Beep. Beep. Beep.
Someone had better turn off that awful beeping, or she was going to throw whatever it was into the fiery pits of hell.
Roxy’s eyes slid open to a white ceiling. Slowly, her body was coming online. Her fingers twitched. Her toes wiggled. Her head throbbed.
Did she mention that beep? Where the hell was she? She turned her head. A white wall. In front of that, a machine with a little screen showing a red squiggly line that bounced up and down to the beat of the beep. She lifted her hand. A white plastic clip was attached to her middle finger.
“Oh, thank God.” Roxy couldn’t see her, but she knew her mother’s voice. “I was so worried.”
Her mother didn’t just seem worried, her eyes said she hadn’t slept in a while.
“Don’t say that,” her father’s disembodied voice scolded. “We’re supposed to keep her spirits up.”
“Paul, keep your comments to yourself.”
“Don’t fight in front of the children.” Roxy’s voice was scratchy.
Her father leaned over the other side of the bed. He looked like he hadn’t seen a bed in months.
“How long have I been here?” Roxy croaked.
“A couple days.” Her mom tried to smile, but it didn’t exactly raise Roxy’s spirits. “Do you remember what happened?”
Roxy propped her arms on the bed and tried to push herself up. Her chest was in a vise. She couldn’t move. The pain she felt just contemplating moving was enough for her to be thankful she couldn’t move any farther.
“Don’t get up.” Danielle walked in, complete with her doctor’s coat.
Thank goodness. The normal parent.
“Welcome back. It’s nice to see your eyes open.” Danielle hit something on the bed and the back rest slowly angled Roxy’s body upward.
Her side pulled and pulsed. “That’s enough.” It was barely enough to see everyone in the room, but her side didn’t care.
“Sorry.” Danielle stepped away from the bed. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I’ve been shot.” Roxy laughed, a small giggle, before the pain made her stop breathing. The pain was bad when she moved. So she just wouldn’t move anymore. Ever.
Her mother blubbered off to the side, large tears streaming down her face. “My baby. Shot.”
“It’s okay, Mom. I’m okay.” Roxy had no idea if she was okay, but she figured her mom needed a little encouragement. And Roxy was talking, which sounded like an improvement over the last couple days.
“It’s not okay. That woman tried to kill you.”
“The good news is she didn’t.” Roxy thought that was funny, but no one laughed. Maybe she’d broken her sarcasm in the scuffle with Gretchen.
Danielle checked the beeping machine and typed in the computer. “How are you feeling?”
“Fine?” She was pretty sure she was fine, but it really depended on the definition. She was alive, so that was something.
“You don’t sound convinced.”
“Well, my side hurts, and it feels like there’s a vise around my hips.”
“Let me fix that.” Danielle readjusted the blanket under her, jostling her hip and everything attached to it.
Pain. Light-blinding pain zipped past her eyes. She groaned. Which was impressive since she wanted to scream obscenities.
“Sorry. I’ll have the nurse give you some pain meds.” Danielle flipped the blanket up onto Roxy’s stomach and loosened tape on her side. Which Roxy couldn’t see, but the tickle of the adhesive coming off her skin and the sound told her what was happening. Danielle hummed. “You’re healing well.”
“What happened?” Exactly. She remembered bits and pieces. The whole getting shot part was a bit fuzzy.
Danielle covered the wound on Roxy’s hip and putlled the blanket down, without wedging it underneath her. “You were shot in the hip. The bullet nearly grazed your spleen, but it managed not to hit any vital organs. We also stitched a laceration on the posterior thigh and there was some swelling on your neck.”
There was more, but the Cliff Notes version was she’d be fine. Which, really, when you woke up and found out you’d been shot and had other various injuries, “you’ll be fine” was the headline. Burying it just meant losing the audience.
“I need to ask a few basic questions,” Danielle said, and launched right into them.
Roxy was pretty sure she got them all right. Her age. The current year. She was rocking this test.
“Do you know who this is?” Danielle pointed at Roxy’s mom.
Roxy went to say the words, but—nothing. All of a sudden, he was there. The only thing she was rocking was googly eyes because Rafe leaned against the door jamb of her hospital room. His arms were crossed, making the muscles bulge. He looked awful. He looked worried. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days.
Which was ironic since Roxy, apparently, had literally slept for days, and she probably resembled a coked-up Medusa clone.
Rafe walked in and stood off to the side. “Sorry to interrupt.”
Those brown eyes. The way they caressed her body as he took her in wasn’t an interruption. Well, it was, but who cared. There were worse ways to fail the doctor’s mental stability test.
Danielle moved to block Roxy’s view of Rafe and cleared her throat. “Can we get back to it?”
“Sure.” Roxy could feel the red crawling up her neck—from her eyes creeping over Rafe’s body.
A glimmer of a smile ghosted along his lips.
It was bad if he couldn’t find joy in her embarrassing herself.
“Who is this?” Danielle pointed to her dad.
“My dad.”
Danielle gestured to her mom. “And this?”
“Your wife.”
“And this gentleman behind me?”
“Rafe.” Her eyes met his and no matter how hard she tried not to get sucked back in, she did.
He was here. In the hospital. Their relationship hadn’t been defined, but there was no way it was close to hospital-visit territory. Maybe a nice fruit basket, but actually standing there like he owned the place? No. That wasn’t the stance of someone who’d showed up five minutes ago to drop off a card.
“Well, Rafe. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Danielle, Roxy’s stepmom.” She took her wife’s hand.
“I’m Roxy’s mother, Olivia.”
“Pleasure to meet you both.” Rafe dipped his chin in acknowledgement, but then his eyes were back on Roxy.
“I think we should give them a few moments to catch up.” Danielle typed out some information on the computer as a nurse walked in with a syringe. “He’ll give you a little something for pain.”
The nurse took the syringe and pushed it into her IV. He updated her chart before he disappeared.
Her dad kissed her forehead. “We’re going to get some coffee. Stormy is so worried about you. She’s in the chapel burning incense.”
Stormy was worried? Roxy was worried about Stormy playing with matches.
Her mom wrapped her in an awkward hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” She pulled away and disappeared with Danielle out the door.
The room was quiet. Only her and Rafe. He kicked his leg out and walked to the bed. So slow and casual. It didn’t match the intensity in his eyes. He put his arm over her head on the headboard and bent down.
“Roxy,” he whispered as his head dropped down inches from hers. “I thought I lost you.” Just saying the words seemed to cause him pain. He closed his eyes and touched his forehead to hers. His breathing a ragged in and out.
Part of her wanted to be happy he cared. Another part hated seeing him broken.
“I’m not lost.” Her voice hitched in her throat, the grief nearly choking her.
His lids opened, and her pain was mirrored back in his tired eyes. “I saw the windows blown out and the bullet holes— then all the blood and— your eyes closed…” His breathing deepened as he shook his head against hers.
“It’s okay. I’m okay.” She raised her hand to the scruff on his face. He must not have been to work in a while. She couldn’t imagine him showing up to lead his team like this. “We’re okay.”
He nestled his face into her palm and sighed. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“I shouldn’t have gone to work. I should have gotten to you faster. If anything would’ve happened to you…” He lifted her hand from his cheek to his lips. Warm breath slid along the palm. Soft lips hovered along her skin.
“Nothing happened.”
“It did. You were shot.” His eyes were haunted.
“You got me medical attention, and I’m going to be okay.”
He took a deep breath and pulled away, sliding his fingers through hers. “I’m glad you’re all right, Roxanna.”
She was too. Then she remembered him and MacAuley at the house. “Were you hurt?”
“No, by the time we got there, Mandy and Gretchen were incapacitated.”
“Winston!” Fur had whizzed by her when the shooting started. She’d throw up if anything happened to Winston because of her. “Did they hurt the cat?”
“Winston hid upstairs. No injuries.”
“Thank God.” Her fingers were still wound with hers. She liked it. A lot. He’d found her. “And thank God you came home when you did. Why did you bring MacAuley with you?”
“Your phone.” He pointed to the rolling table next to the bed. There was a bouquet of flowers on it, and also her cell phone, plugged into an outlet.
“My phone?”
“You called me when I was on my way. When I realized what was going on, I called him, and we came to you.”
“I forgot I called you.” Her lips felt funny and her eyelids starting drooping.
“There was a lot going on.”
A burst of energy hit her as she remembered the mother-daughter duo. “Those two were crazy. Gretchen killed Donnie because she was his daughter. Mandy cheated on her husband when they were dating or something like that. But he was an ass.” The drugs the nurse gave her were kicking in, and her eyes were getting heavy. “Oh. And Mandy planted the gun at the agency. And the bear saved me. And the owl winked at me.”
Rafe smiled. “The owl winked at you?”
It made her happy. Inside, at least. She wasn’t quite sure what her face was doing. It was too tired. “Hmmm?”
Were they talking about something?
“Go to sleep, sweetheart.” He rested his lips on her forehead. He lingered there. So soft. So warm.
She wanted to open her eyes and wrap her arms around him. She wanted to tell him how happy he made her. How her whole body lit up from his touch. But her eyes wouldn’t open. Her mouth wouldn’t say words.
She slipped away thinking about those lips.
Best dreams ever.