“Damn. Guess I’ll be going home and popping some Ambien when I get off work.” He sounded way too excited.
I frowned. I needed to tell him what had happened in the bathtub, lest he overdose on sedatives trying to detach, but I was keenly aware Bess was hovering right outside the doorway. “Please don’t.” I sat on the edge of my bed and massaged my aching forehead.
“Are you OK? Celise said you were in the ER.”
“I’m fine, but I need to see you. Can you come over?”
“With all the shit that happened tonight, I don’t know when I’ll be done here. The media is already like maggots on a carcass. And isn’t your interview tomorrow . . . err, today?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you working this weekend?”
“I’ll be working overtime if they let me go back to work.”
Ransom laughed. “What happened? You throat punch someone again?”
“No, smartass. I was hit by a car after I left the hotel.”
“Shit. Really?” His voice jumped up an octave.
“Really.”
“Are you OK? I’ll leave work right now.”
Part of me wanted to let him, but Ransom had a hard enough time keeping a job without having to take care of me. And Ransom needed his job. Joint custody of his daughter, Amelia, depended on it. “No. I’m all right and at home now. I’ll see you when you’re off.”
“What happened?”
“I was doing a traffic stop and a car hit my cruiser. A piece of metal nearly took my head off.”
“We heard sirens at the hotel. I had no idea it was you. Why didn’t you call me?”
“I did, dumbass.”
He was quiet for a second. “Nyx, I really don’t mind taking off. I can be there in half an hour.”
“Thanks. I’ll call you if I can’t hack it alone.”
“Does Paps know?”
“No, and I don’t want to worry him tonight. I’ll tell him tomorrow.”
“OK.”
“Ransom?”
“Yeah?”
“Stay off the sleeping pills. If it happens, it happens.”
He groaned. “I know.”
My brother and drugs didn’t mix. The first time he landed in jail on possession charges, he was only sixteen. Now in his thirties, he’d been clean for a while, but he also had enough sobriety chips for a game of poker. It was part of the reason I stayed clear of anything stronger than Tylenol.
What will happen when he learns the truth? Ransom wouldn’t inherit the gift. And even bigger still . . .
His whole life had been a lie.
If I was able to detach, it meant Ransom wasn’t Elias’s firstborn. Elias wasn’t Ransom’s father at all.
Nausea churned in my stomach again. “I’ll see you this weekend,” I said, my voice cracking with emotion.
“Yes, but I’m serious. Call me if you need help.”
“I will. I promise. My personal phone is destroyed. I’ll text you my SWAT phone number when I get it back.”
“OK.”
“Kiss Milly for me.”
“She wants you to come visit.”
“Tell her I’ll come soon.”
“OK. Bye, sis.”
“Bye.” I ended the call and stared at the phone.
“Are you all right?” Bess asked from the door.
With a nod, I stood and crossed the room to return her phone. “Yeah. Thanks for letting me make a call.”
She didn’t reach for it. “Do you need to call anyone else?”
I needed to call my boss, but his phone number wasn’t one of the few I had memorized. “No, thank you, but can you do me a favor on your way out?”
“Sure,” she said as she accepted the phone.
“There’s a patrol car sitting across from my driveway. Can you tell Officer McCollum that my personal phone is broken, and my SWAT phone is still in my patrol car? Also, ask him to let Sergeant Essex know.”
“Essex. Got it.” She rocked back and forth on her heels. “Are you sure you don’t want someone to stay with you? I really don’t have anywhere to be.”
I forced a smile. “I’ll be fine.”
“Okay.” She jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “I wrote my number on the whiteboard calendar in the kitchen. Not that it will do you much good tonight.”
“Thanks.”
“If you need anything at all, just holla.”
I smiled and followed her to the front door. “I will. I really appreciate all your help tonight, Bess.”
She turned with a hopeful smile. “Does this mean you won’t give me a speeding ticket?”
I laughed, sending a wave of pain through my head. “Not tonight, but slow it down out there.”
“I promise. It was really nice to meet you, Officer Nyx.”
“Just Nyx. It’s what my friends call me.”
She beamed. “Okay.” She waved and walked out.
I closed and locked the door behind her, and fell the hell apart.
Chapter Five
The next morning? Evening?—I wasn’t sure—my doorbell rang. Disoriented, I looked at the clock on the nightstand. 8:19 a.m. My arms flailed across the cool sheets. I was, mind and all, still in my bed.
I pulled on a pair of sweatpants and trudged barefoot to the door. Looking through the peephole, I saw Essex in the breezeway wearing civilian clothes. Jeans and a fitted black tee.
I gingerly ran my fingers through my hair and pulled open the door. He held up two paper cups of coffee from Sapphire Java. “I come in peace.” He offered one to me.
When I took it, I stepped out of the doorway. “Morning.”
“Morning,” he said as he walked inside. “How’s the head?”
“Kinda feels like I drank a bottle of tequila and played drums on my skull with a hammer.”
He grinned. “That good, huh?”
With a moan, I closed the door and led him to the kitchen. I squinted against the bright sunshine coming in from the sliding-glass doors to the balcony. I crossed the living room and closed the blackout curtains, shrouding the room in precious darkness. I left the corner open so I could see to walk. “What are you doing here?”
“Doubted you should be driving yet, so I thought I’d give you a lift to your interview.” His eyes fell to my sweatpants. “That is, if you’re still going.”
“Yeah. I’m still going.”
“And . . .” He angled to the side and pulled my SWAT phone and some rolled papers from his pocket. He handed me the phone first. “Figured you might need this. I got it out of your car this morning.”
“Thanks.” I checked its battery level before dialing my personal cell phone number. “Is my car totaled?” I asked while my voicemail picked up. I pressed the pound sign to check my messages.
“No, they can fix it. Said they’d call me later today with an estimate of how long it will take.”
“God, I hope I don’t have to drive a pool car.” I punched in my voicemail code.
“You have one new message,” the robot voice said. “New message received at seven-sixteen a.m.” Beep. “Hello, Corporal Nyx, this is Warden McCain from the Nevada State Penitentiary. Please call me back at your earliest convenience. We have an update about your father. Thank you.” He left a phone number.