Page 27 of Mac (Demented Souls #7)

Being awake was the only reason she heard her phone vibrate. She picked it up, thankful she'd turned on the blue light filter before bed. Elyse couldn't help but blink at what seemed like a blindingly bright light as she saw it had been an incoming message. From Mac. What was he doing up this late?

Hope your night's better than mine and you're sound asleep now. Wish I could be there with you.

She closed her eyes for a moment then rolled so she could put both hands on the device and type a reply.

Sorry you've had a crappy night. My headache came back. I was just laying here pretending to sleep, with the tiny hope of tricking it into going away.

She hit send then dropped the phone onto the bed beside her, closing her eyes once more.

There wasn't much light in the room, but that only made what there was seem all the brighter.

With the darkness and silence, she had no way to judge how much time passed before her phone vibrated again.

She braced herself and picked it up again, not able to just ignore it, especially since it was probably Mac.

I'm home now, is there anything I can do? Want me to come over?

Her first instinct was to say no. She didn't want to be a bother, but the more she thought about it, the better it sounded. Right now, she wanted nothing more than his arms around her while she tried to get past the throbbing in her head.

That would be amazing. Not much you can do but having you near would feel good. She hit send then remembered that her front door was locked. She could go let him in but typed up another message.

Front door's locked but the gate on your side of the house is open and there's a key taped to the underside of the shelf on the grill.

With the last message sent, she dropped her phone next to her pillow and took a deep breath.

Hopefully, he would be here soon, and it would help her relax enough to let this thing pass.

This was the worst she'd felt in a long time, and the last time her head had felt a soccer ball being passed back and forth around the field, her migraine had lasted nearly a week.

This time she had better meds and hoped it wouldn't last nearly as long.

The pounding increased and she felt like her head was now being kicked around by elephants.

The light from the phone had been a colossally bad idea.

She wrapped the ends of the pillow around her ears and curled on her side, trying to breathe through each increasing wave of pain.

Focusing on letting the pain pass over her, without carrying her away, kept her from hearing Mac let himself in, and she was unaware of his presence until she felt the bed dip.

She rolled over and found Mac sliding onto the bed behind her, wearing a t-shirt and shorts.

"Can I get you anything?" he whispered.

She shook her head as he settled in behind her, wrapped his arms around her. She let out a sigh and felt herself relaxing against him. The sound of his breathing, soft in her ear, the warmth of his body surrounding her, making her feel safe and protected. Slowly, sleep overtook her.

A low, distant rumble woke her. Uncertain where she was or what was going on, Elyse stirred and finally opened her eyes. The room was only dimly lit, but that was normal, at least after a headache. Blackout curtains were a life saver in the desert, for more than one reason.

There it was again. That rumble she couldn't quite place.

She blinked, slower than she normally would but everything was slow in the hangover period after a particularly nasty headache.

She tried to get out of bed, but the blankets wouldn't let her go and she ended up laying in the middle of the tangle, limp and even more exhausted.

Her bedroom door opened, and a head poked inside. That's when she remembered Mac coming in during the night, and the way she'd fallen asleep wrapped in his arms. It must have been his voice she'd heard.

"You're awake." His voice was barely more than a whisper. "How are you feeling?"

"My head is better, but I think the bed is trying to eat me.

" She struggled weakly again but gave up.

She couldn't figure out how to get free.

It sounded stupid, she knew, but it was typical of a post-migraine haze.

Normally she'd probably roll over and go back to sleep.

Her head still gave a faint throbbing ache, but it was waning, not getting worse and she didn't want Mac to think she was weak.

"You need up? Here, let me help you." Mac untangled the blankets and helped her out of bed, going so far as to catch her when her legs gave out and she almost hit the floor.

Once she was stable on her feet, he stayed close, following her to the bathroom door, as if afraid she'd fall again.

She couldn't really blame him, and the last thing she wanted to admit was that she'd fallen before.

Headaches like the one she'd had last night felt like they were trying to kill her, and sometimes they came close.

"You all right?" he asked as she stepped out of the bathroom feeling ten times better than when she'd gone in. Before emerging, she'd brushed her teeth, and now the fuzzy feeling in her mouth was less. Not gone, but tolerable.

"I will be." Elyse tried to stagger past him, into the living room and the kitchen beyond, but he got in front of her and wouldn't let her pass.

"You look like death warmed over. Tell me what you need, and I'll get it."

She glared up at him for the space of a breath, then realized she didn't have the energy, not to mention the will power, to argue, not right now.

"I need something to eat, something bland.

Toast, crackers, whatever. It doesn't have to be much, but I've got to get something in my stomach, or I'll be even sicker.

And I need water, or some of the tea out of the fridge.

" She considered going back into the bedroom and laying back down, but the couch was closer.

Besides, she didn't want crumbs in her sheets.

"Where do you think you're going?" His voice was stern and brooked no argument.

"To the couch. It's closer than the bed." She motioned to the furniture a few steps away, but before she could take another step toward it, he swept her off her feet and into his arms. Heat rushed to her face at the loud, near-scream that escaped her.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Mac sat her down on the sofa, carefully, as if she were made of spun glass.

"You didn't scare me, just startled me. A little warning would be nice the next time you decide my legs aren't good enough." Elyse tried to sound angry but didn't think it was coming across well.

"Your legs are perfect, but you're whiter than your sheets. Rest, I'll get what you need and be right back."

How could you argue with reasoning like that?

Elyse wasn't sure but give her a few minutes and she'd do her best to figure it out.

As it turned out, she didn't have that few minutes.

Mac brought her a big glass filled with ice and tea and a sleeve of butter flavored crackers quickly enough she wondered how he knew where to find them.

"Thanks." Elyse took a bite of one of the crackers, trying not to make a face as it tasted like chalk. She swallowed and sipped from the tea, which washed down the cracker and left her able to speak.

"Thanks, that will help." She finished the cracker, even though she had no desire. Something now would keep her stomach from getting worse later.

"No problem. Anything else I can do?"

Elyse shook her head and immediately regretted it. "No thanks though."

Mac eased down to sit beside her.

She leaned against him and spoke after a while. "Did I hear you talking earlier?"

"You did," he said after a moment. "I was giving instructions and answering questions about a couple jobs."

She frowned, feeling like she was missing something. After staring into the distance for what felt like way too long, she spoke. "Wait, why aren't you at work?"

"I didn't go. You needed me here."

She turned and frowned at him, waiting for more.

"You got up when your alarm went off, made a phone call and got back in bed, but you never stirred when my alarm went off.

I thought it was weird but even as I moved around, you didn't stir.

I tried to wake you and got no response.

I was worried, but your breathing was fine.

" His head was shaking slowly. "You got up and used the bathroom a couple times, but something was off.

I spoke to you and you didn't respond. it was like you never even heard me. "

She tried to remember getting up, and if she'd heard him say anything to her, but the last thing she remembered was getting up and calling Lisbet.

"My meds do that sometimes." She didn't tell him it was usually when she had to take a second, or worse, third dose, like she had taken when she'd gotten up to make her call.

She didn't want to admit how much she'd taken.

The doctor had told her she could, if she needed it, but she hated the way it made her feel so almost never took more than the second pill, and that very rarely.

He looked down at her, his face serious. "You slept so long and hard, it scared me." He fell silent again and Elyse sat there thinking.

"How long?" she said after a while.

"Huh?"

"How long did I sleep? What time is it?"

"Oh. A little after 9 a.m."

"That's not that bad." From the way he'd talked she'd thought it was late afternoon, but the drawn blackout curtains only let in a dim light, with no hints of which direction it was coming from, so it was no help.

"It's Wednesday morning."

Elyse blinked once while his words processed then she turned to stare at him.

"Did you just say Wednesday ? As in I've been asleep for more than twenty-four hours?"

Mac nodded. "Not the whole time, like I said, you got up and went to the bathroom a couple times, but you were weird. I didn't want to leave you alone, especially when I couldn't rouse you and you acted so strange."

Elyse fell silent, thinking back again. She still couldn't recall moving since she'd called for her replacement. Replacement. Shit!

"Where's my phone? I need to make a call."

"If you're calling into work, don't worry. I used your print to unlock your phone while you were out this morning and called the last number you'd dialed. Told the woman who answered, I think she said her name was Elizabeth, but I'm not sure, that you were still sick and wouldn't be in today."

"When was that?"

"About six this morning. About the same time, you called her yesterday. I figured if it had been a good time to call on Tuesday, it was a good bet it was a safe time to call on Wednesday."

Elyse dropped her face into her hands wondering how much trouble she was in at work. No use in worrying about it now. She'd find out when she went back tomorrow.

"Like I said, you scared me. Last night I called a friend who's a nurse. I wanted to know if I should take you to the emergency room or something."

Something in his voice made her look up and watch him. "I take it she said no? Since I didn't wake up having my stomach pumped."

"He. He had me go find your meds and asked if I knew how many you took.

" Mac shrugged. "I didn't want to go snooping but he'd said it was important.

I told him what I knew. You said you'd taken something before I got here and I heard the pill bottle when you got up yesterday morning, so I figured the medicine cabinet was a good bet. I hope you don't mind."

Elyse lifted one shoulder. "I was out, and you were trying to help. Besides, I invited you over. I guess I can'tbitch too much about you're trying to make sure I was all right."

"There are some that would, but that's neither here nor there. Kinard told me that medication you're on is some pretty heavy-duty stuff."

"It is, but as you saw, even it took a while to knock it out, and as bad as it was, I've had a lot worse. Before the meds, I've had migraines like this one last as long as a week."

Mac blinked and stared at her a second. "A week?"

Elyse nodded slowly, thinking about the last headache that had knocked her out for a week.

It had been the migraine that had finally sent her to the doctor to get treatment.

There had been a lot of trial and error before they found a combination of medications that worked for her.

A maintenance med that she took every day and it made her migraines less frequent and usually less severe, but she also had what they called an emergency medication.

That's what she'd ended up taking three of.

It was a high dose but not a dangerous one, she knew from experience.

"I can't imagine something like that lasting a week. You were out."

"That is only because of the pills. Normally, when it gets as bad as it was when you got here, I can't sleep.

" She shook her head, slowly so as not to jar it and make the pain that was all too fresh in her memory return.

"I'm still surprised I fell asleep so quickly after you got here.

Normally I'll lay there for hours afraid my head is actually going to explode.

Sometimes wishing it would so the pain will end. "

"I'm sorry." Mac wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.

The tender way he held her made her feel cared for, even protected. She relaxed against him, reveling in a sensation she couldn't recall having felt in a long time. Maybe not since she was a kid and realized her daddy couldn't protect her from everything.