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consciousness by the time they lifted her onto a gurney. When they wheeled past, the
medic told Trevor, Her blood pressure s a little low. Other vitals are good. My guess is he
hit her with some homemade chloroform because I smell acetone, but they ll run tests at
the hospital.
You stick with our witness, Ian suggested, and started walking backward toward the
area where a couple of officers had Benny cuffed and facedown on the hood of a cruiser.
I ll get our friend checked in to his suite and see if he feels like talking.
Trevor nodded. Thanks. Keep me posted.
Same goes.
Trevor backtracked to pick up Stacy and sped to the hospital. Once there, they got some
good news. Kylie was no longer in the ER. With vital signs stable and within normal limits,
she d been installed in a room on the fourth floor. What he saw when they reached her
room didn t look quite as good. His heart clutched at the sight of her lying there, fragile
and unmoving, in the hospital bed. They d hooked her up to various tubes and wires, but
she was still unconscious, and to his eyes, very pale.
Does she look pale? Stacy whispered from beside him.
He patted her hand, which clung to his arm in a tight grip. It s the hospital lighting.
Check him out, sounding so calm and sure despite the fear ricocheting through him.
They stepped closer to the bed. What s this for? She pointed to the wire running from
under the front flap of Kylie s hospital gown to a machine beside the bed.
It s a heart rate monitor. Tells you how many beats per minute, oxygen level, and
some other stuff. Pointing to the heart icon flashing at regular intervals on the display
next to the bed, he went on. See here? Everything looks nice and normal.
So why isn t she awake?
She s awakened for short intervals, but mostly, she s still sleeping it off.
They both turned and stared at the petite redheaded nurse standing in the doorway.
She stepped into the room, checked the monitor, and added, Don t worry. She s going to
be fine, before heading to the hall.
Tha s a relief, came a thin, groggy voice from the bed.
Oh my God, Ky! Stacy rushed to her sister s bedside, grinding Trevor s toe under her
cast in the process. He hobbled over to the opposite side.
Hey, beautiful.
Drowsy blue eyes with pupils the size of planets turned to him, and then tried to roll up
behind her eyelids. He took her hand, holding it carefully, as if the physical contact could
somehow anchor her. Stay with me, Kylie.
Her gaze steadied and locked on him. Always.
Chapter Eighteen
Always, she repeated, encouraged when her voice sounded less like it came from the
far end of a long tunnel. She fought the dragging pull of sleep. Vague recollections of
losing this battle a couple of times already, with the paramedics, a harried doctor, a nice
nurse, danced through her mind. But this time she really wanted, no, needed to win.
Because this time, it was Trevor.
As the fog cleared, she pulled his heart-stopping face into focus. He opened his mouth
to respond, but Stacy s anxious voice swept into the silence.
Do you remember what happened? Benny drugged you and tossed you in the back of
his car.
She turned her head and found Stacy on her other side.
Benny? For a moment, her mind refused to connect the name with anything, and
then, whoosh, it all came rushing back the knock at her car window, surprise at finding
him standing there, a chemical-laden cloth shoved in her face.
That cleared the fog like a gale force wind. She struggled to sit up, only to have two
sets of hands hold her down. She turned to Trevor. Stacy s right. I got home, I wasn t
paying attention, and then out of nowhere he was there, by my car, and and
Shhh. I know. You re safe. He s in custody. Ian s already got his confession.
Can you believe it? Stacy interjected. It was Benny, all along. He killed Alex and
Carlton. Turns out Benny had a sister who worked as a stripper at a club in Boston. She
got him a job bouncing there. On his night off, one of her regular customers got good and
loaded, cornered her in the parking lot after her shift, and when she turned down his
proposition, beat her to death.
Stunned, she turned to Trevor. He nodded. He never forgave himself for not being
there to protect her.
She looked at Stacy again, but directed her question to Trevor. Blond with blue eyes?
Good guess. Benny moved to LA, landed the job at Deuces, and he s been protecting
his sister ever since. At least in his mind. When we left the club together the other night,
he realized limiting his efforts to the club wouldn t cut it anymore. He had to be able to
watch you 24-7 if he wanted to make sure nothing happened, so he decided to take you
away. He rented a place outside Vegas, with some notion about you two living together,
and eventually, working together at another club. He doesn t have a clue he abducted
you and not Stacy.
My God, the whole thing is just& Sad. Crazy. Terrifying. & awful. What s going to
happen to him?
He s confessed to murdering two unarmed men, which means he s looking at life in
prison or worse. His attorney will probably offer an insanity defense. I m no psychiatrist,
but he s got me convinced. Either way, Benny s days protecting pretty blond strippers are
over.
How did I get here? I mean, I know I came in an ambulance, but I ve got a black hole
from the time Benny knocked on my window until now.
Trevor filled in the blanks, with frequent interruptions from Stacy. Kylie followed along
as best she could. In the end, she found herself swallowing hard around a painful lump in
her throat. Ian, Stacy, Trevor she owed them so much, particularly Trevor. How could
she have thought he would throw her life off course? He d saved it, for God s sake.
I m sorry, she whispered, and clasped Trevor s hand. I should have owned up to this
a long time ago I love you.
I love you, too, Stacy replied. But don t apologize, honey, none of this is your fault&
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