Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

J oe bit back a yawn as she watched Donny cautiously approach the small figure curled up on one of the twin beds in the small and rather depressing room. Her eyes darted to the other twin bed and noted that it was stripped. No roommate, in her opinion, was a good thing since they usually got in the way. She really hated it when they tried to "help."

"He's engaged," Eric whispered in her ear as they waited for Donny to grow a pair of balls and wake the guy up. He was adding way too much drama to this situation and was going to end up pissing off their patient.

"So?" Joe whispered back, keeping her eyes on the patient.

She could practically feel Eric roll his eyes behind her. "So, I don't think his fiancée would appreciate you going out for a steak dinner with him," he explained softly in her ear.

Now it was her turn to roll her eyes. "He's not buying me a steak dinner tonight."

"Good."

"You are."

His answer was an amused snort. "Good luck with that, sweetheart."

"Keep it up and I'll be adding an appetizer and a dessert to my list of demands," Joe whispered back. Eric was quiet for a moment and she assumed that he was probably wondering when this guy was going to get around to actually talking to the patient only to take her by surprise when he whispered, "Are you planning on putting out?" as his warm breath teased the back of her neck, sending goosebumps racing along her skin.

It was a little unnerving that she almost shouted, God yes ! Her reaction to him was seriously starting to scare her. This was Eric, her best friend, the man that she grew up with, and most likely the man that would steal her green Jell-O in fifty years at whatever nursing home was stupid enough to accept them both.

She needed a real vacation, some rest, and she definitely needed to start dating again. That was the only explanation that she could come up with for her reaction to him. It had been way too long since she'd had sex. Was it May or June of last year when she'd ended things with that cop from Northville? A year and a half without sex was obviously screwing with her head.

Okay, so in all fairness, she'd been aware of Eric since before that. What woman in her right mind wouldn't be? He was devastatingly handsome in that bad-boy way that Joe really liked. He was also smart, funny and so easy to be around. If he wasn't her best friend, she would-

There was no use finishing that train of thought. The fact was, he was her best friend and nothing more. Not that she wanted things to change. She didn't. She loved that they were comfortable with each other and could tell each other anything. He was the guy that she bitched to, not about.

"Only if you let me get ice cream with my dessert," Joe countered back softly, forcing her mind to jump back into the rhythm of their relationship and stay there.

Eric released a disappointed sigh. "Damn, if only you weren't a little gold digger."

"If only," Joe mumbled distractedly as she watched Donny finally grow a pair and approach the patient. Of course, his willingness to get it over with might have something to do with Tyler standing next to him looking pissed.

"Adam, you need to wake up and take your pills," Donny said nervously.

"No," Adam said firmly as he rolled over to glare at Donny.

One look at the man who instilled fear in everyone in the house left her a little confused. He was small, a lot smaller than her. Granted, she knew that size didn't always mean anything, but seriously, this guy made every patient in the house nervous?

Did he have a history with weapons? Fire? Mutilation? It really would have been nice if they'd given them a heads-up, but then again, the patient wasn't technically their patient yet, which meant that they had no legal rights to his medical records. Apparently, they were just here to scare the hell out of him into taking his pills and hope that he didn't flip out in the process.

This plan sucked.

"Adam-"

"I SAID GO AWAY!" Adam bellowed as he jumped to his feet on his bed and swung at Donny, who thankfully managed to stumble back in time.

"Oh, my god!" Donny cried as he ran from the room, leaving the three of them to deal with Adam.

Great. Just great.

"Relax, Adam. We're just here to help you," Tyler said in a soothing tone.

Adam looked like he was about to say something when his eyes landed on them. He gestured wildly to them as he shifted anxiously on his bed. "I'm not going with you!"

Without a word, they both stepped forward and broke off to flank Tyler. Joe moved to Tyler's right, keeping her hands loose by her sides and visible and without looking she knew that Eric was doing the same.

They'd learned long ago that approaching a combative patient with your palms up was a really bad fucking idea. Most people probably thought the gesture was placating, but in reality, it usually put people on the defensive pretty quickly. In a stressful situation like this one, it could be taken as an aggressive stance and the last thing that any of them wanted right now was to make this guy feel like he needed to defend himself.

"Adam?" Joe said, keeping her tone friendly. "My name's Joe. Do you know why we were called tonight?"

Adam's eyes darted cautiously over the two men. "You're here to take me back to the hospital. I'm not going! I haven't done anything wrong!"

She shook her head. "No, we weren't called to transport you."

"You're lying!"

"I promise you that we were not called to transport you tonight. We were actually called because the staff here isn't sure if you've been taking your pills."

His eyes shifted to her quickly before shifting back to Tyler and Eric. "They're lying. I've been taking my pills."

"Did you take them tonight?" Eric asked.

"Yes!" Adam said without any hesitation.

"No, you didn't, Adam," Donny snapped from the safety of the doorway, obviously feeling a hell of a lot braver now. "You refused to take your pills tonight."

"Shut up!" Adam screamed, taking a threatening step towards Donny. Joe automatically shifted to the right to block the move. "I took my pills!"

"No, you didn't take your pills, Adam, and if you don't take them, they're going to-"

"Stop," Joe said firmly, cutting off Donny before he could make this worse. She kept her eyes locked on Adam, who now looked tensed and ready for a fight. "We're not going to do anything. We were simply asked to come here and see if you've taken your pills."

Adam snorted. "They don't send the police over pills."

"You're right. They shouldn't have called us over this," Eric said, no doubt giving Donny a pointed look.

"Why don't we go downstairs and sit down and talk this through?" Tyler offered.

Adam looked like he was considering it when Donny opened his mouth. "He's not allowed out of his room. He's on room restriction until he takes his pills."

"I took my pills!" Adam screamed, leaping from the bed to attack Tyler. It took Joe a few seconds to react. She honestly hadn't seen it coming. She'd been prepared to take him to the ground, but for an attack on Donny, who couldn't seem to shut the hell up.

"Shit!" Eric snapped as he attempted to pull Adam away from Tyler, but the much smaller man wouldn't give up his hold. He swung, kicked, and bit Tyler while Eric struggled to pull him off.

Joe moved low and grabbed hold of Adam's legs, hugging them close as she ignored the brutal kicks to her ribs and stomach. "Get him down!" she yelled, squeezing Adam's legs together before she dropped her weight to help bring him down, but she only managed to anchor his legs against her body.

"Oh, my God, he's got a gun!" Donny screeched from the hallway.

Joe's gaze shot to the doorway in time to see Donny running down the hallway, shoving patients and staff out of his way as he made a mad dash to safety. The rest of their audience wasn't too far behind.

"Someone call for backup!" Tyler yelled from above her. She turned her head and felt her eyes widen as she watched Tyler and Eric struggle to pull Adam's hands away from Tyler's holstered gun.

"Get out of here, Joe!" Eric yelled as he struggled to take Adam to the floor and stop him from getting his hands on that gun.

Joe would have rolled her eyes if they weren't busy at the moment.

"Let go!" Tyler groaned as he worked at tearing Adam's hands off his gun.

Somehow over the loud grunts and shouts she heard the snap of Tyler's gun holster giving.

"Shit!"

"Run, Joe!" Eric yelled, sending her a pleading look as he fought to keep Adam's finger away from the trigger as he started to pull the gun away from the holster.

She couldn't do that. She couldn't leave him. At that moment, she was more afraid of what would happen to Eric if she let go of Adam's legs.

"FUCKING RUN!" Eric bellowed.

Holding Adam's legs down was the only thing stopping him from pushing away from them and being able to point that gun at one of them. But she knew that it was only a matter of time before he managed to pull the trigger and shoot someone. He was out of control and the two large, well-trained men above her were having a hell of a time getting him under control. If they didn't do something soon, he was going to get that gun clear and pull the trigger.

"Please, Joe, let go!" Eric pleaded, breaking her heart.

She knew that he wanted her to run and save herself, but she couldn't do it. She wasn't on some bravery kick. She was absolutely terrified. She couldn't run and leave him behind. Joe was scared out of her mind that if she left now that she would never see him again and she couldn't risk that. She didn't know much, but she knew she couldn't live without Eric.

Taking a deep breath, she did what she had to do. She let go of Adam's legs and in the next second, she shoved to her feet, hard. Adam hadn't been prepared for the sudden move and Joe used that to her advantage to break his hold on the gun with her head and shoulders, slightly cringing when her head slammed into the butt of the gun, but she didn't stop until she broke Adam's hold around the gun and sent it flying across the room.

That's when all hell broke loose.

As Tyler stumbled back, Adam turned his anger on her. With a feral screech, he pulled his fist back and slammed it into the side of her face, knocking her back onto the floor.

Just as she prepared herself for another strike, Adam released a cry of pain and was slammed down to the floor with his arm twisted behind his back. She absently wiped at the hot liquid running down her face as she watched Eric place a knee in the middle of Adam's back, ignoring the smaller man's cry of pain as he leaned down and whispered near his ear.

"If you ever touch her again, I will fucking kill you," Eric said in a cold, lethal tone that sent chills down her spine. "You so much as look at her and I will fucking kill you."

Adam squeezed his eyes shut so that he wasn't looking at her. She might have laughed if she wasn't truly frightened. She'd never seen Eric like this before and she was a little worried that he might actually do it.

"I got him," Tyler said, gesturing for Eric to move over. After a slight hesitation, Eric moved off Adam but kept his arm pinned against his back so that he couldn't move. He looked over at her and frowned.

"Joe?"

"Huh?" she asked in a daze seconds before she passed out.