Page 176 of Protecting Peyton

That drew a smile and a nod from the doctor.

“How is she?” I asked as I moved around to the other side of the bed.

“Good enough to get out of here, right?” Peyton answered. “I can’t stand it in here.”

The doctor shook her head. “Not until we get the results of her CT.”

“But I passed the concussion protocol, didn’t I? That means he can take me home.”

“I don’t like the light sensitivity,” the doctor said. “So we’ll just see what the CT shows. Remember, a bleed can happen without a concussion, and we want to be certain.”

“You stay,” I insisted, with a firm hand on her shoulder. “The doc’s right. We have to be careful about head injuries. Remember what I told you about Tommy Willmont.”

She nodded.

“It doesn’t matter how trivial you think it is. We can’t take any chances with your noggin. If you hit your head, you come in, you get the scan, and you talk with the doc about the results. Now promise me.”

Her sigh was loud enough that the nurse down the hall probably heard it. “Okay, but it better not take long.”

“The lacerations are not deep, but they are long, and they’ll have to be watched for any signs of infection.”

I nodded along. “Should she stay the night then?”

“It’s not that serious,” the doctor said. It had been worth a try. “I’ll be back when we have your results.” She patted Peyton’s thigh and left, closing the curtain behind her.

I felt my pulse quicken with dread as I composed myself. “You’re going to spend tonight with Duke and Serena.”

Her face screwed up in confusion. “What?”

“It’s the safe thing to do.”

She blinked several times. “What do you mean, safe? He got shot. He’s probably dead by now.”

“No, he’s alive.” I’d checked and the strangler, John Doe, we still didn’t have a name on him, was unconscious and in critical condition.

She reached for me.

I made the mistake of taking her hand. The feeling of her touch was just as magnetic as it had always been, and that made this doubly hard. “I promised I’d be out of your hair when you were safe, and you are now.”

She squeezed my hand and sobbed. “But?—”

“I’ll have your things brought over, and you can move back into your place whenever you want.”

Tears began to leak down her cheeks. “You’re leaving me? I don’t understand,” she sobbed.

I could feel a sniffle coming on if I didn’t get out of here now. “Youcan’t be safe with me. This is for the best.” It was the truth I was ashamed to admit. I pulled my hand away.

She started to cry. “Why?”

That’s when I felt my eyes begin to water. “I have to go before I put you in danger.”

I turned and left through the curtain.

“I don’t understand,” she sobbed out again.

Her words tied my gut in knots as I walked down the hall and away from the one good thing in my life.

As much as I wanted to go back and hold her, I knew I couldn’t. This was the right thing to do, the honorable thing to do. The thing that would keep her safe.