Find Me (The Found Duet #2)(96)
Author: Laurelin Paige

He was being prepared. I understood that. But I suddenly saw a flaw in his logic. “It’s a stupid backup plan. If you’re gone, what will stop Mennezzo from going after me?”

“That’s not his M.O.,” Drew explained. “He’s not out for revenge; he’s out to avoid prison. There’s no benefit for him to go after you.”

“I’ll keep a guard employed to watch over you just in case,” JC added. “Dom has agreed to oversee your safety, even though I won’t be able to keep in touch with him this time since I’m going with Drew.”

“We’re going with Drew.” I frowned. “And I can’t fucking believe you’ve already made arrangements otherwise. Aren’t we supposed to be partners?”

“Just a backup plan,” JC said again. “I had to explore every scenario.”

“Well, this scenario is not happening.”

“If for some reason you don’t go with him, Gwen,” Drew said, ignoring my objection, “we’d want you to stay quiet about JC’s disappearance for as long as possible. That gives us until your wedding ceremony. It may be uncomfortable, but that’s a perfect opportunity for people to discover he’s gone. It will also distance JC from you publicly so that Mennezzo isn’t on your back.”

“You mean he just won’t show up for the wedding? And I’d have to announce that I’d been jilted?” Everything about this idea made me prickle with rage.

“You could have Norma do it.” JC continued to caress my leg. “You wouldn’t have to face anyone. Then you could go on our honeymoon by yourself and get away from all the stress for a while.”

“I don’t want to go on our honeymoon without you! And I don’t want to go to my wedding knowing you aren’t going to be there. I’m going with you, JC. That’s all there is to it.” I felt like a child having a tantrum. Making demands that I had no authority to make.

I hated my powerlessness. Another second of it, and I was going to break down again.

JC must have sensed my fragility. “Let’s take this one step at a time, okay? Tomorrow, we’ll get results. We’ll go from there.”

I bit my lip and nodded. Everything was going to be fine. One more day, and we’d find out that JC was the father, and he’d have to let me go with him then. It was going to be fine.

“I love you,” I said softly, in case he’d forgotten.

“God, I love you too.”

I knew he did. Hearing it relaxed me. There was no way he’d leave me when he loved me as much as he did. He was gallant and strong, but I was his weakness. I adored that about him, and right now I had to rely on it as well.

The door opened again. This time it was a nurse who entered. “How you doing, Bruzzo? Did those pain pills kick in yet?” She walked over to the other side of his bed as she talked and examined his bandages.

“They’re working as well as I’d expect,” he said. He gestured to his IV line. “Do I really need to stay hooked up to all of this?”

The nurse looked at his chart. “Your next antibiotic dose isn’t for another four hours, so I can unhook your IV, but any patient that comes in here gets chained to the monitor. You’ll have to deal with it.”

He gave her his most charming grin. “What will happen if I unplug it as soon as you walk out?”

“An alarm sounds, and I’ll be right back in.”

I laughed. It wasn’t often that a woman could resist JC’s wiles. I certainly couldn’t.

He wasn’t deterred. “Can you just give me an hour? After that, I’ll do whatever you say, no complaints. I promise.”

“I swear I prefer it when the patients can’t talk,” she muttered. Then she sighed and unplugged the monitor from the wall. “Well, look at that. This machine doesn’t seem to be working. I’ll have to switch it out. It should take me about thirty minutes to find another one.”

Wow. I was impressed.

JC didn’t seem to think he’d won all that he could yet. “At this time of night, they’re probably harder to find. An hour sounds more like it.”

She scowled. “Forty-five minutes.”

“Sixty.”

I covered my mouth to stifle a giggle.

Drew joined in the battle. “I’m probably going to need some of your time going over what that chart should say, Lydia. Give them the hour.”

Her scowl remained, but she said, “Only because it’s you, Drew.”

“Drew,” JC called after him, “can you flip the overhead off? And make sure no one bothers us, will you?”