Page 59 of His Dark Purpose

“As I said, we’ll be in touch, sir.” The young guy pressed his lips into a thin line. “Did the paramedics have time to check you over before they left?”

“What?” Kyle scowled. “I’m fine.” Why was the cop fussing about him? Kyle wasn’t the one who’d lost too much blood too fast.

“Well, if you’re sure.” He shifted from one foot to the next.

“I have to go to the hospital.” Kyle turned toward the door, shying away from the daylight as though it might burn him. “I should have gone in the ambulance, but I just couldn’t…” His voice trailed away.

“I understand, sir,” the constable cooed. “It must have been a dreadful shock for you.”

That was one way of putting it. In one heart-stopping moment, Seth had turned Kyle’s entire world on its head.

He turned away from the prattling officer, replaying the scene over and over in his head. Kyle hadn’t seen the knife. He hadn’t known Seth had picked it up and had it with him, but he supposed he should have guessed. Amy’s son was only just out of jail, and he’d broken into Brock Hall on his first day of freedom. Clearly, he hadn’t been thinking straight.

“Let me take you to the hospital, sir.”

Kyle tuned in to hear the cop continuing.

“I wouldn’t recommend you drive for the time being.”

He wanted to argue with the youngster, who scarcely looked old enough to drive himself, but Kyle didn’t have the will. The idea of doing anything other than clinging to the table seemed overwhelming. It was quite unlike his regular mood.

“Okay.” He sighed, resigning himself to be driven around in the cop car for the time being. “What about him?” He gestured to the upstairs, unable to bring himself to say Seth’s name. He was still up there, though—after everything he’d done—still wandering around Kyle’s home as though he owned the place.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to travel together, sir.” The constable’s brow furrowed. “Why not leave Mr. Kendal here for the time being.”

“Yes.” He hated that he needed to acquiesce, but yet again, the cop was right. Kyle couldn’t bear the thought of seeing Seth there, let alone traveling in the same car. For the time being, Amy’s eldest son would have to stay where he was. “But I don’t trust him here on his own.”

“My colleague can stay for now.” The constable signaled to the equally youthful female officer who’d appeared from the doorway.

“Thanks.” He heaved in a breath as he forced himself to straighten.

The last thing he’d been expecting as he’d made love to Amy in his bed that morning was that he’d be permitting the police to take him to the hospital after she’d been stabbed. He could hardly get his head around what had transpired.

“Are you ready?” The constable tugged his car keys from his pocket.

Was he ready—ready to visit the love of his life in the one place he never wanted to see her?

How couldanyone be ready for that?

With one final glance around his home, Kyle replied with the only words he could muster.

“I guess so.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Reunion

Amy

Amy winced as she shifted tentatively in the bed. Despite the copious quantities of painkillers the medics had given her, the sharp throb in her side was still agony whenever she moved, and given that pulling in air counted as motion for her ribcage, that meant most of the time.

Closing her eyes, she allowed her mind to drift back to the events of Kyle’s bedroom. The friction between him and Seth had been bound to come to a head, but even she hadn’t accounted for the extent of their antagonism.

All she could remember was seeing Seth pushing the blade in her lover’s direction and knowing there was no time to think—she just had to act. She couldn’t let Seth harm Kyle. She loved both of the arrogant fuckers too much to see one potentially killed and the other sent back to prison for the lunacy.

Throwing herself between them had saved them both from those fates, but it had meant she’d taken the brunt of Seth’s ill intent. As it was, the blade had only torn through her muscle wall, and while that wasn’t great, she was eminently grateful it hadn’t done any major damage. Despite her blood loss and the risk of infection, shewouldrecover and live to tell the tale, knowing she would never press charges against Seth. Her act of sacrifice kept her son out of prison and her lover alive, and somehow, she’d find a way to iron out their differences and make amends.

“Idiots!” she whispered, grappling with another jolt of pain. “They’re both as bad as each other.”

---