Texas Hunt
As far as anything else between them went, Lisa was a puzzle in which he’d never quite fit the pieces together. There was no way he could risk his heart twice trying.
Get a hobby, Hunt.
Besides, he had other, more pressing things to focus on, like why she kept checking the door with that frightened look on her face. She had to know a person from a random mugging wouldn’t follow her to the hospital. Ryan bet there was more going on than she let on.
“I better go. Grayson needs to nurse soon,” Lori said.
“I’ve been lying here thinking about getting away for a few days. You should, too. Especially now. It’s not good for the baby to be around all this and stress can affect your breast milk,” Lisa said, looking as though she was grasping at straws. Her sister was almost militant about breast-feeding. Since Grayson’s dad wasn’t coming back, Ryan figured her sister compensated by throwing all her energy into being Grayson’s mother. It was beyond Ryan how a father could walk out on his family. Then again, it didn’t seem to have bothered his mother all that much.
Lisa made a good point but when did she have time to think about a getaway option? She’d only woken up a few minutes ago.
“I don’t know. I’d rather be here for you. Plus, we need to make arrangements for Dad.” Lori’s voice hitched on the last couple of words.
“All we need is an internet connection to do that. It’ll take a few days to settle everything anyway before the service. I can meet you somewhere. The nurse said I might be out of here later today.”
Ryan had no idea why Lisa was skirting the truth, but after all she’d been through he figured he’d toss her a lifeline. “A buddy of mine has a fishing cabin a couple hours from here in Arkansas. It’s right on the lake. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if you took it over.”
“Are you sure that’s such a good idea?” Lori glanced from Ryan to Lisa. “I have Grayson to think about.”
“It’s nice and big. The place sleeps eight. He bought it so his wife would want to bring the kids,” Ryan said. He intended to have a heart-to-heart with Lisa as soon as her sister left. Then again, her attack was followed by devastating news about her father. Maybe she needed to get her bearings and figured this was the best way. Plus, the Mason Ridge Abductor was still out there and even though Grayson was a baby, not a seven-year-old, which was the usual mode of operation for the kidnapper, she had to be thinking about his safety. With Lori on her own with a baby and Lisa the overprotective older sister, maybe Ryan shouldn’t be surprised at how out of sync her reactions seemed to be.
He needed to reassure her that he intended to make certain she was okay.
“It might be nice to take the weekend,” Lori said. “There’s been so much going on that I don’t even want to go to the grocery anymore for fear of running into people. They’re well intentioned and all, but my phone’s been ringing like crazy. I answered it a few times and it’s a game of twenty questions. I can’t talk about either one of you without bawling. Plus, work gave me time off to make...arrangements.” She wiped away another tear.
“Then it’s settled. Ryan will call his friend.” Lisa turned her attention toward him. “I’ll owe you big-time. You’re certain this will be all right?”
“More than sure. He gave me a spare so I could check on the place for him this month while he’s out of town for work.” Ryan fished in his pocket and then produced a key. “I’ll text the address. You should probably take off now. There’s a small corner store at the turnoff to get to his place. They’re used to weekenders, so they’ll have everything you need to get by for a few days with a baby.”
“Okay.” Lori stopped chewing on her lip and took the offering.
Ryan zipped off a text with the address, waiting for her smartphone to ding.
When it did, she said to Lisa, “Good. Will I see you tonight?”
“I hope so. I’m out of here as soon as I get clearance,” Lisa replied.
“Then I’ll feed the baby, pack a bag and head out,” Lori conceded. The idea seemed to be growing on her when she smiled at her sister.
“Be safe driving. Let me know when you get there, okay?”
They hugged and both had tears in their eyes when Lori left.
“Thank you,” Lisa said as Ryan settled into the chair next to her bed.
“You’re welcome.” Whatever was on her mind, she had no intention to share just yet. He could tell by the set of her jaw and the look in her eye. Lucky for her, he was a patient man. “The deputy should be here shortly to take your statement. You hungry for anything? I could run out and pick up whatever sounds good.”
“I doubt I could eat anything,” she said. Those bluish-green eyes pushed past his walls—walls he’d worked damn hard to construct.
Lisa was attractive. Only an idiot would argue that point and Ryan didn’t put himself in that particular category. He’d be lying if he didn’t admit to a certain pull he felt toward her every time she was around.
But that was where it ended. Where it had to end.
Sure, a few of his friends had found true partnerships with other people recently. Even though Ryan had been against Brody and Rebecca’s relationship early on because of their history, the two were the happiest he’d ever seen them. Dylan and Samantha seemed perfect for each other. Love seemed to suit his friends. Denying the nose on his face wouldn’t change anything. Besides, Ryan was truly happy for his best buds.
But only a man with a need for punishment did the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. Lisa had shot him down before when he thought he’d picked up on a mutual attraction. Even though he felt that same sizzle between them now, only a fool would act on it. And not only because she was in a hospital bed, hurt. That just made it inappropriate.
Ryan had other reasons not to get involved with anyone. For one, he didn’t need anyone to take care of him. He was perfectly fine living the bachelor’s life.
Brody and Dylan might have found their other halves and taken up relationships, and Ryan didn’t begrudge them. No two people deserved that kind of bliss more than his friends. He had to admit that they seemed happier than they’d ever been. And that was all pink lemonade and roses for them.
Ryan didn’t need anyone else to “complete” him. He’d come into the world a whole human being and planned to leave the same way. Living on his own suited him. He liked waking up with the sun and going where he pleased. Was he selfish? Maybe. He was so used to taking care of family members for most of his life that he didn’t have much left to give anyone else.
Had his life seemed a little lacking lately? Sure. It would cycle around again.
And if it didn’t, he’d get a dog. People were so damn disappointing.
Chapter Two
A hospital was no place to sleep. Even with the lights turned off Lisa couldn’t relax, especially since Ryan had gone home. To make matters worse, a nurse or technician padded in every hour on the dot to wrap gauges around her arm or take more blood. After what felt like the fiftieth time but was more like the fifth, Lisa was beginning to lose patience.
Lack of sleep and constant ache did nothing to improve her mood. Plus, the news of her father...she couldn’t even go there. Grief would engulf her if she allowed herself time to think about it. Emotions were a luxury she couldn’t afford. Beckett was still out there. The rest of her family was in danger. As difficult as it was, Lisa had to maintain focus.
At least she’d convinced her sister to leave town. Lori and Grayson were in a swank fishing cabin on a lake in Arkansas. That was the only bit of good news in what had been one of the worst days of Lisa’s life.
Dad.
Thinking about him, about what had happened brought a whole new wave of sadness crashing down around her.
She tried to ease to a sitting position, searching her memory for any sign he’d been relapsing. Pain pierced her chest, her arms and her back with movement. No use. She’d refused pain medication, needing a clear head. She was still reeling from the news of losing her father while trying to sort out why any of this was happening now. She’d kept Beckett’s secret, dammit. Shouldn’t that have bought her a pass?
One of the lab techs padded in. Great.
Trying to sort out the day’s events while Prickzilla jabbed another needle contributed to a dull ache in the spot right between her eyes.
Take a deep breath. Count to ten.
It wasn’t a magical cure but she felt better.
“Try to get some sleep,” Dracula-in-an-aquamarine-jumpsuit whispered before she closed the door behind her and disappeared.
If only it were that easy.
Lisa tossed and turned for another half hour at least. As frustration got the best of her she resorted to counting sheep.
Still didn’t work.
Just like when she was a kid, the darn things shape-shifted into snakes, their slimy bodies slithering after her. The closet had offered a perfect hiding spot when she was six. Another half dozen years later, Beckett Alcorn had been the beast that kept her awake nights. There wasn’t a closet big enough now for the monster she faced.
In the category of “not making it better,” she was wide-awake at—she checked the clock—three fifteen in the morning. Great. Even the chickens were conked out at this hour. Lisa had been drifting in and out, but every time she got close the door would creak open and a nurse or technician would pad inside. It was probably just as well. Anytime Lisa got anywhere near real sleep, she’d jolt awake from one of several nightmares ready to cue at a moment’s notice.
In one scenario, hands were closing around her throat. She woke screaming, giving the nurse who was attending to her quite a scare.
In another dream, fists were coming at her from every direction and she felt blood spilling out of her cracked skull with each jab.
After the last round of fifty ways to beat up Lisa, she gave up checking the clock. There was no use realizing just how late it was and how little REM she was getting.
The worst-case nightmare involved being held under water, drowning, only to bob to the surface and find that it was Ryan holding her down. There was no doubt in her mind that he would never try to hurt her in her waking world. Absolutely no way could she even consider him doing her harm on purpose. The dream must represent something she feared. Didn’t need a psychology degree to know she’d been afraid of the opposite sex ever since that summer, ever since Beckett.
What did it say about her that even a male friend scared her to death?
She thought about that as she drifted off to her first real sleep.
A hand clamped around Lisa’s throat so hard she feared her windpipe would crack. She struggled against the crushing grip. It was like trying to peel off custom-fitted steel.
Her fight, flee or freeze response triggered as she railed against the force pushing her deeper into the mattress. She tried to scream, but no sound came out. In her other dreams she’d always been able to shout.
Coughing, she had the frightening realization that this wasn’t a dream.
She was wide-awake.
A soft object, maybe a pillow, was being pressed against her face, suffocating her.
More coughing came as her lungs desperately clawed for air.
Could she somehow signal one of the nurses? Where were they? How had someone walked right past them in the middle of the night and gotten into her room? She felt around for the call button, but came up empty.
Oh. God. No.
Desperate and afraid, she reached for her attacker. Her hand stopped on denim material. Must’ve been his leg, meaning he was most likely straddled over her. Beckett?
At twelve, Lisa had blamed herself for what he’d done to her. She’d been too embarrassed and too scared to tell anyone. Beckett had threatened to kill everyone she loved if she so much as breathed a word of his actions, and he had the power to follow through with his warning. He’d threatened to do worse to Lisa’s little sister. And if Lisa told, he’d said it would be her word against his, and who would believe her, anyway? He’d made a good point. She’d been a shy girl, in and out of the system, who’d mostly kept to herself. Worse yet, she was daughter of Henry Moore, the town’s constantly rehabilitating alcoholic.
Lisa wasn’t a little girl anymore. No way did he get to destroy her. She followed the inseam straight up to his groin, grabbed and squeezed with every ounce of strength she had.
He muttered a curse as he shifted position long enough for her to take in a swallow of precious oxygen. She clasped harder and he groaned, cursing her.
The weight on top of her lifted for a second as he wriggled his groin out of her grasp. His hold loosened on the pillow pressed against her face so she fought the pain burning through her as she drew her knees to her chest and then thrust them toward his face. They connected with his chin.
His head snapped back.
Lisa screamed for the nurse. She tried to launch another attack, pushing through the agony that came with every movement. Her arms felt like spaghetti and even a boost of adrenaline didn’t give her enough strength to keep fighting.
The mattress dipped and then rose as he pushed to his feet.
“I’ll be back. You’ll regret this, bitch.” The voice wasn’t Beckett’s. It was too dark to get a good look at the details of his face.
A fresh wave of panic seized her as she searched for something, anything on the side table. Her fingers reached the landline phone, so she hurled it toward the stranger’s back. “You won’t be able to hurt me from jail.”
What was taking the nurse so long?
The dark silhouette slipped out of her room and disappeared moments before the door reopened and the night nurse rushed in.
“Someone was here. He’s out there. In the hall,” Lisa said through coughing fits.
Light filled the room as the concerned nurse’s face came into view.
“I was just out there and didn’t see anyone. My name’s Alicia. I’ll be your nurse this evening.” She spoke slowly, calmly, as if she were talking to a three-year-old in the heat of a temper tantrum.
“I’m not making this up. I swear.” Lisa sat upright, heaving.
The way the nurse stared at Lisa, the questioning look, she knew Alicia was ready to call for a psych consult.
“I promise. A man was just in here. He had a pillow over my face. Can’t you see what he did to me?” Her breath came in bursts.
Alicia’s forehead crease and raised eyebrow gave away the fact that she was skeptical. With a quick look communicating that Lisa should be grateful Alicia was about to indulge the fantasy, she retreated toward the door. “I’ll check again, but I was just out there and I didn’t see anyone.”
All Lisa could think about based on Alicia’s reaction was that she most likely attributed this outburst to a very realistic nightmare or head trauma.
The expression on her face when she returned convinced Lisa of the latter.
“I know how this must seem to you but someone was in here,” Lisa said defensively. She glanced around on the floor. “Look. The pillow he used is there.”
“It’s okay,” Alicia soothed. The words came out slowly, again.
Great. The woman thought Lisa was crazy. Lisa wasn’t about to let the nurse get away with it.
“Look at me. I must have red marks or bruising. He shoved that pillow in my face and held me down.” She held her hands out to check herself over. A pillow on the floor wasn’t exactly a smoking gun. Even Lisa rationalized she could’ve knocked it off the bed during a nightmare.
The only real evidence was a black-and-blue display up and down both arms.
“You’ve been through a lot recently. Let’s see if we can get you to lie down again,” Alicia said as she began her exam, evaluating Lisa’s injuries.
She moved to the computer. “We’ll send someone down to speak to you.”
Either Alicia believed Lisa or the nurse was following hospital protocol. Neither mattered; the only person Lisa wanted to see right now was Ryan. He’d said to call if she needed him, day or night. As much as she didn’t want to push the boundaries of their friendship or drive him away she needed to be with someone she trusted.
Would he even pick up at this ridiculous hour?
What choice did she have? Her father was dead. Her sister was more than four hours away, not that calling her in the middle of the night was an appealing thought anyway. Lori would have too many questions and that could be deadly.
Once again, Lisa was frightened into silence. Could she call the sheriff? Tell him everything even after she’d lied to Deputy Adams earlier and said she didn’t know her attacker?
The deputy had simply shaken his head while taking down the details for his report, cursing the luck of her family to have both of these things happen within twenty-four hours of each other. He’d warned her to watch out because bad things usually came in threes. And with her father’s alcohol history, maybe the deputy had really wondered why something like this hadn’t happened sooner.
Adams had confirmed that her father’s death had been considered an accident. No one had argued differently. Her heart knew better.
Lisa knew for certain that her attack yesterday hadn’t been random. She’d seen Beckett with her own eyes after ripping off his ski mask. But whoever had slipped into the hospital wasn’t him. Maybe her brain was damaged and she’d imagined another person’s voice. Who else would do something like this?
Beckett could’ve hired someone to do his dirty work for him. Attacking her in a hospital setting was high risk. There’d be cameras. Maybe he feared getting caught this time. It might not have been him carrying out the actual crime, but her instincts said he had to be responsible.
What good did it do her to know? If she told anyone he’d be back to kill all the family she had left—her sister and nephew.
Panic gripped her. She couldn’t even think about anything happening to them.
They were safe. For now.
Lori and her infant son were everything to Lisa. And if she gave up the name of the man who did this to her, both of them would be dead in a heartbeat.
There had to be another way.
Calling Ryan was a risk she had to take. He’d be even more suspicious and he might think she was a little crazy. What was the alternative?
Stay there, unprotected, and she’d be dead by morning.
Try to leave by herself and she wouldn’t make it out the door.
As soon as Alicia stepped into the hallway, Lisa grabbed her cell from the side table.
Calling Ryan was the only reasonable option. He’d volunteered his assistance. She’d take him up on his offer.
If he pressed her for more information, she’d have to cut him loose or risk putting him in danger. She hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
Chapter Three
The sound of fear in Lisa’s voice when she called had shocked Ryan out of a deep sleep.
All she’d said was “I need you.”
Those three words had kicked Ryan into action faster than buckshot. Her voice had blasted a different kind of heat through his chest, sent it spiraling through him. He’d dismissed it quickly as an inappropriate reaction and focused on the terror coming through the line. He’d hopped out of bed, ignoring the aftershocks of sexual awareness, thrown on clothes and raced toward the hospital. He’d made the drive in record time, parked and still hadn’t come up with a plan to get past security.
Something had happened to Lisa. He intended to find out what was going on. She’d convinced him she’d been too tired to talk earlier that day and he hadn’t wanted to put undue pressure on her, given all that she’d been through. This was different. No way could he go back to sleep without answers. And no one could stop him from getting them, not even her.
“Sir, visiting hours are over,” the nurse warned as he stalked toward Lisa’s wing.
“I received a call from a patient of yours. She’s expecting me.” Like hell he wasn’t going into her room.
“I can’t allow it. Hospital policy.” The nurse sprang from her seat and moved around the desk too late to block him from entering Lisa’s hallway.
“Call your supervisor if you have to, but I’m not leaving until I know my wife is okay.” Ryan used the earlier lie he’d given in order for her to receive treatment. He’d had to think quickly then. Surely they wouldn’t refuse a husband access to his spouse now. He figured he had at least a few minutes before hospital security could catch up in order to toss him out of the building.
“Sir.” Her voice trailed off, which meant she wasn’t following him. She’d most likely doubled back so she could call the security desk.
Ryan pushed Lisa’s door open and rushed to her side. Desperation was a net, casting a wild animal look over her normally soft, feminine features.
“I don’t have long. The nurse will have me evicted in a few minutes. Tell me what happened,” he said.
“Someone was here, Ryan.” The urgency in her words nearly knocked him back a step.
“Who?”
“I’m not sure.” An emotion he couldn’t quite put his finger on flickered behind her eyes. It was more than fear.
“Was it the guy who attacked you?”
“Yes. No. I don’t know.” Her bluish-green eyes were wide and scared.
“I need you to tell me what’s really going on.” When he sat on the edge of the bed, he realized she was shaking. It took every bit of strength not to pull her into his chest and comfort her.
“I would if I could.” She looked away.
What the hell did that mean? He’d been exposed, firsthand, to people in trouble. Make no mistake about it, Lisa was drowning. He couldn’t do anything to help her unless she gave him something to hang on to.
If he’d learned one thing from trying to save his brother, it was that people helped themselves. Sure, sometimes they needed an extra pair of hands. Ryan never hesitated to be there for a relative or friend in need to offer support. But drowning people were notorious for pulling others down with them. Ryan had learned to keep a healthy distance until they took those first few strokes on their own.
“Why can’t you?” Seeing her looking so small in that damn oversize gown overrode rational thought. He fisted his hands to keep them at his sides.
Didn’t work. He brushed the hair from her face, ignoring the urge building inside him to hold her until she stopped shaking.
“Believe me, Ryan, you’re the only one I would tell if I could, but this is...complicated and innocent people will be hurt if I don’t play this right.” Her words broke at the end and sobs racked her shoulders.
Ryan didn’t debate his next action. He just hauled her into his arms, where she buried her face. “I’m here. It’s okay.”
He half expected her to push him away and tell him she was fine. She didn’t. Instead, she pressed deeper against his cotton T-shirt while he whispered reassurances in her ear he couldn’t guarantee.
There was no worse feeling than watching someone he cared about in pain and not being able to help.
Against his better judgment, he told Lisa he would do whatever she needed.
She broke away and stared him directly in the eyes. “If you really want everything to be all right, take me home with you.”
Hold on a minute. She couldn’t leave the hospital. The determination in her bluish-green eyes said otherwise. Maybe he could talk her off the ledge.
“Is that wise?” He glanced at the bruises on her arms.
“I’d walk out of here on my own if I could,” she said, and he had no doubt she meant it.
Could he convince her otherwise?
“The doctor wants to keep an eye on your head injury.” Was it safe for her to leave the hospital against medical advice?
“I can’t stay here. He’ll come back, or send someone. I’m in danger here. You’re the only one I trust.”
“Did you tell the nurse?”