blood flow.”
She chuckled. “Maybe. But you would have looked fiercely sexy as you strutted out of here. Given He Who Shall Not Be Named the what-for as you left.”
My soul shivered at the idea of even his eyes on me. Especially when I couldn’t see him. Never again. I tried for a chuckle since she was trying for a joke. “Oh yeah, bedraggled and crazy hair are such man bait, it’s crazy.”
She lifted her head from her bag search. A bright smile on her face. “Exactly.” She tossed the clothes down on the bed along with a small packet of face wipes.
“Goddess bless you, Tali,” I leaned up and pecked her cheek.
She giggled. “You and your goddess. Need help getting out of that gown?”
I eased my feet to the floor, waited for the room to stop spinning and the bone-deep ache to subside. I pressed my toes into the cold floor and got reacquainted with my body in its present state.
My legs were on fire as my belly tried to decide if it liked its present position. My head finally stopped spinning and the cold hot flashes subsided as I breathed in through my nose and out through my mouth. “No.” I shook my head. “I think I should be good.” Something else in my body made itself known. “I need to pee though.”
Trembling legs and unsteady feet made for an interesting trip to the bathroom. Once I was finished and had washed my hands, I studied myself in the mirror. Smiled. Not the best look of my life. I laughed. Certainly not the worst either. Once I got this makeup off, I’d feel better about a lot of things.
A loud noise came from outside the door.
“Yes, she doesn’t belong in here. Remove her.”
No. No. No. No. This couldn’t be happening. I couldn’t feel my fingers as terror seized my brain. He was here. He was inside my room. Where the hell was Dom?
“You can’t make me leave! I’m her sister. He doesn’t get a say in her treatment,” Tali yelled, her voice sharp as a blade. “Touch me one more time and I’ll have your job, stupido bastardo del cazzo.”
“Doc?” an unknown male said.
“She’s interfering with my treatment, they aren’t related. Get her out of here,” the man from my living nightmares said, his voice low and furious.
Someone tapped softly on my door three times. Tap, tap...tap
Tali.
I eased the door open and watched as two security officers physically removed Tali from the room. In the fuss they were making, I snuck out while the main door was still open.
The pounding in my head worsened as my vision narrowed to a long, blurry tunnel. I had to get out of here. I looked around. Except for the fracas that Tali had created, everything else seemed normal.
Nurses were busy reading charts or at computers. Other patients were in their beds.
Where was Dom? He’d promised.
A noise in the room behind me had me turning too fast. A door had slammed. The bathroom I’d vanished from. Feeling in my entire lower body disappeared for a second as my poor abused head tried to figure out what the hell I was doing to it. With nowhere else to go and no idea for escape, I slipped into the next room before he could find me. Skittered back behind the curtain of the second bed.
“We’ve got a missing patient, Patty. Sound the alarm,” he said. “She can’t have gone far. Her condition is too bad for her to have run or dodged us.”
Nurse Patty must not have moved fast enough for him.
“NOW!” he screamed as it sounded like he slapped the counter of the nurse’s station.
Shoes squeaked over the floor as nurses rushed to do the illustrious doctor’s bidding. They had no idea what he was capable of. I hoped none of them got in trouble when they couldn’t find me.
I looked around the sectioned off portion of the room I was squatting in. The man there was sleeping peacefully. A woman about his age was sleeping on the couch against the wall. A bag of clothes was at the base of the man’s bed.
I grabbed the bag and looked through it. Winced at the idea of stealing. I couldn’t leave. Not dressed like a patient. I sent up a prayer for forgiveness as I slid the pants on. Thankfully, the guy had some old school sweats that bunched at the ankles and had a drawstring. I pulled the shirt on and dropped the gown.
I