The mention was enough to get a smile out of her. “Oh, there will be donuts. If I know Pippa, there will be enough to feed the entire hospital.”
“Well then, I’ll definitely be back for that.”
“Oh!” Her sleepy eyes went wide. “I did get something else.”
“Got what?”
“Tate believed Fred was followed because he heard it on GRPD dispatch. When I pressed if he had someone inside he mentioned how good his tech was.” She yawned, her sweet face scrunching up at the involuntary motion. “And that’s all I got.”
All?
That was huge and it went a long way toward answering how Greer might know about the safe house, too. But looking down at Sadie Colton’s sleepy countenance, Tripp knew now wasn’t the time to get into it all.
He patted her foot underneath the blankets, the move silly and awkward after what they had just shared, and figured that was his cue to leave. He’d nearly made it to the doorway when she spoke behind him. “Thank you, Tripp. For everything.”
He turned at the doorway, surprised to see how small she looked amid the sheets and the big bed and all the monitors. It was such a counterbalance to a woman who always seemed so alive. So robust. “Sleep. Feel better. I’ll be back in the morning.”
When her eyes drifted shut as she nodded, Tripp took it as a good sign. She needed to sleep. To heal. Even with the doctor’s excellent prognosis, she had been through a traumatic ordeal. Escaping from it all into sleep would do wonders.
He walked down the hall, nodding to the cop placed at the entrance to the ward. He recognized the man, an eager second-year who continually impressed everyone with his hard work and dedication to the job.
Sadie was in good hands.
Even if the fact they’d needed to post a guard at all was a bigger problem. As she’d accurately assessed even before they’d put her into the ambulance, Tate Greer was still out there. And for as long as he was, Sadie wasn’t safe.
Making his way along the corridor, Tripp glanced into the waiting room. It was now empty of Coltons, but had turned over with a few new families, all as equally anxious to see their loved ones as the Coltons had been to see Sadie.
Tripp considered them all and couldn’t help but remember his own time in one of those waiting rooms. He had sat in one of those seats once. The night Lila had been brought in, he had waited, like those families were waiting, only the news at the other end had been the worst of his life.
We’re sorry, Lieutenant McKellar. We did all we could…
Sustained blood loss from the severity of her gunshot wounds…
At only fifteen weeks of gestation… We were unable to save the baby…
It played through his mind on a loop, the memories shockingly easy to rise to the surface, even so many years later.
The real surprise: how hard they hit and the fact that he needed to take one of those seats now for a few minutes to gather himself. Tripp stared down at his shaking hands, unable to believe he could still be so affected by the memories. Hadn’t he worked on this? Hadn’t he believed himself past this?
Would the grief and the guilt ever fade?
Taking slow, deep breaths, he willed the air in and out of his lungs, calming himself the only way he knew how. As he slowly came back to himself, Tripp had to admit that this was only partially about Lila and the baby.
It was also about Sadie.
He cared for her. Had cared for her for a long time. No matter how many times he told himself he shouldn’t, he did care for her. And tonight he had almost lost her. That shook a man down to his core.
Was it finally time to tell her how he felt?
It all felt so futile, yet at the same time his ability to deny his attraction was rapidly fading. Because even beyond basic attraction, he had deep feelings for her.
That was the most dangerous thing in the world.
Hadn’t he made a vow to himself? He’d never risk someone’s life again because of his job. He’d cared for Lila and it had been hard enough to lose her. But even without spending any real time together, he knew his feelings for Sadie ran far deeper than they ever had for Lila.
And he had no idea what the hell he was supposed to do about it.
Rubbing a hand over his face, feeling the scratch of a day’s worth of beard, he got up and headed for the vending machines. He didn’t need any more coffee, but the jolt it provided would be enough for the drive home. Besides, what would a little caffeine hurt? He didn’t sleep very well anyway, so what did it matter?
He walked down the hall, following the same path he had taken with Riley Colton earlier. Step by step, he willed the old hospital memories away until they were locked in that quiet place he kept them. He dug out some coins and pressed the directions on the coffee machine, then shoved his hands in his pockets to wait.
It was only as he turned, an oh-so-brief matter of a split second of overlap, that he saw a big frame pass by the alcove for the vending machines. There were still people in the hospital, coming and going. Yet there was something in that slithering form that captured his full attention.
Coffee forgotten, Tripp moved.
And feared that Tate Greer had come back to finish the job.
* * *
Sadie shifted and tried to get comfortable, but between the wires and the lightly beeping machines and the lingering troublesome thoughts, she wasn’t having a lot of luck with sleep. She knew she could ring her call bell and a nurse would give her something to sleep, but she never cared for medicine of any kind. Something about artificially induced sleep just felt wrong. Off-putting, somehow. It worked for some, but she was just afraid it was one more way to lose control over her situation.
She’d had enough of that lately, thank you very much.
And then there was Tripp.
Had she been imagining things?
It was sweet that he had stayed to check on her to see how she was. If that had been all, she would tell herself she had just been imagining things. But the way he’d settled next to her on the bed and held her close…
Well, it was everything.
Did she dare hope that he had feelings for her, too?
Damn it, Sadie Colton, dream much?
It was silly. This was silly.
And still, she couldn’t help feeling…something.
On a heavy sigh, she readjusted and tried to get comfortable. “I will sleep,” she whispered. “I will sleep.”
She had nearly done it, too, the world going dark around her, when something she couldn’t identify made her eyes pop wide open.
The lighting was set to dim, but it was still easy to make out any and all movement. And the large, hulking form that had just slipped into her room was definitely moving. A scream crept up her throat, nearly spilling out when Tate’s firm, unyielding hand came over her mouth.
“Shut up or I’ll kill you now.”
She struggled against his hand, but the dark, dangerous look in his eyes brooked little argument.
“Now, we are going to finish what we started back at the cabin. I want to know what you know. And I want to know what the GRPD knows.”
She kept her gaze on his, calculating as quickly as she could what to do about the situation. If he’d gotten this far, it meant he’d quickly—and silently—dealt with the guard positioned outside. Tripp hadn’t made a big deal about it, but Riley had, stressing there was police presence on-site to watch out for her.
So what had happened? She might have been drifting off to sleep but she’d have heard something if there had been a fight. She even knew the officer they’d put in the hallway, remembering him when he’d come in to introduce himself.
“Nod once if you understand me,” Tate snarled.
She nodded, still trying to buy herself time. He’d see it if she tried to buzz the nurse, and she’d prefer to avoid d
ragging any innocents into this if she could.
He removed his hand but it meant little when he lifted his other hand and a gun glinted in the dim lighting. Brandishing it to make his point crystal clear, he hovered even closer, like the brute he really was. “Now tell me what the cops know.”
The gun seemed to dance before her eyes, but she refused to cower in the face of this relentless evidence that he was a horrible human being. “They know the same as I do. That you’re a monster.”
The hard slam from the butt of the gun against her jaw was swift and immediate punishment, the contact enough to make her bones rattle and stars cloud her vision.
“Bull. I know you know more than you’re telling me. Unlike all the time you spent with me when you knew nothing. You didn’t even know who I was, Little Miss Crime Scene Investigator. What a top-notch worker bee you must be.”
Since the words matched a bit too closely to what she’d already berated herself for—endlessly—over the past month, she forced herself to ignore them. She also ignored the pain coursing through her jaw, refusing to show him anything but disdain. “Believe me, I’ve caught up.”
Tate leaned in even closer and Sadie scrambled frantically for something to do. While she didn’t want to endanger a nurse, she needed some way to issue a panic alert. Her hand fumbled along the inside of the bed, desperately trying to find the small red button they’d told her about earlier when suddenly Tate went flying.
Shock morphed quickly into a desperate desire to help when another person bodily removed Tate from her bedside. It was Tripp. Even now, the two men lay on the floor, struggling in a death grip for the gun in Tate’s hand. She scrambled for the call button by touch, hitting the small panic alert before she sat up.
With an eye to the rolling stand that held her IV fluids, she figured she could use it as a weapon if she needed to. Only Tate gave her an easier opening. As he and Tripp rolled on the floor, Tate managed to maneuver himself on top. Sadie watched in horror as he lifted his gun. She didn’t think, only acted. With a hard push to the heavy wheeled tray beside her bed, she shoved it as hard as she could into Tate’s back.
It was awkward and not nearly heavy enough to do damage, but the recently filled pitcher on top added some advantage. Aside from spewing water over both men, the entire pitcher also hit Tate in the back of the head as the tray fell on him.
Tripp didn’t waste time, using the shift in momentum to slam the gun from Tate’s hand. The weapon clattered to the floor and both men grunted as they continued their physical battle before Tripp reached out blindly, trying to drag the fallen table to hit Tate once more.
Sadie screamed as she struggled to put her feet on the floor. She would be of minimal help in a fight, but she’d already begun looking around the room for something to strategically up the stakes in Tripp’s favor. The vase of flowers her sister had set earlier looked like a good option and she walked toward the small desk that held the arrangement.
Pain swam in her head from Tate’s pistol whip to the jaw, but she kept moving. Tripp needed her. So did the cop Tate had gotten past in the hall.
Shouts echoed from outside the room and she knew help was coming, but still she pushed on. With the vase in hand, she moved back to the struggling, wrestling men on the floor and waited for a clean shot to drop the vase on Tate’s head. When an opportunity presented itself, she didn’t wait, slamming the heavy vase into the back of Tate’s skull.
It made a satisfying thud but barely slowed him down as her ex suddenly struggled off Tripp, rolled away and headed for the door. The sudden shift in direction was so abrupt, it took Tripp a minute to react. By the time he’d reached the door, he collided with two incoming nurses.
“Ms. Colton!” one exclaimed as the other nurse took firm hold of Tripp’s shoulders.
“Let him go.” Sadie waved at them, but the second nurse wasn’t having any of it.
The throng of shouts finally died down enough for Tripp to point toward his hip. “My badge is in my pocket. I’m a lieutenant with the GRPD.” His teeth were nearly clamped shut as he continued to grind out directives. “And you’re letting the perpetrator against Ms. Colton get away.”
The nurse finally stood down, releasing him, but Sadie knew it was too late. With a resigned sigh, she nodded at Tripp. “Go. I’ll explain what happened here.”
He ran off and she turned to face the two surprised women.
“There should be an officer in the hallway. We need to get him immediate help.”
* * *
For the third time in less than twenty-four hours, Tripp cursed himself for the unrelenting danger that continued to find Sadie. It had been bad enough that she’d been taken from the safe house. Worse, that she’d nearly died in the lake. But this? To be nearly snatched right out from under him?
There was no way he was willing to trust her safety to anyone else. Not anymore.
He’d given chase after leaving Sadie’s room but Greer had a significant head start.
And Greer was crafty, he’d give him that. The bastard had felled the cop on the ward with a quick pressure syringe and basically kept on moving. Straight into Sadie’s room. If Tripp hadn’t stopped for that cup of coffee…
If he hadn’t had that moment of quiet remorse in the waiting room…
He didn’t want to think about it.
Just like that moment she’d jumped in the lake to escape, Tripp knew the vision of that hulking form hovering over Sadie, alone and vulnerable in her hospital bed, would stay with him forever.
He slammed back into Sadie’s room, his badge now visible high on his jacket. Backup was on its way and he’d already spoken to security for the hospital. The nurses had taken his officer into an exam room and had assured Tripp he’d be all right after they woke him from the sedative.
Now he just needed to convince Sadie that there was no way she was staying here.
Tripp came to a halt as he crossed the threshold. She was no longer huddled on her hospital bed in her hospital gown. Instead she was sitting on the bedside chair, having changed into a fresh set of clothes. One of her sisters must have brought them to her, because they certainly weren’t the wet ones he had removed from her a few hours ago.
“Going somewhere?”
“I’m not staying here.” She dragged a boot onto her right foot. “I’m not sure why I’ve remained this long.”
“You can’t go home.”
“Then I’ll go to Vikki’s. Or to one of my other siblings’. But I’m not staying here. I already had one of the nurses remove my IV.”
The lights were fully on in her room and underneath the harsh fluorescence, he could see the dark bruise on her jaw. “What happened?”
“Tate decided to introduce me to the butt end of his pistol.”
Once more, Tripp shook at the evidence of what could’ve happened to her. Hell, based on that dark bruise, what had happened to her… It was too much.
“You’re coming home with me.”
She stopped as she slipped on the other boot and stared up at him. “What?”
“You’ll stay with me. I know how to keep you safe and I have my place well outfitted.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“I know how to take care of myself. I’m a lieutenant in a major city’s police department. Believe me.”
He did know how, and he had also gotten better since Lila’s death. Between extra security on his home and his own rigorous self-training, he felt certain he’d do a better job caring for Sadie than one of her siblings.
“Tripp, this is crazy talk. I can’t stay at your house.”
“Why not?”
“Because—” She stopped before standing to her full height. “Because I’m not your responsibility. I’m a grown woman. I’m also a cop, or I was one, before I shifted into my field. I know how to take care of myself.”
<
br /> Although the past month had seemingly suggested otherwise, she did know how to take care of herself. And to her larger point, she was trained. She knew how to handle a weapon, she knew self-defense and, most of all, she wasn’t required to accept his help.
But he didn’t know how he could live with himself if something happened to her.
“I know all those things. And I believe them, too. The last month has been anything but normal, but your situation isn’t indicative of your ability to defend yourself.”
“Thank you.”
“But I would feel better if you were with me.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want to see anything happen to you.” Because I care about you. Because I’ve always cared about you.
He didn’t say those things. He couldn’t say those things. But somewhere way down deep inside, that was all he wanted to say to try to convince her.
“I don’t want to be a burden to you.” She pressed on, but he could see her conviction wavering ever so slightly.
“You’re not a burden. More than that, you have more knowledge of this case than anyone else. Even if you didn’t, I would help you. But, selfishly, I’m going to ask for your help. I need all I can get right now.”
“You want my help?”
“Of course I do. You know Greer better than anyone. I bet if we sit and think about it, you can point to certain times when you may have picked up information. Windows, or gaps in our knowledge, you may be able to fill in. If he was in or out of town… If he told you he was traveling… Or even casual conversation that didn’t mean anything at the time but might be beneficial to us if you look at it now.”
And if it meant Tripp had to listen to details about the quiet, intimate evenings she’d spent with her former fiancé, then so be it. He needed the help and, more importantly, he needed her safe. If it took a few uncomfortable conversations to ensure that, he’d deal.
“I was thinking about it before.” She sat on the edge of the bed. “Maybe we’ve been considering him and Capital X all wrong.”
Immediately intrigued, Tripp prodded her. “How do you mean?”
“Well, it’s easy to think of him as just a criminal. But he’s a businessman, too. Heck, that’s what I thought he was up until the big reveal.”
Harlequin Romantic Suspense December 2020 Box Set Page 7
