I gave them the only reply I ever gave those fuckers: a quick flick of my wrist to shoot them the finger as I stepped into the hospital. I’d much rather they tear me apart in their trash magazines—that way they could at least leave Liam alone for a few minutes.
Natalie had called me an hour ago to let me know that since Liam was doing so well, he was being moved out of ICU and into a private room on the fourth floor. When the elevator stopped on that floor I was greeted by two almost identical-looking gorillas to the four that had been downstairs. They gave me a grim nod as I stepped off, from there I followed the trail of guards. One was at the nurses’ station, two more were at the waiting room on the floor—telling me that at least one of either OtherWorld or Demon’s Wings was inside.
I hoped it was Shane and Harper. Harper had had a cold since Christmas. When she and Shane had found out about Liam, they had wanted to come be with me and everyone else, but Emmie had thankfully talked her out of it. She seriously needed to focus on her health at the moment. With the depression that had set in when she found out she might never be able to have a baby of her own, Harper’s health had also taken a nose dive. The cold she had wouldn’t have been kicking her ass so badly if she wasn’t so heartsick. But the last time I’d talked to Harper she had sounded better, at least physically. So I was hoping she would be coming to New York soon.
Taking a peek inside the waiting room, I saw that it was Drake and Nik sitting inside with Zander, Harris, and Devlin. I waved when they glanced up, but continued down the hall to the room Natalie had told me Liam was in earlier.
Outside the room, three huge men in suits stood, making me wonder just how bad the paps had gotten in the time I had gone home for some sleep. I started toward the door and one of them stepped forward, a glare on his scary face. “ID,” he growled at me.
“Excuse me?” I glared back at him. This guy hadn’t been part of the security team over the past week, but everyone else knew who I was. Emmie had told everyone that I was to be let through no matter what, no questions asked. So Big and Scary standing in front of me acting like I was trying to steal state secrets really pissed me off.
I’d give him credit though. The man would obviously make a great bodyguard. All someone would have to do was look at him and they would second guess whatever it was they were about to do. Built like a mountain, with a face that would make little kids weep in fright, he was one scary motherfucker. Unfortunately for him, I wasn’t scared of much. If he had been dressed like a clown… Yeah, then I would be cowering, begging for my daddy.
“ID. No one goes in that room without ID.”
“Who the fuck are you?” I demanded, not bothering to reach for the driver’s license I kept on me at all times. My dad always asked that I keep some kind of identification on me, just in case something happened. It was a Texas license since I didn’t drive in New York. Shit, you couldn’t pay me enough to drive in New York City traffic.
“I’ll be asking the questions here. What’s your name?”
I raised a brow at the giant. “You first.”
Irritation crossed his ragged face and I nearly grinned. Yeah, I was an annoying bitch. I didn’t give in easily and I rarely took well to authority figures, something this man obviously was. “Your name, girl. As well as your ID. Otherwise you will be escorted out of the hospital and banned from the grounds.”
“Where the fuck is Emmie?” I bit out, not liking his tone. Really? Did they teach you menacing voices in bodyguard school? Because if they did, this monster of a man must have been top of his class. And why the hell weren’t the other two guards, men who had seen me countless times over the last week, stepping forward to vouch for me?
Liam’s door opened and Emmie stuck her head around the corner. My voice had been anything but soft and sweet so she must have heard me arguing with Big and Scary. When she saw me her eyes narrowed. “Dallas?”
“Who the fuck else would I be, redhead?” I snapped, at the end of my patience. “Is there a reason why I can’t get through? Does Liam not want to see me?”
Emmie blew out a frustrated sigh and stepped out of the room. “There was a security breach an hour ago. Someone was dressed like you and tried to get into Liam’s room. He was sleeping, and she was able to climb into bed with him and…” She broke off, her jaw clenched. “Anyway, we’ve had to tighten security. I’m sorry no one told you, but you have to supply Seller your ID to get inside Liam’s room now. Especially you.”
My eyes rounded at what she had just told me. What the fuck? Liam had a crazy fan try to… Well, I wasn’t sure what she had tried to do. What I wanted to know was how she had been able to look like me.
“How?” I said as I reached into my back pocket for my ID. “It’s kind of hard to look exactly like me, Emmie.”
She grimaced, her big green eyes on the man she had called Seller as he checked over my ID. “She had on long sleeves so the men couldn’t see that she didn’t have tats, but she did have the facial piercings. And her hair was just as blonde as yours. She kept her head down as she went in so they couldn’t tell that she really wasn’t you. They thought nothing of it, because you’ve been here all week. It wasn’t until Liam started screaming for help that they realized their mistake…” She glanced at the two stone-faced men. “It wasn’t really their fault. No one noticed. She got through four walls of security without getting stopped.”
My attention went back to Seller. “You know my ID won’t really work, right? Anyone can make one of those if they google my name and find a decent fake ID producer. I turned around and lifted my hair. “This is my latest tattoo. The nurse’s symbol with the R and N. Only a few people know I have it. All of them trustworthy…” I paused and shook my head. “Well, if you consider Axton Cage trustworthy.”
“Axton’s trustworthy,” Emmie said with a sigh. I rolled my eyes at her. She couldn’t handle anyone saying anything bad about him, or any of her other guys. It was great that she was so protective of them all, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t annoying. I wanted to dish out all kinds of abuse about him, but knew she would stab me before I got very far.
“Anyway, this is probably what you should check for instead of my ID.” I dropped my hair and snatched my ID back. “Oh, and I doubt the doppelgänger would have busted your balls over checking her identification.”