Page 37 of Ice Cold Liar

What do you need?

Her arm jerked again.Her fingers squeezed into a fist.But there was no knife in her grip.

“What do you need?Tell me how to help you!”

Not the same voice.That wasn’t Hudson’s voice.Hudson’s voice had been taunting.Falsely sympathetic.Smug.All of the?—

“Naomi!”

Eb’s face was right before her.His topaz eyes were worried.A bit wild.So was the expression on his face.Wild and almost desperate.

Did he care?Was that another lie?

She couldn’t hide this secret.Her body had betrayed her.

Her dog was barking again.

“I’m calling nine-one-one,” Eb said.

There wasn’t much the EMTs could do for her.They’d load her up.Take her to the hospital.Everyone would know her secret.

She’d been taking her pills.Prescribed by a doctor in another town.She tried to keep her secrets.Always.

Why was this happening now?At least, it wasn’t too bad.She could still process.Still think?—

“What do you need?”

Her arms and legs jerked.Time vanished.Hell returned.Fear blasted through her.Deja-vu.

Did this before.Been here before.Same place.

But, no, different man.Different?—

Fear consumed her.Awareness drifted.“Help…”

Nothing else.There was no more.She was lost.

Gone.

Help.

ChapterSeven

“I need an ambulance!”Eb blasted into his phone.“My—”What is she?What is Naomi to me?“My girlfriend is having a seizure, and I need help right now!We’re in the damn guesthouse at…” Eb fired off the address as quickly as he could and heard the instant promise from the nine-one-one operator that help was coming.

Help needed to hurry the hell up.

Naomi’s body seized again.The dog barked.

Service dog.The firefighter had been right about that score.The dog Naomi had wanted back so badly, the dog that Ivan had stolen from her had been anepileptic service dog.The sonofabitch had taken a lifeline from her.

The dog had known before Naomi’s seizure began.Henry had known it was coming and tried to get her to a safe spot so she wouldn’t fall and hurt herself.

He was going to buy Henry every treat in the world.After.After Naomi was okay.After her seizure had stopped.

How long had it been?Two minutes?Three?Three damn minutes that lasted forever in his mind?His heart raced and sweat slickened his back, and Eb wanted to make itstop.He knew from previous emergency responder training that five minutes was the time when heshouldhave called for an ambulance.That he should have waited because most seizures didn’t last longer than that time period.But?—

Screw that.He hadn’t waited five minutes.He’d called for help because he felt frantic.He didn’t know Naomi’s history.Didn’t know how bad things could get for her.

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