Sweetest Sin: Bad Boy Bundle (47 page)

I drove Grams's station wagon up as close to the front door as possible and jumped out. I couldn't find anyone.

"Hello?" I ran through the house screaming. "Hello?"

"You must be Angela," a man said from the top of the stairs.

"Where is everyone?"

"Well, Marti and the rest of the wedding party are off doing wedding day things. Well, most of the rest of the wedding party, anyway. Hair, nails, pictures. All the stuff you're supposed to be doing."

"What are you doing here?"

"Me? I came for my wedding. But imagine my surprise when I show up for my wedding and find not only the man who attacked me, but also the little slut who rammed into my car."

"You're the groom?"

"Nice to meet you. Now, your little stunt is going to cost me over $1000 to buff out of the bumper of my car. Pay up."

"I'm not paying you a dime. Even if I had the money, which I don't, I didn't do anything wrong. You were brake testing me and you failed. Simple as that."

I felt fairly confident that he couldn't do anything here, but my heart thumped in my ears anyway. If he tried to do something here he would have to explain it to Marti and everyone else. And even though Marti wan't exactly the best person to confide in, and never had my side in anything, even she couldn't marry someone knowing what this guy was like.

I hoped.

"If you aren't going to pay me in cash then I'm going to take it out of your hide," he yelled and lunged at me.

I ducked and twirled out of reach and ran toward the door.

He jumped over and around me, knocking into the kitchen door just as my hand wrapped around the doorknob. My nail bent backwards, snapping clean from my fingertip as the door jerked out of my grip.

"Let me go," I said.

He grunted and swung out for me. I grabbed the umbrella stand and swung it around with all my might. It cracked against his shoulder and knocked him off balance for a moment. He managed to grab the other end of the umbrella stand and yanked it toward him. I let go of it before he could pull me along with it. I opted to grab the coat rack instead, flinging that around like a wizard with a staff, and clocked him in the side of the head.

He batted the coatrack away from its second blow with the umbrella stand. His scowl was growing more intense and he ran toward me again. His arms swinging in front of him trying to catch the coat rack before it could clobber him again.

I tossed the coatrack at him and ran toward the stairs. Covering the steps two at a time, I ran up the stairs and into my room where I could lock the door.

"Damn it," I whispered. "How the hell am I going to get out of here now?" I checked my pockets. No cell phone. I grunted as I realized I left it sitting in the front seat of Grams's station wagon.

"Damn it," I swore again.

My eyes darted around the room. His footsteps bounded down the hall, getting closer to the door as he yelled out my name.

I pressed my ear against the door and listened for him. He was running full force. Closer and closer. "Angela!" he screamed.

At the last possible second, I held my breath and flung the door open, sidestepping him as he ran straight into the room. I pushed his back, using his momentum to hurl him into the wall. I hoped it would knock him out. Instead, he tripped over a pile of wretched, hot pink dress and fell backwards into the window. His arms flailed around, trying to catch his balance. I seized the opportunity and pushed him over the edge, grunting as he crashed through the window and hit the ground below.

I took a deep breath and leaned out the window. He lay on the ground, completely still.

"It couldn't be that easy," I whispered. "Come on, Angela, you've watched enough horror films to know that it's never that easy."

I didn't have much choice, though. Not if I wanted to get out of here. I was just glad that he landed in the back yard. I hoped that bought me enough time to run downstairs, out the front door, and jump into Grams's station wagon before he was able to get up and move around enough to give chase,

***

My head was pounding. I cracked my eyes open and glanced around the room. I had no idea how long I was out for, but the sun was shining through the window blinds.

Two nurses smiling sympathetically, a doctor, and that's it. No Angela. I clenched my eyes tight.

"How are you feeling? Any better?"

I tried to nod. The tube made my throat sore.

"Okay, well, your stats are looking good. Your oxygen levels are up. So, we're going to take the tube out and see if you can keep your levels up. Okay?"

I blinked my eyes. I couldn't wait for this tube to come out. I needed to know what was happening.

"Okay," the nurse said as he wrapped his hands around the end of the tube and disconnected it from the machine. "I'm going to count to three. On two, take in a deep breath, deep as you can, and on three exhale. Long and slow while I pull this out. Okay? Let's go. One. Two. Three!"

He pulled the tube. It scratched its way out of my throat and released. I coughed and the nurse held out a small cup of water for me. The other nurse stepped over and propped up my pillow to help me sit up.

"Where's the girl who brought me in?" I asked.

"She left a little while ago," he said. "She said she'd be back."

"Okay. I have to go. Can I go now? You can't keep me here, right?"

Everyone stopped looking at me to look at each other. "You can't just leave," said the doctor as he walked up closer to the bed.

"But the tube is out and you guys said I was okay."

"Well, we said your oxygen levels were better. But we won't know for sure if you're okay until we monitor you for a few more hours."

"No, I'm fine. I have a bit of a headache, but I'm good enough to go. So you need to let me out of here." I jerked the blankets off me and swung my legs over the side of the bed. All feeling left my head as I sat up and I nearly fell over again.

"You're not fine," said the doctor. "This is serious. It's not something that your body can just shake off." She leaned over to help put me back into bed.

Frustrated, I threw my head back on the pillow.

"Now, I need to ask you a few questions. Some of them might seem a bit personal or uncomfortable, but I need you to answer them honestly. Have you ever felt discouraged about your future?"

"What? No. I didn't do this. I didn't try to kill myself. And why would you plant that idea in Angela's head, anyway?"

"We're just trying to put together a picture of how this happened. So we can better treat you. Now if you say you didn't do this, then I'll have to believe you. But if you're lying, or if you're ashamed to admit something, then it could have serious consequences."

"I didn't do this. I'm not sure how this happened. Something hit me in the head."

"Are you saying someone did this to you?"

"No. I said something hit me in the head. And then the next thing I knew, Angela pulled me out of the garage. So now can I go?"

"You're not going anywhere. At least not for a while. We need to monitor your levels. If you're able to keep your oxygen levels up on your own, we can discuss letting you go home after a couple days."

"A couple days? I can't hang out here for a couple days."

The doctor just stared at her clipboard, scribbling down notes. She didn't even lift her eyes to acknowledge a word I said.

"Exercise, Mr. Sanders."

"What?"

"Exercise will help you flush out the rest of the carbon monoxide. Walk around a bit, as much as you can. You'll probably tire quickly at first. But as the carbon monoxide gets completely flushed out, your energy will pick up. You want to get out of here faster? Try exercise."

***

The drive back to the hospital seemed to take forever. My eyes darted back to the rearview mirror over and over again. I debated turning off the road and heading in closer to the inner city. If he was going to come after me, I didn't like the idea of leading him straight back to Tim.

"Oh my God, Tim didn't do this to himself," I said out loud as I realized what must have happened.

Then the world spun around.

Grams's station wagon lurched forward hard enough to topple my balance. I glanced back at the mirror. The BMW was speeding up to ram me again. I stepped on the gas and took off down the winding road.

The station wagon lurched again, sending my cell phone off the seat and onto the floor mat of the passenger side. I screamed and my eyes darted around the road in front of me. The fog made everything seem as though it were leaping out at me. Trees appeared seconds before I passed them.

My tires locked up and the back end of the station wagon started to skid. Instinct from my dad teaching me how to hit a puddle kicked in and I slammed on the gas and turned the steering wheel into the skid. I held my breath as the car came back under my control and I looked back into the mirror.

The BMW hit the same large puddle and skidded. I stomped on the gas as he fishtailed down the road behind me. His tail end swerved out one way and then the other. Finally, he swerved off the side of the road and stopped.

I wonder if I should stop and check?
I thought. Maybe luck was finally on my side and he had at least knocked himself out.

All the way to the hospital, I kept one eye glued to the rearview mirror. The beamer never came back. By the time I reached the parking lot, I was breathing sighs of relief. I practically skipped into the hospital and over to Tim's room.

Empty.

"Excuse me?" I called over a nurse. "Can you tell me where Timothy Sanders is?"

The nurse checked a clipboard and then smiled back at me. "He's been admitted and moved to the fourth floor."

"Thanks," I said as I ran to find the elevators.

Tim's new room was private. I cracked the door open and peered in. His arms were crossed over his chest, the remote sticking out as he rolled his eyes. But the tubes were gone.

"Knock, knock," I whispered as I tapped on the door.

"Angela," he sat up straight. "Are you okay? That guy showed up and."

"Yea I know. He was at the house when I went to pick up Grams. But he's gone now."

"What do you mean he's gone? What does that mean?"

"I mean I lost him. He was chasing me and we hit a puddle. I pulled out of a skid, but he ended up donuting full speed into a tree."

Tim laughed and threw his head back into the pillow. "Hey listen," he said as he rubbed his throat. "About what that doctor said earlier--."

"It's fine. Don't worry about it."

"Because I didn't."

"I know. I mean, I wondered at first. It's not like we really know each other, you know? But once I got back to Grams's house and saw that car I figured out what happened. I'm just glad I found you in time."

He smirked and turned back to the television, stretching one arm up and propping it behind his head. "It seems weirdly perfect that Marti would find a psychopath to marry."

I laughed. "Right? I almost busted out laughing when he told me he was the groom. God, I wonder what she's going to say when she finds out about his car accident?"

Tim shook his head.

"So how long do you have to stay in here for?"

"I don't know. They are still monitoring to see if my body can flush out the rest of the carbon monoxide. They want me to walk around and stuff. They said the exercise would help."

"Exercise, huh? Looks like you would do just about anything to get out of doing any of that."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he dropped the remote and chuckled between his words.

"Just that I find it funny that you would go to such lengths just to keep from being able to sleep with me for the rest of the weekend."

"Oh really. So this was all about you, huh?"

I giggled and sat down on the edge of the bed.

His skin still seemed pale compared to earlier in the weekend. And the skin around his eyes had a purple tint to them, probably from the exhaust fumes poisoning him. But his smile still seemed bright as ever.

I was beginning to realize how hard it was going to be to end everything after this weekend. But I was also determined to make sure it ended. I didn't want him to think that I was going back on my word. Or that I had become one of those girls who couldn't separate sex and lust from love.

There was no way I was falling in love with this man.

Right?

He grabbed my hand and pulled me down into a kiss. His tongue peeked into my mouth and danced with my tongue as he moaned. I sank deeper into his kiss. Adjusting my arm and fisting his hair. His other arm wrapped around my thigh and pulled my leg up over him.

His manhood grew hard and thick beneath me.

"Here?" I whispered. "Can we do this here?"

"If you hurry up before anyone comes in." He smiled and brushed his lips against the nape of my neck.