“Maybe I should just go over there.”
She pushed the covers back and sat up gingerly. The doctors had said she was a lucky girl because the bullet hadn’t hit her lungs. Intellectually, she understood that she was fortunate not to be dead. But every move she made exhausted her, the skin around her wound still burned like crazy and she could barely shower without help. She didn’t feel lucky yet.
She just felt miserable.
“Raina,” she called. She cursed as her energy flagged and she sagged back against the pillows. How was she supposed to go track Jackson down and fuss at him when she could barely sit up without needing a nap?
A door slammed downstairs. Then she heard the sound of voices. They hadn’t had many visitors over the last week since Raina didn’t want anyone to know they were here. One of the voices was unmistakably male.
Who is that?
Maybe it was one of the security guys? The voices got louder. The louder they got, the more familiar they sounded.
“Is that Jackson?”
A rush of elation gave her the energy to sit up again. He was here. He’d finally come to see her. She was still kind of mad at him but every part of her was suddenly overjoyed, too. A week ago, she’d been standing in this very room with a gun to her head wondering if it would be the last time she saw his face. Now he was downstairs and she wasn’t waiting another minute. Ridley put her legs over the side of the bed and stood up gingerly.
Then she took her first shaky step.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
“RAINA! OPEN THE door!”
Raina sat in her living room and blithely turned the pages of a magazine. The sound of yelling outside ceased for a few minutes before resuming.
“I’m not leaving until you talk to me. You know I’ll make a scene.”
“Ugh! He is so irritating.” Raina groaned and slammed the magazine down on the couch next to her. Sam had offered to delay his own vacation and stay if she needed him. She hadn’t wanted to ruin his fun when she didn’t plan on doing much other than keeping her sister company while she recuperated.
The guards he’d posted to watch her house from outside had seemed like more than enough but they were trained to prevent anyone from coming in. They couldn’t do anything about someone who was bothering her from the street.
It was petty but now she kind of wished she’d asked Sam to stay. He was creative. He’d have found a way to take care of the extremely annoying pest outside her window.
“Okay, Raina. If you don’t open the door I’m going to video this and put it online.”
She marched over to the front door and snatched it open. “What the hell do you want?”
“I just want to talk.” He motioned to the guards standing between them. “Can you call off the goon squad?”
She nodded. The guards moved aside. Nick shook his head as he walked by them. As soon as he crossed the threshold, she slammed the door. “I don’t know why you’re here. I have nothing to say to you.”
Nick stood in the middle of her living room and stared at her couch. They’d done some pretty inventive things on that couch. Raina blushed. It shouldn’t embarrass her but somehow it did. She’d been someone totally different that night, and as much trouble as it had caused her, she couldn’t find it in her to regret it.
“How is Ridley doing?” Nick asked. He looked faintly guilty.
“Better. Nothing that rest and a little peace and quiet won’t cure. Which is why I’d appreciate it if you’d go bother someone else.”
“She hasn’t returned any of Jackson’s calls.”
“Maybe she doesn’t want to talk to him.”
Nick ran his hands over his hair. “Is she even getting his calls?”
Raina thought about lying, but knowing him he’d already figured out what she’d done. Part of the reason they loved to hate each other so much was because they were so much alike.
“Not unless he knows her new number. I had it changed before she even left the hospital.”
Nick shook his head. “I figured it was something like that.”
“I am just trying to protect my sister. She’s been hurt enough.”
“You’re right. She’s been hurt and it’s mainly my fault. My fault. Not Jackson’s. I screwed this up because of what happened between us. But unlike us, Jackson and Ridley are good for each other. Let’s fix this.”
Raina squeezed her eyes shut against a sudden rush of emotion. She whipped around, horrified when tears welled in her eyes.
"All my life, I've worked so hard to make sure that we're safe and we're never vulnerable again. I thought if I had enough money, everything would be perfect. But everything I have wasn't enough to keep the only person who loves me safe."
The hand that settled on her shoulder was as unexpected as it was comforting.
“She's not the only person who loves you.”
She shivered and tried to pull the emotion back in, to lock it up before she became an inconsolable sobbing mess. It actually hurt to tamp it back down, a literal crushing pain in her chest, to ignore his offer of comfort. But if she ever made the mistake of allowing anyone in, she feared she’d simply break apart—all her insecurities and fears spreading her into a million tiny fragments.
“You’re right,” she admitted, “Jackson and Ridley do belong together. So, just tell him to come over and I’ll let him in. Someone deserves a happy ending.” She wiped her cheeks and faced him.