Page 30 of Until Presley

“You want her calm. Look.” I point at Presley, who turns and wraps around me too.

“Okay.” The nurse leaves, and we lie there for a while before a doctor walks in.

“Miss Blanchard,” he starts but stops when he sees me.

“You can talk in front of him,” she says against my chest, not pulling away.

“You’re free to go. I have a prescription for you for some sleeping pills, and I gave you a shot to help with the anxiety. If you have another attack, I’d go see a specialist. I’ll give you some referrals.” He turns to look at me. “She’ll need to take one pill to help her stay calm and let her sleep.”

“Okay.”

The doctor excuses himself, and we wait for the nurse to come back with the discharge papers.

Thirty minutes later, I carry her out to the lobby, where the agents are waiting with Walker.

“Presley, we aren’t sure if you are in danger, but we’d like you to keep an eye out. We’d like to talk to you more, if you are up to it.”

“She’s not up to it,” I answer for her, and she holds me tighter, letting me know she agrees. “Let’s go, Walker.”

I follow behind him as he leads us to his truck. I climb into the back with her and buckle her into the seat. She clings to me. By the time we get home, she’s asleep against my chest.

“Should I ask?”

“Not right now. I don’t know everything. When I do, I’ll tell you. Presley isn’t ready for us to go over everything again, but needless to say, there are several bodies around my girl.”

“Fuck,” Walker says as he pulls away.

CHAPTER

ELEVEN

HAM

Presley has kept the agents away, not wanting to go over everything again. It’s been a couple of weeks, and all I can think about is keeping her close. She’s staying with me all the time now.

Her parents called right after the hospital visit and weren’t happy that we didn’t call them right away. When I tried to talk her father into hiring her some security, he told me there is no evidence that she’s being watched or followed.

I’m going to reach out to a friend of mine to see if he can help me out. For now, I drive her around wherever she needs to go. I have the shared location function on her phone turned on. I also have her call me throughout the day when we’re apart. She still needs to work, and so do I. Otto is getting frustrated with me, but Walker understands after everything he went through with Hanna.

I’ve decided to gather everyone together today for a snorkeling trip. Presley has taken over my office to work on her studies. She’s currently in there studying for an exam, so I give her a couple of hours before interrupting her.

“Okay, baby, time to stretch. You’ve been sitting too long.”

“Oh, thank goodness. My back is killing me.”

She stands up and stretches before walking over to me. I lift her up, and she wraps around me as we kiss. I press her into the wall and contemplate cancelling so I can finish what we’ve started, but I don’t want to let my friends down, and she needs this.

The only time Presley has been in or around the water, other than pools, has been when her team heads out to retrieve the satellite trackers from the sharks or dolphins. She has decided to continue Leah’s studies, and she’s had more focus on dolphins than on sharks. But I know she’ll miss her sharks if she changes her area of research.

“Come on.” I pull away from her neck, stopping myself, and let her go. “Go put on a swimsuit. I have a surprise for you.”

“Are we leaving the house?”

“Yep, so some kind of cover-up or shorts are needed too.”

“Okay.”

She rushes off, and it’s good to see her happy and not stressing out.

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