We All Sleep Alone (Finley Creek #11) - Calle J. Brookes Page 0,72
of disconcerting her. Messing with her head. Because he was a jerk that way. And thought he was God’s gift to doofy overly sex-crazed female nurses everywhere.
He did have a reputation, after all.
“Bad news?” he asked quietly.
She nodded, biting back a sob that wanted to escape. “Jake…someone shot him and Elliot an hour ago.”
He tensed. “They both ok?”
“Yes. Flesh wounds, Nikkie Jean said. She is at the hospital, taking your shift.”
She wanted to talk to her uncle for herself.
Izzie couldn’t. She had to keep going, with the man next to her.
Izzie firmed her chin and looked at him. She wiped her eyes and pulled in a breath. She couldn’t fall apart right now. That wouldn’t help either of them. “This is real. It’s not going away for a while. I…thank you for what you did, but—”
He stepped closer, easy to do in the van. He’d opened the pop-up top to give himself some head room and to take advantage of the breeze. She could still hear the interstate traffic nearby. How invisible and anonymous they were sank in.
No one in the world knew exactly where they were right now.
If the men who had attacked her found them, she and Allen could disappear off the face of the earth altogether.
That terrified her. She would be the first to admit it. Talk about having only one port in the storm. This man was hers. Whether she liked it or not.
He kept moving closer, taking up too much space.
How big he was struck her again. For a crazy moment, she half thought he could keep the entire world at bay if he wanted.
“I’m not going anywhere. Get that in your head. I spoke with Rafe. My position with the hospital is secure as long as I need it to be. That was never any question. Even if it isn’t, Caine has offered me the assistant COM position at Barratt County. Whenever I want it. He’s not the first hospital or medical group to make me offers. I’ve been headhunted since I was still in med school, competing with Rafe. I’m not the least concerned.”
“You have a life in Finley Creek. Friends. Family.” Lovers. He had to have at least one lover somewhere. A man like him would have multiple lovers somewhere. She knew for a fact that he’d dated at least six women from the hospital and had been sniffing around Rafe’s new wife, Jillian, long before Jess had gotten her hooks into him.
The way the rumor mill went on, he’d made it through half the nurses on first shift by that point. That had to be an exaggeration, but where there was smoke, there was usually fire.
He’d probably made it through a quarter of the doofier first-shift nurses. Jerk. “I—”
“Shut up, Izadora.” His hands wrapped around her waist, and he pulled her closer. Close enough that he could loom over her and show her that he was bigger and in charge. He was almost gentle about it. His hands scorched her, though. “Be quiet and listen.”
Izzie wanted to fight, to squirm her way free, but she knew that was exactly what he expected. In the last day and a half, she’d learned a lot about her companion, even though she’d slept most of that time away.
She forced herself to stay still and looked up into his eyes. “What? Just spill it, Jacobson.”
“I’m not leaving you to deal with this alone. Get that out of your head. I’m not going anywhere, and I’m not leaving you behind. No matter what.”
His words had come more fiercely than she expected. Like he meant it. Like he had no intention of abandoning her to face anything alone.
Well. That was a first. The only man who had ever stuck by her had been Jake. “Why? You…aren’t exactly fond of me. We both know that.”
“That is so far from the truth.” He’d leaned down and whispered it near her ear. Oh boy. Maybe she needed to do some evaluating here. “Not in the entire time I’ve known you.”
“Bull-oney. You didn’t even remember my name until two months ago. It took a tornado for you to remember what my name is, and we both know that. I’ve worked at FCGH for four years. Never once did you call me Izzie. Until after the storm.”
“I knew your name well over two months ago.”
“Liar. Try again, Jacobson. Not that it matters to me.” She almost said something about Logan Lanning, but she stopped. Not with how close he had been to