was ready to plow through her sister, her doctors, and her nurses on her way out of the hospital. She needed out of here, now.
When her boss, Dr. Shelby, arrived, she was ready and willing to beg him to use any of his influence that he could to break her out. Unfortunately, the frown on his handsome face when he came in didn’t bode well for him doing her any favors.
“I thought I warned you about making yourself sick.” He scowled.
“I’m sorry, Dr. Shelby. I know this is a huge inconvenience for the department to have me out of the office. But here’s the thing, I think I would heal much better at home where I could sleep for more than forty-five minutes at a time. Do you think you could talk to my doctor?”
He chuckled low, but it wasn’t a happy chuckle. “You know that whole argument might have more weight if I actually thought you’d take care of yourself at home. Unfortunately, you’ve already proven to me that isn’t the case. You can’t be trusted to take care of yourself. This,” he spread his arms out over her hospital room, “is what happens when people don’t take care of themselves. Consider it a lesson learned while you get better.”
Damn, she’d been so sure that she could get him to help her with promise of having her back in the PT department sooner.
“Don’t pout, either. That will just give you wrinkles.” He laughed, but she didn’t find it that funny.
Dr. Shelby sat down in the chair beside the bed where Chris had been the day before. He hadn’t come in today yet. She missed him even though she’d been the one to chase him off.
“You were lucky this time. You realize you could have died, right?”
“I know. You’re right. I promise, I’ll take better care of myself from now on. Are things going okay in the department?”
He nodded. “Yes, Derek has been working overtime to help cover your patients.”
Julie winced. She was going to owe Derek big-time after this.
“But where things are really hurting is your self-defense classes. Right now, especially, we need those classes going strong.”
“Have there been any more attacks?” A shiver of dread snaked down her spine at the thought.
“No, and with the way that this guy has timed them, they expect one any day now.”
Chapter 21
Number eight.
Damn her. He’d warned Julie about what would happen if she didn’t take better care of herself, but did she listen? No, and she’d ended up in the fucking hospital because of it. This was unacceptable. She needed to listen to him.
He looked down into the frightened eyes of the naked girl spread out below him. He needed to refocus on her right now. “Shh, it will be over soon and then your pain will be gone.” He stood back for a moment and examined her. The hair was wrong with this one. It was too long. His special ones had short, dark hair. He’d lost his concentration and focus with the worry over Julie’s health. She couldn’t be allowed to distract him like this. Now he had a girl who wasn’t right. But it was too late to get someone else here. This had to happen today. Damn!
“Wrong, wrong, wrong,” he muttered to himself as he took his knife, lifted her head, and hacked off her long dark locks. He ignored her terrified whimper and stepped back to examine his handiwork. Now her hair fell just slightly below her ears. “Aw yes, that’s much better.”
Every girl before this one, he’d rendered unconscious before this point, but his frustration level today was at a boiling point. He needed an outlet for it so that he didn’t lose his temper and blow his cover somewhere else. Fighting with the struggling girl did it for him.
She was tied up, but she was still a fighter. That made her worthy of Jocelyn’s memory. He softly touched her closed hands with the hearts in the palms. He smiled down at her although she wouldn’t be able to see it with his face mask.
His dick was so hard he knew he wouldn’t last long. It had been too long since he’d had one of his special ones. Distracted. He’d let himself get distracted. He couldn’t let that happen again. He was doing this for Jocelyn. She deserved only perfection.
Only a few more before Julie. He sank into the tensing body below him and couldn’t help but release his moan. Only a few more…