Page 104 of Rough Fantasy

Rory glanced at Zee. They were both worried about her. From the time she had been attacked she wouldn’t accept their comfort. It twisted something deep in his gut.

“No, but you’ve had a scare and I think a hot bath might relax you. I can get you a glass of wine.”

She looked at them both, then nodded.

“Go on, get the water going and I’ll bring you a glass,” Zee said.

She left them, not saying a word, not asking for comfort. They’d both offered it up the last few days, but she hadn’t taken it.

“She’s not taking the news that no one is after us well.”

Zeke opened the refrigerator. “She needs to work it out in her head.”

“I think you’re not taking this seriously enough.”

Zee set the wine bottle down and looked at him. “Listen, Rory, I’ve known her longer than you. She’s had her world altered. Maura isn’t accustomed with being wrong. She needs time to get herself in order. We just need to be here to support her.”

Anger churned in his belly. Zee was being too laid back, too ready to let her handle things on her own. And he was being too fucking calm.

“Whether something happened today or not, she is skating a fine edge. She needs more than just a couple of blokes checking in on her. She needs to be watched.”

He had seen it up close and personal. His mother had been the same way before she died…before she took that fucking gun to her head. And he would be damned if he would watch another woman he…cared for do that.

One of the bad things about having a lover as long as he had Zee, he knew all of Rory’s secrets.

“She’s not your mother. Your mother was?—”

“Weak.”

Zee sighed. “No. She was sick. She needed help and she didn’t know where to go.”

He said nothing to that. Rory couldn’t. Fear for Maura and the memories of his mother were too overwhelming.

“How did I fall in love with two such stubborn people.” When Rory continued to be quiet, Zee threw his hands up again. “I’m not going to rehash this right now. I’m going to get some soup going and then take this wine to her.”

“Eating and drinking, that will help.”

“Dammit, Rory, she needs someone to take care of her. You said so yourself. So, that’s what we need to do.”

“I think she needs professional help.”

“She doesn’t need professional help. You’re mental if you think she does. Maura is a focused woman. She’s been thrown off balance.”

He wanted to argue, but who was he to say. The truth of the matter was that Zeke was the longest relationship he had ever had. Everyone else had been short term. He would take a step back like Zee suggested but he would definitely keep an eye on her.

Rory wasn’t losing another woman in his life that way. He would do everything in his power to prevent it.

forty-five

Maura looked out over the water and sighed. She was smart enough to understand what she was doing to herself. Dr. Obenhaus had explained it a long time ago. Throwing herself into work avoided the issues and she got sicker by the day. But, thankfully, Dr. Obenhaus also understood that she needed time to get through it.

“Why do you think there is someone watching you, Maura?” Dr. Obenhaus asked, her calm patient voice soothing Maura.

“I don’t know. It’s a sense I have. I felt it again when I went to work. I thought it was because of the detail that Zeke and Rory put on me.”

“So, you knew they were there and dismissed your worries.”

Not really, she thought. If only she would have gotten sleep the last few days. As it was, she’d only gotten snatches of sleep since she returned from Hawaii. She avoided the pain pills the doctor there had given her.