Protective Instincts

by Shirlee McCoy

  “I don’t like this, Miller. You get hurt, it’s on your head. You get Raina hurt, and I’ll throw your butt in jail and let you rot there,” Wallace muttered, but he headed to the left and eased around the corner of the house.

  Jackson moved to the right. His Glock had been confiscated at the police station, but he’d faced worse situations without it. Not an ideal scenario, but he’d make it work.

  A saggy wraparound porch butted up against faded wood siding, mature trees growing so close to the house that their branches touched the windows. He stepped out from their shadows, scanning the backyard, Officer Wallace in his periphery. Raina was somewhere nearby. She had to be. That she’d been kidnapped again, was being held against her will again, wasn’t something he wanted to contemplate.

  He stepped farther into the yard, spotted what looked like a pile of fabric near the trunk of an old tree. No. Not fabric. Jeans. A coat. White-blond hair.

  “Raina!” he shouted, sprinting toward her.

  She sat up slowly as he reached her side, her eyes glazed, blood dripping down her forehead. He pulled off his coat, pressing the sleeve against her forehead.

  “Ouch!” She batted at his hand, but he held firm.

  “You’re bleeding.”

  “You’re going to be bleeding, too, if you don’t stop adding to my headache,” she mumbled, some of the color returning to her face.

  “Are you threatening me, Raina?” he asked, sliding his free arm around her waist, relief coursing through him.

  “I might be,” she muttered. “I get grumpy when I’m in pain.”

  “Good to know.” He pulled his coat away from her forehead, eyed the shallow gash. “I don’t think you’re going to need stitches.”

  “Also good to know,” she responded with a slight smile.

  “You might have a scar, though.”

  “I’d rather have the kind that can be seen than the kind that can’t be.” Her eyes drifted closed, and his heart jerked with fear. He’d watched people die from wounds that seemed minor, and he wasn’t going to let that happen to Raina.

  “How is she?” Wallace crouched beside him, his jaw tight, his expression grim. “I’ve already called for an ambulance.”

  “I don’t need an ambulance.” Raina’s head came up like a shot, all the color that had returned to her face gone.

  “Yes, you do,” Jackson told her, pressing the coat back to the wound on her head. “You’re bleeding like a stuck pig.”

  “Head wounds always bleed a lot.” She nudged his hand aside and held the coat sleeve herself. “I’ll go home, slap a Band-Aid on it and be good to go.”

  She tried to get to her feet, but he tugged her back. “Whatever you’re thinking, it’s not going to happen.”

  “I’m thinking that I’m going home, and I’m thinking it is going to happen,” she insisted, but she didn’t try to stand again.

  “Did you see the man who attacked you, Raina?” Andrew changed the subject, his voice hard and just a little sharp.

  “Not his face. He was wearing a ski mask.”

  “How about his eyes?”

  She shook her head. “He grabbed me from behind, and I was too busy fighting to notice much.” Her voice shook, and Andrew patted her shoulder.

  “It’s okay. We’ll talk more after the doctor takes a look at your head.”

  “I already told you, I’m not going to the hospital.”

  “You don’t have a choice, Raina. We’ve got a victim’s advocate waiting there.”

  “Tell him to meet me at my place or at the police station.”

  “Sorry,” he responded. “It’s not going to happen that way.”

  “I’m not—”

  Sirens blasted through the afternoon quiet, and Andrew glanced over his shoulder. “I’ll let the EMTs know you’re back here. Sit tight.”

  “I don’t think so,” Raina mumbled, easing away from Jackson’s arm and struggling to her feet.

  He followed her up, setting his hands on her waist when she swayed. “You’re not thinking clearly.”

  “I hate hospitals, and I don’t want to be in one,” she replied, her voice breaking.

  “You worked in one for a few years,” he pointed out, gently brushing strands of hair from her forehead. The wound had already stopped bleeding, but the skin looked raw and swollen, the flesh bruised. She’d hit her head hard.

  “That was before.”

  “Before your husband and son died?”

  “Yes.”

  “Just because they died doesn’t mean you will. You know that, right?”

  “It has nothing to do with that, Jackson. Nothing at all.”

  “Then what does it have to do with?”

  “You want to know the truth?”

  “That would be a lot better than a lie.”

  She didn’t even crack a smile. As a matter of fact, he wasn’t sure she was really listening to his words or paying attention to her own. She seemed far away, her gaze fixed on some distant point. “I hate hospitals because they remind me of what a failure I am.”

  “A failure? What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “It means my son died right in front of me, and I couldn’t do anything about it.”

  Her words speared straight into his heart.

  He knew what it was like to live with guilt, to think there was something more that could have been done, some solution that could have been found that would have changed things for the better.

  “Raina—”

  “Don’t, Jackson.” A tear slid down her cheek, dripped onto the ground near their feet. “Nothing you say can change how I feel.”

  “I know.” He tugged her into his arms, and she rested her cheek on his chest. “But nothing you feel can make what happened your fault, either.”

  She tensed, then relaxed against him, her arms sliding around his waist, her hands drifting to his back. Voices carried into the silence, the sounds of the ambulance crew mixing with Wallace’s deep commands, but she didn’t move, and Jackson didn’t feel the need to make her. Standing there with her felt more like coming home than anything had in a very long time.

  “Sir?” A young dark-haired woman appeared at his elbow. “We’re going to need to take a look at the patient.”

  He released Raina reluctantly, stepping back as two men moved in.

  “Did she say anything else to you?” Wallace asked, his tone grim.

  “Nothing that will help.”

  “You know that I should arrest you for interfering with an investigation, right?” the older man growled, his gaze on the ambulance crew and Raina.

  “I didn’t interfere.”

  “You didn’t stay out, either.”

  He had a point, but Jackson wasn’t going to apologize. He’d done what he’d felt he had to do, and he’d do it again in a heartbeat. “Just so you know, I’m not planning to stay out of it.”

  Wallace sighed. “Just do me a favor, will you? Be careful. I’m already dealing with one homicide. I don’t want to deal with another.”

  “I’ll be careful.” He glanced past the officer, watching as the ambulance crew helped Raina onto a gurney. She didn’t protest, just lay back and closed her eyes.

  “Since you’re here anyway, you want to head to the hospital with her? I’m going to look around, see what kind of evidence I can find.”

  “He left his Jeep. That should contain plenty,” Jackson responded, his attention still on Raina.

  “I’m calling in a state team for that. This is the second blue Jeep the guy has used. Maybe there’s some message in that that I’m not seeing.”

  Surprised, Jackson met Wallace’s eyes. “I’m glad to hear that you’re calling for backup.”

  “I figured you would be.�
�� He lifted his hat, ran his hand over his hair. “But you’re not going to be happy to hear this. I’m going to say it anyway, because Raina is like a kid sister to me. You hurt her, and I will have to hurt you, and I’m really not going to care if I go to jail for doing it. Got it?”

  He got it, all right.

  He had a kid sister.

  He’d do anything to protect her, would hurt anyone who hurt her. “I get it, but you should probably get this—I don’t walk away from people I care about. And I care about Raina. As long as she’s in danger, I’ll be around, and I’ll be sticking my nose places you probably don’t want me to.”

  Wallace shoved his hat back on, nodded curtly. “I hear you. Just don’t break the law, and we’ll be just fine.”

  The ambulance crew maneuvered the gurney past them, and Wallace nodded in their direction. “You’d better go. The victim advocate will be at the hospital, but I want someone Raina feels comfortable with to be there, too.”

  “You want to ride with us?” the dark-haired woman asked as they wheeled the gurney onto the ambulance.

  “Sure.” He climbed aboard, took a seat on the bench the EMT indicated.

  The ambulance doors closed, and Raina opened her eyes, looked straight into his. “I really don’t want to go to the hospital.”

  “I know.”

  She scowled, but there was no real ire in her eyes. Just sadness mixed with fear. “I think you’ve got the story wrong, Jackson, because this is not how it’s supposed to work out,” she grumbled.

  “How what is supposed to work out?”

  “The epic adventure novel, Jackson. Get with the program,” she huffed.

  “And exactly how is the epic adventure supposed to work?

  “The hero breaks down the door to the prison and carries the heroine to some safe hiding place.”

  “We’ve been there, remember? Now we’re at the place where the hero tells the heroine that everything is going to be just fine.”

  “Yeah? Then why aren’t we in some cozy hideaway?” She reached out a hand, and he took it, held it gently as her eyes drifted shut again.

  “Because you need to be seen by a doctor.”

  “Since you seem to have all the answers,” she said so quietly he almost didn’t hear, “what’s the next part of the story?”

  “I guess,” he responded, “that depends on what kind of ending you want.”

  She nodded, but didn’t open her eyes.

  Didn’t say another word as the ambulance engine roared to life and the driver sped toward the hospital.

  TWELVE

  Obviously she was going to live.

  That being the case, Raina wanted out of the hospital.

  Not in five or ten minutes, either.

  Right at that moment.

  The problem was, a victim’s advocate had greeted her at the hospital and collected her clothes. Everything from the skin out had been taken, put in a bag and carried away.

  Which left her sitting on the exam table wearing a cotton hospital gown and a bandage. Since the bandage was on her head, it wasn’t covering much.

  She glanced at the clock. She’d called Destiny twenty minutes ago, and her friend had promised to bring clothes. She hadn’t arrived yet.

  Or maybe she had and the police weren’t letting her into the room.

  Whatever the case, Raina was getting just desperate enough to take matters into her own hands. She jumped off the exam table, wincing as pain shot through her head. No concussion. No skull fracture. Nothing but a nice little goose egg and some scraped skin. It hurt plenty, though.

  She walked to the door, thought about opening it and just...leaving. The problem was, she didn’t think she’d get far dressed in a hospital gown. Especially not when she’d been brought to River Valley General, a place where just about everyone knew her. Not one of them would be willing to let her leave without telling the police that she was going.

  The sound of a child crying drifted through the closed door, and she wanted to cover her head with the blanket one of the nurses had brought for her, do everything in her power to drown out the noise.

  Joseph had been crying when they’d brought him in.

  Calling for her, and she’d run to him.

  He hadn’t known she was there. No matter how many times she’d called his name, touched his battered head and bloody cheek, he hadn’t known.

  Her throat closed, and she opened the door. Not caring what she was or wasn’t wearing. Not caring about anything but getting out of that room, away from that sound.

  “Hey!” Warm hands wrapped around her waist, pulling her up short. “Where do you think you’re going?”

  She looked up into Jackson’s dark blue eyes, and all the tears that had been clogging her throat burst out.

  “I need some air,” she managed, the words nearly choking her.

  He took off his coat, dropped it around her shoulders. “Then let’s get some for you.”

  She was in his arms before she realized what he planned to do, out the door of the hospital before she could think to protest. The tears were still pouring down her face, and her body was shaking, and she was really afraid that she would never breathe again.

  “Shh,” Jackson murmured, his breath ruffling the hair near her temple. “It’s okay.”

  No. It wasn’t.

  It hadn’t been okay for a long time, and if she hadn’t been crying so hard, she would have told him that.

  “Hey! You!” someone called. “Where do you think you’re going with her? Put her down! I’m calling the police!”

  Raina knew the voice.

  Destiny.

  She’d finally arrived, and from the sound of things, she was raring for a fight.

  Jackson set Raina on the ground, shifting so that he was standing slightly in front of her. His shoulders and back blocked her view, but she knew they were in an alcove at the back of the hospital. She’d spent a lot of time there during the three days that Joseph had been in a coma, sitting on a bench, trying desperately to pray.

  “Raina!” Destiny called. “I’ll distract him. You run.”

  “No! Destiny!” But, of course, her friend was already barreling into Jackson.

  To his credit, he didn’t lose his balance and he didn’t shove her back. He grabbed her flailing arms, holding them down as he sidestepped the foot she’d aimed at his shins. “Cool it, lady. I’m a friend.”

  “Friend? I know every one of Raina’s friends, and you aren’t one of them.” Destiny ground the words out as she tried to loosen his grip. “Raina! Come on. I’ll hold him for the police. You run.”

  “He’s a friend, Destiny. Just like he said.” She stepped out from behind Jackson, her legs a little wobbly, her heart a little wobbly, too. She hated the alcove, the hospital, all the memories that were there.

  “How come I’ve never met him?” Destiny backed off, her curly black hair bobbing with the movement. At five-foot-nothing and less than a hundred pounds, she wouldn’t have stood a chance if Jackson really had been a kidnapper.

  Raina loved her too much to say that. “I met him in Africa.”

  “Oh.” Destiny’s brow furrowed, her dark eyes flashing. “That explains nothing.”

  “He brought Samuel to my place last night.”

  “I thought you’d hired a woman to do that.”

  “I did, but Jackson came along.”

  “And you didn’t bother calling to tell me some good-looking, hunky guy was—”

  “Tell you what, ladies,” Jackson cut in, his arm sliding around Raina’s waist, his fingers warm through the thin cotton of the hospital gown. “How about we get Raina back to the exam room? I’ll step out, and then you can have a long discussion about me.”

  “Good plan.”
Destiny strode toward the hospital door and lifted a bag that was lying on the ground there. “These are the clothes you asked for, Rain. I just grabbed some of my stuff rather than driving out to your place. I figured that would save time.”

  “Thanks.” She took the bag, thought about moving away from Jackson, but it felt good to have him there. She didn’t want to think too much about what that meant. Not when she was so close to the place where she’d said her last goodbye to Matt, the place where she’d listened to her son call for her.

  She swallowed back her tears, keeping her head down as Jackson urged her back to the exam room. Like every other room on the corridor, it was small. It felt even smaller with Jackson and Destiny there.

  “I’ll help her with her clothes,” Destiny said, taking charge the way she always did. “You go wait in the hall.” She tried to nudge Jackson to the door, but he held his ground.

  “Is that what you want, Raina?” he asked, and she was tempted to tell him that being in the hospital had scrambled her brains and made her think that the only thing she wanted was to be in his arms again.

  A silly thought. One that she’d be stupid to keep thinking. “Yes,” she said, her mouth dry, her heart pounding, because she really didn’t want him to leave.

  “Okay.” He touched her cheek, smiled gently. “I’ll be right outside if you need me.”

  I need you, her brain whispered, but she shoved the words down and managed not to speak them.

  “Wow!” Destiny breathed as soon as the door closed. “That is one fine specimen of a man.”

  “I guess.” She shrugged nonchalantly, but she was feeling anything but nonchalant.

  “You guess? You guess? Open your eyes and take a good look when he walks back in here. He is just about the finest-looking man I’ve seen around here in years.”

  Raina shrugged again and retrieved black skinny jeans and a fluffy pink sweater from the bag. “What in the world?”

  “I was worried. I grabbed the first things I saw and ran with them. Hopefully, the jeans won’t be too short.”

  “Too short? I don’t think I can even get one leg in them!”

  “Give me a break, Rain. You’re skinny as a rail. So just shut up and get the clothes on. I want to see your man again.”