Page 69

TYLER

THE HOSPITAL ALLOWEDme a few more liberties than they would have the average person because I was on the staff, but I was still made to stand in the corner while the doctor evaluated Jen’s injuries. The second I saw her eyelashes flutter and her heartbeat speed up on the monitor, I didn’t care about protocol. I hurried to her side and drew her hand up to my mouth. “I’m here, kitten. You’re safe.”

My colleague, Dr. Tina Martin, had started to argue about my butting in, but once she heard the monitor slow down, she was more tolerant. “Jennifer, can you hear me? Can you wake up all the way for me?” she asked, her voice calm and soothing. Jen’s eyes opened all the way, and I took my first normal breath in what felt like hours.

“Ty . . . Tyler?”

I leaned over her bed and brushed a soft kiss against her forehead “I’m here, sweetheart. You’re in the hospital, but you’re going to be fine.”

“Mark?”

That fucker was Mark? How the hell did he find her?

“Don’t worry about him. He’s in surgery, but I swear he’ll never bother you again.”

Tears slid down her face. “He said he was going to mark me so no one else would ever want me.” Her voice choked on the words.

“Oh, sweetheart. That could never happen,” I tried to assure her.

“Jennifer,” Tina came back into view, “I’m happy to tell you your injuries are mostly superficial, a few bruises and burns. Where do you hurt the most?”

“My head,” she whispered. She held up her left palm. “And my left hand.”

The doctor nodded. “We’re going to put something into your IV for the pain soon, and I’m going to treat and wrap your hand for you. You have first degree and a couple second degree blisters. Can you recall how you got them?”

Jen closed her eyes, and to my surprise, smiled slightly. “I threw Tyler’s dinner at him.”

Dr. Martin chuckled. “You’re a quick thinker. And just what dinner is my friend missing tonight?” I recognized she was trying to keep Jen talking and learn what happened without being direct if she didn’t have to be.

“French onion soup.” Her smile faded. “It was simmering on the stove. It was the only thing I could reach . . .”

I brushed her hair from her forehead. “You did great, sweetheart.”

“I agree. You’re a brave young woman,” Tina said. “But I need to ask you some questions. Tyler, I’m afraid I’m going to need you to give us some privacy.”

I looked at my pale, tear-streaked, battered girl in the bed. “No way.”

“Tyler—“

“It’s okay,” Jen interrupted. “Please let him stay. You can ask me with him here.”

“They’re very personal questions . . .”

“I don’t care,” she whispered, and kept her death grip on my hand with her good one.

Tina looked between her and me, then made her decision. “Jennifer,” she sat on the edge of the bed, “did this man Mark hurt you in any other way? Should I get a rape kit?”

I knew it was a legitimate question, but up to this point, I had managed to put it in the back of my head. Now my heart thudded painfully in my chest, dreading her answer. I knew it wouldn’t change the way I felt about her, but the idea that she might have gone through that made me sick. I had to swallow back the sting of stomach acid that rose to my throat.

Jen looked startled for a moment. Her eyes sought mine. “No, he didn’t. He was going to. He tried to, but I . . . I.”

Tina put a hand on her shoulder and gave it a light squeeze. “If you’re sure we don’t need to do a further exam—”

Jen cut Dr. Martin off. “No. I remember everything.” A shudder racked her slim frame.

Tina nodded. “Okay, then. You have quite a goose egg on your forehead and another on the back of your head. Do you remember how you got them?”

Jen’s free hand self-consciously rose to her forehead. “He . . . Mark slammed my head on the counter. After I st . . . stabbed him, he grabbed my body and pulled me down. I guess I hit the back of my head as we fell.”