Chapter 9
She wished to hell the noise—moaning—would shut up. It was really giving her a headache. She shuddered and tugged the blankets higher up on her shoulders. She had no idea where she was, but everything hurt.
“Sienna?”
A gentle finger stroked across her cheek. She struggled to open her eyes. When she finally did, everything was blurry. But the moaning had stopped. Thank God for that.
As she stared ahead, a fuzzy rendition of Rhodes’s face came into view. A second later, she could actually see him clearly.
“Hey.” He leaned over and kissed her very gently on the temple.
Her eyelids fluttered closed. “What … happened?”
“You went to the washroom in the restaurant and met up with two punks who tried to persuade you to go with them.” His tone was dry. He gingerly sat on the edge of the bed and reached down to gently cradle her hands in his.
She stared at him in surprise as the memories tumbled in and around each other. “One wore a hoodie and the other had a red t-shirt on.”
He nodded. “Brothers. Just young kids. They were ordered to pick you up, if they got a chance, and they took it at the restaurant.”
“And, of course, you rescued me, right?” She gave him a knowing smile. And she was very grateful to have missed the whole damn thing.
“It took me a few minutes,” he said gravely. “I saw them take off and gave chase. But I couldn’t guarantee you were inside the van. I found it in a garage at somebody’s house. When I got inside, you were upstairs tied up on a bed.”
She stared at him in shock. “I don’t remember any of that.”
He bent down and kissed her on the nose. “Good. Another set of nightmares you won’t have to worry about.”
She rolled over and tried to sit up, crying out in pain. Her hand instinctively went to her head. “Did they hit me over the head or something?” She groaned and realized that the moaning she’d heard earlier was probably coming from her. How embarrassing was that?
Using his strong arms, he slowly propped her up against the pillows. She felt slightly better, but it took a moment for the booming in her head to stop. “Did you catch them?”
He gave a half snort.
She smiled with her eyes closed. “Of course you did.” No question about it. She was here with him.
“I captured them. The second I did, I got the police and DA involved. Robert was there when they collected them, to make sure we didn’t lose them to a crooked cop, and now they’re cutting a deal with him.”
“That’s actually the best thing we could’ve hoped for,” she said with a smile. “Does that mean we can go home now?” She tried not to whine, but she didn’t want to stay. “I really don’t want to spend another night in a hotel, worrying someone is breaking in.”
“Since you’re awake, we won’t have to check you into the hospital, I hope. You’re still in the emergency room. As soon as the doctor clears you, I’ll take you to the station to give a statement. Then we can leave.”
Her shoulders sagged a bit. “That sounds horrible. I was thinking maybe you could just pick me up, put me in the truck and drive me home.” Her eyelids slowly lowered again at the thought of all that extra movement. “Everything hurts.”
“The kid says he didn’t hit you, that you slammed into the window. You were probably fighting them.”
“If I did, I must have taken the damn window latch to my brain,” she muttered. “I didn’t even have much time to react. It just seems like my world went black right away. And if they knocked me out, why the hell does everything hurt?”
He grinned. “You really won’t like this part.”
When he didn’t continue speaking, she finally rolled her head slightly to look into his eyes. “What part?”
“They were both very skinny teenagers, not a pound of muscle between them. They had difficulty lifting you.”
She stared at him in outrage.
He laughed. “So I am pretty damn sure they must’ve dropped you on your butt to shift their grip many times. I was there as they tried to carry you from the bedroom and down the stairs. They might’ve bumped a few body parts going around corners too.” He chuckled. “And before you ask, I had no opportunity to get you away from them without putting you in more danger. The last thing I wanted to do was take them out and have you roll down the stairs and break your neck.”
She gave a tiny shrug. “I can understand that but damn …”
He laughed, bent down and kissed her. This time on the lips. “I’m just so damn glad to see you alive and well,” he said cheerfully. “Although I probably shouldn’t kiss you with you being Jarrod’s sister.”
“Would you stop always shoving Jarrod into my face?” she snapped. “He’s not here, and he’s got nothing to do with us.”
“Are you sure?” He stared at her with a steady gaze. “He’s your big brother, and he cares about you.”
“And you’re his friend, and you care about me too.” She smiled. “You just won’t admit it.”
His eyebrows rose at her words. “Of course I do. You’re Jarrod’s sister.”
He had turned the tables on her very neatly. She glared at him. “Is that all I am to you?”
He frowned, his gaze dropping away.
“Right. I’m not. So drop the excuse. My brother isn’t here, and he’s not my guardian. I’m an adult. I can do what I want with whom I want.”
“And what is it you want to do?” he asked, lowering his head to kiss her again.
“Right now I want to feel better.” When she could, she whispered, “And that means getting the doctor to give me permission to leave, getting to the goddamn police station, giving my statement and going home.”
She shoved the blankets back and slid her feet to the floor. With more bravado than strength, she stood up and clung to the bed rail. “But first I have to make it to the bathroom.”
Instantly he was at her side, holding out a hand. Grudgingly she accepted it, and using him as a crutch, made her way to the bathroom. At the doorway, he stopped and raised an eyebrow, looking down at her. She shook her head ever-so-slightly.
Even that little bit of movement made her wince. “I’ll be fine.”
“You’d be ‘fine’ even if you’re not because no way in hell would you ask for help, right?”
“Right.” And she shut the door in his face.
*
“Stubborn,” he snapped.
From the other side of the door came her response, “Yep, get used to it.”
He shook his head. “No way to get used to that,” he called back. He could hear the muffled snort from the inside of the bathroom, and grinned.
He pulled out his phone to check for messages, wondering if he should say anything to Jarrod about his sister being attacked. But Jarrod was on a mission, out of touch. Still, if Jarrod did get it, that would be fine. At least he’d be in the loop. Making a sudden decision he pulled up his buddy’s number and sent him a text.
Sister was attacked. She’s okay. We’re on it.
Instantly a response came flying back.
WTF? Make sure you get the asshole.
Rhodes laughed.
I already did. At least two of them.
Is she really okay? Are you standing guard? I know how much she means to you. It was impossible to miss.
Rhodes winced at that last line of text. Was it really that obvious? The attraction had always been strong. It was easy to walk away when she was a gangly teenager—completely out of bounds. But now those had changed, and the markers moved. Nothing was stopping them from having a relationship except that sense that she was still out of bounds. She was the sister of one of his best friends. Really, he thought, he should get a goddamn reward for being a good guy here. He hadn’t made a move. And he knew a lot of guys would have.
She’s also your sister, Rhodes texted. I’ve always honored that.
Don’t be stupid. Sienna has the right to make her own mistakes and go after what she wants. If that happens to be you, then welcome to the family, at least temporarily. If it isn’t you, sorry. But there is one constant here. If you go after her and hurt her, I’m coming after you.
At least after that text was a small happy face to let Rhodes know that, although Jarrod wouldn’t take kindly to Rhodes hurting his sister, there was at least some understanding of relationships. He loved the double standard though, where it was okay for Sienna to hurt him, but if he were to turn around and hurt her, well, he’d have to answer to Jarrod. Still, if Rhodes had a little sister, he’d be the same way. Now, as he thought of the damn good men he worked with, he realized a little sister of his would be damn lucky to be with any one of those guys. Not one of them took a relationship lightly, nor would any deliberately hurt a woman, and never would they hit one. There was something to be said about knowing your buddies would take you to task if you even considered abusing anybody.
The door opened behind him, and he spun around. Sienna took the first step forward, and Rhodes gave her a helping hand. Whether she had been pinching her cheeks or was just feeling better, the color had returned to her skin, and she stood strong.
“You’re looking better.”
“I feel better too.” She walked slowly to the bed and sat down on the edge. “Can we leave now?”
“Let me find a doctor,” he said. “See if we can get him to sign off on you leaving.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Let me rephrase that. I’m leaving. Are you coming with me?”
He stopped and stared. “You really don’t like authority, do you?”
“I find when you phrase a question the wrong way, it gives people the option to do the wrong thing,” she said. “I’m not an emergency. I’m taking up a bed. I’m no longer unconscious, and I’m feeling much better. Yes, I have a head wound, but with careful behavior and someplace quiet to rest, we both know I’ll feel better. And I don’t want to be here. I was kidnapped once. Let’s not give them an opportunity to get me again.” She turned and studied the room. “I’m covered in blood, and I don’t see my purse. Any idea if I came in with my personal effects?”
“Your purse came with you.”
“Oh, good. The damn cards would’ve been such a pain to replace. You think we’d come to the point where we have chip IDs under the skin or something.”
He laughed and reached under the bed, pulling out a plastic bag. He upended it on the bed. “These are your personal effects.”
She grabbed her purse and pulled out her hairbrush. She checked that her wallet and its contents were there and slung the whole thing over her shoulder, brushing her hair quickly, which just snagged on the dried blood there. “Let’s go.” And she walked past him out to the reception area.
There she handed over her insurance card and waited while the paperwork was completed. When she turned around, paperwork and receipts in hand, he held out his, offering support. Instead of putting her arm through his, she slipped her hand into his and laced their fingers.
“Can we go home now?”
“Police station first if you’re up to it.”
She nodded. “Make it fast.”
It was fast but still took over an hour. As he helped her back to the truck, he found the DA’s laptop he’d stashed there the night before. Shit. “Robert, she’s out of the hospital but pretty woozy. And I found your laptop in the truck. I missed it earlier.”
“Can you bring it back before you leave?”
“Yes, we can do that much.” He walked around, got in the driver’s side and started the engine. “The DA wants me to drop off their laptop. Then we’re free to go.”
“Perfect.” And as if washing her hands of the whole issue, she curled up in the far side and laid her head against the glass. Then she closed her eyes.
He wanted to rush back to the hospital. He understood her point about not staying there, but she didn’t look like she was strong enough to have left either. The walk outside had been enough to finish her. “You want to stay in town or are you up for the long drive home?”
“I’ll sleep along the way,” she said. “That’s exactly what I need right now.”
It was pretty hard to argue with that. He pulled in the front of the DA’s building and said, “I don’t want to leave you out here alone.”
She opened her eyes and turned to look at the building, then over at him. With a heavy sigh she nodded. “No, I can’t say I want to be alone either right now. But getting up there to the DA’s office, … well, that’s looking like a little bit too much work.”
But she opened the door and slowly got out. He opened the extended cab, pulled out the laptop, then locked the doors. He stepped beside her and said, “Grab my arm. We’ll take the elevator straight up.”
They walked inside and headed for the elevator. By the time they got to the DA’s office, she was looking a little on the weaker side yet again. But as soon as they walked in the office and people stared at her, her back stiffened, and her grip on his arm tightened. She had grit. He loved that.
Robert rushed over. “How are you feeling? I am so sorry we got you involved in this.”
“It wasn’t exactly the highlight of my day,” she said with a wan smile. “But you couldn’t have known they would come after me either.”
They walked into the office where Rhodes set down the laptop near the box of documents. “Everything she found is still there, and of course, traceable. And the paperwork I delivered earlier.”
The DA shook their hands and said, “Much appreciated. I’m so sorry about what happened though.” He offered them a chair. “Do you want a quick cup of coffee? Can I get you anything?”
He was going to refuse but Sienna said, “A cup of coffee would be nice.”
He looked at her and saw she was determined to make this as normal a visit as possible. Besides, the caffeine would be good. Neither of them had had a cup in the last few hours.
The DA spoke to somebody just outside the room. He directed them to the chairs in the boardroom around the long table. They discussed the case for several minutes over coffee.
“With the information we have from the young kidnappers, we can trace the people who hired them.” He was effusive in his thanks. “I’m just so sorry this has come at the price it has.”
Silently Rhodes agreed. But sometimes shit happened. What could you do but reach for the toilet paper?