Part 17 (2/2)

Ignoring the protests from the emergency workers and Dex, Brent stepped close and grabbed her hand. Her skin was cold and wet, and he was thankful when they slid a blanket over her.

”Sir, we need to get her onto the ambulance. We're taking her to John C. Lincoln. You can meet us there.”

He nodded and turned back to look at her pale face, lit by the lights of the ambulance. ”Sandra. I'm here. I'll get to the hospital as soon as I can.”

Her gaze was weak and unfocused, but he thought it settled on him again before her eyes closed.

He squeezed her hand and then reluctantly let go and stepped back.

Dex moved up beside him. ”They'll take good care of her.” He gestured toward the porch and the cops. ”Let's get the rest of this taken care of so we can drive to the hospital to see her.”

As they stepped up onto the porch, one of the officers looked at Dex. ”Agent Alexander. I just talked to an Agent Tanner at the Phoenix office.”

Brent looked between Dex and the cop who had spoken. Dex wasn't actually an agent, he was a high-level a.n.a.lyst, but Brent knew that he didn't often bother to dissuade people of that notion if it worked in his favor.

Dex nodded, waiting for the man to continue.

The officer stopped to motion to his partner, who had just come back from canva.s.sing the neighborhood for Sandra's attacker. ”Jim. You're going to want to hear this too.”

When Jim stepped onto the porch, the first officer continued. ”I just talked to Agent Tanner from the FBI, who works with Agent Alexander here.” He gestured to Dex. ”He wants us to send all forensics from the scene over to him tonight. There's a rush on everything. He thinks there may be a connection between this attack and Miss Barry's stalker from New York.”

Jim held up his hand. ”From the briefing this morning I only heard that he had a restraining order against him, but there wasn't any mention of him violating it. So what's the FBI's sudden interest in this?”

When Brent bristled, Dex laid a heavy hand on his arm, reminding him to hold his tongue and let this play out.

The first officer stepped in. ”We knew he might be in town, but if he's the man the Feds think he is, he's pretty high on their Most Wanted list. If he really is that man, then under at least eight aliases he's kidnapped, tortured, and killed a minimum of nine women in the BDSM and kink scenes, using dungeons around the country to find and target his victims. He's been able to go under the radar since this was only put together lately when links were found between the cases and MOs. This guy's never even been arrested for anything larger than disorderly conduct.”

Brent stiffened and his blood ran cold. Dex had said he was digging into Diego's past so they could have a better chance of keeping him away from Sandra, but this was the first Brent had heard about the information he'd uncovered.

If Sandra hadn't run from New York, she might very well have been Diego's next victim. Brent shook his head, unwilling to imagine that outcome.

”In the meantime Agent Tanner has authorized an agent to be stationed outside Miss Barry's hospital room, just to be on the safe side.”

A large weight lifted from Brent's shoulders. He would still prefer to be there in person to watch over her, but until he could, having an FBI agent guarding her was a relief.

The man's gaze moved to Dex. ”You and Mr. Weston are on the visitors list, as long as her doctor okays it.”

”Thank you.” Dex reached out and shook hands with the older man. ”I appreciate everything you've done.”

The first officer ran his hand over his jaw and then over his spiky dark hair before he continued. ”However, after the break-in attempt last week, this might not have anything to do with Miss Barry's stalker.”

”Break-in attempt?” Brent asked before Dex had the chance.

The officer nodded. ”Mich.e.l.le Emery filed a report last week. She and Miss Barry came home and scared off a man trying to break in through the window of the back bedroom that's used as an office. A man matching the description of a local junkie ran, leaving behind drug paraphernalia. We'll know more when we catch up with him. He's been lying low.”

Brent clenched his fists. He didn't like knowing there was another man who might also be a danger to Sandra besides Diego. He wished Sandra had confided in him, though if that hadn't moved Mich.e.l.le forward on fixing security for the house, then him pressuring her wouldn't have changed things either. But his inner Dom chafed at the feeling of helplessness.

He hadn't been able to protect Sandra, and that simple fact ate at him like acid.

Dex slapped him on the back, hard, and Brent turned toward his friend. ”Hey, now that the police are done with us, the next-door neighbor has offered us tools to board up the back door and the broken window in the office so we can leave the house secured.

”While the EMTs were checking Sandra over, I called Mich.e.l.le and her boss. She's on her way here to check the extent of the damage and see if anything is missing. Her boss is giving her a few days off, with pay.” A self-satisfied smile curved his lips, telling Brent that feat had taken some finagling. Which was one of Dex's fortes. ”Then, because this could be peripherally related to Diego, as soon as she checks out the house and lets us know what's missing, I've arranged to get her put up in a hotel room while the security measures are being installed here.”

Brent nodded as another huge boulder of stress was lifted off of him. ”Good. Thanks, Dex. Give me one second.” He fished out his phone and called his friend who owned the security company he'd been trying to schedule to take care of Mich.e.l.le's house.

”Hey, Mitch,” Brent said when his friend answered. ”Sorry to bother you after hours, but that job I told you about last week? It has just become urgent. Can you come out first thing?”

After getting Mitch's agreement, Brent confirmed that his friend had the address and set up a meeting for nine a.m.

If tonight's events and Sandra being in the hospital didn't make Mich.e.l.le see reason, he wasn't sure what he would do. But the meeting was set up. He would figure out what to do if the problem presented itself.

Chapter 18.

Several hours later Brent was finally driving Sandra back to Club Desire. The hospital had released her after running several tests, including a CT scan and all the usual neurological tests. She had only a mild concussion as well as a goose-egg-sized b.u.mp on the back of her head where she had hit the metal grate when she fell. The doctor was concerned because she had been knocked unconscious, but other than the mild concussion she checked out perfectly on every test the hospital staff had run. So the doctor had sent her home and asked that as a precaution someone stay with her tonight.

Brent had been more than happy to volunteer for that duty. When he had seen her fall and go limp, he'd felt as if his chest had been ripped open. He had known he was falling for her, but that incident had proved it. Sandra was more than just a sub to him. More than just his old high school crush.

She made a small sound of pain as she s.h.i.+fted in the pa.s.senger seat. He reached out to lay his hand on her arm. ”Are you all right?”

”Yes.” She sounded sleepy. ”Just b.u.mped the back of my head when we turned. I'm all right.”

Guilt stabbed at him, followed by a renewed determination to protect and care for her. She curled more firmly under the blanket and against the small pillow he had grabbed at the gift shop on the way out, and he took care to drive as smoothly as possible.

She would be groggy for quite a while from the pain meds the hospital had given her, and he had gotten the Percocet prescription filled as soon as they left the hospital so she would have the meds when she needed them. He hoped she would sleep and heal. She had already been talking about going to work tomorrow even though the doctor told her to take it easy for several days.

He shook his head. He would call Gary and tell him what had happened. There was no way his friend would expect her to be in the office tomorrow. He also knew how bad Sandra would feel for the next few days while she healed. He had sustained a mild concussion a few years back, and sleep and occasionally getting up to eat and take more meds for the pain were the only things on his mind.

Brent glanced over at her curled against the pa.s.senger seat window in the darkened car and his chest swelled with emotion and warmth that spread throughout his entire body.

It was finally time to admit it. He was in love with her. Not the Sandra from high school, the beauty he had wors.h.i.+pped from afar, but the Sandra Barry who had survived and thrived to become the woman she was today.

He waited for any small trace of denial or even fear, but none came. Only a sense of profound rightness.

He just hoped that someday she could come to love him too. Brent shook his head. He knew she was attracted to him, and that she craved him dominating her and showing her how much pleasure was possible. He was more than happy to be her Dom, and always would be if she still accepted him once she found out the truth; he couldn't help that his emotions had gone well beyond that. He would have to carefully separate that from their D/s relations.h.i.+p until she fell in love with him too.

G.o.d, he hoped she fell in love with him! There was no guarantee, but he didn't want to imagine a future that didn't involve them ending up together. He thought about just telling her the truth about himself right now, getting it all out in the open so they could deal with it. But he bit his tongue. That would be selfish. She was in no condition to deal with that right now, and he knew it.

She moaned softly and burrowed tighter against the door.

Her blanket had fallen down around her shoulders, so he pulled it back up, tucking it around her before turning up the heat.

Rain still pattered against the car in a steady rhythm, but the storm had calmed considerably over the last few hours. The wind had died to only a breeze, and with everything so wet, no dust or leaves were flying around.

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