Ransom (27 page)

She cocked a golden eyebrow. “Do what?” she asked, confused.

“Look like a goddess despite the fact that you slept in the woods last night.”

She smiled brightly. It only served to make her look even more stunning.

“Sleep might be a little generous of a word,” she said, waggling her eyebrows.
 

As was her custom she easily deflected the question about her beauty. If there was one thing Trinity wasn’t, it was vain. On the other hand, Aiden looked every bit the part of a sleepless camper. His hair was limp and unwashed, his red t-shirt had a few smudges of what looked like mud. I didn’t want to ask where the mud had come from, but judging by the way he was grinning like a fool; they’d had a lust filled night. Much like mine I guessed. A fleeting memory of being with Ransom made my lower stomach tug in a way that had me remembering every detail of the night before.
 

No matter how badly everything had turned out after, the sexual experience had been more than erotic. Ransom had made me feel some very powerful things. I knew that we would never be together again, still, I allowed my mind to drift for a second back to the concept that whatever sex I had in the future, would always be gauged by the way Ransom had made me feel. Sadly the morning after, and Ransom’s need to get away from me as fast as possible would always overshadow the bliss I had felt.
 

Aiden stuffed his hands into the pockets of his faded jeans. His biceps flexed with the move. Without my bidding I was comparing Aiden’s muscles to Ransom’s. I conceded that if there was ever a muscle man competition between the two of them, Ransom would have definitely won for sheer bulk.

As if to prove her point about their passion filled night, Trinity wrapped a slender arm around Aiden’s trim waist, tugging him until their hips pressed together. She shot him an overtly suggestive glance that had him turning every shade of red. In my opinion there was nothing cuter than when a boy blushed. When Trinity finally managed to drag her simmering stare away from Aiden, she locked on me.

She tilted her head to the side.
 

“I know that look,” she said, “but what I don’t get is how it’s on you right now when you told me that you were crashing early and…”

My heart seemed to stop beating because how could she know that I’d had sex the night before. I opened my mouth to explain.

“Don’t look so freaked out, I’m just messing with you. You’re more than free to have a drink or two, or three…” she said with a snicker.

I pushed out a sigh, more than a tiny bit relieved that I had read her wrong.

“I was depressed and I got a little drunk.”

“Honey from the way you look, like a truck backed over you a dozen times and one for good measure, there’s no
little
in front of how drunk you must have gotten.”

“Trin give me a break. I had every bit of hope that I could somehow salvage my screwed up life, snatched away from me yesterday. I’m still dealing.”

She shrugged noncommittally.

 
“Well I guess there are worse things you could have done than to empty the bar fridge in your hotel room.”

I smiled wanly, satisfied that she had filled in the blanks without me having to. As far as I was concerned a conversation about what had gone down the night before would never happen. The whole “
whatever happened in Vegas
” mantra popped into my head, only in this case it was whatever happened in Apern.

“You’re going to have one hell of a bill, they charge your first born for a tiny plane-sized bottle of vodka,” she said with a grin.
 

I nodded, imagining the bullet I had just dodged, zinging by my temple. I grabbed my purse and suitcase then followed them to the front desk.
 

“Aiden can you go out and turn the A/C to max. I feel pretty seedy and I know that if it’s one bit hot I’m going to hurl.”

“Sure, no prob,” he said. He cast his eyes toward Trinity. “You coming?”

Trinity leveled her gaze on me. I flicked my hand, shooing her away.
 

“We’ll be waiting in the car,” she said with a little wave, then linked hands with Aiden. I couldn’t help but wish that someday I would have someone look at me the way Aiden did Trinity.
 

As requested Aiden had the car colder than a glacier. I more than appreciated the effort. As soon as I had settled into the back seat, the fact that I hadn’t eaten yet was brought to my attention by the persistent growling of my stomach.

Aiden directed the car onto the main street. We drove down the same route that I had walked the night before. I couldn’t stay the shudder that ran through me when we passed the alleyway where I had been attacked.
 

“I need Tylenol, now,” I groaned.

 
Even with my sunglasses on, the light was luminescent and seemed to penetrate deep into my brain, making my already pounding head only worse.
 

“There’s a hospital up ahead, they should have a pharmacy where you can get Tylenol,” Trinity said.
 

As soon as she had spoken, a plan formed in my mind and my heart jumped with excitement. It was as if the powers that be, had handed me one last opportunity to see Gabriel Sanders. I wasn’t about to ignore it.

 
Even in my head the concept of barging in on someone who was badly hurt sounded wrong. But my need for answers, the whole reason for my being since
 
Mom had died, said I wasn’t going to do anything to hurt him. Was asking a few questions really that wrong?

“Yeah they…” I started to say then clapped my mouth shut. The last thing I needed to reveal was that I knew anything at all about the hospital.

“Huh?” Aiden said, shooting me a brief look over his shoulder before he stared back at the road ahead.

“Yeah, they should have one… a Pharmacy I mean, most hospitals do,” I stammered.

 
Aiden nodded. I was quietly relieved that both he and Trinity had accepted my statement without question .

“I don’t know if they have parking, can you wait until we find a department store?” Aiden asked a few minutes later, not bothering to turn in my direction.
 

Fear squeezed my stomach in its fist. After I had been handed the opportunity the last thing I wanted to do was to have it tugged away again. Anxiety coursed through me like a live wire, but I shoved my feelings away. Any sign of agitation would have had Trinity’s radar firing on all cylinders.
 

“You don’t have to park, you can just drop me off and I’ll run in and pick up what I need. I should be out in a few minutes,” I said as calmly as I could manage.

Aiden shrugged. “Fine,” he said.
 

He turned into the lane that led to the hospital entrance. Moments later we were parked alongside the curb of the main door. Trinity exited the car painfully slow, as if she was trying to make me wait a little longer. I lurched forward and out of the car as soon as she had flipped her seat ahead. Before I could leave she caught my hand in hers, indicating that she planned to join me.

“Where are you going?” I snapped. My voice was razor thin with tension.
 

“Shit Lexie, don’t have a canary, I thought I’d get a few snacks for the road is all.” She seemed more hurt by my retort than suspicious.

My breath came out in a rush. “Sorry for being so bitchy, my headache is really bad and…” I gave her a tentative grin. “Don’t worry, I’ll get some snacks.”

Once again Trinity did the unexpected. She nodded then returned to the passengers seat. I hoped that my utter shock wasn’t evident on my face. Not willing to screw up the gift I had just been given, I spun on my heel. I sprang forward so fast, that I was just short of running.

Today the foyer was devoid of reporters and press. Most of the people that milled around were either patients, staff, or visitors. The business as usual atmosphere meant that the chances of getting a lock on where Gabriel was, were better this time around.

The staff at the information desk had changed from the night before which in my opinion was another bonus. I straightened my spine, donning a persona that said I actually had the right to know where Gabriel Sander’s room was.

The man that I approached had a head shaped like a bowling ball. Most of his hair was gone except for a cap of grey that looked like a beanie atop his head. His cheeks were rosy, his nose bulbous with spidering blue veins. I was pleased to see there was nothing but warmth in his brown eyes. With my target in sight I moved purposefully in his direction until I was standing at the edge of the counter.

“May I help you young lady?” he said.

I leaned in closer.

“I’m here to see Gabriel Sanders,” I whispered as if divulging a secret.

 
I rested my arms on the counter, attempting to appear relaxed. It was a difficult feat with the impossibly fast beat of my over anxious heart, that was actually making swishing sounds in my ears.

The man’s smile dropped away. He leaned forward.

“Sorry dear, but I’m not allowed to give that information out,” he said.
 

His smile returned and was just as cheery as it had been before, but I noticed that it was now tainted with apprehension.
 

 
“But he’s a good friend of mine and I…” I said with as much indignation as I could work up. The man’s face flushed brilliant rouge. He pressed his thick purplish lips together in what looked like regret, then shook his head. Before he could say another word his eye caught something behind me. An expression of relief raced across his face.

“There’s his brother now, he can tell you the room number,” he said, motioning with a hand at the space behind me.
 

“Mr. Sanders, could you come here for a moment?”
 

My breath caught and I suddenly felt like a caged animal. I didn’t want to turn around and face Gabriel’s brother and be outed as a bold-faced liar. But since there was no secret hatch below my feet that could shuttle me away, there was only one thing to do, face the music, then get out of there as quickly as possible. It was funny how as soon as I needed it the most, whatever twist of fate that had helped me so far had decided to go on a coffee break.

I turned in what felt like slow motion, wishing with all my heart that it would all just fade away.
 

“You.”
 

We said the same word in unison, and were probably wearing identical stunned expressions. It took me a few minutes to put it all together. It seemed impossible that Ransom was Gabriel Sanders brother. I squinted at him, trying to glean any
 
similarity between the two. From the photos and videos I had seen of Gabriel, he was petite, almost albino looking and didn’t look even remotely like Ransom.

 
From his un-showered and bleary-eyed appearance, Ransom had come directly to the hospital as soon as he had left the hotel. His panic-stricken expression and the way he was panting as if he had been running, said things were not going well in his world. I opened my mouth to ask him what was going on, just as the man at the information desk chimed in.

“This young lady wants to know…” I twirled around to face him as fast as was humanly possible.

“I’ve got this,” I said in one breath.

He froze mid-sentence, shrugged, then went back to the papers that he had been sorting when I had first approached him. I turned back to face Ransom. Searing heat traveled up the length of my neck, then to my face. I hadn’t expected to see him again and now that I had, I felt embarrassed as if I was reliving the moment when he had rejected me all over again. It didn’t help that I was just discovering that he was the older brother of the kid I was trying to stalk. I didn’t think there was any way to get out of there without some sort of an explanation. I decided to give it a shot anyway.
 

Ransom opened his mouth to speak, but before he said anything I skirted around him, then made my way toward the sliding glass doors. All thoughts of the Pharmacy and Tylenol were gone, getting away, fast, was the new flavor of the moment.
 

“Hey, Lexie, hold up for a minute will you,” he said from behind me.
 

Even without looking back at him, I could hear the tension in his voice. The last thing I wanted to do was to stop, but I couldn’t so easily forget what he had done for me in the alleyway. I turned back toward him. He raked a hand through his hair a few times until it stood on end. The absolute desperation in his expression touched something inside of me. I knew that look, I had worn it every day since Mom had been killed.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.
 

He took a few steps closer to me. I didn’t want to admire the way his shirt stretched over his broad shoulders or appreciate the dark stubble that graced his sculpted jaw, but I did. Without trying, there was something so intensely sexual about Ransom that it was difficult to look away. It didn’t help matters that I had the benefit of knowing exactly what he looked like beneath his clothes, all buff and hard muscle.
 

“Do you have a car?” he asked.
 

I snapped back to the present, ashamed that I had been imagining Ransom naked when he was clearly upset. We hadn’t left on the best terms, but now that I had a birds eye view of what he was dealing with, I pitied him. I didn’t know what exactly was wrong with Gabriel, only that the radio had said that he was in pretty bad shape.
 

I shook my head. “I don’t, but my friends do, do you need a ride somewhere?”

“Yeah,” he said, breathlessly.
 

He hooked his arm around my waist as if we were a couple, guiding me to the main door. I was too stunned by the move to protest. Only when we were back outside did I stop him.

“What’s going on?” I asked, arching an eyebrow.
 

He drew in a huge breath. “I saved you last night, I’m calling in the favor, can you help me out?” he asked.