“Thanks.”
I turned to tell Chrismer to get out, but found her already gone, a lingering trace of her expensive perfume the only indication that she had been in the room.
Yup, definitely a weird day.
“Thanks for your help, Alyssa,” I said, wishing there was something more I could say to erase the last traces of sadness in her eyes.
“You’re welcome, Riley. I hope to see you again soon, though maybe without all the bruises next time?” she replied, the sincerity in her words making me like her all the more.
I waved as she stepped out of the room, and then realized how stupid I must look standing there in a hospital gown waving like a lovesick teenager with their first crush. Rolling my eyes at my juvenile behavior, I staggered over to the sink and began digging through the assortment of t-shirts and sweat pants.
Chapter 19
I WAS HALFWAY into a shirt proclaiming that Wang’s Chinese Restaurant had “The best dumplings in town!” when Holbrook came back into the room. I was flailing like an epileptic octopus and gritting my teeth against the pain in my ribs when I heard the sound of his footfalls and caught a hypnotic whiff of his scent. Spinning around too fast, stumbling on unsteady legs, I fell back on the narrow bed with a pained “Oomph!” Holbrook stood in the doorway, attempting not to laugh—and failing miserably—and regarded me with warm affection.
“I’m tempted to just leave topless,” I complained, choosing to ignore how pathetic I sounded.
“I wouldn’t protest,” Holbrook teased, arching a single dark brow at me. No doubt he was trying to lighten my mood, but his forest green eyes had begun to gather heat as potent and dangerous as a lightning storm.
“Oh,” was all I could manage to say, my mouth having gone suddenly dry.
He set a large, brown paper sack down on the empty chair beside the bed, a spot of grease soaking through one of the corners, and decided to take pity on me. Extending a hand towards me he pulled me back up to my feet. His touch was gentle as he helped me into the shirt, carefully avoiding all of the spots that hurt without me having to point any of them out.
As I followed him down the narrow stairs to the street, I was unable to suppress the glimmer of jealousy I felt at seeing Loki riding on his shoulders like an overweight parrot. Once outside, I clambered up into the front of the SUV, the bag cradled in my arms giving off a mouthwatering aroma. On the other side of the car, Holbrook grunted as Loki jumped down from his shoulder, settling on the center console where he promptly curled up and went to sleep.
I dozed off somewhere between Alyssa’s clinic and the highway, the steady rumble of the tires on the pavement and Loki’s familiar purr combining with the painkillers to deliver a powerful whammy. I didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of staying awake for more than five minutes.
The sound of Holbrook’s rich honeyed voice drifted into my sleeping mind, calling to me from beyond the veil of dreams. It took me a moment to realize that he was singing along with the radio softly so as not to wake me. I kept my eyes closed, content to listen to him, my fingers drumming on my thigh in time with the beat he tapped out on the steering wheel. I waited until he was done before making a show of yawning and rolling my stiff shoulders.
Blinking owlishly, I pushed myself up in the seat, wincing as the stitches tugged and every bruised inch of my body let me know just how much it didn’t appreciate being forced to move.
“Damn, that hurts!” I groaned.
“Hey there, Sleeping Beauty.”
Grunting in reply, I ran a hand through my tangled hair, making a sound of disgust when I pulled out a glob of I didn’t want to know what. Giving up on the hopeless case that was my hair, I rubbed the grit from my eyes and looked out the window, failing to see any familiar landmarks—not that that was much of a surprise given my unfamiliarity with Denver and its environs.
“So, where are we headed?” I asked, my words broken by a real yawn.
“My place. We’ll be there in another five minutes.”
***
Holbrook’s neighborhood was on the western edge of Lakewood just a stone’s throw from the foothills and filled with sprawling lawns and mature trees. The houses were lit up like perfect little vignettes of mundane life, and I envisioned happy families gathering around the dinner table to share the details of their day.
Lucky bastards.