With a growl she hung up on the man. Making her way to the front of the airport, she tried to cool her temper, to no avail. Stomping across the room, noticing that people were jumping out of her way, Mercy felt slightly sick to her stomach. Her head was pounding as well. And when she saw the man standing at a long white limo, it was all she could do to stand upright. Stopping quickly did not help her, and Mercy knew that she was going down.
~*~
Joel had never seen a woman go down like that before. And had he not been there to catch her, he was sure that she would have knocked her head on the stones around the sidewalk, and then the people around her would have picked her body clean of anything that she had.
Glancing over at her as she lay on the gurney with a wet cool towel on her head, he wondered about her. She was gorgeous, he could see that, and her vile temper that Blaze had told him about didn’t seem to be all that bad. Of course, he’d only spoken to her on the phone once. She might be worse than he’d been told.
Joel stretched out his long legs and laid his head back to rest. Working four jobs, all of them part-time, was paying his and his daughter’s bills, but it wasn’t giving them anything extra. But this gig was going to put them in the black for the first time since his daughter was born.
Having one full time job with benefits, as well as a part-time one so he could use the extra money for school trips for Miley, would be wonderful. And to be able to afford bandages and the smelly stuff that he used on her cuts would be just fine with him. Smiling, he thought of Miley just this morning when she’d taken a tumble down the wet stairs.
“I hurt myself again, Daddy. And if you think that I’m going to let you paint me up with that stuff, you can just forget it. It’s a cut. I’m fine. I’m pretty sure that I’m not going to lose my leg over it.” He cocked his brow at her. “And don’t do that. You know that it makes you look like Grandda. And you said that he never had a lick of sense to get in out of the rain.”
“Who the fuck are you?” He looked at the young woman next to him. “Better yet, where the hell am I? Did you kidnap me?”
“Yes, that’s why I announced to anyone around that I was picking you up. Just to whisk you away to the hospital.” She glared. “Ms. Dante, I have a thirteen-year-old daughter. You could learn the glaring from her. Now, you fainted. And I caught you before you did some real damage or were left unattended. Didn’t you eat on the plane?”
“I didn’t know where I was going, so no, I did not eat on the plane.” He asked her what one had to do with the other. “Just go away and leave me alone. I’ve had enough of this vacation shit. I’m going back home to work. It was easier to deal with.”
“You can’t do that. Well, I suppose you could, but I’d rather you didn’t. I have a lot depending on this job for Blaze, and I sure could use the money.” She told him that she’d give it to him. “No, that won’t work either. I’m not a man that takes handouts. I have to work to earn my keep.”
“But you’ll take it from her for being a fucking pain in the ass to me?” He nodded and grinned at her. “You are certifiable. Where am I?”
“It’s called the Island Hospital, but most around here call it Death Valley. Once you check in, mostly you never check out. Not that they’d kill you off, but you, a woman that looks like she has money and more than likely insurance, they’ll keep you until the insurance runs out or you die. Test after test would be taken. They might even try and remove something you need just to get some more money.”
“And you brought me here.” He said that the ambulance had, and he figured that she’d rather be here than at his home. “Yes, you’re right. But I want you to know that I’m not a push over.”
“I know that. Blaze described you well enough that I’d know you anywhere. Did you really call the president of the United States and tell him to fuck off when you were told that you couldn’t buy an army issued Humvee?” She nodded like she would do it again if necessary. “I guess you didn’t get your car.”
“On the contrary. He was very accommodating when I pointed out that I will move all my businesses to another country, and not pay the taxes that he was imposing on me. I will pay them, but I won’t be cheated.” She stood up, and he held her by the arms until she no longer swayed. “I have to get something to eat. Where is the closest restaurant?”
“Closed. Not that I’d recommend you eat there anyway, but you didn’t ask where a clean one was.” Mercy asked if he was serious. “Yes, my daughter, Miley, she’s forever telling me I have to learn to fib better to customers. I can’t do that and live with myself. She’s a good kid.”
“I’m sure that she’s wonderful. Where might I get something to eat that isn’t going to have me ending up back here?” He thought of his home and the roast he’d put on this morning in anticipation of the money coming in. “Where is that head of yours?”
“I don’t think you’re going to like it, but you are more than welcome to come to my house. My little girl is there, and she can act as a chaperone for us if that would bother you.” She tisked at him. “Or, I can take you to your hotel, and you can try and convince them that you are a wealthy person and demand a steak dinner. That might work, but I’d be careful of spit in my food.”
“Your daughter is correct, you do need to fib better. Or at the very least honey coat your responses before you say them. Your house it is, then.” Joel was still standing there when she moved out of the curtained area. “Are you coming or not? Since I can’t drive, nor do I know where you live, I need you to get your ass in gear and come on.”
Smiling, Joel followed. Miley was going to have a shit fit when they turned up. He thought about calling her to give her a heads up, but was afraid that she’d run off. Not that she’d ever done that before, but he didn’t bring home women either. Nearly skipping to the limo that was still there, he opened the door for Mercy.
“What’s your name? I mean, if you plan to kill me off or something—which I must warn you isn’t going to happen—then I’d like to be able to tell the police who it is that I had to murder to save my own life.” He told her that she was very sure of herself. “Oh, you have no idea. None at all.
”
She looked around then back at him. And her hair—Christ, her hair turned into feathers and ran down along her back to her legs. Then, just as suddenly, she turned back to her normal beautiful self. Joel had no idea how long he stood there. His mouth, he knew was hanging open. Snapping it shut, he got in on the other side of the limo.
Drive, his mind told him, and he started the big car up. Laughter from the backseat, soft and sexy, made his cock stretch and his mind dip into fantasies that he’d never had before. Silky sheets, sweaty bodies, and loud and soft moans. At the next light, he laid his head on the steering wheel.
“Are you all right?” He told her that he wasn’t. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to freak you out with my shift. It’s just that I was trying to piss you off. What’s wrong?”
“I...nothing. I’m going to call my daughter and tell her we’re having company. Can you please not do that hair thing around her?” Mercy said that she’d not. “My name is Joel Oliver. My daughter is Miley Oliver. We’re not rich, as you’ll see, and we don’t put on airs that we’re something that we’re not. So, I’m asking—no, I’m telling you to behave yourself. Or you’ll find yourself without a driver or dinner. All right?”
“Yes.”
She didn’t say anything the rest of the way to his house. He supposed he could have been nicer, but he wasn’t going to have his little girl traumatized any more than she already had been.
Joel thought about how his daughter had come to him. When he’d been younger and much broker than he was now, he had sold his sperm. It didn’t pay that well, but it was enough for him to eat a good meal at a fast food restaurant, as well as put gas in his car. He’d sold blood too, as he was a rare type, and that had paid better but not great. Joel had been broke since he’d been a child.