Page 38 of Cold Fury
“What, you mean drive me to the hospital and watch me go inside? Seems like a lot of effort for basically nothing. You could drop me off and accomplish the same thing.”
“I don’t mean waiting outside. I mean go in with you and keep an eye on you.”
“Connor!” I protest. “You can’t do that! What will my colleagues say if they see a leather-wearing biker following me around the hospital all day!”
But he’s already shaking his head. “Not negotiable, Katrina. I ain’t comfortable with just sending you into the hospital without eyes on you. If you’re going in to work, you’re gonna have protection.”
“But I haven’t even heard from Quad at all since…” I trail off, not wanting to put into words what he did the last time I saw him. “And I haven’t even seen Hooch, either. They’ve probably decided to back off. Can’t we just wait and see?”
“Uh-uh.” His jaw tenses. “You want to go to work, you’re gonna have one of the Bastards there watching out for you.”
I try to protest, but he puts a finger on my lips. “End of story.” I resist the urge to bite the finger right off his hand.
As I go into the bathroom and hastily get myself cleaned up, Connor spends time on the phone, talking in hushed tones to someone I can only guess is one of the Royal Bastards. When I come out into the living room dressed and ready to go, he tells me that his president has assigned a biker named Black to chauffeur me around and make sure I’m safe.
“Black?” I ask. “Is that his last name?”
“No.”
“Then why do you call him that?”
Connor’s brow furrows. “Because ‘murderous bastard who tortures people for fun’ was too long.”
I let out an uneasy burble of laughter. But he doesn’t laugh with me.Wow. I don’t actually think he’s joking.
And that is how I ended up walking into the hospital an hour later with a huge, silent brick wall of a man clad all in leather.
Black’s personality is as dark as his name. To say he’s scary as hell would be an understatement. Connor told me Black is the club’s Enforcer, whatever that means. All I know is, it makes me jumpy as a jackrabbit to be around him. And I’m the one he’s supposed to be protecting. Every time I attempt to make small talk with Black, my voice comes out as a high-pitched babble. To which his reply is to raise a dark eyebrow at me and say nothing at all.
As we walk down the corridor toward the Emergency Department, Black and I get more than a few openly curious stares. I pass Christy in the hallway, and she flashes me a smile that fades like she’s seeing a ghost when she realizes the mountain walking beside me is actuallywithme. She shoots me a look filled with stunned confusion. It’s only then that I realize I told her I’ve been seeing a biker I used to date in high school. Shit, she must think Black is Connor. I shake my head and mouthNoat her, but she just scurries by without saying anything.
Once we get into the emergency department, I turn to Black and motion toward the waiting area, which is already pretty full with patients. “I hope you have something to do for the next eight hours,” I joke.
He gives me a somewhat terrifying frown. “Yeah. I’m watching you,” he intones, in a deep voice that sounds like he doesn’t use it much.
“Not while I’m working, you’re not.”
“I’m watching you,” he repeats.
I stare at him in disbelief. “You know you can’t follow me into the actual emergency department, right? You’re going to have to wait out here, Black.”
“Fury told me to keep an eye on you,” he says darkly. “His arms cross in front of his chest. “I’m keeping an eye on you.”
“Well, you’re going to have to do it from the waiting area,” I say firmly. “If you try to come in there with me, you’ll get security called on you.”
He snorts. “Don’t care about security.”
“You might not, but I do.”
Without thinking, I place a hand on his chest to push him back. He looks down at it like he can’t believe what he’s seeing. Hastily, I withdraw it.
“Black, youhaveto stay here,” I insist, hearing my voice start to turn shrill with desperation. “Look, call Fury for confirmation, okay? He’ll understand that this is as far as you can go.”Lord, please let Connor understand that.“Stay. Here.”
Sucking in a deep breath, I turn and walk away before he can say more.
The beginning of my shift goes pretty routinely — as much as emergency department work can be routine. A patient comes in who burned herself pulling something out of the oven without wearing mitts. There’s a man who got the fingers on his left hand caught in a wood saw. A child comes in with a probable concussion after falling off a jungle gym.
Christy passes me between patients and grabs me by the sleeve, pulling me aside. “Who was that guy you were with a bit ago?” she whisper-shouts. “Wasthatthe biker you’re seeing?”