UCLA Medical Center

Los Angeles, California

 

Jane closed her eyes as the doctors and nurses stared at her face with their bright lights and emotionless expressions. She was numb, her face nothing more than a throbbing mass of something heavy and sticky. They wouldn’t tell her where Orion was, wouldn’t let her get up and find him herself. They wouldn’t let her do much of anything but lie there while they studied her face.

“We could bring in the plastic surgeon,” someone said.

Jane closed her eyes. Was it all that bad?

Where was Orion?

Her body was sore, her muscles tight from being thrown around inside of the SUV so many times. She could still feel the weight of him on her as the SUV ran off the road, could feel him trying to protect her. Had he paid a price for that?

She didn’t care about her face. She just wanted to see Orion.

“We’re going to give you a little medicine in your IV that might make you sleepy,” a kind nurse said even as the cold rushed through her veins and her eyes drooped closed.

 

***

 

“She needs to stay here overnight, make sure she doesn’t develop an infection. Then she should probably follow up with her family doctor in a few days, get the stitches taken out.”

“But she’ll be okay?”

“She’ll be sore and bruised for a while, but I think she’ll be fine.”

Jane opened her eyes, the sight of Orion standing just a few yards from her, his arm in a sling but with no other visible signs of damage, sending a stream of relief through her. He turned as though he could feel the weight of her gaze, a small smile turning into something big and filled with relief.

“You’re awake.”

He came to her, squeezing her hand with his free one. She wanted to touch him, to make sure he really was real, but when she moved, pain shot through her entire body.

“You’re a little banged up.”

“You too.”

He looked down at the sling. “Broken collarbone. No big deal.”

“Anything else?”

He shook his head. “Bruises. A few small cuts on my hands. Nothing else.”

“Lucky.”

“We were both lucky, thanks to your quick thinking.”

She shook her head. “Thanks to your driving skills.”

He ran his fingers along the side of her face, brushing a loose piece of tape on her cheek. She reached up and touched it, too, her fingers tracing a large bandage that took up a huge section of her forehead.

“How bad is it?”

“You have a five-inch gash that runs from your hairline to the middle of your scalp.”

“Must have taken a few stitches.”

“Sixty-five.”

She tried to nod her head, but it hurt. Orion took her hand and kissed her palm. Her eyes drifted closed again, darkness quickly descending.

“Pain meds,” she heard him say.

 

***

 

When she woke next, Orion was standing by the door, another man speaking in low tones to him. She watched for a moment, trying to guess what it was they were up to. She pushed herself up in the bed a little, trying to ignore the pain that shot through her body. It was mostly her head, a pain that was like an itch deep in her brain. She closed her eyes, waiting for the pain to pass once more.

Orion came back to the bed, dropping into the chair beside her with a sort of carelessness that suggested he wasn’t feeling the pain quite like she was.

“What’s going on?”

“Piper and her people handed over photographs of the two men who ran us off the road,” he said, leaning forward to take her hand. “The people at Mastiff are looking for them.”

“Shouldn’t the cops be doing that?”

“I thought you’d lost faith in the police.”

He was right about that, but he was an ex-cop. She reached for his hand, sliding her palm over the back of it. “What are we going to do next?”

“We’re going to find a way to take down Mason Trueblood.” He lifted her hand and kissed the palm. “I know he’s behind this; everyone knows he was behind this. I’m going to make him pay for it.”

“How?”

“I’m going to find those men and force them to admit it was him who paid them.”

“What about Porter?”

Orion looked down at the floor for a long moment. “They can’t find the woman in the pictures. Without her…”

“Without her, they can’t touch him.”

“Without some sort of proof.”

“There’s proof in the pictures!”

“Not enough, Jane.” Orion studied her face for a long moment. “I was hoping it would be enough to identify the woman with, to get the evidence they would need. But it wasn’t.”

She shook her head. “Then you need to let me do what I do best, Orion.”

“What’s that?”

“You need to allow me to sell those pictures.”

His jaw tightened. “If I could, I would, but the originals are gone.”

“What if they weren’t?”

Orion’s eyes darkened as he regarded her. “What did you do?”

“Can you just trust me?”

He was quiet for a long moment. She could feel the battle going on inside of him, could see that he didn’t want to give in to her on this one thing. And she understood. He’d been so deeply hurt by someone who published pictures irresponsibly. But this was a different situation, and she knew he understood that.

“If those pictures are released, Sam Porter will never be able to pick up another girl in any bar, he’ll never be able to take a woman home without someone wondering what the hell he’s about to do. And no woman will willingly allow him to tie her up on one of those contraptions.” She squeezed his hand. “Sometimes these kinds of pictures can destroy a life. But sometimes they can save lives, too.”

He shook his head, his eyes dropping to their intertwined fingers.

“Sam Porter has done this before. You heard what that cop said, heard him talk about the witnesses who disappeared for whatever reason. He’s never going to be punished for what he’s doing!”

“But it’s not up to us to take justice into our own hands.”

“Then, what? We stand by and let other women die? We allow Mason Trueblood to ruin my life and put you through this bullshit again and again? We let them win?”

“It’s not about winning or losing.”

“Sure it is. And their side is getting really close to the finish line.”

Someone knocked on the door. Orion glanced over at it, but made no move to answer it.

“It doesn’t make you a hypocrite to recognize that there are fine lines in every decision we make, in every moral rule we try to adhere to.” She squeezed his hand one more time before letting go. “You go deal with those men, and I’ll deal with this. We’ll both do what we do best.”

Orion sat very still for a moment longer, then slowly got to his feet. He leaned over and kissed the top of her head before disappearing through the door. She watched him go, her heart in her throat as she wondered if he’d ever look at her the same again. And then she reached for the phone.