His eyes narrowed, as if he thought I was only trying to start trouble, and my smile turned sweeter.
Oh, honey. You haven’t seen trouble yet.
“Ma’am—”
“She put her hands on me and tried to physically pull me out of this room. Now, I don’t work in the medical field, but I’m pretty sure no one is allowed to touch me unless I’m causing trouble. As you can see, she’s considerably larger than me.” I let my eyes skim over the nurse, who had a good thirty pounds on me. I wouldn’t ever judge another person by their weight, and she wasn’t fat by anyone’s definition, but she’d pissed me off. “I don’t think I’m much of a threat to her.”
“Ma’am,” the blond officer bit out. “I’m going to give you to the count of five before I pull my Taser. You’re causing a disturbance on the ICU floor. I don’t want to have to drag you out of here by force, but I will if you don’t start listening.”
“Yeah, no, that isn’t happening. I want to speak to Tanner’s doctor and the administrator before I even think about stepping outside this room.” I stood up, but the movement woke Tanner, and he grabbed my hand, his heart monitor making awful noises again.
“Jos,” he whispered brokenly.
I took his hand, but I kept my eyes on the three people in front of me. “I’m sure there is a waiting room full of big, scary men right now. All I have to do is scream, and they will all beat down those metal doors out there. Give me a reason to scream,” I told the blond, leaning my head closer. “I dare you.”
He looked skeptical, but the dark-haired officer moved forward as if to intercept his partner’s next step in my direction. I met his gaze and nodded. “Smart man.”
Shifting closer to Tanner’s bed so I could hold his hand easier, I turned my gaze back to the nurse. “Doctor. Administrator. You have ten minutes to get me what I want.”
Chapter 6
Tanner
Jos’s hand was in mine, but her body was turned away from me. Two men and a woman I didn’t recognize stood before her, and from the tension coming off all four of them, I knew they were trying to take her away from me.
The skinny blond guy shifted toward her threateningly, and every instinct inside of me screamed to protect what was mine. Every movement felt like it would be the one that finally ended me, but I sat straight up in bed and pulled Jos down across my legs, using the top half of my body to protect her, cradling her back with my busted-up arm that was in a splint.
The woman shouted in surprise and rushed forward, but I lifted my head enough to glare at her, stopping her in her tracks. “Get…the…fuck…back!” I panted out, already seeing spots.
Fuck.
I was going to pass out on top of Jos. I couldn’t leave her alone and unprotected from these assholes.
“Where’s Matt?” I gritted out to the beautiful woman on my lap.
“He’s in the waiting room,” she assured me. “Tanner, please, lie back down. It’s okay. No one will hurt me.”
“That one would have,” I nodded toward the blond security guard who was staring at me in open-mouthed terror. “Yeah, you little pussy-ass bastard. Get out of here. Go find my little brother.”
“T-Tanner, your b-back.” The nurse was falling all over her words, but the way she said my name confused me. Like she knew me and was upset. My gaze raked over her again, but nothing about her rang any bells. “L-Let m-me—”
“Jos will take care of me,” I snarled at her, and her face paled. “Get out of here.”
The blond guard was backing out of the room, his face turning green. If I looked as bad as I felt, whatever he was seeing must have been turning his stomach.
“Ma’am.” The other guard was trying to stay calm. “I think it’s best you get who the young lady was asking for. I’ll wait for the doctor and the administrator with the patient and his friend.”
“O-Okay,” the woman continued to stutter as she backed out of the room, tears filling her eyes as her gaze stayed glued to me.
As soon as she was gone, Jos grumbled something under her breath. I looked away from the only remaining person in the room long enough to look down at her. “What?”
“I’m not even going to ask if you fucked her. She’s so your type.” Her lips pressed into a firm line, her eyes narrowed on me, and I found the strength to grin.
“You jealous, baby?”
Her jaw clenched, and she lowered her lashes so I couldn’t read what she was thinking. “Maybe,” she said so quietly I had to strain to hear her.
“Don’t be.” The spots around my vision were getting worse, and I knew I was only seconds away from blacking out. “Jos,” I muttered, fighting the darkness. “Don’t…leave…m