Tuesday, December 22, 2015

On the twenty-second day of December my true love gave to me...
Spencer's Reluctant Rescuer - Rescue for Hire 9  http://www.bookstrand.com/spencers-reluctant-rescuer


 

Spencer opened his eye and looked over to the corner of the room. Yep, he was still there. It had become a ritual. No matter how many drugs were thrumming through his system, when he became halfway aware of his surroundings, he looked for the dark, deadly man in the corner with a toothpick in his mouth.

Today things were the clearest they’d ever been, and Spencer wondered what his true memories were and what were crazy dreams.

“How long?” Spencer asked. He thought he’d asked that question more than a few times since he’d been here, but he couldn’t be sure.

“That cup on the table next to you has water in it. Take a drink,” the man ordered.

The dry, scratchy soreness in Spencer’s throat eased as the water slid down. Using his free hand, he touched the edge of the table before setting the plastic cup onto it. He was getting used to always gently touching the tip of his finger to whatever he wanted before trying to pick it up. Knocking things over sucked.

Spencer looked back at the man and waited for his answer.

“This time you’ve been here about two weeks.”

Spencer rolled that around his foggy brain while he watched the man watch him. The first time he’d noticed someone sitting in the corner Spencer thought he was hallucinating. Then he decided he was seeing a ghost.

One time Spencer awoke to Shane Miller in the room talking to the man. That ended his theory of ghosts of times past. Now Spencer had the scary job of finding out who this guy was. He looked like an older, harder version of the only man who’d ever had a place in Spencer’s heart. Would it crush Spencer if he weren’t the same man? What did it mean if he was? As usual he didn’t have any answers.

“Was Terry real?” he asked.

Dark, slashing eyebrows lowered into a frown over hard black eyes. One of the eyebrows was bisected at an angle by a white scar, making the man look sinister. The short black beard didn’t hide how the man’s lips pressed together into a thin line of irritation after he took the toothpick out of his mouth. Spencer waited to feel a shiver of fear at being the recipient of such a deadly man’s displeasure but didn’t. For some reason, this man represented safety to Spencer.

The man’s black eyes never wavered in their frigid stare. “Yes.”

Okay, Mr. Deadly didn’t like him mentioning Terry. Well, too bad. For the first time in a long time, Spencer cared enough to want answers. And he decided he would revisit the whys of his sudden caring later, much later.

“Why am I here?” Spencer knew he was jumping around, but he couldn’t keep his mind settled on one subject.

The man’s eyes widened a hair, and one nostril flared just a bit. Others might not have caught it, but those subtle changes of expression told Spencer that the man was furious.

“You developed an infection from your prior injuries. It spread to your internal organs. Your liver and kidneys couldn’t combat it and started shutting down. When that bastard dumped you onto the floor, the tissues tore, releasing even more infection and putting you into shock.”

“How bad am I messed up?” Spencer asked.

“You’ll heal in time,” the guy answered.

A small smile graced those thin lips, and Spencer felt warm inside. That dark gaze lowered, and Spencer glanced down and saw he was pinching the soft blanket covering him.

Releasing the now puckered material, Spencer figured he had nothing to lose and asked, “Why are you here?”

“I assisted Rescue for Hire in finding you,” the man said.

Spencer wasn’t sure he’d needed rescuing. Maybe he had and hadn’t realized it. His fingers bit into the blanket again.

“But why are you here in my room?” he persisted.

“I’ve decided your days of getting kidnaped are over, and I’m making sure you stay where you’re supposed to be.”

Spencer felt his eye widen. Who the hell did this guy think he was? Spencer didn’t even know him. Did he?

“What’s your name?” Thick anticipation and fear rose into his throat, cutting off his breathing.

“Ruger Black.”

Spencer’s heart stuttered, and a sudden pressure exploded behind his eyes. Lights started flashing, and a buzzer pierced the air from the machine next to the bed.
 
The door flung open, and a nurse rushed into the room.

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