Reaper's Fall (Reapers MC, #5)(88)

“No, the warming station called an ambulance,” she said. “He started seizing on the floor, sounds like DT’s to me.”

I raised a brow. “Seriously? He’s trying to sober up?”

“Who knows with Todger? Anyway, you better get in there and check on him. We put him in a room, but Dr. Ives is busy with a real case and Dr. Baker is grabbing some food while she can. Said Todger would still be there when she gets back.”

Fair enough—Todger was a frequent flier at the ER, but what he really needed was long-term treatment. When I’d first started, I’d pestered the hospital social workers until they found him something, feeling all proud of myself. They’d warned me that it wouldn’t stick, and it hadn’t. He’d lasted less than a week before he walked away from the program, saying he didn’t like the psychiatric drugs or the people telling him what to do.

Based on his smell, I figured he didn’t like being forced to bathe, either.

“I’ll check on him,” I said, sighing. Taking a quick sip of my coffee, I left the nurses’ station and headed toward his room.

“I owe you one!” Sherri laughed, and it took everything I had not to flip her off. Knowing my luck, some administrator would see me and I’d get reported.

I smelled him before I saw him. For a small-town hospital, we got more than our fair share of homeless, so I’d gotten used to patients who reeked of feces and stale alcohol. Frankly, it was better than the smell of blood and rot, which scared the hell out of me. At least you can wash off shit and Todger wasn’t likely to die on me. I stepped into the room and reached for the curtain.

“Todger, I hear you’re back—”

He hit me from behind.

It took a split second to orient myself and then I was fighting. Unfortunately, that was just enough time for him to get his hands around my throat. Oh my God, is this really happening? Sweet, stinky Todger was attacking me, choking the life out of me and I couldn’t even scream for help. He slammed my head against the floor, sending bright bursts of pain exploding through my skull.

I kicked out, desperate to throw him off. My feet caught the computer cart, sending it crashing across the slick tiles. It slammed into something and then metal crashed to the floor, clattering loudly.

“I’ll kill you, bitch,” he hissed in my ear, slamming my head to the floor yet again. “I’m onto you. You’ve been feeding them information about me too long, but now you’ll pay. You’ll die!”

The last words rose in pitch, and then he started a long, high keening as his fingers tightened around my neck. Loud shouts penetrated the fog in my head, and then there was a flood of people in the room. Orderlies were pulling at him, prying his fingers off my throat as they dragged him away. Somehow I found the strength to scramble backward, huddling against the wall as I watched Sherri in action, an avenging angel with a hypodermic needle. She darted in, injecting him fast and hard.

Todger continued to fight, but I knew the meds would kick in fast. The reality around me seemed distant and hard to follow—shock. Then Sherri was next to me, coolly assessing as I caught snatches of conversation in the distance.

“Check on her.”

“Restraints . . . never saw this coming.”

“He’s been getting worse for months . . . call psych . . .”

“Melanie?”

I focused in on Sherri’s face, blinking.

“You’re in shock, babe. Stick with me, okay?”

“I’m fine,” I managed to whisper, trying to focus. My head hurt . . . a lot. But nothing else. No broken bones, nothing like that. “I’ll be just fine. No worries.”

Sherri gave a short laugh.

“Always the hero, aren’t you?” she said, although I caught a hint of fear in her voice. “On the bright side, maybe we’ll finally get an inpatient bed for Todger. At least for a while.”

“He’ll be right back out,” I managed to whisper, offering her a weak smile. “Probably won’t even remember what happened.”

That made her laugh.

“Sad but true,” she said. “Just watch, they’ll turf his ass five minutes after the hold ends.”

“All in a day’s work,” I said ruefully, shaking my head. Big mistake. Rolling over, I puked all over the floor.

Wasn’t that just great—he gave me a concussion.

Pisser. The next couple days were gonna suck.


PAINTER

I leaned over the pool table, lining up my shot. The game had started as an excuse to wrap myself around the cute little redhead who’d been flirting with me across the bar for the last half hour, but she’d turned out to be a surprisingly good player. Suddenly I’d found myself with a real challenge. Turned me on, had to admit.

About f*ckin’ time, too. Most of the women I met these days were boring. I liked getting my dick sucked, no question, but I still tended to close my eyes and picture Melanie in their place. My cock never seemed to get the message that she wasn’t interested in us anymore, no matter how many times my brain explained this reality.

Fuckin’ ridiculous. All of it.

Pulling back the cue, I took my shot. The ball hit with a satisfying crack, sending the green solid toward the back corner pocket. Red pouted prettily, then sashayed over to give me a kiss. I’d just covered her mouth with mine, reaching around to grab her ass, when the phone in my back pocket buzzed.