“Like I got hit by a car,” Trish said. “Other than that, I’m okay.”
Doctor Hollis didn’t seem amused. “I need a few moments alone with Ms. Williams. There should be time for you to grab a cup of coffee,” she said to Ivy.
“I want her to stay,” Trish said firmly.
“That’s fine,” the doctor said patiently. “How much pain are you in?”
Trish shrugged, which made her wince. “I’m still in some pain, but I’ve already been told nothing is broken. Can I go home?”
“Have you had more hallucinations?” the doctor asked.
“Just after she woke up, she was a little confused,” Ivy answered for her. “She’s been lucid since then.”
Doctor Hollis spared Ivy a brief impatient glance before returning her attention to Trish. “I’d like to keep you an extra day to monitor your condition. While nothing is broken, you’ve suffered a serious head injury, and I’m more than a little concerned about your hallucinations.”
“She’ll be coming home with me,” Ivy said with a smile, reaching out a hand. “I’m Dr. Ivy St. James.”
The young doctor shook her hand and recognition lit in her eyes. “You work with crime victims, right?”
Ivy nodded, and Trish sensed Ivy trying to calm the doctor using more than just comforting words. In fact, she could see the soothing blue waves of energy pulsating out of Ivy and swirling around the room. That had never happened before.
“I’ve met your sister,” the doctor said. “Will she be there to help with Ms. Williams?”
“She’ll be staying with me,” Alek said from the door. “There’ll be a doctor close by, a family member of mine.”
Ivy flashed a tight-lipped smile. “As you can see, Trish is wanted in two homes with doctors available to help if she needs anything. Naturally, Trish will decide which she prefers.”
“I’d rather go back to my home,” Trish said.
“Someone needs to stay with you,” Doctor Hollis insisted. “I’ll draw up the release papers, and you can work this out and let me know where you’ll be staying before I sign them.” With that, she walked out of the room.
Trish opened her mouth to argue, just as her phone rang. “That might be my mom,” she said. “Can one of you bring me my purse?”
Alek handed it to her, and she rifled through the bag until she found her phone, not at all sure why she’d stuffed it in the main pouch last night instead of the little section designed for her cell phone. As it turned out, putting her phone in the wrong pouch had probably saved it from being broken when her purse fell onto the street. Thankfully, she hadn’t used it much the previous day, so she still had a charge.
“Hello,” she said without looking at the number.
“Trish, oh my God!” Nathaniel sounded near panic. “I just heard what happened. Are you okay? I’m trying to arrange a flight back now. I know you probably want to stay at your own home, so I’ll sleep in the spare room at the condo.”
“No!” Trish said quickly. Nathaniel was translating the writing on the wall of a recently discovered temple. Being selected for this project meant a lot to him, and Trish would feel terrible if he missed out on this opportunity. Knowing him, he’d insist it wasn’t that important, but Nathaniel wouldn’t have agreed to spend two weeks away from Hope if that were true. “I’m staying with my mom until I’m better. She’ll be angry if I don’t let her take care of me.”
There was a long pause. “Are you sure?” he asked.
“Absolutely,” Trish said. “How’s the work going?”
“Fantastic!” Nathaniel said enthusiastically. “I’ve worked on some exciting projects in my life, but nothing like this. I wish you could be here to see it.”
Nathaniel had invited her along, and Trish had wanted to go but needed to work extra hours to pay for books for the upcoming semester. They chatted for a few more minutes before ending their call with a promise that she’d call him if she needed anything.
When she looked at Alek, his lips were pressed into a thin line, and it was obvious he was upset about something. “Don’t even try that line with me. I already know your mother is on a cruise and won’t be home for three weeks.”
Trish sighed. “You’re both right,” she said. “Staying alone is stupid when I have a concussion. Still, I want to stay at my own home. Things are creepy enough without having to stay in a strange place.”
“Then I’ll stay with you,” Alek said.
Hands on her hips, Ivy glared at Alek. “The last thing Trish needs is you staying with her.”
Alek raised an arrogant eyebrow. “And why would that be?”
“Give us a minute,” Ivy said to Trish as she grabbed Alek’s arm and dragged him out of the room.
Chapter Five
Alek knew he was in for a lecture from Ivy, but he didn’t give a damn what she said. Trish was staying with him. His deplorable behavior during dinner had played a big role in her distraction when she’d left the restaurant. He’d also known about the broken heel on her shoe, and he should have walked her to her car. There was no getting around the fact that if he hadn’t been thinking with his stupid dick, Trish wouldn’t be in a hospital bed.
Now that Trish had some psychic ability, his family might change their stance on her being involved with one of them. Of course, since he wasn’t the type of man to have anything more than casual affairs, he still needed to keep his distance from her. Nothing good could come from him sleeping with Trish. Maybe if he told himself that enough times he’d start believing it.
“You’d better start believing it,” Ivy said when they got to a small waiting area with vending machines.
Apparently, like the other men in his family, he projected his thoughts very well, which meant Ivy could read most of them— a fact he often forgot.
“I’m just trying to do the right thing,” he said in a tired voice, rubbing his chin with one hand.
“Then encourage Trish to go home with me. I can help her with what she’s going through,” Ivy said.
Alek knew she was right, but he couldn’t do it. A big part of his inability to allow anyone else to take care of Trish was guilt, but he wasn’t stupid enough to believe that was all of it. “No,” he said and didn’t miss the fact that he sounded like a petulant child. “She’ll be more comfortable in her own home, and she’ll be closer to her friends there, as well.”
“And closer to you?” Ivy asked with her arms crossed in front of her chest. “I saw the way you looked at her at the restaurant. She doesn’t need that right now.”
“What do you think I’m going to do, Ivy? Do you think I’m going to seduce her while she’s recovering from being hit by a car?” Christ, he was getting hard from the mention of seducing Trish, making him realize Ivy might be right about it being a mistake for him to stay with Trish. Even after admitting that to himself, he wasn’t going to let her leave with Ivy.
“While Trish is trying to understand her newly discovered talents, it would be best if she stayed away from any of the unattached males in your family. You all have a bad history of assuming a woman who displays psychic abilities is yours for the taking,” Ivy reminded him.
Something in Ivy’s tone put him on alert. “Has someone been harassing you?”
“No, but that’s only because they’re afraid of your brother,” Ivy said with a snort.
Alek’s oldest brother, Roman, was head of the Draksel family and could be more than a little scary when he wanted to. Actually, he was pretty scary when he wasn’t trying to be. Roman had recently discovered that Ivy was his granddaughter from his first marriage. He’d thought his first wife had died while she was pregnant. Instead, she’d been taken from him and had given birth to a daughter Roman had never met. The female children, a phenomenon they hadn’t believed possible until recently, didn’t live nearly as long as the males, so Roman had missed out on many granddaughters. To say he was overprotective of his newly discovered granddaughters would be a huge understatement.
Ivy had to notice that he hadn’t promised to keep his hands to himself after Trish recovered, but she still gave a reluctant nod. “Fine, but it’s her choice.”
Trish was staring intently at the call button on her bed when they got back to her room. Alek knew she was avoiding looking anywhere she might see ghosts or visions, or whatever it was she was seeing. The lost expression in her eyes tugged at Alek’s heart.
“I wish my mom was here,” she said with a shaky smile. “Although, it is nice that you both want to take care of me,” she hastily added before meeting Alek’s eyes. “I’d like to go home, if your offer to stay with me is still good.”
“Of course,” he said solemnly.
Ivy wasn’t happy about the situation, and she was making no effort to hide her feelings. “I’ll come by to talk to you about what’s going on with this new ability you’ve picked up. I have to check my calendar to see when I have time.”
“It’ll be just like my childhood,” Trish said, but as soon as the words left her mouth, her brow furrowed in concentration.
“What is it?” Ivy asked.
Trish shook her head. “I’m not sure. Until I said that, I didn’t even remember going to therapy as a young child. Now, it’s like this hazy memory that I can’t seem to grab hold of.”
Ivy squeezed her hand. “Try not to worry about it.”
Soon after, the doctor came in to confirm that Trish would not be left alone before leaving her with a nurse to handle the discharge papers and instructions.
Much to Trish’s obvious annoyance, the hospital insisted that she be taken out to the curb in a wheelchair. When Alek pulled up to the pickup area, Trish’s expression was a charming cross between annoyed and embarrassed.
The young nurse leaned forward to speak quietly to Trish while Alek parked the car. Of course, with the windows open, he heard her. “Your fiancé has been worried about you. Some of the other nurses were heartbroken when he said you were engaged.”
Trish snorted to cover her laugh. “Yes, he’s something else.”
Alek was glad she didn’t correct the nurse. He’d made up the story so he wouldn’t have to keep using mind control to convince everyone it was okay for him to be in Trish’s room. That sort of thing took a lot of energy, which meant he needed to feed on the energy of humans more frequently. While he had no problem doing that under normal circumstances, he didn’t want to be forced to wander around the hospital looking for someone he could safely take energy from. If he was being honest with himself, he also liked the idea of everyone believing Trish was his, even if it was only for a little while.
Trish was loaded into Alek’s car, where she promptly closed her eyes, probably to avoid seeing any of the things that shouldn’t be there.
“Don’t worry, honey,” Alek said as he squeezed her thigh in an effort to offer physical comfort. “I’ll have you home in no time.”
“Alek?” Her voice was so soft, the roar of the engine nearly drowned it out.
“What is it, honey?” he asked.
“Do you think this is the head injury and not some psychic ability?” she asked, sounding hopeful.
Alek let out a sigh. “I wish I could say yes, because I know how much you want to hear that. I know this is scaring you, and I want to tell you it will all go away in a day or two.”
“But you’d be lying,” she finished for him.
“Yeah,” he said before giving her thigh a squeeze.
“Wanna hear something crazy?” she asked with the first genuine smile he’d seen that day. She didn’t wait for his answer. “I was jealous of my friends for being different. I felt like I was being left behind. Now, I’m kind of wishing I could go back to what I had before.”
What could he say to that? Her reaction was perfectly normal. Hell, she wasn’t freaking out, so she was handling things better than most people would. “Are you having second thoughts about not going home with Ivy?”
Trish laughed. “Absolutely not! I need to feel as normal as possible. Well, I guess this will be normal for me from now on, so I may as well get used to it. No, I’m not just going to get used to it. I’m going to find a way to make this work for me.”
“You’re incredible,” Alek said in awe. “Anyone else would be complaining about how bad they have it. You are already trying to figure out how this is going to be a good change in your life.”
“I died, Alek,” she said, cringing when she heard her own words. “Okay, that sounds really bad. Maybe I won’t use that phrase again. Still, my point is that I spent a lot of time worrying about stupid stuff. Scary psychic stuff or not, I don’t want to waste any more of my life.”
Chapter Six
The first thing Trish did when they walked in the front door of the condo was close all the blinds. No way did she want to see what was outside, or what used to be outside. Alek was silently watching her like he wasn’t quite sure what he should be doing, but who could really blame him for being uncomfortable around a crazy woman?
Trish wanted to laugh because she was kind of wishing she was crazy. Unfortunately, she knew no medication was going to make the things she saw go away.
“Are you hungry?” Alek asked.
According to the clock, it was a little past noon, so she should be hungry, but she wasn’t yet. Shaking her head turned out to be a huge mistake, and Trish closed her eyes tightly as if she could block out the pain.
“Do you need a pain pill?” he asked and started to rummage through the bag they’d gotten from the hospital. She’d need to fill a prescription, but the hospital had taken pity on her and sent her home with five pills so she wouldn’t have to venture into the pharmacy right away.
“Yes,” she admitted, even though she hated taking pain medicine.
“I’ll fix you something to eat, and then you can take a pain pill,” he said decisively.
“I’m really not hungry,” she insisted as she settled onto the sofa, cuddling one of the throw pillows.
“You didn’t eat a thing at the restaurant last night,” he argued. “All you did was push a salad around your plate. You did the same with your breakfast at the hospital this morning, and these pills say you shouldn’t take them on an empty stomach. I’ll be back with food in a few minutes.”
When Alek disappeared into the kitchen, Trish once again marveled at the fact that the kitchen was closed off from the rest of the condo. Most condos had open kitchens, but not this one.
“Now, I’ve really gone insane,” she muttered to herself. “Only a crazy woman thinks about the design of a condo when a sexy man is in her kitchen cooking for her. Lyd would be picturing him in there cooking naked. Of course, that could damage essential parts, and I don’t own an apron. Maybe he could cook shirtless.”
Her insane musings inspired her to text Lydia.
Why is it considered so sexy for a man to cook naked? Wouldn’t his dangly parts get injured that way?
Lydia’s response came back quickly.
LMAO! What pain meds are you on?
Trish smiled because Lydia was right to be surprised. It was an out of character question, and her next text was even more out of character.
I guess it’s safer while his parts are dangly. A man is much more likely to get injured if they’re not dangly while he cooks naked in the kitchen.
Lydia’s response was a little delayed.
OMG! I almost peed myself. Is there a na
ked man cooking in the kitchen of my condo? If there is, I demand to be invited over to watch since it’s still my kitchen.
Trish responded.
Sadly, there is no naked man in the kitchen. Just wanted to let you know I’m home safe and sound. Can you let Caitlin know? I’m not sure I’m up to being harassed by her today.
Most people felt Caitlin was a little bitchy, but Trish understood that a lot of it was a coping mechanism Caitlin had developed to keep people from getting close. For years, Caitlin had been trying to keep her empath abilities from surfacing. Now, the bitchiness was just part of Caitlin’s personality, and for some crazy reason, it was worse when Caitlin was worried.
Lydia responded after a short delay, probably because she knew it was pretty unlikely Trish would make it an entire night without a visit from Caitlin.
Sure thing, sweetie. Take care and call me if you need anything.
She set her phone on the coffee table just before Alek came out with a grilled cheese sandwich and a glass of water.
“You didn’t have many beverage options,” he explained. “I didn’t want to bring you anything with caffeine because you need to take a nap.”
Rolling her eyes, Trish tried hard to avoid snapping at Alek for being bossy. “I usually drink water. Thank you for cooking for me.”
With a day’s growth of stubble and finger-combed hair, Alek looked exhausted. After she’d eaten a couple of bites of her sandwich, Alek finally handed her a pain pill, which she reluctantly took.
“Alek, you’re ready to drop. How much sleep did you get last night?”
His shrug was probably the only answer she was going to get on the subject.
“Why don’t you go take a nap? You don’t have to stay up and babysit me,” she assured him.
“I’ll get a little sleep when you’re ready for your nap,” he said and sat across from her.
“I just took one of those stupid pills, so I’m sure that won’t be long.” The pills made her sleepy, which was one of the reasons she hated taking them. “I’ll be fine for a little while on my own.”
Wanton With a Vampire Page 3
