Page 22 of Romeo

Jules

“You have to take things easy, okay?Nothing more extensive than walking for the next week,” Dr.Lani Hunt tells me as she hands me discharge paperwork.“After that, you can do some light exercise as tolerated.”

“Great, thanks.”Wearing a pair of black joggers and a T-shirt that Riley brought me this morning, I sit on the edge of the hospital bed.I’m beyond ready to leave here, though I’m not thrilled about the next location.

Riley told me that my choices were either calling Odie and having him come get me or staying in his guest room until they figure out who hired the killer in the first place.I’d genuinely considered calling Odie, but all that would do is put my brother smack dab in the middle of the danger.

As it stands now, the killer has left him alone.

“You’re welcome.”Lani glances over at her brother, who’s been brooding in the corner for the last few hours.He’s been reading something on his phone most of the morning, which honestly works fine for me.

I like the quiet.I only wish I had a book to help pass the time.Something I’m hoping to remedy once I leave this place.

“Thanks again,” I tell Lani.Truthfully, she’s been the bright light in all of this.Her bedside manner is spectacular, and even though I hate hospitals, she made the experience not as bad as it could have been.

“Anytime.Though I do hope to only see yououtsideof the hospital from now on.”

“You and me both,” I reply.

“Great.See you later, Riley.”

“See you,” he says then shoves his phone into his pocket as he stands.

I eye the shoes down near my feet.I’d barely managed to get into these pants by myself, and it was sheer stubbornness at not letting Riley call for his sister that had me crying in the bathroom as I bit back pained groans and got dressed.

The shoes sit there, mocking me.I can do this.

“I’ve got it.”Riley doesn’t wait for my response as he crosses the distance and kneels at my feet.He undoes the laces of one tennis shoe then raises my foot and slides it on before tying the laces.

I’m so caught off guard by his gentle touch that I don’t realize I’m staring at him until he looks up at me through thick, dark lashes that would be the envy of every woman everywhere.“You okay?”he asks.

“Yeah.Sorry.Tired.”I let him raise my other foot and slide the shoe onto it, all while I try not to laugh at the ridiculous notion that, in this moment, I feel a lot like Cinderella while the handsome prince slides her shoe on.

But this isn’t some fairy tale where everything works out in the end.This is real life.Mylife.And I’ll be lucky if I survive long enough to see thirty.

Riley stands.“You ready?”

“More than,” I reply as I grab the plastic bag they gave me of my personal belongings and let him help me into a wheelchair sitting near the door.

Riley sets the footrests down, and I raise my feet to rest them on the metal plates.Then he places a baseball cap on my head.“Keep your head down.It’s morning, so the place is busier than normal.”

“Got it.”

As he wheels me out of the room, I keep my gaze down, trying not to catch the eye of anyone who might recognize me.

“I can help,” a woman says happily then steps forward.Carla is wearing floral scrubs and is one of the only staff members—Dr.Hunt aside—who was privy to the truth of who I was.

She’d helped take care of me for most of my stay and was always beyond kind.Something I’m really not used to since, the second people learn the truth about who I am and my past, their demeanor typically changes.They grow cold, distant, and have the fleeting look that they’d rather be anywhere but talking to me.

As she pushes me through the double doors and out toward the entrance, Riley walks beside me, a muscled bodyguard who moves with such smooth grace it would be easy to forget he’s lethal.

A black pickup truck sits under the overhang of the hospital.Riley moves ahead of me and opens the door as the nurse stops wheeling and puts the brakes on.She moves the metal plates.

“I hope you heal quickly,” Carla says with a smile.

“Thanks.Me too.”

Riley helps me out of the chair then takes my bag and heads for the truck as I walk right beside him.

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