Page 28 of Mac (Demented Souls #7)

M ac held the pale, fragile looking woman in his arms and fought back the urge to yell.

She'd scared him bad enough to call Kinard and all but demand he come over and check her out.

Mac didn't tell her that part. He was afraid of how she would react at his having let another man not only into her house, but into her bedroom to examine her while she slept.

Kinard had looked her over and checked the pill bottle in the bathroom before telling Mac that she seemed fine, if drugged.

His advice had been to let her sleep it off, but don't let her take any more for at least twenty-four hours.

That hadn't been much of a worry since it had taken her that long to wake up.

Still, Mac felt better for having someone he trusted check on her.

He'd called Jake and had him cover at the shop.

The kid might not have a poker face, but he knew how Mac liked the shop to run and he was reliable.

There was a lot the kid could do around the Souls, even if they didn't want to put him in a position where he could be a liability.

Being Mac's second in command at the shop was as good a cover as any and positioned him well to see what was going on, not only at the shop, but at the clubhouse as well since it was next door, without being too much of a suspect.

Mac shook his head and turned his attention back to the woman in his arms. She was up and moving around, responding to him normally, if a bit slowly, but he was still worried about her.

Her skin had a ghostly pallor he didn't like, and she hadn't eaten more than that single cracker in at least thirty-six hours, likely more.

"Aside from that," he nodded at the small sleeve of crackers in her hand, "what's the last thing you ate?"

She was quiet a moment and he assumed she was trying to remember. When she spoke, her voice was soft.

"Lunch Monday, I think. I was going to make dinner when I got home, but Mom called." She sighed, making Mac wonder if maybe her mother was the cause of the headache that had consumed the last day and a half. "This started while I was on with her, then I fell asleep."

"With as long as you slept and it has been even longer since you ate, we should get some real food.

" He gave the crackers in her hand a pointed look.

"I take it those are to settle your stomach?

" He'd never had a migraine, but he'd known a few who did, some of them complained about how they made them sick to their stomachs.

She looked at her hand as if it belonged to someone else."Yeah, kind of," she said after a moment, "but it's more out of habit than need today."

Mac wondered if she had headaches like this often enough to have habits related to them and what that must be like. He didn't like the idea.

"You think you could eat?"

Elyse stared at him a moment and Mac wished he knew what she was thinking.

"It would depend on what it was, but I could probably eat."

"What sounds good? Anything you want, I'll have it delivered." If her place of choice didn't deliver, he'd have one of the prospects bring it to him, or maybe Kinard if he wanted to check on Elyse now that she was awake.

"What sounds best doesn't deliver." She lay her head back against his shoulder.

"I don't care. I'll have someone bring it to us."

She frowned and rolled her eyes up to watch him, as if not sure if she should take him seriously.

"Tell me what you want and where from and I'll have it brought over."

After a minute or two, she gave in and told him what she wanted. He called the restaurant and placed their order then called Jake to pick it up and bring it to them. He hung up from Jake and found Elyse shaking her head at him.

"What?"

"You." She was quiet a few minutes then spoke again. "You want me to eat and have stayed here far longer than needed just to make sure I was all right, but you don't hesitate to call and have someone bring us food. I could have found something that delivered."

"Nope. Jake works for me anyway, so it's not like he's not getting paid. But he's also a prospect and used to doing whatever he's told. Picking up and delivering dinner isn't even worth a second thought to him."

"Or to you apparently."

Mac shot her a half smile. "It's not something I like to abuse, but it's kind of par for the course for prospects. They get a lot of shit jobs and petty stuff. Jake actually does work for me. He'll likely be in the tow truck when he gets here because he's on duty."

She watched him a few more seconds then her eyes drifted closed.

Her breathing told him she wasn't sleeping but he didn't want to disturb her.

Instead he pulled the phone from the inside pocket of his kutte and typed up a message to the club's medic letting him know Elyse was awake and asking if he wanted to check her out.

A few minutes later he got a response.

Can't now, I'm on shift. How does she seem?

Mac glanced down at the woman leaning back against his chest and shoulder and thought about it. Then typed up a full report.

She's up and around, but pale and worn looking. She's back to reacting and talking, but not as quickly as usual. She's agreed to eat, and I've got Jake bringing food. She said she's better and that her stomach's not upset.

He sent the report and waited, hoping to get directions or something, but nothing came back.

Kinard must have gotten busy. He was an N.P.

in the emergency department of a local hospital so he rarely had time for lengthy conversations while on duty.

Either way, the other man would get back to him when he had time.

Mac stuffed the phone back into his pocket and had just about decided he'd have to disturb Elyse where she rested against him so he could use the restroom when he heard the familiar chug of the tow truck's engine and knew it was time to get up either way.

"That's dinner, a thasgaidh ,I'm going to need up."

She started then shifted. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to trap you."

"I wasn't trapped." He had been, but he'd never admit it, nor how much he'd enjoyed sitting there with her leaning against him, relaxing, and he thought, starting to doze again. Something about how she didn't hesitate to let her guard down with him made something deep inside his chest warm.

He went to the door and opened it, then waved at Jake as he pulled up in front of Mac's house. The prospect met him halfway across the yard a confused look on his face.

"I thought this one was your house." Jake motioned to Mac's house.

"It is. My neighbor is sick and I'm helping her out." Mac waved to the home he'd just left.

"Cool. Is she at least hot?"

Mac blinked and fought the urge to knock the kid's head off his shoulders.

Instead he glared at the younger man. "Thanks for delivering.

You better be getting back to work." Mac turned on his heel and stalked back across the yard to the front door he'd left standing open.

He didn't bother to look back as he went inside and closed the door.

"Food's here!" He lifted the bag to show it to Elyse then carried it into the kitchen.

"W hat was that with the guy who brought the food?" Elyse had waited until they were through eating and the meal was cleaned up to ask.

"Nothing." Mac gave his head a slight shake. "He's just a kid who doesn'tknow when to keep his mouth shut. He made a comment I didn't like and as tempted as I was to teach him some manners, I sent him back to work instead."

The phone in his pocket vibrated. He pulled it out to find a couple messages, one was Tuck checking in, making sure everything was okay and he didn't need any help, the other, and the one that had just come in, was from Kinard.

Sounds like she's okay but I get off in an hour and I'd like to swing by and check, just to be safe.

Mac glanced at Elyse and wondered how she'd react to the suggestion then put off mentioning it to her for a couple minutes by responding to Tuck and letting him know all was well.

When he'd finished that, he glanced up to see if he could gauge what kind of mood she was in, but she was still pale and exhausted looking, so he couldn't tell.

"Um." Mac bit the inside of his lip, not sure how to approach this, then decided to just push through.

"The friend I talked to when I was worried because you wouldn't wake up, he messaged me to check on you, I told him you're awake and better, but he'd like to stop by and see you. Are you okay with that?"

She lifted her gaze, eyes wide and watched him until he felt the need to squirm under her inspection.

"I'm fine, but if it will make you feel better, I'll let him take a look at me. You said he's a nurse, right?"

"Yeah, he works at one of the emergency rooms in the area. His girlfriend has been trying to talk him into going into practice himself, but he says he likes the ER."

Elyse frowned and seemed to be trying to puzzle something out, but she appeared to be having a hard time with whatever it is.

"Something's not right." He scowled and wanted to pick her up and hold her against him.

He didn't know what else to do, if he could do anything to help, but holding her would comfort him, even if it didn't do anything for her.

But he didn't, he stayed where he was seated on the sofa, her a couple feet away where she'd been eating.

"What do you mean?" The crease between her eyes grew deeper.

"It's taking you too long to respond. It's not normal."

She gave him a small, understanding smile. "Nothing is normal right after a headache like this one."

"What do you mean?"

"A migraine leaves me foggy and slow. The worse the migraine is the worse the hangover.

And this one was the worst I've had in a long, long time.

" She fell quiet for a couple minutes, then spoke again.

"Have you ever gone swimming, and tried to walk through the water, but it's hard and it slows you down.

It feels like the water is pulling at you, trying to keep you from going?

And the deeper the water the harder it is to walk right? "

Mac thought about it a moment. "Well, yeah."

"It's kind of like that. After a migraine, thinking is like walking through water. The worse the headache the deeper the water and the farther you have to go to get out of it."

Mac gave his head a slight shake. "I don't like that."

"Neither do I, but it is what it is, and I can't change it. I just have to get through it. The good news that it usually fades after a good night's sleep."

"So tomorrow you'll be fine?"

"I should be right as rain tomorrow, barring a recurrence."

"Does that happen often?" He couldn't imagine having two such headaches so close together, but then again, he couldn't imagine a lot of what had happened over the last twenty-four hours.

"Almost never, at least not to me. But it does once in a while." She nodded toward him. "Message your friend and have him drop by.

Mac kept his eye on her as he pulled out his phone, not sure how to take her words.

That she meant for him to message Kinard, he didn't doubt, but what she was saying about what she called a hangover, that he wasn't so sure about.

After typing up a message to let Kinard know he could come by, Mac pocketed his phone again and turned back to Elyse.

"How do you want to spend the day?" Mac glanced at the clock above the TV, not quite noon. There was still quite a bit of day ahead of them, but he suspected she'd want to keep it low key, probably not leaving the house as she tried to recover.

"I don't know." She blinked a long, slow movement that made him wonder if it took more effort than she was used to.

"What do you usually do after an episode like this?"

She watched him without answering for long enough he thought she wasn't going to, then she spoke.

"I usually spend the day resting, maybe watch a little TV. Doze off and on until bedtime," she paused a moment, "you don't need to stay. I'm okay. You can go if you want."

Mac watched for a moment, trying to figure out what she was thinking. After a few seconds, he asked what he'd been wondering. "Are you trying to get rid of me?"

Elyse's eyes went wide. "What?" She lifted her head to meet his gaze. "No, of course not. I feel bad that I've pulled you away from your life, especially for two days in a row."

Mac didn't like the guilty tone in her voice, but he didn't know how to let her know without making her feel worse. He stayed quiet for a few minutes. "I'm good. Besides, Kinard will likely be here in a bit."

L ater, after Kinard had come, checked on Elyse and declared her fit.

The club medic had deemed her tired and in need of rest, but fit.

After Kinard had said his goodbyes, Elyse turned on the TV and handed him the remote before settling on one end of the sofa.

After a whileElyse seemed to deflate. She slid low in her seat.

He looked closer and found that she appeared to be falling asleep.

On impulse, he stood and scooped her up.

She startled awake, then her body relaxed against him, but she kept watching him.

"I thought you might be more comfortable on the bed."

She nodded then closed her eyes and dropped her head back against his chest. He carried her into the bedroom and laid her gently on the bed, pulling the covers up over her. He started to walk away, to leave her to rest but her hand on his arm stopped him.

"You leaving?"

"No, just going in the other room so you can rest."

"Don't go. Hold me."

All resistance in him melted away.

"All right, a thasgaidh ." Mac kicked off his boots and lay down beside her.

Elyse wiggled until the back of her body pressed firmly against the front of his.

Mac wrapped his arms around her and felt her sigh and relax against him.

He marveled for a moment at how good, how right she felt in his arms. It only took a few minutes for her breathing to settle into the short, even breaths of sleep.

Mac thought about getting up. Thought about all the things he should be doing but couldn't bring himself to leave her.