Against the Cage (Worth the Fight #1) (33 page)

“Yes. I’m almost finished with school. Trying to learn the ropes so I can work here full-time when I get my PT license.”

“So … you called Jessica?” Fiona had been smiling dreamily at Slade and had forgotten all about Jessica, but at the mention of her name she seemed to snap out of it. “Oh—uh, yeah, here. Please fill this out.” She handed her a clipboard full of documents. “The therapist will be with you shortly.” Jessica took the papers and turned toward the chair, Slade following behind her.

“Hey, Slade, I’m free in an hour if you wanna—” Fiona’s words ended suggestively.

“Can’t” was all Slade said before sitting down next to Jessica. The woman slammed the little window shut.

Jessica slid him a sideways glance. “Don’t mind me. Feel free to go out with one of your harem-ettes.”

Slade barked out a laugh. “Seriously, Jess. Where do you come up with these things? She’s not in my harem. I don’t have a harem. And anyway, I’m not interested.” His eyes bored into hers in a way that seemed to make her nervous.

“Jessica Cross?” A lean man in his early thirties, wearing scrubs, interrupted their staring. Slade trailed after Jessica as she met the man by the door. “I’m your therapist. Seth Rossing.” He smiled, and Slade turned to see Jessica grinning back.
Son of a bitch!

“There are no women therapists?” Slade asked, his voice huskier than usual. Seth and Jessica both looked back at him.

“Slade!” Jessica hissed.

He tried to recover quickly. “I—uh—it’s just that she needs someone delicate. She was very badly injured.”

Seth turned and led Jessica into the room, his hand on her lower back. “I’ll be gentle. Sorry, only the patient’s allowed inside,” Seth informed him before Slade could follow behind them.

“See you in an hour, Slade,” Jessica said as the door closed.

Instead of going to tend to his work obligations with Silva, Slade decided to wait. There was a man currently feeling Jessica up on the other side of the door. He sat down, grabbed a magazine that was seven years old, flipped through it, and tossed it aside. He stood up again and paced the room, his mind drifting to thoughts of Jessica. For nearly two weeks, the moment he had first seen Jessica in the hospital had haunted his mind.

Slade ran through the hospital doors
.

“Jessica Cross? I need to see Jessica Cross,” he said to the woman who sat in the reception area of the hospital. The woman typed something into her computer system
.

“Is that two esses?” Slade’s eyes narrowed in confusion. What the hell was she talking about?

“What?” he yelled impatiently
.

“Is that Jessica with two esses?”

“Are you kidding me right now?” He slammed his palms onto the desk and leaned into the woman. Her cheeks became noticeably flamed. “Is there any other way of spelling it? Of course it’s Jessica with two esses.”

The woman stared at him for a moment before going back to her computer. “And before you ask, it’s Cross with two esses as well.” She looked up, nodded timidly, and went back to typing
.

“Here she is. She is in the critical care unit, room three twelve. Follow this hall to the end, take the elevators to the third floor, and you’ll see the sign for critical care. Only immediate family allowed.”

Without a second thought he answered, “I’m her brother.”

She nodded her approval and he took off toward Jessica
.

As soon as he found the correct room, he knocked. He heard a faint sound and walked in
.

“Slade?” Jessica whispered
.

Slade took in the sight of the beautiful woman in front of him. Her perfect skin, something that he’d always noticed, was marred by scrapes and bruises. Her eye was swollen shut, her lips inflamed and split. She didn’t look like Jessica
.

“Jess. I came as soon as I heard.” He walked hesitantly toward her. When he got
close, she turned her face away from him. He pulled up a chair and sat down right beside her. “Jessica, please, sweetheart, look at me.”

He heard a sniffle. “No, I can’t.”

“This isn’t your fault. He’s the monster. You were just a victim. A brave victim. Please, Jess. Look at me.” He heard more sniffling before she turned her head slowly toward him
.

His gaze was locked on her beautiful brown eyes. He reached up and smoothed her hair away from her face. “I’m so sorry this happened, Jessica. So sorry. This is all my fault. You shouldn’t have gone alone, baby. You should’ve called me. He’s lucky he’s in jail.”

Her lip quivered. “And you?” It was difficult to understand her because her jaw was swollen and her voice was low and muffled
.

“My charges were dropped. Thanks to you, everything’s clear.”

“Oh, thank God.”

“Immediate family only,” a nurse said curtly as she walked in
.

“It’s ok—” Jessica began to say
.

“I’m her brother.” The nurse eyed him before shrugging and continuing toward her patient. Jessica’s eyes narrowed, but she seemed to accept his lie in order to have him there
.

“What’s the prognosis? When can she go home?”

The nurse looked at Jessica for permission to discuss this with Slade. Jessica nodded
.

As she skimmed through the chart, she said, “She’ll probably be here a few more days. Just waiting for some lab work and scan results. The broken rib punctured her lung and it caused her lungs to collapse. It’s looking better already, but we need to continue monitoring her. She’s on heavy sedatives for the injuries as well. Her arm’s broken, which is why she’s in the cast.” She turned her attention to Jessica. “Honey, I hope you have lots of family because you are going to need help once you get out.” Jessica’s eyes watered and she gave an unconvincing nod to the nurse, who smiled before leaving the room
.

“Jess? Have you called your family? They’re from Charlotte, right? Are they coming?”

Jessica shook her head
.

He reached for her hand, “Baby, you want me to call them for you?”

She shook her head again. She looked so fragile, so alone, and so scared that Slade wanted to put her in a protective bubble and stand guard. From the day they’d met,
he’d felt this way about her. He was notoriously selfish, but when it came to this woman, a surge of protectiveness consumed him
.

“Please. What can I do? I’m so sorry about—”

She shook her head again. “Not your fault.” She then grimaced
.

“Does it hurt when you talk?”

She nodded
.

“Then yes and no questions only, ’kay?” She squeezed his hand and blinked. Her face was turned to his, and tears were slowly running down it
.

“You don’t want to call your family?”

She shook her head
.

“I think you need to tell them what happened.”

She shook her head again frantically. Her chin quivered as the tears continued to fall down her eyes over her nose and onto the bed
.

“Baby, please. Don’t cry. I don’t know how to handle this, but I’m here. Okay? I’m here. You’re not alone. If you don’t want to call your folks, that’s cool. You’ll just be stuck with me.”

She frowned at him
.

“No?”

She whispered no
.

“Why?”

She shrugged
.

“Not a good reason. And since you can’t speak, it’s me or your parents. You pick.” He reached for her phone as if he were going to dial her parents
.

She seemed to ponder it for a few moments, then pointed at Slade
.

“Okay. That’s settled, then.”

He reached over and stroked her hair for some time. “Go to sleep, baby. No one’s going to hurt you. I swear to you. No one will ever hurt you again.” Her eyes slowly closed and then she was asleep. Slade sat there for hours looking at the beautiful woman who lay there broken
.

He’d had a few regrets throughout his life. One, letting his sister walk out of his life more than ten years ago because of some bullshit he had said to her during their father’s funeral. He’d been drunk and the things he’d said he’d regret until the day he died. Because of that, she had left, and ten years had gone to waste. The second thing he regretted was not finding Dennis Stravos and fucking him up himself. Even if it had led to prison, he should’ve done it. Because Slade had stayed away from Jessica, Dennis had severely beaten her
.

He vowed at that moment never to let her get hurt again
.

Love stories you’ll never forget By authors you’ll always remember

eOriginal Romance from Random House
www.readloveswept.com

Follow us online for the latest new releases, giveaways, exclusive sneak peeks, and more!

readloveswept
readloveswept

Other books

Billionaire Ransom by Lexy Timms
The Second Sex by Michael Robbins
Dreamlands by Felicitas Ivey
An Uplifting Murder by Elaine Viets
Crave by Melissa Darnell
A Poisonous Journey by Malia Zaidi
Death Springs Eternal: The Rift Book III by Robert J. Duperre, Jesse David Young
Elusive Passion by Smith, Kathryn
Six Impossible Things by Fiona Wood