Recalled (Death Escorts #1)(48)
Author: Cambria Hebert

The doctor nodded. “Your clothes are over there. The nurses had them dried for you.”

I came so close to killing her. But as she was sliding back into the glacial water she moaned. She was awake. I couldn’t let her go back into that dark, lonely water. I couldn’t let it swallow her whole.

I had been in there. I knew what it was like. How could I sentence her to a death as horrible as that? And so I grabbed her, I pulled her free, and then I raced down the mountain with her in my lap. She made no more sounds and her lips and face had long turned blue. From the dead weight of her body against mine, I truly thought she was dead.

The last thing I remembered was waving down a patrol vehicle and them rushing to help. Then I passed out. When I asked to see Piper just now, I thought I’d be visiting the morgue. I thought I’d only be seeing her body.

But she was alive.

“How long have we been here?” I glanced around for the clock.

“It’s late morning. You were here all night. Bringing the core temperature back to stable levels can take time. But you both look great.” He smiled. “You were very lucky.”

I nodded as he let himself out the door. Funny, I hadn’t felt good that my job was finally complete. I hadn’t felt any kind of elation.

I told myself that was because I’d been half frozen as well. I could hardly call G.R. and announce a job well done when I was ready to pass out.

And knowing she was alive, I was disappointed. Wasn’t I?

I threw off the fifty blankets and began dressing. Halfway through putting on my layers, the nurse brought in a million and one forms for me to fill out as well as my release papers. She looked alarmed when I told her I had no insurance. But when I slapped my credit card into her palm, she seemed a little less frazzled.

“I’m taking care of the woman I was brought in with too,” I said, not overthinking my need to make sure Piper was taken care of.

“Sir, are you sure?” the nurse began. “The bill…”

“The card will go through. Don’t worry about it,” I snapped.

That shut her up and she went on her way. I finished dressing and shoved my feet into a new pair of boots. They weren’t the ones I’d been wearing. I had no clue what happened to them. I had no clue where these came from, but I didn’t really care.

I did, however, miss my glasses with their thick, black frames. Having blurry vision wasn’t fun. Because I could barely see the forms, I only filled out two and made sure to sign the release. Something told me they didn’t care about their records, only the payment.

I left the clipboard on the bed and went across the hall to Piper’s room. She was sitting on the edge of her bed, partially dressed in jeans, a long-sleeved shirt, and socks. She had an oxygen mask up against her mouth and nose. I pushed down the funny feeling I got in my stomach as I shut the door behind me.

“Are you having trouble breathing?” I asked.

She pulled the mask down and shook her head. “I was when they brought me in. My lungs were too cold to breathe right. This is just warm, humidified oxygen they’ve been giving me to help bring up my body temperature. The doctor wanted me to take a few more breaths before releasing me, just to be on the safe side.”

“How are you?” I asked, coming to stand beside her.

“I’m fine,” she said, hooking the mask near the machine. “That was pretty scary.”

Her voice dropped on the last part and something inside me squeezed. “Yeah. I didn’t realize we were on a lake. There was no sign.”

She nodded. “The patrolman said it got pushed over by the snow and then buried.”

“The patrolman?”

She nodded again. “He came to visit me earlier this morning, to see if I was okay.”

He hadn’t come to my room, which told me he wasn’t just worried about her health; he wanted to see her. Maybe cash in on the fact he saved her life…

She was watching me so I nodded and stepped toward the chair on the other side of the room. I didn’t have any reason to feel jealous. If I wasn’t trying to kill her, I wouldn’t be spending this much time with her anyway. Besides, she wasn’t my type.

And she’s too good for you, something whispered in the back of my mind.

It was true. Even if I wasn’t trying to kill her, I still wouldn’t be good enough.

“So, they said we could go. You feeling up to leaving?” I asked.

“Yes, please. I go on vacation to get away from work and I end up in a clinic just like the one I was trying to get away from.” She shook her head and smiled.

“Why aren’t you mad at me?” I blurted out.

She stopped in the middle of pulling on her sweatshirt and looked at me. “Why would I be mad at you?”

Because I stood there and debated if I should let you drown. Because the only reason I pulled you out was because I figured you would die on the way down the mountain.

I didn’t say those thoughts out loud, though. Instead, I replied, “Because I was driving recklessly.”

She finished pulling on her sweatshirt and pushed her feet into a pair of boots.

“If it wasn’t for you, I probably would’ve died. You saved my life.”

I held back a wince. Thank God Charming and G.R. weren’t around to hear that. I’d probably be recalled on the spot. “I don’t think it was me. It was the patrolman.”

“He did warm me and give me CPR,” she began.

No, he just wanted to cop a feel. I thought bitterly as she continued.

“But the doctor said the only reason we’re alive is because you pulled us out of the water so fast.”

“I got lucky,” I mumbled, hoping she’d been so out of it she hadn’t seen who really pulled us out.

“You can call it luck,” she said, “but I’m going to say it was your quick thinking.”

I didn’t argue. If she wanted to believe I was the hero I wasn’t going to stop her. It only added to the trust between us so the next time I tried to kill her it would work.

I was running out of chances.

I was running out of time.

“The cabin isn’t far from here. The nurse called someone from the rental place to give us a ride back there,” Piper said, not picking up my preoccupation.

I nodded. “You need to drive home. I lost my glasses.”

“We can stop and get some new ones,” she offered.

“I have an extra pair at home.”

“Oh. Good. Well, then, let’s get out of here,”