mind your own business and walk away. Good boy. Whose voice was that? It sounded like Mama Reine, a large black woman who was his surrogate mother—a loving woman, who sheltered both him and Jesse during the worst time of their childhood. Great, now he heard other people’s voices. Maybe while at the hospital, he should have his head examined.
When he looked down, Marcie gazed up at him with something akin to worship, swimming in those cornflower blue pools had him sunk. What made it worse when her panic faded, and she eased her hold, was the way she watched him. With no pretense, no games and she’d hooked him as her lifeline.
If, in fact, she did lose her memory, she’d emotionally just latched onto him as the first and only familiar person. What have you taken on boy?
Chapter Four
Other than going and getting stinking drunk, what else did Sam have to do? So he, along with Jesse, trailed the paramedics. Stoffer and three airport security guards cleared a path for the gurney through the swarm of travelers.
Sam grumbled when they passed the luggage conveyor. He should stop and grab his bag. It’d be easier than the corporate hoops he’d have to jump through to reclaim it later. Instead, what did he do? He followed, shoving his hands in his pocket, while being escorted out the sliding glass doors to the parked ambulance.
Jesse dogged Sam, his raspy chuckle grating in Sam’s ear.
“So explain to me again, how you don’t know the lady? Yet, here you are holding her hand, escorting this pretty young thing to the hospital.”
Sam ground his jaw together before firing back at Jesse. “Is it absolutely beyond you to step in and help someone who needs it? She’s alone. I’ll go with her to the hospital. Then I’m leaving. It’s called chivalry, asshole.” He hoped it’d send him withering away. It worked on the young agents he worked with. Now he remembered, with Jesse, it only added fuel to the fire, and he’d use it to dig deeper.
“Helping someone, sure, I’ve done it. But the two of you, nah, there’s something more. Come on, you and this pretty young miss, you know each other? You two have chemistry. Come on, tell Jesse everything.”
Okay that last remark was too much. Sam whirled around, raised his hand and jammed his index finger in Jesse’s chest with a hard thump.
“Keep your hands down and don’t do that again. Do you forget where we are?”
That was a decent pail of ice water thrown on him. It doused his fiery temper in an instant. Wake up boy and look where you are . Words in his head jolted him when he viewed hundreds of people surrounding them. Eyes aglow and fascinated, fixed solely upon him. Another scandal— pile it on . That’s the warning he heard. One he couldn’t afford. So instead, he uttered in a low growl. “You stupid ass, fuck off.” Sam flinched when Jesse smacked him in a brotherly way in the middle of his back and then let out a boisterous whoop of laughter. This time, he shrugged Jesse off with nothing more than a warning scowl while the paramedics loaded Marcie in the ambulance.
“You always did have a way with words. Now get in.”
* * * *
Sam made a plan as he followed the gurney to a cubicle in the emergency room. Get her settled, see she’s looked after and then leave. Two nurses, a doctor and the two paramedics assisted Marcie onto the bed.
Sam leaned in to say goodbye but was asked to step aside, when Marcie was questioned, poked and prodded by nurses and interns. Three butterfly strips were taped across the bloody contusion along the front of her hairline. Then after the standard blood test, they whisked her upstairs for a head CT; again he was told to wait. So he crossed his arms and waited. He expected to be dismissed to the waiting area. But instead, a pretty blond intern on staff questioned him.
“How long has she been confused?”
“I guess since she hit her head.”
“Can you tell me how she hit her head?”
“She was robbed and
When he looked down, Marcie gazed up at him with something akin to worship, swimming in those cornflower blue pools had him sunk. What made it worse when her panic faded, and she eased her hold, was the way she watched him. With no pretense, no games and she’d hooked him as her lifeline.
If, in fact, she did lose her memory, she’d emotionally just latched onto him as the first and only familiar person. What have you taken on boy?
Chapter Four
Other than going and getting stinking drunk, what else did Sam have to do? So he, along with Jesse, trailed the paramedics. Stoffer and three airport security guards cleared a path for the gurney through the swarm of travelers.
Sam grumbled when they passed the luggage conveyor. He should stop and grab his bag. It’d be easier than the corporate hoops he’d have to jump through to reclaim it later. Instead, what did he do? He followed, shoving his hands in his pocket, while being escorted out the sliding glass doors to the parked ambulance.
Jesse dogged Sam, his raspy chuckle grating in Sam’s ear.
“So explain to me again, how you don’t know the lady? Yet, here you are holding her hand, escorting this pretty young thing to the hospital.”
Sam ground his jaw together before firing back at Jesse. “Is it absolutely beyond you to step in and help someone who needs it? She’s alone. I’ll go with her to the hospital. Then I’m leaving. It’s called chivalry, asshole.” He hoped it’d send him withering away. It worked on the young agents he worked with. Now he remembered, with Jesse, it only added fuel to the fire, and he’d use it to dig deeper.
“Helping someone, sure, I’ve done it. But the two of you, nah, there’s something more. Come on, you and this pretty young miss, you know each other? You two have chemistry. Come on, tell Jesse everything.”
Okay that last remark was too much. Sam whirled around, raised his hand and jammed his index finger in Jesse’s chest with a hard thump.
“Keep your hands down and don’t do that again. Do you forget where we are?”
That was a decent pail of ice water thrown on him. It doused his fiery temper in an instant. Wake up boy and look where you are . Words in his head jolted him when he viewed hundreds of people surrounding them. Eyes aglow and fascinated, fixed solely upon him. Another scandal— pile it on . That’s the warning he heard. One he couldn’t afford. So instead, he uttered in a low growl. “You stupid ass, fuck off.” Sam flinched when Jesse smacked him in a brotherly way in the middle of his back and then let out a boisterous whoop of laughter. This time, he shrugged Jesse off with nothing more than a warning scowl while the paramedics loaded Marcie in the ambulance.
“You always did have a way with words. Now get in.”
* * * *
Sam made a plan as he followed the gurney to a cubicle in the emergency room. Get her settled, see she’s looked after and then leave. Two nurses, a doctor and the two paramedics assisted Marcie onto the bed.
Sam leaned in to say goodbye but was asked to step aside, when Marcie was questioned, poked and prodded by nurses and interns. Three butterfly strips were taped across the bloody contusion along the front of her hairline. Then after the standard blood test, they whisked her upstairs for a head CT; again he was told to wait. So he crossed his arms and waited. He expected to be dismissed to the waiting area. But instead, a pretty blond intern on staff questioned him.
“How long has she been confused?”
“I guess since she hit her head.”
“Can you tell me how she hit her head?”
“She was robbed and
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