Page 15 of Protecting Peyton

I shook my head. “No. Nonalcoholic only.” Getting drunk could easily lead to me breaking one of my rules and having him find me again.

“Repeat those words back to me now.”

“Drive?” I shook my head when that was all that came back to me after a few seconds. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’ll have someone take you down to radiology for the CT and meet you back here to go over the results.”

“Do I have to?”

“Your boyfriend seems pretty adamant, and he’s right that a CT is indicated in your case. It would be beyond foolish to say no.”

I worried my hands together.

“Perhaps you’d like to talk it over with him first?” Her smile said she knew she had me.

“I… You think it’s best?”

“I do.” She typed some more on the computer before she left.

It tookan hour to get wheeled to the CT machine, wait in line, and get the scan completed.

When the nurse pushed my wheelchair back into the exam space, March was waiting. A lump the size of a grapefruit formed in my throat when I saw the policeman with him.

“How’d it go?” March asked.

“Hop in bed,” the nurse said, ignoring him.

“Do I have to?”

She didn’t even have to check the computer screen. “Doc’s orders.”

I slid up onto the bed and answered March’s question. “I don’t know. This whole process takes forever. The technician didn’t say anything, and the doctor said she’d be by to talk with me in a while. But she also promised to give you a prostate exam.”

The nurse giggled but didn’t add anything as she raised the railing on the side of the bed like I was in danger of falling off.

The cop shook his head.

“Close your eyes,” March commanded. “And hold out your hand.”

When I did, cool metal landed in my palm. Opening my eyes, I couldn’t believe it—I held my watch.

“Sorry it has a scratch on the crystal now,” he said.

“You found it,” I screeched with joy.

“I made him and offer he couldn’t refuse.”

March had found my watch, Cassie’s gift to me and my constant reminder of why I had to keep running. He’d probably threatened to kill a man over it.

“Can you keep it down, lady?” an irritated male voice came through the curtain from the exam space next to mine.

March held up some money. “I got your forty dollars back as well, just not your purse. They threw that away. Winston is checking to see if he can find it along the route they took.”

“Thank you.”

Dr. Holland pulled aside the curtain and entered, throwing a questioning glance March’s way.

“They can stay,” I said, answering her unasked question.