“I think you should stay here a couple more days. If you go home, you might trip and fall and get blood all over my hardwood floors.”
“They’re not your hardwoods yet.”
“How are you really feeling?”
“My arm hurts, and I’m sore, but I’m not going to take any more pain pills. They make me too emotional.”
“How so?”
She didn’t explain that the medication made her vulnerable and she needed to be at her best around Aiden. She didn’t want to let her guard down and unintentionally say something she would regret. Not once had Aiden mentioned any feelings for her. The sex in Australia had been incredible, but there were no loving words afterward. For him it had been purely physical. She’d figured that out early on. But for her it had been love. She was worried sick she would tell him how she felt, and that would ruin everything.
The nurse, a stunning brunette, returned to check on her. She beamed when she saw the empty tray. “Thank goodness. You’re getting your appetite back.”
Before Alec could contradict her, Cordie said, “Yes, I am.”
“You’ll be going home in no time at all.”
“That’s the plan.”
After the nurse had carried the tray out, Cordie asked, “Are all the nurses looking after Walker pretty?”
“Knowing Walker, I’d have to guess yes,” he said as he got up and returned the chair to the desk. He went back to the bed and leaned down to kiss her forehead, being careful to stay away from the bruises. “I’ll check on you later.”
“You don’t need to.”
He ignored her protest and was turning to leave just as Aiden, followed by two teenage boys, walked in. Jayden Martin noticed Alec’s gun and holster and took a step back. Sean Corrigan didn’t see the gun. He was staring at Cordie and cringing.
“Sean, Jayden, I’m so happy to see you.” She swung her legs over the side of the bed and slowly stood. Her arm was in a sling, but she still tried to protect it by holding it against her chest with her other hand. “Let’s go into the living room and talk.”
She took a couple of unsteady steps before getting her balance, but Aiden had already walked over to stand beside her. She didn’t want him to treat her like an invalid any longer. “If you pick me up, I’m going to punch you,” she whispered.
He laughed. It wasn’t the reaction she was hoping for.
Jayden was looking as though he wanted to bolt, and she quickly introduced both boys to Alec. “You’ve seen Regan Buchanan at school lots of times. She helped me with fund-raisers. This is her husband, Alec Buchanan.” She deliberately didn’t mention that he was an FBI agent.
“Oh yeah,” Sean said. “I remember her. She was real pretty.”
“She still is,” Alec said.
“I saw you at Mr. Kane’s funeral,” Jayden remarked, casting a wary glance in Alec’s direction. He was holding a plastic shopping bag. He dropped it on the bed. “Your purse is in there,” he told Cordie, following her into the living room. “We didn’t take anything.”
“I didn’t think you would,” she replied.
“The forty-two dollars is still in your wallet,” Sean volunteered.
She smiled. “Thank you for keeping it safe for me.”
“Some guy tried to take it, but Jayden was faster.”
“He went for your phone, too, but I got it first,” Jayden said. “Miss Kane, you should change your lock code on your phone.”
“It didn’t take much to figure it out,” Sean agreed.
“What is it?” Alec asked.
Jayden looked at Cordie for approval before he answered. “Zero, zero, zero, zero.”
“Yeah, you need to change it,” Alec told her.
The boys were so uncomfortable with Aiden and Alec towering over them, Cordie sat on the sofa and motioned for them to sit in the chairs across from her.
“Thanks, but we should probably go,” Jayden said.
“Did you see it happen?” Aiden asked as he removed his suit jacket and draped it over the back of the sofa. Rolling up his sleeves, he loosened his tie and waited for one of the boys to answer. They glanced at each other and couldn’t seem to make up their minds about who should reply.
Aiden’s patience was wearing thin and he was about to ask the question again when Sean said, “You should tell it, Jayden.”
“Don’t you remember what happened, Miss Kane?” Jayden asked.
“I don’t. I remember seeing you two, and that’s it.”
Aiden stood next to Cordie with his arms folded across his chest, frowning as he continued to wait for a response. Didn’t he know how threatening he looked?
“Aiden, sit down,” she ordered.
Aiden took the hint, but instead of sitting, he strolled over to the tall windows and looked down on the street with his hands behind his back.
Alec detected the apprehension in the boys. It appeared they knew something more about Cordie’s accident, and he didn’t want them to stop talking. He took a seat in one of the upholstered chairs and leaned back.
Jayden paused a moment, suspicious of Aiden’s question, and then said, “Yeah, I saw it all.” He proceeded to describe in painful detail how she had bounced off the hood of the car. “Everyone was shouting,” he told Cordie. “When I got to you, I heard this guy say you jumped right in front of the car. I couldn’t figure out why he’d say such a—”
“That’s crazy,” Cordie asserted vehemently. “I did not jump in front of that car.”
“I know,” Jayden agreed. “You were pushed.”
Aiden spun around. “What did you say?”
Jayden didn’t hesitate. “I said she was pushed.”
“That’s right,” Sean asserted. He turned to Cordie. “There was this loud bang and everybody jumped a little, but all it was, was a truck. It didn’t scare me none, and I was looking right at you when you kinda lunged into traffic. I didn’t see who pushed you because it was such a big crowd, and everything went crazy when you got hit.”
Aiden couldn’t stand still. The possibility of someone deliberately hurting Cordelia enraged him. He paced in front of the windows while he listened to the conversation.
“Maybe the guy who shoved you was just scared by the loud boom.” Sean offered the theory. “Or it could have been a woman behind you.”
“She’d have to be pretty strong,” Jayden said. “I mean, you were propelled. You know . . . right in front of that car. You should have seen the way you bounced.”
“I experienced it, Jayden,” Cordie said.
“Yeah, but you didn’t see it,” Sean pointed out.
“Maybe you could see it,” Jayden said. Turning to Alec he asked, “Aren’t there cameras at all the lights?”
“That’s right. There are,” Alec answered.
“Maybe you could call, and they’ll let you see the accident. I’ll bet they would.”
Alec had already asked for the video, but Jayden was so proud of himself for coming up with the idea, he went along. “Good thinking,” he said. “I’ll check into it.”
Jayden nodded. “If someone hurt Miss Kane on purpose, you know what you should do?”
“What’s that?” Alec had a pretty good idea what the kid was going to suggest. Most teenagers he’d dealt with subscribed to an-eye-for-an-eye philosophy.