CHAPTER 1
Katie
When I was fourteen my mom accidentally ran over my foot with our family station wagon. The doctor told me I was lucky I’d been wearing shoes. Ten bones had been broken or crushed. My foot basically had to be held together by pins.
At the time the pain had been worse than anything I’d ever felt. But as I lay in the hospital bed, pain radiated from my shoulder and neck in excruciating waves and I realized that up until that moment I hadn’t known real pain.
More morphine, my mind cried.
I’d been rushed by ambulance to Mt Sinai Medical Center where they stitched several sections of my neck. Chloe had done a real number on me, including shooting me in the shoulder.
Apparently I was lucky the bullet went straight through. A millimeter to the right and the bullet would’ve torn out my joint. As it was the doctor said I might need surgery down the road for blood vessel damage or loss of motor function. Not good. But he also said he didn’t think there would be any permanent impairment.
It’d surprised me Chloe shot me in the shoulder instead of my head. She’d been adamant that I had to die. The police said her gun had gone off by accident, a reflex that occurred when she was shot.
I’d nodded my understanding, though nothing about the scenario made sense. I still couldn’t believe Chloe had tried to kill me in the first place. And worse still was that she hadn’t been acting alone. She’d been there to kill me on the authority of someone else. It was a man by the sound of the voice on the other end of Chloe’s phone call. And the man was still out there. Waiting. Watching. It freaked me the fuck out.
The one piece of good that’d come from Chloe trying to kill me was her confession. I knew she’d been the one to kill Reid, not Brian and most importantly, not Birdy. At my first opportunity I’d told the police as much. They were verifying my statement, but it looked like Birdy might not have to stand trial.
The whole, awful fucking situation would be rectified.
And Birdy would be free.
Cage had told me he was working with the police and filing the proper paperwork for Birdy’s release. It couldn’t come fast enough.
I’d been in the hospital two or three days. They had me on heavy medication to keep my pain at bay. It worked most of the time, but a side effect was that I couldn’t keep track of what happened around me.
I remembered the ambulance ride, the noise, and the flashing lights. Griffin had been there. He’d held my hand, brought it to his lush lips several times and whispered that he was sorry, so so sorry.
I kept trying to comfort him, telling him it was okay, that he hadn’t been the one to almost kill me, but I didn’t think any of the actual words came out of my mouth. At the hospital I saw him more than once, his concerned expression fading in and out of my consciousness.
When I finally woke enough to be coherent, I asked for Griffin. The nurse told me he’d left and that he hadn’t said whether he was coming back or not. I certainly appreciated him. Somehow he’d brought the police to my apartment. Griffin had saved me, protected me. Without a doubt I knew Chloe would’ve succeeded in her murderous plan if he hadn’t shown. For that I would be eternally grateful to Griffin.
But it was Cage who’d come to the hospital and stayed.
He stayed. That meant so much to me. And he’d done more than stayed. He helped me to the bathroom, got me ice chips, and fed me Jell-O and warm broth. His presence was a kind and handsome force that buoyed me up and helped me feel safe. His blue eyes, deep as the ocean, were ever watchful.
“Cage.” I swallowed. The movement felt like hot glass shards cutting through my throat. I searched for him, noticing for the first time my hospital room. It was plain, white everywhere with taupe window dressings. There were several machines to the left of my bed. One beeped in a rhythmic pattern.
“Hey,
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