up ahead. “We should split up. I think…” She licked her lips. “Cedric, please help me. We have to find Joel. I need him to be okay.”
“We are going to find him. He will be okay. You hear me, Chloe? We have this.” He lifted his weapon. “Let’s go. That’s a lot of fucking doors.” And he kicked in the first one.
Chloe’s gaze darted down the corridor.
***
“No one even knows to look for you.” The scalpel pressed to Joel’s neck. “But you have this look in your eyes, like you think the cavalry is going to break down the door at any moment.” His head cocked. “Is that what it was like for you before? Did you keep thinking someone was going to save you? That if you just held out long enough, help would come?”
Dane had slapped the tape down again. Joel couldn’t respond, so why did the fucker even ask the question?
Help will come. Chloe would come. He knew it. She wouldn’t give up on him. She’d figure this out. When she couldn’t find him in the ER, she’d start searching the hospital. She’d know something was wrong.
“Rescue is not going to happen.” The scalpel cut into him. Joel felt the wet warmth of his own blood as Dane said, “But at least it will be quick and—”
“It wasn’t quick for Portia.”
Chloe’s voice. Sweet God in heaven, Chloe’s voice. Not as cool as it normally sounded. Shaking a little. Frayed at the edges. Breathless.
Joel’s head turned and the scalpel nicked him even more. Chloe stood in the doorway.
“What are you doing here?” Dane demanded.
“I came for my partner. I need him, and I don’t intend to let you take him away from me.”
Run, Chloe! Joel tried to yell that order at her because she was standing there, no weapon on her. He knew that she sometimes kept a gun in her bag, but she hadn’t brought her bag into the hospital. Weapons weren’t allowed in hospitals.
Just scalpels. The place was freaking full of those.
And…actually…when his gaze dipped down to Chloe’s right hand, he saw that her fingers were curled over something. He caught the fast gleam of—
She got herself a scalpel. Hell, yes, she had.
Chloe took a few quick steps forward.
“Stop!” Dane blasted.
“Why? You haven’t stopped. You’re making him bleed, and I can’t have that.”
Dane was on one side of Joel. Chloe came to the other. She casually moved her right hand so it placed along one of the straps that covered Joel’s arm. He was pretty sure she began to cut into the strap.
I fucking love you.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” Dane managed. He seemed confused. Shaken.
He was about to be shaken a whole lot more. As soon as I’m free…
“You’re not supposed to be here!” Dane repeated. Only this time, he was yelling.
“And Portia Strong wasn’t supposed to die, was she?” Chloe’s face remained expressionless as she stared straight at Dane…
And she kept sawing at the strap.
“No, no, she wasn’t supposed to die.” He lifted his scalpel away from Joel’s throat. Pointed it at Chloe like it was a knife. “Did you figure it out? Did you realize what they did to her?”
“Gregory Guidry, Ray Malone, and Donnie Adams. They had to pay.” She nodded. And shifted a little to the left, moving down Joel’s body.
He felt tension on the strap over his thigh. She was cutting it now.
Dane hadn’t even noticed what she was doing. He was too busy nodding. “They had to pay!” he echoed. “It was their fault. Do you know what they did to her? Chloe, they paralyzed her! She was running away from them. Those three bastards were taunting her. Chasing her. They did that to her. And they got away with it. For years and years. Everyone forgot about her. Everyone, but me.”
“Then Donnie walked into your path. He brought the past back, didn’t he?” She’d moved to another strap. Dane’s avid focus was on her face. He didn’t even notice the careful motion of her hands. She was cutting on the side of the exam table—so careful. So sneaky.
“I was working at the Serpent. Got freaking med school bills to pay, so I had to take those side jobs. Guy like Donnie…how the fuck did he ever get into a game? But one night, he was there. Still wearing that stupid ring. Still acting like he was the big man on campus! I’d been watching you. Watching King. You two did what you wanted. You followed your own