had been there to take her. To most likely kill her.
They would have. Except for him.
She’d repaid him by being totally bitchy in return. Well, she knew why. He scared her. Maybe it was leftovers from what Lanning had done to her, or maybe it was him specifically. He scared her, which was stupid—on her part.
She wasn’t a coward. She wasn’t going to let herself be. “Thank you. By the way. For…saving my life. Again.”
“Anytime.” His fingers slipped. His hand cupped her cheek. “You have another abrasion on your cheek. I wish I had done a better job protecting you.”
“I saw it in the mirror, too. I don’t know what more you could have done. They were just…there.”
“Nikkie Jean was beside herself. She loves you very much.”
“She panicked, didn’t she?”
“A little. Rafe was able to calm her down. We’ll get through this.” He smiled again, a quiet, soft look that had her stomach clenching in a way she did not want to think about. “Then we’ll head back to Finley Creek. Go back to avoiding each other in the halls as much as we possibly can—for whatever reasons we did originally.”
She nodded. “That sounds like a plan.”
Yet would she be able to? Izzie didn’t have a clue.
He pulled away, dragging his blanket up to his broad shoulders. His overly large man-feet stuck out at the bottom. That struck her.
It was so dorky normal. Not how she’d describe him. But it had some of the nerves receding, at least. No matter what, he was only a man. She could deal.
“So where exactly are we going, boss?”
“I don’t know. I think it’s probably best if we keep moving. Less likely that whoever tried to take you is able to track us.”
“You think they’ll be able to?” She had to come to grips with the fact that someone had it out for her.
If running with Allen was her only way to escape that, then she’d better get herself in gear and just keep running. It could be so much worse. It could be a nasty old van they were in. Complete with bedbugs. This was the Hilton on wheels—bedbugs wouldn’t dare to climb in here.
This was the most comfortable bed she’d ever been in.
“First, they’d have to figure out that I’m the one who took you out of the hospital.”
“Could they? Who knew?”
“Rafe, Elliot, Donna from ortho, and Nikkie Jean. Nikkie Jean helped you change into the scrubs and sweatshirt. She had one of Caine’s son’s baseball caps in the car. As far as anyone at a distance saw, you were a teenage boy being pushed in a wheelchair by a surgeon. Rafe plans to tell anyone who asks that you were his teenage brother visiting from St. Louis who fell playing basketball. People have seen that kid—from a distance. It explains why he and Nikkie Jean were hovering over you. You’ll pass. We were careful.”
“Someone would have seen something, though. The hospital…people see everything. We both know that.”
“It’s not about keeping you from not being seen. It’s about buying time for Marshall and the rest to find out who’s responsible. Plus, we loaded you into my car in the back garage.”
“It’s not open yet.” The parking garage was one of the last places on the list that was being rebuilt after the tornado. It was still roped off.
“I know. Rafe moved my SUV into the first level. You climbed in of your own free will—though I think Nikkie Jean told you that you were going home with her.”
“I owe her one for that, then.” She vaguely remembered climbing right in.
“No kidding. Aiding and abetting an abduction is a serious crime. I’ll make certain the chief of the TSP is aware of it. If that doesn’t work, I’ll tell the mayor and then the governor.”
“Ha-ha.”
“They don’t know you are with me. No one knows I was even in the building.”
“Why?”
“I was long gone for the day; I came back to grab a file and talk to Cage and handle something in one of the surgical offices, but I had to track Cage down. I thought he was in our office and was headed that way when I saw you, dancing in the rain.”
“I wasn’t dancing—” Izzie cut herself off. She was not going to be lying in bed getting all chatty and comfortable with this man. No way. “So where are we, and where are we going in the morning?”
“We’re somewhere in central Texas. I’m not sure where we’re headed in the morning.