Shira (6 page)

They were led into a curtained off section, and Shira took a seat. Max stood near the hall, arms crossed, alert. She chewed her lip. “Max, what’s wrong?”

He frowned. “Nothing.”

Was he always like this in hospitals? Was he afraid like she was but for a different reason? She wondered if the last time he’d been in the emergency room was when his girlfriend died. Maybe that’s what was upsetting him. Thinking that turned her mind from her own issues, and she searched for some way to soothe him.

“It’s fine. Everything is okay, Max,” she said.

He gave her a look full of curiosity, and then the curtain slid back. Shira almost vomited and fainted on the floor. She sucked in a deep, steadying breath that did absolutely nothing for her.

“Shira, what a surprise,” Sam said, but he didn’t look surprised at all. She knew he’d read the chart with her name on it and made sure to rush over—any opportunity to make her life miserable.

“S-Sam,” she whispered and then cleared her throat.

“
You’re
the doctor?” Max asked. She couldn’t believe the hostility in his tone. One would have thought he knew Sam was her ex, but he couldn’t know that. The only one who would was that leopard that had stopped him from dragging her back into his car that rainy night.

“I am.” Sam gave a blinding smile that she used to watch him practice in the mirror when he wanted to impress. The act fell flat with Max, and Sam frowned a little before he recovered himself. “I’m Doctor Samuel Ellerby. Shira is an old friend of mine, and it’s good seeing her. You are?”

He offered his hand to shake Max’s, but Max ignored it.

“My employer,” Shira rushed to say, but she didn’t know why. Maybe it was the fact that Sam intimidated her.

Max glanced at her, but he didn’t contradict what she said. Sam seemed too pleased, and she kicked herself for not going with Max’s earlier excuse, that he was her fiancé. Of course Sam wouldn’t believe that knowing how recently they were together, but she could have let him think she and Max were involved. Max outweighed him by a good thirty pounds and was taller by several inches. The wildness she’d sensed in Max when she met him was plain even in his leaning against the wall unmoving. Watching him and knowing he would protect her if need be calmed her down some.

“Then maybe I’ll need to see my patient while you wait in the visitor’s area?” Sam suggested.

“No.”

Both Shira and Sam blinked at his one word answer with no pretense of being pleasant. Shira put a hand to her mouth and tried not to laugh at the reddening, which started in Sam’s cheeks. She liked Max a lot!

“No?” Sam stuttered with a few incomprehensible words before he turned to Shira. In the past, if she’d reduced him to idiot status, she would have paid for it with tears and pain. She was glad Max was the one dishing it out. Let him try getting into her boss’s face. He could see what he got.

With an expression of innocence, Shira held her hand out to Sam. She didn’t want to trust him to stitch her up, but he wouldn’t risk his livelihood just to get back at her. He ground his teeth together so obviously, she was surprised she didn’t hear the noise. After he’d washed his hands and had a nurse assist him with numbing her, he eventually stitched her up. By the time they were ready to leave, Shira was on cloud nine. All she’d done to escape Sam was worth it. Going to Max was a good choice. Her hope in the future multiplied tenfold.

When they were almost out the door leading to the waiting area, a nurse stopped them. “I’m sorry Mr. Macgregor, I have a form I forgot to have you sign.”

Max paused. “Sure.”

The nurse started to walk away, and Max followed. Shira yawned. She stayed near the door, leaning against the wall and thinking about the rest of the mess she needed to clean up at home. She hadn’t realized she closed her eyes until she sensed someone nearby. She popped upright and started to find Sam in front of her.

Shira shifted left to see if she saw Max, but he was nowhere in sight. Sam moved to block her view. “What’s between you two?”

“Nothing,” she muttered. “If you’ll excuse me.” She started to go around him, but he blocked her path once again.

“Do you think he’s going to keep you from me?”

The pounding in her head, which had calmed since they arrived, started up again. She didn’t answer.

“You belong to me, Shira, until I’m ready to toss you aside,” Sam warned her. “I’m going to bring you home, and you’re going to pay for ever having anything to do with him.”

Shira balled her hands into fists. “Back off! I’m over you. You can’t scare me anymore, Sam. I’m never returning to your house or having anything to do with you.”

He chuckled low in his throat so that it sounded menacing. Shira didn’t want to admit that it scared the crap out of her. “You know the influence I have, the people I know. How long do you think he’ll tolerate you after I ruin his life?”

“Y-You wouldn’t do that.” She cursed herself. “He’s not some nobody that you can push around with your money.”

Sam’s grin widened, and he raised an eyebrow. “Oh? You’ve got me curious, Shira. Just who is this guy? Something tells me he’s more than just your boss. What kind of service do you provide for him?”

She shook with anger and fear. Instead of getting Sam to drop his interest in her, she’d only whetted his appetite, making him want to know more about Max. Hell, she didn’t know much about the man. What she did had been enough. He was a good man, and he didn’t deserve Sam’s acid directed at him. The sooner she got out of town the better.

* * * *

Max scratched his name on the last line of paperwork. He didn’t know why, but he felt like this stupid nurse found extra forms for him to sign that weren’t necessary. At first he suspected she was interested in him, but she didn’t do any of the things he’d come to recognize in women who were attracted to him. Of course he scented it on her, but it wasn’t for him.

He paused over the last sheet. “What do you think of Doctor Ellerby?” he asked.

The blue eyes turned cloudy, and a simpering grin stretched her deep rose lips. “He’s brilliant! I can’t believe we have such a great man at our hospital. When we met him…”

Max didn’t need to listen to more. Now he knew the truth. That bastard had asked this airhead to distract him so he could get at Shira.
If he’s upset her, I will shred him!

Shoving the papers at the nurse, he turned away and ignored her calls saying she had one more. As he walked toward the area where he’d left Shira, he drew in a deep breath. He didn’t need to get this worked up over a human woman. She wasn’t his type, and he had no intention of taking their relationship any further than it’s already inappropriate state. He knew they were more than employer and employee. Hell, they were practically living a role-playing fantasy, but that’s all it could be—without the sex.

Well, the guy’s an asshole, so I can still wipe the floor with him
, he mused. The minute they walked into the hospital earlier, he’d picked up on the scent. He recognized it from that night in the rain when he had stopped Ellerby from dragging Shira into his car. He had realized later from her sharing of her past that the man wasn’t just some random pervert. He was her ex. Too bad he hadn’t also made the connection that she didn’t want to go to the hospital because he worked there. The fact that Ellerby was an emergency room doctor hadn’t entered his mind.

Max picked up his step when he spotted Ellerby talking to Shira in a low tone near the exit. Max stopped behind him. “You have nothing to say to her,” he growled. “Get lost.”

He raised his hand to snatch the doctor by the collar and drag him away, but Shira darted around him and grabbed his arm. “It’s fine, Max. Let’s go.”

Max didn’t move. He flared his nostrils and stared into Ellerby’s face. Everything inside of him wanted to attack. The beast was coiled for it, but this wasn’t the time or the place. He didn’t make a habit of going after humans even if they deserved it, and not since he’d visited Whisper in his leopard form did he risk exposure. He’d been unable to resist visiting Shira in his shifted form. Of course, he’d told himself it was just boredom that drove him, but deep inside he wanted to see how she would act. After all she’d been through, he should have thought twice about risking her fear. He was an idiot.

Shira tugged on his arm again, pulling him from his thoughts. “Max.”

He shook himself and nodded. While they drove back to his house, he watched her from the corner of his eye. Shira was afraid, and the realization enraged him. He tightened his hands on the steering wheel and did all he could not to swing the car around and drive back to the hospital.

“What did he say to you?” he asked.

She squirmed in her seat. “Nothing.”

“You’re lying to me.”

“It doesn’t matter, Max. Let it go. Sam is in my past, and I’m not letting him get to me.” She offered him a smile that was obviously forced. “I’ve moved on, and I’m happy.”

“You
were
happy at my house.” He left the comment at that because he regretted saying it. He’d spoken the truth though. Shira had hidden away, and he didn’t mind. She’d needed time from civilization, from the man that hurt her and from the knowledge that her choices had kept her in the situation as long as she’d been in it. He knew she blamed herself in that respect. Yet, the blame should be placed like a boulder on the head of that fool. “I’ll leave it for now, but don’t let him get to you. He is a weak, small man, and he will not come against me or anyone in my care if he knows what’s good for him.”

Shira sat in silence with her head bowed. After some time, she whispered, “Thank you. You’re a good person, but I don’t want to drag you into my mess. I…just thanks, for everything.”

Max didn’t push, but an inflection in her words gave him a sense of finality. A suspicion rose inside of him, but he kept his thoughts to himself and continued the drive home.

Chapter Six

The night had grown late, and Shira stayed in bed as long as she could. She kept falling asleep because her mind and body were worn out. One would think she couldn’t rest after Sam’s threats. She had bid Max goodnight after they got home and cleaned up the mess in the kitchen. Or rather he’d cleaned it up. He hadn’t let her cross the threshold. In the end, she had told him she was going to bed, but she kept her clothes on in preparation of leaving when he fell asleep.

Of course going this way was ridiculous. All she had to do was say it wasn’t working out and she had to move on. Somehow she didn’t want to face Max and see him work out the truth about why she’d come to this decision—that she was scared. If he questioned her, she feared he’d learn about the specific threat to his life Sam had made. No, she had to go in the middle of the night. That was her only option and best for everyone.

She threw her legs over the side of the bed and reached beneath it for her shoes. After putting them on, she tiptoed to the bedroom door and listened. Max slept like the dead, she had learned. The man didn’t even snore, and he kept his bedroom door open as if he liked being ready at a moment’s notice. She had at first worried that could be a problem in passing his room, but then she remembered the window of one of the guest rooms was the single place no bush had been planted beneath. The house was a rancher, so she could climb out and drop to the ground.

As she gathered her bag, guilt assailed her. Max had given her money the day before, way more than she needed to get incidentals like pads or for that matter the underwear she still needed. He’d promised to take her to the store in the morning, but that wouldn’t be necessary. She would leave this area long behind. In fact, she would leave Virginia in her wake.

The money wasn’t enough to start a new life, but somehow she would find a way to live. There were shelters and other opportunities. People found a leg up out of the gutter every day. So would she.

Shira eased her bedroom door open, paused to listen, and then inched into the hall. Each step she took was excruciating, but there were no sounds from Max’s room.  She made it into the spare bedroom, still empty of furniture. That was a good thing. At least she wouldn’t crack her knee on the edge of a dresser or bed frame.

The window latch opened without a hitch, and the window rose. She was glad she’d come in here to dust the windowsill, so she wouldn’t sneeze and give herself away. She peered out through the window and wondered how she would coordinate the climb with her bandaged hand. She didn’t want to bust her stiches.

“Can I help you onto the sill?” came the deep voice from behind her.

Shira froze. “
Fuck
!”

Max tsked. “Such language.”

She turned slowly from the window, and he strode toward her. She was a deer caught in headlights. The expression was old but so apt about then. Max stopped just to her left, leaned forward to close the window, and faced her. “What were you doing?”

She frowned and folded her arms. “You know what I was doing.” Her bag lay on the floor not far from his feet. He eyed it with a raised brow, and she fought the need to defend herself. “It’s for the best.”

“Whose best? Yours? Mine? You mean for you to sneak out of the house in the middle of the night?”

“Nobody was sneaking,” she snapped.

She started to walk off, but he stepped into her path and stood as solid as a tree. If she wanted to get through him, she’d have to bring a lot more strength than she possessed. All of a sudden, her palm itched to smack his face because something told her he’d been awake the entire time, waiting for her to make a move.

“You can’t keep me here, Max.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

She grunted, frustrated that he spoke so deadpan, like they discussed the weather.

“You’re letting him run you out of town like a scared little girl, and I’m calling you on it. How is that holding you prisoner?”

Crack!
She’d done it before she knew she would follow through, and she gasped in horror. Even in the moonlight, she saw his eyes change and the anger that filled them. She took a step back only to crash into the wall.