Open Wounds (19 page)

Chapter 29

Amelia moved covertly through the maze of broken glass, half rotten walls and the most God-awful stench. It reminded her of home. She would always associate places like this to the tenement Kellie had lived in, and the small caravan she had occupied with her grandparents.

She didn’t believe in forgetting where she came from. Her past made her into the woman she was today, and Amelia liked that woman. She was strong, independent, smart, tough, and even though she didn’t want to admit it, soft in places. It wasn’t as bad as she’d originally believed. She was still a woman. But she was also a cop, and sometimes the two didn’t go together and she had to make sure that only one side of her showed at a time.

Amelia rounded the corner. A series of running footsteps thudded up ahead. She didn’t follow them, but instead surveyed her location. It would be dangerous to chase him when he could easily turn around and wait for her, leading her into slaughter. Amelia didn’t plan on going out that way, or that easily.

She took the next right and then another, making her way through the building, rapidly picking up speed. If she had calculated correctly, she would locate him soon. A shadow appeared in her peripheral vision and she nodded to Matthews as he joined her. Together they listened to the loudly approaching footsteps.

Dean made a series of hand signals and she nodded in agreement. He moved silently away, down a small hallway and out of sight.

Amelia held her position. She didn’t have to wait long.

Harsh breathing told her that her mark was almost upon her and she readied herself for the confrontation. A second later a savage curse filled the room as the man skidded to a stop. Dean slipped around behind him and blocked his exit.

Cornered, the man did the only thing he could do. He raised his weapon. He never got a chance to squeeze the trigger.

***

Kellie paced back and forth in front of Darryl, every so often sparing him a glance. He was pale and his forehead held a light sheen of perspiration. The towel the admissions nurse had given them in effort to slow the bleeding had soaked through, and she was beginning to worry.

Where in hell was the doctor?

One would think a member of the police force would be the first patient seen, but forty-five minutes had gone by, and they were still waiting.

“Kellie, calm down. I’m fine.”

She glared at him. “You are not fine, Darryl, you’re bleeding.”

“I’ve noticed,” he said, which only made her narrow her eyes.

She was spiralling out of control. Every time she let her mind wander, she thought of how she’d almost lost him. One wrong move and the world would be a darker place without him in it. The thought became unbearable as she tried to hold back the tears that threatened to escape.

“This is not a joke,” she said with sudden calm, her voice eerily soft.

Darryl’s smile abruptly faded. “Believe me, I’m well aware of that.”

She nodded jerkily and resumed her pacing. A minute later the door behind her opened and she spun around.

“About time,” she muttered.

Kellie’s mouth dropped open in shock as she stared at one of the most gorgeous women she’d ever seen. Eyes the colour of the ocean on a clear day framed by naturally dark lashes against flawless porcelain skin. The woman’s raven hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail, her body unflatteringly hidden beneath a loose uniform.

“Rose,” Darryl said amicably. “Glad you could make it.”

The nurse
—
Rose
—
smiled, showing off straight white teeth. Her dentist bills must have been huge as a child. “Someone is in a good mood,” she said.

“I’m offsetting her bad one,” Darryl explained, indicating Kellie.

She glowered at him. How dare he?

When he got better, she’d kick his arse. Then kiss him better like he’d asked of her earlier.

Rose moved gracefully across the room, and Kellie had a sense that she knew this woman. But how could that be? She knew for a fact she’d never met the nurse. Darryl seemed to know her.

A little too well
, Kellie thought sullenly.

Someone would be answering questions when he got out of here.

Rose sat down on a small wheeled stool, and rolled closer to the examination bed where Darryl sat. She took his hand in her own small, delicate one.

Kellie took a few steps closer, her teeth cutting into her lip with worry and watched as Rose removed the now red towel and probed at the injury.

“This is deep. How’d you get it?” she asked, and Kellie realised Rose had become a nurse rather than a friend in that short moment she had examined the wound and discovered it to be more than a mild cut.

Darryl shrugged. “Fell into a mirror.”

Rose raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment. “You’ll need stitches,” she told him as she moved his hand to hover over a stainless steel bowl resting on the table next to the bed. She retrieved a slender opaque container with a nozzle on the top that Kellie assumed to be antiseptic liquid and washed out his wound, clearing it of smaller shards of glass to keep it from getting infected. “When was your last tetanus shot?”

Darryl winced and Kellie was immediately by his side, caressing his back to comfort him. He smiled gratefully at her.

“A couple years ago, I think.”

Rose nodded. “I’ll give you another just in case.”

Kellie shuddered. She hated needles.

A short time later, he’d had his shot and Rose finished up with the last of his stitches. Kellie had alternated from comforting Darryl, to pacing, to looking over Rose’s shoulder as she worked. If the nurse had minded, she’d been polite enough not to comment.

Kellie occupied her mind during the entire process, switching between concern for Darryl, grateful that his injury wasn’t more serious and scouring her memory for when she might’ve met Rose previously. Although the woman made no sign that she recognised Kellie, the sense of familiarity stayed with Kellie.

Frustrated, she began pacing again. Rose shared a look with Darryl and her blood boiled from jealousy. She’d never once been jealous in her entire life and Kellie hated the feeling, but she knew she was seeing the little green monster when she imagined Rose and Darryl together.

She stopped suddenly and glared at them, hating to be out on the inside joke. “What?” she demanded, and both Darryl and Rose’s heads swung in her direction.

“How long have you two been dating?” Rose asked conversationally.

Kellie fiddled with a loose fabric on her shirt. “We’re not.”

He stiffened. She winced internally. She'd hurt him with that denial.

Rose glanced at each of them in turn, and her mouth formed a perfect O. “Forgive me, I just assumed…”

Kellie stared at her back intently. The nurse caught her gaze over the curve of her elegant shoulder and cocked her head enquiringly at Kellie.

Her eyebrows drew together in puzzlement.

Rose smiled and turned her attention back to Darryl’s hand.

“If you’re wondering why I seem so familiar it’s probably because I look like my little brother,” Rose told her. “He works at the LAC.”

Realisation dawned on Kellie and she smiled. “Nick,” she said, and Rose nodded.  She could see it so clearly now. How had she not noticed it before? Rose had the same midnight black hair, only hers was much longer and pulled into a high ponytail. Her eyes were also the same cornflower blue as Nick’s. But that was where the similarities ended. Where her brother was six foot, Rose was closer to her height.

“Yep, Detective Nicholas Doyle, my Nicky. Do you know him?” Rose tied off the last stitch.

“Kellie trains with Nick,” Darryl said.

Rose gave her a considering look. “Does he ride you hard too? You’d think being his sister he would cut me some slack, but no.”

Kellie laughed and she relaxed, the tension draining out of her with one of the questions currently bouncing around her head answered. She peered over Rose’s head and her gaze settled on Darryl. As always, when their eyes met, her stomach fluttered and desire heated her blood. Her body tingled with awareness. She couldn't seem to be able to control herself where he was concerned.

“Yes, Nick’s a slave driver but I’ve come to respect him for it. He only wants the best from us.”

Rose nodded and wrapped a clean bandage around Darryl’s palm. “Yes, he does,” Rose agreed before changing the subject back to the more serious. “Now, change the dressing daily. Don’t let it get wet and if you start to feel your temperature rise call me immediately.”

“I will. Thank you, Rosie.”

Rose hugged Darryl, then squeezed Kellie’s arm on her way out.

“He’ll be all right,” she said soothingly, but in a tone that made Kellie think that if Rose decreed it, then it must be so. “It was nice meeting you.”

“You too.”

A moment later she and Darryl were alone, and she moved to stand beside him. He shot her look.

“What?”

“I was getting worried there for a moment. You were starting to look very dangerous, Kellie. I thought you were going to slug Rose.”

She snorted derisively. “Hardly.”

“You can’t tell me you weren’t jealous.”

“Like you were yesterday when you growled at Nick?” she countered. She wasn’t proud to admit that she’d gotten a little thrill when he’d snarled at Nick. She remembered his easy exchanges with the nurse. “Do I have a reason to be jealous?”

“No. I’ve never had carnal thoughts about Rose.”

She placed her hands on her hips, not believing him. “How is that possible? The woman is gorgeous.”

Darryl shrugged. “She’s like a little sister to me. Besides, Nick wouldn’t take kindly to one of us fooling around with his sister. Not unless marriage was our intention.”

“Ah, yes, because then it would be all right,” she said mockingly.

“We men are simple creatures.”

Kellie didn’t doubt that. They could be extremely single minded when the occasion called for it. She shivered at the sensual reminder of how intently Darryl could focus on a task. She led him out of the ER and towards the parking lot. His keys jingled in her hand as she walked.

“Come on. I’ll take you home and keep an eye on you.”

“No,” he said, coming to a stop. “It’ll be better to keep some distance between us.”

Kellie turned around to face him. He looked like a man with his mind made up. Clearly she hadn’t been the only one thinking. Sharp pain pierced her heart but she forced her face to be impassive, as if his words weren’t crushing her. She had given him the power to shatter her after all, she thought harshly.

“We’re good together, Kellie, but that doesn’t change the fact that getting involved right now isn’t the best idea. I could see how much it frightened you in there and how worried you are about me. It could be dangerous in the wrong situation and I think we both need to take a step back, at least until the case is over.”

She had to admit that he was right. She cared for Darryl far too much and it surprised her. She wanted him with every fibre of her being. The night they were together only seemed to whet her appetite for him and every day they spent in each other’s company had her falling for him even more. The intensity of her feelings scared her more than looking down the barrel of Wayne’s gun. He was kind, considerate, and just plain wonderful. She wondered what the hell he saw in her. She was temperamental, bitchy, and her sharp tongue had the ability to cut a person to shreds if she so chose.

What the hell would she do? They had moved too quickly, jumping into bed without thinking of the consequences, and now they were being brought into the harsh light of day. Not too long ago, she’d had everything worked out and now she was utterly lost.

She wanted Darryl’s strong arms wrapped around her comfortingly. How had she become so dependent on him in such a short amount of time? She hated that he had so much control over her and that she had very little. She needed to step back and maybe get some well needed clarity.

Darryl swore and stepped closer. He pulled her into his arms and she realised she must’ve let her true feelings show on her face. Damn her for allowing that mask to slip. She stiffened her spine and broke the embrace. She had to be practical. Maybe the time apart would be good for them. Make her realise he wasn’t as awesome as she believed him to be.

Could they be happy? She wasn’t so sure. She was too damaged to be able to sustain a healthy relationship. Darryl may understand the demons she fought but she’ll never be able to share them with him. And they were a very big part of her life. Surely she was just kidding herself. Maybe it was better to make a clean break now before either one of them got in too far over their head. Before he had the ability to break her heart so completely that there would be nothing left but the pieces.

Her mind made up, she smiled sweetly and brushed a light kiss over his lips. A goodbye kiss. Desire sizzled. Passion ignited and she forced herself back even though she wanted to deepen the kiss
—
to stroke his tongue with hers.