A Lot like Love (FBI/US Attorney #2)(59)
She reached for him. “Whoever it is can wait. I’m busy right now.”
“Actually, it can’t wait. It’s . . . probably someone calling to tell you that your brother was just stabbed in prison.”
Jordan’s heart stopped. She pulled her hand back. “Why would someone be calling to tell me that?”
Nick checked his watch. “Because about ten minutes ago, your brother was stabbed in prison.” He held up his hand when he saw the look on her face. “He’s fine. I promise. But you should take this call. If it’s your father, I don’t want him to panic. I can only imagine what they’re saying on the news.”
“The news?” She pushed him away from her. “What the hell did you do to my brother?” She quickly adjusted her bra and pulled at her shirt, holding it closed with one hand as she headed for the back room to answer her ringing cell phone.
Nick caught up with her in the hallway. “I know you’re freaked out. But right now you need to trust me. If it’s your father on the phone, tell him that you spoke to an ER intake nurse at Northwestern Memorial who said that Kyle is okay.”
She swallowed. “Kyle’s in the emergency room?”
Green eyes held hers steadily. “Just tell your dad that he’s okay.”
Another leap of faith.
She pulled her wrist out of Nick’s grasp, hurried to the back room, and yanked her cell phone out of her purse. She glanced down and saw her shirt gaping open, bra exposed.
Lovely.
She answered her phone. “Dad.”
“Jordan—have you seen the news?”
No, sorry. Been busy making out with my fake boyfriend against a brick wall. “About Kyle, I know. I was just about to call you.”
Her father exhaled, as if relieved he didn’t need to break the news to her. “All I know is what they’re saying on TV—that he was stabbed during some kind of fight. They took him out of MCC in an ambulance and brought him to Northwestern Memorial. I’ve been trying to get ahold of somebody who knows something. Anybody.”
Jordan held Nick’s eyes while answering her father. “I just got off the phone with an intake nurse in the emergency room. She told me that Kyle is going to be okay.”
“Oh, thank God. Then why did they take him out of MCC?” he demanded to know.
A little improvisation was required here. “The nurse said she couldn’t give me any details over the phone.” She propped the phone against her shoulder, freeing her hands so she could button up her shirt. “I’m getting in the car now, Dad. I’ll meet you at the hospital. But everything’s going to be okay.”
“I believe it when you say it, kiddo. I . . . think you would know if something was wrong with Kyle. You two always know.” He cleared his throat. “I’m on my way to the hospital, too. I was having dinner at a friend’s in Evanston, but I’ll be there as fast as I can.”
After Jordan hung up the phone, she stared at it for a moment. “I just lied to my father. That was the one line I hadn’t crossed in all of this.”
Nick came up behind her and rested his hands on her shoulders. “You weren’t lying when you told him your brother is okay. He is okay.”
She shrugged away from him. “Tell me what’s going on. Why is Kyle in the emergency room?”
“The story being run in the media—which they believe to be true—is that Kyle was stabbed by another inmate during a fight that broke out at lockdown,” Nick said.
Jordan fought back the panic that rose in her throat. “And the truth?”
“The truth is that your brother was barely nicked by an undercover agent in a carefully orchestrated operation that now provides us with a plausible excuse to remove him from MCC.”
Her head was swimming. “Wait—is Kyle in on this?”
“Of course not,” Nick said matter-of-factly. “That hasn’t changed—no one can know about our arrangement until the Eckhart investigation is over.”
Our arrangement. Right. “You should’ve told me.”
Nick held up his hands. “I know—I f**ked up. Big time. I saw you with the douchebag and then you and I started arguing, and . . . then we were doing a lot more than that. I just forgot about everything else. I’m sorry.”
Jordan exhaled, not able to process the “everything else” part right then. Making sure her brother was okay was priority number one. “I need to get to the hospital.”
Nick held her eyes. “Can I come with you?”
She shook her head. “My dad will be there. He’ll want to know who you are, and I’m not ready to have that conversation.” Frankly, she didn’t know what was happening between her and Nick. She certainly couldn’t explain it to her father.
In response to her answer, Nick’s expression turned more businesslike. He nodded. “Of course. You should be with your family.”
He left after that, and Jordan stayed in the back room until she heard the chime ring against the door. She took a moment to collect herself, then grabbed her coat and headed to the hospital.
Twenty-two
XANDER SURVEYED THE dark, seedy interior of the bar, thinking he definitely wasn’t going to find a decent glass of wine in this place.
Why Mercks had suggested they meet at this shithole was beyond him. Then again, everything about the text message he’d received earlier that day from Mercks had been odd.