Monroe, Marla - The Edge of Night [The Protectors 3](Siren Publishing Classic) (27 page)

Someone cleared her throat. Amanda hid her face in Morgan’s neck when they pulled apart.

“I came to help you get dressed, but I see you have someone who can help you.” A middle-aged nurse smiled at them and shook her head. “I’ll be back in about twenty minutes with your discharge papers and that prescription for you.”

“Oh my God, I’m so embarrassed,” Amanda said.

“Come on, let’s get you dressed before she gets back,” Morgan said with a grin.

Amanda slid off the stretcher with Morgan’s help and shed the gown. He held the jeans while she stepped into them and pulled them up for her. Then he helped her with her bra and blouse. By the time the nurse arrived again, they were both standing by the stretcher waiting on her. She smiled and shook her head.

“Here is your paperwork. Sign here, and this copy is yours.” She indicated where to sign and handed a pen to Amanda.

“So, I can take her now?” Morgan asked.

“She’s free to go.”

* * * *

Morgan hurried her outside where everyone was waiting. Tyler even hugged her.

“You okay?” he asked. “What about the baby?”

“I’m fine. So is the baby.”

The twins nodded at her.

“Okay, we need to find another hotel for the night and then get an early start in the morning,” Jethro said.

“Can we go ahead and ride for a few hours tonight? I really don’t want to stay here,” Amanda said.

Jethro looked over at Morgan. Morgan felt the same way, but wasn’t sure if it was a good idea for Amanda. She turned her face up to him with a begging expression that he couldn’t ignore.

“Okay, we’ll ride another hour or so and find a nice place to stay up the road. First, though, we need to find a pharmacy and get something filled for her,” Morgan said.

“Saw one around the corner from the hospital,” Justin said.

“Amanda, I want you to ride with the twins until we get to the next town. I don’t think you should be riding the bike this soon after you fell,” Morgan told her.

“I want to ride with you, Morgan. I’m fine. The doctor said I was fine.”

“Regardless, if you want to ride with me tomorrow, you’re riding with the twins tonight. End of conversation.” He frowned at her when she opened her mouth again.

He wasn’t a bit surprised when she pleaded with her eyes, then gave him a dirty look. He knew she wasn’t comfortable around them, but he felt like he was doing what was best for her and the baby. He could still see the picture of that little being inside of her. It made it more real to him that she was pregnant. Had he been fooling himself into forgetting that she was all this time?

Jethro drove, and Justin helped Amanda up into the truck to sit between them. He looked at her through the windshield and could see the fear in her eyes. He hated seeing it, but felt like he was doing the right thing.

They stopped at the pharmacy. He went in and got the prescription filled while everyone else waited. He took a package of peanut butter crackers and a candy bar to the truck for Amanda.

“See that she eats something on the way.” Then he handed them each a bottled water.

They drove for about three hours before stopping in a little town not too far from Stillwater. Had they driven another two to three hours, they would have been able to make it into Stillwater, but Morgan didn’t want to push it. He felt like Amanda needed the rest.

They pulled off the interstate and found a hotel with vacancies. So far their luck had been holding that they could get connecting rooms with double beds. They pulled around back. Morgan was there by the truck when it was Amanda’s turn to scoot out of it. He helped her down and walked her to their room.

“Did you eat anything?” he asked.

“I had a package of peanut butter and crackers,” she said without looking at him.

“Are you going to be mad at me for long?” he asked, amused.

“I don’t know yet. I’ll let you know when I know,” She huffed and walked over to the bathroom.

“At least she didn’t slam the door,” Tyler said with a grin.

“She’ll get over it. She’s afraid of the twins, but I trust them with her life. I’m worried about her riding the bike right now after falling and all.”

“It was a controlled fall, though, so I’m sure she and the baby are fine,” Tyler told him.

“The doctor said she needs to put on some weight. She’s bordering on not being healthy. The baby is getting what it needs, but she isn’t.” Morgan sighed.

“So, we’ll have to all feed her. Once we get to Dodge’s place, that will be easy. Plus she can rest all the time. His place is big enough for all of us.”

“Hell, I still can’t believe that bitch left him when he came home like he did,” Morgan said with a growl.

“He’d built that house for them and everything,” Tyler agreed.

“No talking about her while we’re there,” Morgan reminded Tyler.

“Not a problem here.”

The bathroom door opened, and Amanda came out freshly showered wearing a T-shirt and panties. It was her T-shirt, so it showed more than Morgan’s would have. She climbed into bed and covered her bottom half.

“I hate to always be complaining, but I’m hungry, Morgan,” she said.

“You’re not the only one. How do you feel about pizza again?” he asked.

“Sounds good to me.”

“Her baby is going to come out looking like a pizza, Morgan. She needs some fruit too,” Tyler fussed.

“I’ll get the twins to stop by the grocery store and grab some.”

“Don’t go to all that trouble. When we get where we are going, I’ll get some fruit then,” Amanda said.

Morgan just shook his head and knocked on the connecting door. Jethro opened it with just a pair of jeans on. He had obviously taken a shower.

“How about pizza tonight?” he asked the other man.

“Sounds good to me. We’ll go get it if you’ll call it in using our name. Justin is in the shower.” Jethro finished buttoning his button-fly jeans.

Morgan turned and noticed that Amanda was studying the bedspread, and he grinned. “Do you mind stopping by a grocery store on the way and picking up a couple of bananas?” Morgan asked.

“Naw, be glad to. I plan to get a couple of six-packs of beer. I think we could all use a drink tonight.”

“Good idea.” Morgan slapped the door facing and turned to Tyler, who was already looking through the phone book.

“I’m looking,” Tyler said when Morgan walked over and sat on the edge of the bed next to Amanda.

“How are you holding up other than being hungry?” he asked.

“I’m fine. My hands sting a little bit, but they should be fine by morning.” She looked up into Morgan’s face and smiled a sad little smile.

“What is it, baby?” he asked, concerned.

“It’s all going to be over soon, right? Your friend Dodge has something that could keep Guy from coming after me and the baby?”

“That’s what he says. I trust him, and he always pulls through for us.” Morgan cupped her face with his hand.

Amanda rubbed her cheek into the curve of his hand and sighed. “Now that it is almost finished, I’m not sure what I’m going to do.”

“You still have time to think about that. You can pick a place, anywhere you want to live, and we’ll get you set up there.”

Morgan felt a knot grow in his throat when he told her that. The idea of her choosing somewhere besides where he was hurt right then. But he wasn’t sticking around, so there was no reason even thinking about where she chose to live. Still, it weighed heavily on his mind over the next few hours.

“Okay, I ordered five large pizzas in Jethro’s name,” Tyler said.

“I hope one has everything but olives on it,” Amanda said with a teasing smile.

“Of course.” He grinned at her.

Morgan bit back a retort. Tyler was only being nice to her. He had no business jumping on him. Besides, Amanda wasn’t his property.

When Justin and Jethro walked over, they were talking between themselves about something concerning a woman. It wasn’t about Amanda, though. He knew them. They went after a certain type of woman, one who enjoyed a threesome and a little dominance.

“Pizza ready yet?” Jethro asked.

“Should be by the time you get finished with the grocery shopping,” Tyler said.

“Let’s go then,” Jethro said.

They unlocked the door and left. Morgan relocked the safety bar and dead bolt. He figured they’d be gone about an hour. He’d watch for them.

“Morgan?” Amanda asked.

“Yeah, baby?”

“Tell me a little about Dodge. You talk about him all the time, but I’d like to know more about him.”

“Well, for a couple of years, he, Tyler, Logan, and Riley were all in the same unit I was. We worked well together. Saw a lot of action. Then we were hit with an ambush, and Dodge saw this little boy who’d been running and fallen down. He ran after him and dragged him to safety and covered him with his own body. A bomb went off near them, and Dodge took a lot of shrapnel in his body. He lost part of one leg to it.”

“The little boy?” Amanda asked.

“Was fine. Not a scratch on him. Dodge saved his life,” Morgan said.

“Then he’s a hero,” she said.

“Yep, he’s a hero. But don’t say anything to him. He’s still trying to deal with it all.”

“Okay, I won’t. Is he going to be okay with all of us descending on him like a horde?”

“He’ll grouse about it good-naturedly, but he will enjoy the company,” Morgan assured her.

“Hey you two, I’m going to go take a shower while we wait on the pizzas,” Tyler said and disappeared into the bathroom.

“Tyler is nice, but a flirt,” Amanda said with a laugh.

“He is at that. He was the one always ready to party when we got back to base. Even when we’d all had a pissy detail or mission, Tyler was ready to go dance with the ladies.” Morgan laughed. “He got us in more trouble flirting with everything in a skirt.” Morgan shook his head.

“Do you think he’ll ever settle down?” she asked.

“I don’t know. It’s hard to imagine someone catching his attention for longer than a few nights. I suppose it’s possible, though.”

“What about the twins? How did you meet them?” she asked.

“Not long after we got back to base from that clusterfuck, they reassigned me to another unit. I ended up with the twins and a few other men. We all got close as well. The twins are crazy. They will do just about anything,” Morgan told her. “They took every dangerous assignment available. Jethro was a sniper and Justin his spotter. They got into places no one else had ever been able to breach. We depended on them to keep the enemy off our back when we were in the field.”

“They scare me. They’re so big,” Amanda whispered.

“Baby, they would never hurt you. Women to them are precious. They’ll go to their death to protect one.”

About that time, Tyler emerged from the bathroom in jeans, rubbing his hair with a towel.