Shadows (Black Raven Book 1) (47 page)

“Oh, honey.”

Her hopes crashed as she looked into the kind, worried eyes of one of her sister’s nurses. “Your father is about to be taken into recovery, and your sister is fine. Too much stress, and I bet you haven’t eaten since you got here, have you? Come on, let me help you up. There’s a girl.”

Numb, Skye allowed the nurse to help her out of the bathroom and to a nearby chair. “Sit here for a moment and take deep breaths. Everything’s okay now. It really is.”

“I’m fine,” she whispered, shaking off the very edge of the misery that had enveloped her, as the nurse stood beside the chair to take her pulse. If she said she was going to be fine enough, she’d start to believe it. Once she believed it, she’d feel it. She touched her hand to her cheek, only then realizing that tears were free falling.

“Just fine.”

***

“Can we eat pizza for lunch?” Spring’s question interrupted her thoughts.

“Of course,” Skye smiled at her sister, as she shook off the heavy mood that came with remembering Sebastian walking out of the room two days earlier. The only thing that had made his absence palatable was that she was with her father and Spring. He’d saved them, and when she focused on that, she was better.

The cataclysm scenario was over, and the three of them were safe.

Spring’s residual physical injuries amounted to minor scratches and bruises from her struggles against her captors. She remembered some of what had happened in the helicopter and when she had first arrived at Trask Enterprises. For the first twenty-four hours of their stay at the hospital, Spring had drifted in and out of a sedative-induced sleep. Skye had alternated between watching her sister sleep, and watching their father, in the adjoining room, sleep. Spring was going to be fine. Her father was going to recuperate.

The evening before, he’d been conscious long enough to realize that Skye and Spring were both with him, alive, and he was no longer Trask’s captive. His relief had been profound. The reunion of the three of them had helped lift the veil of inexplicable misery that had fallen over her with Sebastian’s departure.

Over.

Their lives could return to Barrows-style normal.

Now, Spring had anti-anxiety meds prescribed as needed. So far, the morning had been good. She hadn’t needed anything, thanks to Black Raven. The supplies that had been collected for Spring while they were at Last Resort had arrived earlier that morning, along with the clothes that they had there. As Spring finished breakfast, an orderly had come into the room, a puzzled expression on his face as he wheeled in a long, rectangular table. “I was told to set this up near the windows.”

Spring had already organized five pounds of jellybeans into clear glass bowls. Using a new sketchpad, she was drawing a cake. She held up the sketchpad, and Skye nodded, but barely focused on the drawing of a three-layer cake. “That’s pretty, honey.”

“You think so? I’m thinking maybe we should have four layers of cupcakes instead of a cake. I just haven’t decided what to make to celebrate, when we all get home.”

All.

Skye hadn’t told Spring that their father wouldn’t be leaving with them. When he left, he’d be returning to federal prison to serve the remainder of his term. Skye didn’t feel the need to tell her sister that. Not yet.

She gave her sister a soft smile. “We can have whatever you want. And if it’s cupcakes, we can find someone nice to give the extras to.”

“And I’ve got to do something Sebastian will like, too, because he’s going to be there, right? Do you think he’ll visit us today? I really, really can’t wait to see him again.”

“Maybe,” Skye said, turning away from her sister as her smile faltered. It was the second time that day Spring had asked about Sebastian. Every time one of the Black Raven agents, with their broad chests and logo’d shirts, were visible to Spring, she asked them about Sebastian. Dear God, she had to figure out a way to make her sister forget him.

That might be easy, once she figured out how to do it herself.

“Tell me what flavor the cupcakes will be.”

Instantly diverted, Spring flipped the page and started over, from the beginning. The wintery weather event was over, replaced with clear blue skies and crisp weather. Skye had raised the blinds in both rooms as high as she could and opened one of the louvered windows in Spring’s room. Light was streaming into the windows of both rooms. She had pulled her chair next to Spring’s table, close to the open window so that she could feel the fresh, cool air.

The nightmare was over, she reminded herself. While Spring was focused on drawing, she stood, walked into the hallway, walked the few steps to her father’s room, and, when the marshal who stood guard at his doorway moved aside, she peeked in. She was wearing socks, jeans, along with a t-shirt and sweatshirt that she’d gotten in the hospital gift shop. Her soft, silent footsteps made no noise, but somehow, her father sensed her standing by his bed. He opened his eyes and lifted his hand to her, before falling back asleep with a soft smile on his face. Color was returning to his face. So far, he’d been too drowsy, even when awake, to talk about anything that had happened. All that had mattered to him was that she and Spring were together. That they were fine.

She walked back into Spring’s room, resumed her position in the chair, pulling her feet up, and resting her arms on her knees, as she watched Spring draw what would be one of many, many cupcakes for the elaborate celebratory cupcake-cake she was planning. “That’s beautiful, honey.”

Over. The nightmare was over.

She’d had almost forty-eight, no, she glanced at her watch, saw that it was a little past eleven, and she corrected herself. She’d had more like fifty-one hours to process the reality that whatever she and Sebastian had shared when she’d been on the run with him had fizzled into nothingness, the minute his attention was directed elsewhere.

Silly girl
, she chastised herself, reminding herself of the life lesson that had been rammed down her throat when her mother died, years before Sebastian had ever walked into Creative Confections.

People leave.

It’s what they did. If not physically, emotionally.

Her remedy for the lesson?

Toughen up.

Don’t get close. If they didn’t leave on their own accord, she’d be happy to lead them to the door with a smile. If she had no expectations, she couldn’t be hurt.

Sebastian had saved them. Wasn’t that enough? Yes. It was. But seeing how easily he’d become distant hurt her, deep inside, in a place she’d long ago closed off. He’d opened doors that she had kept under lock and key. Or maybe she had opened the doors to him. It didn’t matter who had opened that place where hurt lived. She had to close it.

For a second, she tried to tell herself that Sebastian was no different than any man she’d ever come across, but the thought was so preposterous that she almost laughed out loud. She’d have to do better than that, because actually, he was very different. Unique. She’d never fallen so hard before. Hard and fast.

Shake it off
, she told herself.
Don’t be stupid
. She’d known the moment that she had laid eyes on him that he was unavailable, and he hadn’t done one damn thing to mislead her.

“Skye?”

She forced her mental focus to return to her sister. “Yes?”

“Pizza?”

Skye nodded. “That’s a great idea, honey. I’m starving myself. We can order plenty for the nurses and for the agents who are helping us. What kind should we get?”

“Pepperoni, mushroom, extra cheese.”

“Okay. Let me figure out where we’re going to order from,” she said, “and we need to talk about where we’re going when we leave here.” Under the circumstances, she and Spring were going to remain at the hospital, until her father was discharged to the custody of the marshals. How many days that would take was an open question for the moment, but she still needed a plan.

“Home.”

She’d been about ready to stand, but that one, simple word kept her there, seated, her arms around her knees.
Exactly where the hell is home, or where should it be
? Skye had no clue. All she knew was that home was where she and Spring were, and the fact that she and her sister were together was all due to Sebastian’s tenacity.

Gratitude.

That’s what he deserves.

The job was over, and he had moved on, but he deserved a big thank you, as he took whatever road he chose that led away from her. She placed her arms on the armrests and stood, as someone gave a powerful knock on the door. The medical staff usually gave a soft courtesy knock before walking in, without a signal from either her or Spring. The agents, however, waited for her signal.

“Come in,” she said.

The door opened fast. A four-legged, caramel-brown blob ran into the room, her pink leash trailing on the floor. Candy leapt the last several feet through the air, landing on Spring’s lap. Sebastian stepped into the room, his broad frame filling the doorway, his blue-eyes resting upon her, Spring, and back to her. Fifty-one hours had passed since she’d last seen him. It now felt like only a minute.

“Sorry,” he said, though there was an underlying laugh in his voice that suggested he was anything but. He walked into the room, shrugged off a black cashmere overcoat, and laid it on Spring’s bed. He wore a charcoal gray business suit with a tie that had a palette of blues and gray. His dress shirt was crisp and white. With a full-dimpled, beautiful smile that matched the light in his eyes, he was so cover-model handsome he stole her breath away. Any progress she’d made on getting over the hope that something existed between them immediately evaporated. “I didn’t think she’d attack.”

The reunion of Spring and Candy was met with squeals of joy on the part of girl and dog. Spring unsnapped Candy’s leash and got down to nose level with the dog, by sitting cross-legged on the floor and wrapped her arms tightly around the furry neck. She glanced up at Sebastian with adoring eyes. “I knew you were going to come here this morning. Skye told me you saved us. Me. My dad. I don’t remember that part. Not at all,” she beamed. “But, thank you.”

“I had to get one of my favorite girls, didn’t I?” He shrugged. “Just doing my job.”

“Well,” Spring said, catapulting herself off the floor and into his arms, with a broad smile that tore at Skye’s heart, until she saw that Sebastian returned it. “You’re really good at it.”

“Thank you.” Over Spring’s head, his eyes were on Skye’s. His expression now turned slightly more serious, more thoughtful. “How are you doing?”

“Fine,” she said, answering honestly. Almost honestly. The jolt to her senses brought by his presence there told her that shaking off the feeling of being with him for two days was going to take a while. He didn’t need to know that, though, and she’d die before she told him.
Gratitude
, she reminded herself, that’s what he deserved, because a less tenacious man, someone who wasn’t as committed to his job, would have failed.

“You look really handsome when you’re all dressed up,” Spring said, slipping out of his arms, resuming her position on the floor with an arm slung around her dog. “Where are you going?”

He chuckled. “Washington, D.C. To meet with a whole bunch of politicians about what has happened over the last few days. I stopped by here on my way. Wanted to make sure you and your sister were okay. I’m glad that I did, because my agents were having a hard time persuading the hospital administration that Candy is a therapy dog.” He gave Skye a pointed look. “Ragno doctored something up in the National Registry of Therapy Dogs. She’s sending you an e-mail with the certificate.”

Skye laughed. “Thank you.”

“It might help if she started behaving,” he said, his tone serious, but his smile suggesting that it didn’t matter one bit whether Candy was obedient. To Spring, he said, “Good to see you up and looking so perfect.”

“I’m designing a cake,” she said, “for when we all go home. All you need to tell me is what flavors you want for your cupcakes. My dad’s going to want chocolate.”

He glanced at Skye with the mention of their father going home. Skye gave him a slight headshake. He nodded.

Spring continued, oblivious to the message that had passed between them. “So Dad’s will be chocolate with butter cream icing. I’ll decorate them with,” she paused, “well, I haven’t decided that yet. But I was thinking of multi-colored crystals, like amethyst geodes.”

To Spring, he said, “With you making it, it’s sure to be beautiful and spectacular and taste amazing.” He paused, “Do you mind if I take your sister away for a minute?”

Skye’s stomach twisted, as his attention shifted from Spring to her. This is where he was going to tell her he was moving on. Oh, God. He felt the need to actually say the words, as if his visit two mornings earlier hadn’t given her enough of a hint. Why he might feel the need to do such a thing was part of the reason it was going to be so damn hard to get over him, because underneath his bulletproof, hard-shell of toughness, he was a nice guy. She shook herself. Maybe this had nothing to do with what had happened between them. Maybe he was just going to tell her about her security detail. After all, she had hired his company to provide security and threat assessment. Agent Scott was the agent in charge of her team, yet all the agents who worked for Black Raven worked for Sebastian. She was considering whether to change her name, and she needed advice. Plenty of it. Maybe that was it.

“Of course not,” Spring said, “but hurry back. I want to talk to you some more. I’ll pull out the daydream jellybeans for you. Didn’t know you were coming, or I’d have done that already.”

“Oh, come on,” he said, indignation in his tone, but a full smile, framed by deep dimples, was on his face. “Can’t I at least have the cherry-red ones?”

Spring stood and gave him a slow headshake. “We’ve been through this a million times. The answer’s no. It will always be no. You only get the daydreams.”

He laughed, but his laughter faded as he opened the door of the room and walked Skye across the hallway, to the interior, windowless hospital room that his Black Raven agents and the marshals were using as a staging area. Two agents who were working in the room stood at attention, told Sebastian good morning, exiting as they entered, leaving the door to the room open.