J.R. Ward the Black Dagger Brotherhood Novels 1-4 - J. R. Ward [201]
There was a long silence. “Jesus…I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I had no idea—”
“Yeah, ah…” He really needed to stop this conversation. “Look, I gotta go. I gotta…go. Later.”
“No, wait, Rhage—”
Rhage turned his phone off and pulled over to the side of the road. As he looked around, he realized he was out in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but the forest for company. He put his head down on the steering wheel.
Visions of Mary came to him. And he realized he’d neglected to scrub her memories.
Neglected? Yeah, right. He hadn’t cleaned her out because he wanted to see her again. And he wanted her to remember him.
Oh, man… This was bad stuff. All the way around.
Chapter Fourteen
Mary flopped over in bed and pushed the covers and blankets off with her feet. Half-asleep, she splayed her legs out to try to cool down.
Damn it, had she left the thermostat on too high—
Horrible suspicion shot her into consciousness, her mind coming to attention on a wave of dread.
Low-grade fever. She had a low-grade fever.
Oh, hell…She knew the feel of it too well, the flush, the dry heat, the joint aches. And the clock said 4:18 A.M. Which, when she’d been sick before, was about the time her temperature liked to flare up.
Reaching overhead, she cracked open the window behind her bed. Cold air took the invitation to heart and rushed inside, cooling her, calming her. The fever broke soon afterward, a sheen of sweat announcing its retreat.
Maybe she was just coming down with a cold. People with her medical history did get normal sicknesses like the rest of the world. Really.
Except either way, rhinovirus or recurrence, there’d be no going back to sleep. She pulled a fleece on over her T-shirt and boxers and went downstairs. On her way to the kitchen, she turned on every light switch she passed until all the dark corners in the house were illuminated.
Destination: her coffeepot. There was no question that answering some office e-mail and getting ready for the break of the Columbus Day long weekend was better than lying in bed and counting the time before her doctor’s appointment.
Which was in five and a half hours, by the way.
God, she hated the waiting.
She filled the Krups machine with water and went into the cupboard for the coffee can. It was nearly empty, so she took out her backup supply and the handheld can opener and—
She was not alone.
Mary leaned forward, looking out the window above the sink. With no exterior lights on she couldn’t see anything, so she went around to the slider and flipped the switch next to the door.
“Good Lord!”
A massive black shape was on the other side of the glass.
Mary scrambled for the phone, but stopped when she saw the flash of blond hair.
Hal lifted his hand in greeting.
“Hey.” His voice was muffled through the glass.
Mary wrapped her arms around her stomach. “What are you doing here?”
His wide shoulders shrugged. “Wanted to see you.”
“Why? And why now?”
Another shrug. “Seemed like a good idea.”
“Are you deranged?”
“Yes.”
She almost smiled. And then reminded herself that she had no close neighbors and he was practically the size of her house.
“How did you find me?” Maybe Bella had told him where she lived.
“Can I come in? Or maybe you could come out, if you’d feel more comfortable that way?”
“Hal, it’s four thirty in the morning.”
“I know. But you’re awake and so am I.”
God, he was so big in all that black leather, and with his face mostly in shadow he was more menacing than beautiful.
And she was actually considering opening the door? Clearly she was also deranged.
“Look, Hal, I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
He stared at her through the glass. “Maybe we can just talk this way, then?