Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE

Kati

This was turning out to be the shift from hell. I'm not sure if tonight was a full moon but the lunatics were out in droves. I wanted nothing more than to go home and crack open a bottle of wine. Maybe catch up on my shows or download a new book. I was suddenly in the mood for some protector romance books. I was in a group that gave some great recommendations; it was time I took those other readers up on their suggestions.

One look at my supervisor's face as she strolled up to me told me I wouldn't be getting any of those things soon.

"I'm sorry to ask this of you, Kati, since I know the shift has been rough, but can you stay an extra hour? Mary is running a bit late. Her husband was late getting off work."

At least it was only an hour, and Mary was one of the younger nurses. She had an adorable one-year-old daughter and no family, besides her husband, to watch the little girl. I knew all about that.

"Of course, I can stay. Give me a minute to send a text off to Lyla so I can let her know."

"Thank you so much. Oh, and there's a delivery for you up at the nurses’ station."

I stopped pulling my phone out of the pocket of my scrubs. Never in all the years I worked at the hospital have I ever had a delivery. I didn't date. If Lyla wanted to bring me something, she came herself and handed it directly to me no matter how busy I was. Lucien was sweet but he wouldn't bother to send something to my place of employment. He would wait until I got home.

That left Easton, but something told me he wouldn't be sending me anything. Not after our awkward encounter yesterday. I'm not sure which one of us was weirder. Both of us didn't seem to know what to do with our attraction. At least, I hope he was attracted to me and wasn’t acting weird because I was making him uncomfortable.

Oh God, I mentally groaned and slapped my forehead. Now all I could think about was that I’d been making him uncomfortable. Was that why things were awkward? It wasn't like I had a lot of options when it came to a security company. They were the only ones in town.

One of the guys mentioned a friend in a similar line of work. Maybe I could see about them transferring me to him.

I brushed the thought off for now and sent a quick text to both Lyla and Lucien that I would be late. Then I made my way over to the nurses’ desk to find two of my co-workers munching on cookies.

"Someone has a secret admirer," Alexa singsonged.

"At least whoever it is has good taste." Nancy held up the cookie in salute to me.

I reached for the envelope with my name on it. The box nor the card gave any indication of which bakery the cookies were from. I found that strange as I pulled out the handwritten note.

You should've just let us have the boy. Now you're going to pay.

The card slipped through my fingers as I batted the cookies out of my friends’ hands. "Who else ate one?" I practically screamed at them.

"What the hell, Kati? We always share goodies!" Alexa genuinely looked hurt by my actions, but she didn't realize I only wanted to save her life.

"What's going on over here?" My supervisor was by my side in seconds and I pushed the note closer so she could read it while doing my best to touch it as little as possible. I had no idea if the threat was an immediate one, or meant to make me look over my shoulder for the foreseeable future.

"We need anyone who touched these to get tested immediately. I have no idea what the person meant by that note."

I could see out of the corner of my eye that my words had their desired effect. Both Alexa and Nancy looked green and I couldn't blame them. What they thought was a harmless treat from an admirer could turn out to be something deadly.

If I thought my shift earlier was hectic, it was nothing compared to how things were for the next couple of hours. Anyone who had come in contact with the box or treats inside was immediately put under observation. The local authorities were called and now the nurses’ station looked like a crime scene.

I wanted to scream. It was one thing to disrespect my home. I could handle that. It only affected me and my family. But bringing this war to the hospital, my place of employment, wasn't okay. These patients came here to seek help, not to be put in further danger.

I was sitting in a hospital bed, waiting for my own test results to come back, when a knock echoed through the room.

"Come in."

With any luck, it was Dr. Williams telling me I could go home. My one hour of overtime turned into two hours of being a patient, and Lyla was stuck at my house because of it.

"Kati?" I heard my name before I saw the person who said it, but I didn't need to see him to know exactly who came in. So much for luck.

"Yeah, it's me."

The curtain raced along the metal track and all too soon I was face-to-face with the man who made my stomach somersault in ways that hadn't happened in nearly twenty years. It was sad to think the last time someone made me feel this way was when I was a teenager.

"The sheriff explained what happened. Are you okay?"

I doubt it mattered what I told Easton; worry was etched into every line on his face and didn't look to be going away anytime soon.

"I'm fine. More pissed off than anything. I should've been home by now. I freaked out for nothing."

I didn't think it was possible for Easton's expression to get harder. The worry lines were now accompanied by blazes of anger.

"A threat isn’t nothing and that note was meant to be one. You should never take that lightly."

His tone was the last straw. I climbed out of the hospital bed. Screw the results. They hadn't found anything with anyone else, so the chances of mine being different were minimal.

"I don't have time for, nor do I want, an overbearing man in my life. I hired your company to set up security at my house, not invade my life, so pardon my French, but fuck off. You accomplished your job. This right here"—I circled my finger around the room and the hospital in general—"wasn't part of the deal."

I could see my words ticked him off but I no longer cared. I was hungry and tired. I wanted to be home with my son because the truth was, I needed to see with my own eyes that he was okay. The text messages from Lyla were no longer cutting it.

I barely registered the man who came into the room with Easton until he laughed. It was the hearty kind that matched his face. He reminded me of a modern-day Santa Claus.

"No wonder Hendrix warned me. I can see why the team likes her already."

"Maverick, right?" The picture in the local newspaper didn't do him justice. In person, his eyes were softer and he had a smile that welcomed even the most skittish person.

When he nodded his agreement, I continued. "No offense, but I don't care that your team likes me. Maybe on a different day I would, but not today. I've had a long twelve-hour shift that can best be described as a clusterfuck. I was ready to go home when my boss asked me to cover an extra hour for a friend. That got thrown to hell when I went to the nurses’ station and found cookies from God knows who. Now it's two hours past the end of my shift, I haven't eaten since this morning and I really want to go home and see my son. So no, today isn't the day to care who likes me."

I pushed past both men but stopped when Dr. Williams stepped through the open doorway. "Oh, good. Please tell me I can leave?"

Dr. Williams was one of my favorite doctors. He was about twenty-five years older than me and had been married to his wife for close to thirty years. Unlike some other doctors who liked to flirt with the younger nurses, Dr. Williams was nothing but professional to everyone he encountered.

"Ms. Whitlock. You will be happy to know that all your test results did, in fact, come back negative, so yes, you can leave. I'm told your shift is over, so feel free to check with the night supervisor to make sure there's no other paperwork you need to fill out, but otherwise have a good night."

"Thank you so much, Dr. Williams."

He left just as quickly as he arrived, and I didn't need to be told twice. Without a single glance back, I headed straight for the nurses’ station. I kept my discussion with the night supervisor brief, but all the while, I felt the heat of Easton's gaze on my back.

He could burn a hole into my back all he wanted. I wasn't about to give him any more of my attention at this point.

With permission to leave, I grabbed my stuff out of my employee locker and headed for my car. I thought ignoring Easton would clue him in to the idea I didn't want to talk, but alas, I was wrong. He was waiting for me as soon as I stepped out of the locker room.

"Is there something I can do for you? I thought I made it clear you didn't need to be here."

This snarky attitude wasn't like me, and for a brief moment, I felt bad. I was a nice person. I normally went out of my way not to be rude to people unless they were rude to me first. Not once since meeting Easton had he done anything to deserve the bitchiness he was getting.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed. "Look, I'm sorry. I'm not sure what brought you here but I'm fine. I get that someone threatened me tonight and I know I need to deal with it, but I don't have it in my wheelhouse to do that right now. So please just let me go home and see my son."

"Okay."

"Okay?" My hand dropped, along with my mouth. Did he really just say that after everything I unloaded on him? I fully expected an argument, so color me surprised and unsure of what to say.

Easton chuckled. "I fully plan to follow you home, and consider yourself warned that your package now comes with personal surveillance, but yeah. Okay. I can understand just wanting to get home and see your son."

I spun away without arguing or responding. If Easton wanted to follow me home, then so be it. I could deal with that after I got some food in my belly and a full night of sleep.