Playing Doctor (Bandit Creek Books) Read Online Free PDF Page A

next door.”
    “Thanks, I’ll grab my gear.”
    She nodded and climbed the stairs.
    Bedtime was the worst time of day. Darkness hid ugliness, worry and danger. The moment she closed her eyes she was back in Afghanistan, the smell of smoke and blood in her nostrils, the sound of fire, moans of the injured and the metallic scream of their helicopter dying in her ears.
    Then came the gunfire, the ping of bullets hitting the debris around her and the gibberish of men speaking a language not her own. Coming closer, their weapons busy killing her team members, they laughed. That was the moment she broke, grabbed the weapon of the dead marine beside her and opened fire on the enemy.
    Now, she shivered as fear gripped her throat, closing off her air, making the hair on her arms and neck stand on end.
    She knew there weren’t any monsters under the bed.
    She was the monster.

 
    Chapter Five
     
    S he awoke with a start, shaking, sweating and choking on a scream.
    Abby sat up in bed and panted desperately trying to catch her breath, to calm down before her heart burst out of her chest.
    Her bedroom door opened and slammed against the wall. Smitty stood in the doorway, dressed in his boxers and nothing else, his gaze darting around the room.
    “Doc, you okay? What’s wrong?”
    “Just a nightmare.”
    “Just a nightmare?” Both his eyebrows rose and he stared at her as if he’d never heard anything so crazy. “You have this nightmare often?”
    “Every time I close my eyes.”
    The tightness in her chest loosened a bit and she suddenly didn’t feel like she was drowning anymore. She took in a long, sweet breath of air.
    “How long?”
    “Since I got home.”
    “Damn.” He came all the way into the room, closed the door and perched at the end of her bed. “You scared the shit out of me.”
    “I did?” She examined the expression on his face. “Did I scream out loud?”
    “Like you were being tortured.”
    “Oh God, I’m sorry. I didn’t think I screamed in real life. I mean, I thought I only did it in my dream.”
    He stared at her for a moment. “Tell me about it.”
    His request startled a snort out of her. “No thanks. I’m not saddling you with my demons.”
    “Abby, you know talking usually helps.”
    “Yeah, my head knows it, but my gut doesn’t.”
    He regarded her stoically for a few moments then said, “It’s the crash, isn’t it?”
    When she didn’t answer he kept talking. “I dream about it too sometimes.”
    Questions spilled out of her mouth unedited. “Do you dream about killing people? Do you dream about how good it feels to kill them?” The last word shattered as passed through her lips. A sob followed it. Then another, until her composure completely crumpled into a rush of crying and tears.
    Smitty was suddenly there, wrapping his arms around her, hauling her across his lap and pulling her so close that every sob she took shook his body too. He mumbled nonsensical noises into her hair and rubbed her back while she soaked up his strength and serenity.
    Finally, she quieted. A tissue was pressed into her hand and she blew her nose.
    “Thanks,” she said, tossing it onto the floor.
    “Litterbug.”
    “It’s my floor, I can be messy if I want.”
    He grunted and kissed her temple. “Feel better?”
    “I feel like someone ran me over with a tank, but yeah, better.”
    “Remind me to buy you a tank for Christmas.”
    “Ha ha.”
    They sat for another minute or two, not talking. Then Smitty said, “I dream about the crash too sometimes.”
    “Do you kill people in your dreams?”
    “Sometimes, but those aren’t the worst ones for me.”
    “Oh?”
    “Yeah the ones that make me want to throw up are the ones where I find you in the wreckage, dead.”
    She leaned away so she could see his face. It was as bleak as she was sure hers was. “Dead?”
    “Yeah.” His arms squeezed her a little. “You have no idea how good it was to open your bedroom door a minute ago to see you