“Wait, we have sinus rhythm,” she heard William say.
William emerged, looking concerned.
“We were able to bring him back. It’s touch and go at this moment. I think if he makes it through the night, we’re in the clear.”
Kara turned into Caleb, and he enveloped her in his arms. Holding her tightly as her world crashed around her. If he makes it through the night, she promised herself she would be a better person, and stop living in the shadow of a ghost. No, make that when he makes it through the night. For the second time in her life, she found herself repeating the word when over and over, and for the first time in ten years, she found herself crying.
Damn! He thought for sure that fucker wouldn’t survive that crash. But he had, and what made matters worse was that jerkoff Montgomery wasn’t even in the car. He would have to be more careful of his temper. It would be his downfall, or so that bitch who raised him always told him. Well, he had the last say where that fucking cunt was concerned. She wouldn’t be able to talk down to him or hurt him ever again.
If he had his way, Vanderbilt would die, and Montgomery would be out of the picture soon too. And he would make damn sure he got his way when it came to that. Patience was a virtue; it was a matter of being more careful and not flying off the handle. It wouldn’t take much for the cops to figure out Vanderbilt’s car was forced off the road. He was pretty sure they already knew. Fortunately, the two cops he’d paid to kill Montgomery had died, or he would be tempted to kill them with his bare hands for fucking up. His benefactor was going to be irate that Vanderbilt had almost died, might still die. He was supposed to take out Montgomery, not Vanderbilt. Next time, he needed to make sure it counted. He had to do it himself and use an ex-con to pin both of those guys’ deaths on. Otherwise, there would be too many questions. It was just a matter of picking the right scapegoat.
Once they were out of the way, he could go in for the prize. Stanley Vanderbilt would be left wondering who’d outsmarted him. No fears, though; he would make sure that self-righteous bastard was aware of who had one-upped him. It was just a matter of picking the right time. These matters were delicate, and he wanted the optimum bang for his buck, so to speak. And that fucking wife of his. Don’t even get him started on that bitch. She was almost as bad as the woman who had raised him.
Laughing to himself, he walked out of the hospital. No longer disappointed that Ethan Vanderbilt was alive, he could market this setback to his advantage. It was unfortunate that innocent people would have to die. Who was he kidding? He couldn’t care less who he had to kill to reach his goal. Maybe people will think twice about messing with someone like him.
His phone buzzed, and he looked down at the text that had just come in from his benefactor. The message was loud and clearly angry. WTF! You were told to get rid of CM and KV. Not EV! You better hope he lives.
He couldn’t care less who lives and dies. He liked killing, and he didn’t care who he killed, but he had a certain thirst that needed to be quenched every so often. No one was the boss of him, and it was about time the person holding the purse strings figured out that bit of information.
Caleb sat quietly, holding Kara close. After Ethan had nearly died and given them both a scare, Kara had refused to leave his side. Even though the doctors asked that they leave the room, she held her ground and refused to leave. While she hadn’t officially started working at the hospital, she had the respect and sympathy of many of the doctors and nurses. Therefore, she could stay if they weren’t in the way of the medical staff. So, they stayed in the room and didn’t get in the way.
Ethan made it through the night with no more scares, but he was still not out of the woods and still hadn’t woken up. Kara had talked to Dr. Chiglo and asked for a rundown of his injuries. Ethan had suffered a lacerated spleen, collapsed lung, and some broken ribs, and they had to remove his spleen and stop the internal bleeding, which they’d been able to do during surgery. The most concerning injury remaining was the massive head trauma and the swelling in his brain.
Eventually, the nurses got over having Kara hovering over everything they did and every little beep. Judging by the stance she had taken, signaling she was about to square off with them if she had to, they knew they were going to get nowhere with her. They were in what she called the critical hour, and she was not leaving her brother’s side.
So, here they sat, Caleb holding her close, silently praying for his friend and partner to make it, not only for him but for the woman that felt so right in his arms. Ethan hadn’t woken up yet, and it had been 24 hours. Eventually, a nurse convinced Kara to use their showers and change into scrubs. She refused to go unless Caleb agreed to stay with Ethan and then take a shower himself. It made him nervous to let her out of his sight, but he agreed if only to get her away from all the machines for a moment.
Eventually, she had come back looking lost and retaken her post by Ethan’s bed. Once he was done with his shower, he had taken his spot back next to her and held her until she had fallen asleep in his arms. He had no heart to move her, even though his arms had fallen asleep and lost feeling a long time ago. Kara had alluded to being unable to sleep more than a couple of hours a night, and she had been sleeping for four hours. He would rather have his arm go completely numb than wake her, and he didn't have the will to remove his arms from around her.
About another hour passed before he felt her stir and looked down to see her looking up at him, sleep filled eyes blinking slowly. Eyes that were uncertain about a lot of things.
"Hey, there sleepy head. How you feeling?"
"Like I got punched in the head."
He traced around the cut on her head, and said, “You kind of did.”
"How long have I been out?" she asked, trying to pull away, obviously embarrassed. But he wasn’t quite ready to let her go, so he held on.
"About five hours."
“Five hours?! I haven’t slept that long in…” She paused, a tear leaking out of her eye and sliding down her cheek. “Thank you.”
“For what?” he asked, utterly flabbergasted.
“For being here. For holding me up physically and for helping me sleep.”
“I think you give me too much credit,” he said, but he felt warmth spread through him. To be a beacon of light in her otherwise dark world was an honor that he wouldn’t turn a blind eye to.
"Have there been any changes?"
"Dr. Chiglo came in a couple of times and checked everything. He gave the thumbs up sign and then left. Neither of us wanted to disturb you. I figured when you woke, we could go find him."
"His shift ended hours ago, I’m sure he went home."
"Wrong, kiddo." Both Caleb and Kara turned to see William enter the room. "I’m not going anywhere until your brother is out of the woods. You should know that. I caught a few hours’ sleep on the couch in the breakroom."
Kara stood and walked to the side of Ethan's bed, absentmindedly grabbing his wrist to check his pulse while she viewed all the monitors that were connected to the wires that were connected to her brother.
"Strong pulse," she said quietly.
Caleb knew that she needed to assess all of Ethan's injuries. She needed to see for herself how he was doing. So, William and Caleb stood back, letting Kara look Ethan over. Once she had completed her assessment, she turned to look at them both. With a quiet motion to the hallway, they all walked out into it.
"His stats look good. Would I be able to see the CAT scan?" Kara asked.
"I’ll see what I can do. When you were sleeping, I talked to Dr. Vandehei. He is doing really well; he has a pretty serious head trauma. They’re going to reevaluate in a few hours."
"To measure brain activity?"
"Correct. There is no reason to believe he won't fully recover. But he did go without oxygen for a little bit while they were trying to revive him. Not long enough to be terribly concerned. As you know, the swelling in the brain is more of a concern at this point."
"I would li
ke to be a part of the tests. I just want to be a bystander, I won't get involved. But I just need to be there."
"Of course. Kara, about Nurse Abfall..."
Kara waved her hand.
"I imagine Nurse Abfall didn't realize who I was. I would think that if she recognized me, she would have reacted differently. I know she was doing her job. And, perhaps I should have behaved differently. After all, I work here, and I could have skipped the front desk and not caused a scene.”
"She’s a decent nurse. Not one of our best, but she cares about the patients. I hope that she can work with you. When I pulled her aside, I got the feeling she has bitter feelings toward you."
"If so, I can’t imagine what it would be over. It would be on her end; I don’t recognize her or her name.”
“Abfall is her married name. Her maiden name is Pascoe.”
Kara’s brows scrunched together while she tried to place the name.
“Suzanne Pascoe,” she said. “There is a history there, but I’m not sure why it is—she’s never liked me. I just assumed it had to do with my family's money. Regardless, I plan to treat her fairly. I just hope she can get past whatever dislike she has for me and that we can work together."
William nodded and squeezed Kara's shoulder before he walked away. Caleb couldn't help but wonder what the real reason was for Nurse Abfall's hostility. Perhaps it was just about Kara's family having more than her, but Caleb got the feeling there was more to it.
20
“Kara,” Caleb spoke softly so as not to startle her. She was sitting holding Ethan’s hand again. “Are you willing to go home and shower, change your clothes, maybe get some rest in your own bed? We’ve been here for almost forty-eight hours; you need to take a break. They’ll call you if something changes.”
She looked over her shoulder at her brother’s partner, who had stood vigil by her side through another night. Kara didn’t know if she had the strength to leave Ethan—he had sat by her bed for days, waiting until she woke up after she had been brought to the hospital. But she knew he had also eventually left, gone home to shower and change his clothes and rest. When they had decided to bring her out of the coma, he refused to leave. The doctor in her knew that she was useless if she didn’t take care of herself, but she didn’t want to leave until he opened his eyes.
“Not yet. I just want to wait a little bit longer. I need to be here if…when he wakes up.” A single tear slipped out and slid down her face. She ignored it and let it slide down her neck into the neckline of her shirt. “I can’t seem to stop crying. Every once in a while, a tear leaks out,” she said, sniffling.
“No reason to be insecure about that,” he whispered.
Tentatively, he placed his hands on her shoulders and massaged as she continued to stare at the only constant thing in her life while he fought for his life. If she lost him, what would she have? Samsonite and her otherwise empty house. That thought made the tears slide faster. She had been so angry and so blocked off from everything and everyone. She didn’t have many friends. Even Vanessa wasn’t allowed to get that close.
The realization of how bleak her life had become was life altering. Slowly, she turned into Caleb’s arms and cried. She wanted more, she needed more, and what’s more, she deserved more. Slowly, she inched her arms up around his neck. She felt him tense, and she began to pull her arms back down.
“No, don’t pull away,” he said quietly. “I like the feel of you against me.”
She pulled her gaze up to meet his and swallowed audibly. Slowly, he lowered his face to hers and placed his lips to her mouth. She gasped at the tingle she felt when his lips rested on hers. His tongue carefully touched her lips. Her mouth opened farther, and he cautiously slipped his tongue into her mouth and explored cautiously at first until she moaned, and then he hungrily dove in.
He tasted so good, and he smelled of musk. All of her synapses were firing, and she wanted nothing more than to melt into him. She needed more, wanted more, and deserved more. She was consumed by the need for more. She must have said the word out loud because she heard him chuckle deep in his chest before he deepened the kiss even further. Her body was plastered to his. In the years since her abduction, she had intercourse with one man, one time. It hadn’t gone well. That experience had left her feeling like she would never be normal. Never be able to feel like this.
She had been wrong, oh, so wrong. Not only was she feeling normal, she was on fire. Somewhere in the back of her head, she knew it wasn’t right to be doing this in an ICU room with her brother fighting for his life. But another selfish part of her didn’t want to stop. Her hands spread over his broad shoulders and skimmed down his muscular biceps, landing on his lean waist, fingers skimming the hem of his T-shirt, lightly teasing the skin right above the button of his pants.
A throat cleared.
“Do you...mind...not manhandling my sister...while I am possibly on my...deathbed?” Ethan rasped out between agonized breaths.
Kara’s hands dropped, and she spun around.
“Oh, thank God, Ethan! Thank you, God!” She rushed to his side, conscious of Caleb following behind her. She wasn’t embarrassed that she almost undressed Caleb in the ICU. Not really. However, she was guilty that she had been doing that when her brother woke up.
“Stop it…” Ethan scolded.
“W-what? Stop what?” she asked.
“Feeling guilty...for finally...feeling…”
She chuckled while she wiped the fresh tears from her face. Tears. Again. Boy, how things had changed in such a short time.
“Try not to strain yourself. Are you thirsty? I can’t give you water, but I can get some ice chips.”
“That would be...great…”
She turned to get some when Caleb stopped her.
“I’ll go get them. Stay, hold his hand. I’ll be right back.”
Grateful, she nodded at him as he walked out the door. She sank into the chair by the bed and cautiously picked up his hand as gently as possible.
“How is your pain level? I can get a nurse to administer some more meds.”
“No, I’m okay...for now. Just tired and thirsty. Don’t leave yet. Need to tell you…”
“Ethan, there’s time to talk about the heavy stuff later. For now, I need you to rest, heal up. Doctor’s orders.”
“Love you…” he whispered. “But you are one...hard-nosed...doctor…”
She huffed. Always trying to make her laugh. She was about to throw something back at him when the door opened. Assuming it was Caleb, she turned with a smile on her face, only to see Nurse Abfall standing in the doorway.
“Detective Montgomery said you were awake,” she said. “I just wanted to make sure you’re comfortable.”
“Hi, Suzanne, I’m good...for now…want to talk...to my sister...painkillers will make my head...foggier…”
“There’ll be time for talking later. You shouldn’t strain yourself,” she said sweetly, while her eyes threw daggers at Kara.
After she had fluffed his pillows, Suzanne turned to leave, saying she would be back with ice chips. Kara knew Suzanne had some kind of hang-up with her, but she had no idea what it was. What she did know, was that Suzanne was going to have to get over it, work her schedule around Kara’s, or find a new job. She was about to say something about the ice chips and the need to talk to her privately when Caleb came in, ice chips in hand and a frown on his face.
“That is quite all right, Nurse Abfall, I have some right here. Dr. Vanderbilt sent me to get some.” He directed a smile at Suzanne that didn’t quite reach his eyes as he eyed her warily.
“Oh, well then, I guess I’m done in here. Please make sure not to allow him too many ice chips and to let him get rest. He’s been through—”
“Are you for real? I mean, are you serious?”
“Excuse me?” Suzanne stammered.
“Nurse Abfall, I would like a moment with you. In the hallway.” When Suzanne didn’t make a move to leave, she continued wi
th a finger directed at the door and a vehement sounding, “Now.”
Suzanne came into the hallway with Caleb hot on her heals. Kara held up her hand to him, indicating that he could stand down.
“I hate to pull this card on you, but did you miss the doctor in front of my name? I didn’t graduate yesterday. I know how to take care of a patient. That may be my brother in there, but you will not talk down to me in front of a patient. Ever again. No exceptions. If you have a problem with me, you can file it in a file labeled I Don’t Care, because quite honestly, I don’t care. I have way more going on in my life than I need right now. I’m not going to deal with some ridiculous, childish, petty feelings. Either get it off your chest what’s bothering you or move on.”
Kara turned to go back in the room when Suzanne whispered, “Cunt,” under her breath. She whipped around and stared her down.
“You get three strikes in my ER, and then you’ll be packing up your locker and walking out of this hospital. Strike one just happened. I will ignore the insubordination in my brother’s room.” And with that, she turned and walked into his room.
“What the fuck is her problem?” she mumbled.
Caleb laughed, and Ethan tried to.
“What are you both laughing at?”
“You, swearing, her calling you that word. The situation is mildly entertaining…” Caleb trailed off when he saw her face and shrugged.
“I thought...they were going to...throw down in the hallway…” Ethan said, not nearly as apologetic. “You really don’t know why she hates you?” he asked.
In the Night (Darkness Falls Book 1) Page 16
