AUDREY BLINKED HER eyes open. Disoriented and still foggy, she panicked as she glanced around the room. The lights in the room were bright, and the sun was high enough in the sky to indicate it was midday.
Hospital.
Scanning the room, she noticed Duke standing at the window, staring outside. He was nursing a coffee and had a serious expression. Her mind immediately snapped to something being wrong with his grandparents.
“Hey,” she said as she sat up. “Everything okay?”
He immediately twisted his neck around to look at her but didn’t move. “There’s no change. They’re still holding hands, though. The nurses thought maybe I did it, but we both know I didn’t.”
Her chest squeezed, and warmth filled her.
“No change is better than a change for the worse,” she admitted.
Duke agreed with a nod. He held up his cup. “Coffee?”
“How did you end up with a real mug?” she asked.
“My first-grade teacher stopped by and brought a few supplies. Apparently, she was stocking a donation shelf for visitors.” He walked over to the coffee area and picked up a small box. “She baked oatmeal cookies and called them breakfast. And there’s banana bread slices, too. Care for anything?”
“Banana bread and a cookie sound pretty amazing to me right now.” She hadn’t napped long enough for her breath to qualify as morning breath. Thank heaven for small miracles. “How long was I out?”
“A few hours.”
That explained the foggy brain. It wasn’t anything a strong cup of coffee couldn’t cure. She pushed the button to bring her seat up from fully reclined. Then she pushed up to standing, shook out the sleep in her legs and crossed the room to the coffee maker. “Is there another mug inside that magic box?”
He was fixing her a paper plate of breakfast treats by the time she sidled up beside him. “Right there.” He picked up the blue-brown swirly mug and handed it to her.
Audrey had to face facts. She’d given Mesa Point three years of her life, hoping to find a place to call home. What she’d been looking for wasn’t here anymore. The feeling she’d had at sixteen that she would have a future with someone. Duke had moved on and so should she.
She’d saved enough money to get by until she figured out a new line of work. She could check up on Grandpa Lor and Grandma Lacy from her next stop.
She’d mistakenly believed a career in law enforcement would finally make her feel safe again only to realize that wasn’t the case. Anyone could get to her. She might have a few more tools to work with but a determined criminal could find a way to watch her, target her.
Hell, a teenager caught her off guard.
“Every time you get lost in thought, you get a little wrinkle on your forehead.” Duke pointed just above her eyebrow. “Right here.”
“Is that so?”
She hadn’t noticed. Then again, she wasn’t exactly staring at herself in the mirror throughout the day, checking for reactions as she spoke.
“Yep,” he quipped. “It shouldn’t be sexy.” He said those last words so low she almost didn’t hear them. The effect they had on her was instant. Warmth encircled her as need welled up from deep inside. Duke’s deep, masculine timbre caused goose bumps on her arms. Thoughts of the kisses they’d shared assaulted her, making her wish for more.
Before she could fall too deep into that rabbit hole, a figure emerged in her peripheral view. Young, female. Halsey? What was she doing here?
Audrey turned toward the door to the waiting room as Halsey knocked. The waiting room had emptied out so it was just Audrey and Duke inside.
Halsey stood at the door, unsure as to whether or not she should enter the room.
“Come on in,” Audrey urged, trying to put the teen at ease. “Someone dropped by with cookies if you’re hungry.”
“No,” Halsey said, checking behind her like she was afraid of being followed. The reason dawned on Audrey right away. Halsey’s mother worked at the hospital. Surely, she would have taken today off after receiving news her son died. But small towns had eyes everywhere. Her mother’s coworkers would recognize Halsey in a heartbeat, possibly ask what she was doing at the hospital or at the very least mention seeing her when they called to offer condolences.
Halsey’s paranoia made sense.
“Do you want me to close the door so no one else can come inside without us knowing?” Audrey asked, meeting the teenager halfway across the room. Duke was right behind Audrey, his hand resting on the small of her back. Memories of their interaction with Morris last night were still fresh. The panic she’d felt when they realized someone was watching from the woods was still a little too real.
“Um, no, it’s okay,” Halsey stammered. “I have to get back home before my mom realizes I took the car.” The teen twisted her hands together.
“Do you want to sit down?” Audrey motioned toward chairs outside the view of the hallway.
Halsey shook her head and started working her hands double time. “I saw my brother talking to some, like, old guy.”
“When you say old, do you have a guess as to the man’s age?” Audrey asked.
She shrugged. “Probably like thirty or forty.”
“What did he look like?” Audrey pressed, her deputy skills kicking into gear.
“Not really. He was too far away to get a good look. I didn’t recognize him. All I could tell was that he was older and I got a bad feeling about him. Like, my brother had no business talking to him,” she continued.
Although it wasn’t exactly illegal for a thirty-year-old to speak to a teen, the conditions would matter. “How long ago did you see them talking?”
“A week and a half ago,” Halsey stated.
“Did you ask your brother what the man wanted?” Audrey continued.
“Yes, but my brother blew me off. Said I was seeing things that weren’t there and that he wasn’t talking to anybody.” Halsey looked put out. “Jenson became a real pain in the a—”
