. Right before Dax called, the internist had come by and talked to her. He explained what was going on inside Dillon’s body, and none of it was good. He told her that Dillon had been in excruciating pain…for a long time. He was supposed to be taking pain meds, but Kat had seen the bottles in the bathroom of their apartment and they were full. He was self-medicating, with alcohol most likely, and that thought gave her a pain in her chest for each time she’d called him a worthless drunk.

The doctor also told her that the bag attached to his catheter looked like it was filled with dark beer because of the bilirubin built up in his system. That also caused the yellowing of his skin and eyes. His arms had big, ugly, red rashes on them and his skin would only continue to get worse as the bilirubin continued to back up. His brain was having trouble functioning because of the toxins and the doctors thought that was why he wasn’t waking up. The worst part was that the doctor told her once end-stage liver patients slip into a coma, 80% of them die. She looked at Dillon now and promised herself and him too that he was going to be one of the 20%, no matter what she had to do. She’d had to grow up without a mother; she wasn’t about to just sit back and let her father go too. She took out her phone, which she had turned off, and turned it back on. She had a ton of missed calls from Gunner and Dax. She ignored those and pulled up her text messages. There was nothing yet from Gavin. She had talked to the doctor a little bit about getting a work-up to see if she was a match for Dillon. She, at least, had medical insurance still. She’d just have to borrow enough to pay for Dillon’s end of it. The doctor told her they would start with blood and tissue typing and go from there. He seemed skeptical about the whole thing, but he did give her some paperwork to fill out with regard to her own health. She already had those ready to go, and she was ready to take the next step, but she was waiting on the hospital. Patience was not her strong suit, and watching Dillon die as she waited only made it all that much worse.

“Miss Brown?” She looked up at the nurse who came into the room. They all looked at her with pity in their eyes. Kat hated that too.

“Yes?”

“You have a visitor. He asked to come back here, but your father is only allowed one visitor at a time.”

“Who is it?”

“He said he was a family friend. I can go back and ask for his name…”

“No, it’s okay,” Kat thought it was probably Gunner; she was sure Dax would send him by to see if she needed anything. “I could stand to stretch my legs. I’ll go see him.” Kat got up and walked down the hall with floors so shiny that you could almost see yourself in them and a strong odor of antiseptic in the air. She pushed open the double doors and then turned right into the waiting room. Her heart kicked up a few notches at the sight of David before she remembered he’d walked out on her…again. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to see if you were okay. Do you need anything?”

“Yeah, to be left alone to take care of my father.” She turned her back on him.

“Kat, please, hear me out, okay?”

“Like you were willing to do for me five years ago, David?”

“I’m not sure that was the same thing…”

Softly, she said, “Fuck you. You’re not sure, because you didn’t listen…not to me, anyways. You listened to your sister and your brother and everyone else in this town that had something shitty to say about me. You don’t get to walk out on me twice, David. Please just leave. I don’t need this right now.”

“I didn’t come here to upset you. I’m sorry that you feel like I didn’t listen to you…”

“I don’t ‘feel’ like that, it’s what happened. I spent five years in my own personal hell because you turned your back on me when I needed you the most. Last night was a terrible mistake and it won’t happen again. Now go, and leave me be.” She pushed through the doors and stepped out into the hallway. Before they closed behind her, she saw David sit down. A switch flipped in her head and she barreled back into the room and stopped inches from him. “I said to get the fuck out!”

“Shh, you’re in a hospital.”

“Fuck that! Fuck you!”

“I’m not leaving. You might not think you need me, but…” A young Asian man and woman walked into the room and David lowered his voice. “I’ll be here, just in case.”

“Sure, until your sister or brother find out and tell you what a fool you are for being here.” Kat didn’t lower her voice, and the man and woman looked at her nervously as they took the furthest seat away from her. Kat was used to that and most of the time she didn’t even give a shit. Still focused on David she said, “I want you to go.”

David settled back further in his chair and said, “Call security.”

“Fuck you!” When he didn’t respond, she was afraid she was going to sock him. Instead, she turned and walked away. She called that maturity…it was fucked up.