Defender (Seattle Sharks 9)

“She saved his life.”

My attention snapped to the doorway, where Nixon stood, all the color drained from his face.

“If you’re referring to Ms. Thompson, then yes,” Dr. Hernandez agreed.

Thoughts spun in my head at a hundred miles an hour, none of them sticking around long enough to truly be examined.

“—last scan results, then you’ll be good to go.”

I looked up, realizing that Dr. Hernandez had been speaking to me. “I’m sorry?”

“He said as long as the scan results from this morning show that you’re out of immediate danger, he’ll let you out tomorrow,” Nixon clarified.

“Got it.”

The doc shook my hand and headed out, his younger docs trailing like baby ducks behind him as they walked past Nixon.

“You okay?” I asked Nixon. He looked like death, all pale and waxy.

“No.” He ran his hands down his face. “Shit, I have to tell you something.”

That sounded more than ominous.

“How about I step out?” Langley offered, her head swiveling between Nixon and me.

I nodded without taking my eyes off my brother. Once Langley was out, Nixon shut the door and then leaned against it, his attention locked on the floor.

With every second that he stood there quietly, my stomach sank further and further.

“You’ve never once hesitated to tell me something,” I said, keeping my voice even. “Good or bad, you’ve always given me honesty. Whatever it is—”

“I’m the reason Harper isn’t here.” His admission was low and aimed somewhere in the vicinity of his feet.

“You what?” My stomach dropped through the floor and hit sub-level.

“I…” He shook his head, and he finally looked at me. “I told her you wouldn’t want to see her when you woke up.”

“You fucking what?” I was going to kill him. Slowly.

“I told her that she cost you everything, and that it was her fault you’d lose your contract, and that she used your love against you.”

To his credit, he looked me straight in the eye while he confessed. Didn’t mean I wasn’t going to choke him with his own righteousness.

Pure, unfiltered rage filled the pit in my stomach.

“Anything else?”

“I may have told her that seeing her would only upset you, and you needed everything as calm as possible to recover, and then I told her that if you wanted to see her, you’d contact her.”

“What the hell gave you the right to lie to her like that? To say that to the woman I love?” My fingernails bit into my palms, and I concentrated on the pain so I didn’t beat the shit out of Nixon.

“In my defense, the docs said to keep you calm.” He spoke to the floor again.

“In your…” There was no defense for this. None. “She’s been waiting for me to contact her? Goddamn it, Nixon! She thinks I hate her! She thinks I don’t want her!”

“I know.”

A knock sounded at the door, and Nixon jumped, then turned to open it just wide enough to see who stood behind it.

“We’re okay, Mom. I promise we’ll both walk out alive.”

“You won’t!” I threw out, swinging my legs over the side of the bed.

“Apparently, I might not. Just give us a few,” he finished with Mom and gently closed the door as my feet hit the floor. “Jesus, Nathan, get back in bed.”

My head pounded with the sudden movement, but I didn’t give a shit. “Why? So you can chase Harper off again? I trusted you, Nixon!”

“And I trusted you!” he shouted, the naked anguish knocking me back on my ass. “I trusted you to be careful. I trusted you to know that Mom couldn’t take another fucking call like the one I had to make. I trusted that you wouldn’t put that look on Dad’s face. Remember it? The fear that eclipsed everything else while he watched Nicholas fade in that bed?”

“I remember,” I admitted. How could I not? Watching the strongest man I’d ever known fall to his knees wasn’t something I was likely to forget.

“I. Was. Wrong.”

My eyes narrowed. “I feel like I should record that so I can play it again.”

“I was wrong,” he repeated, softer this time. “With Harper and what she wanted, I could only see her through the Lila filter. And I know,” he held his hand up, “I know you told me I wasn’t giving her a chance. But all I could think was that she was going to get you killed and profit off of it. I thought she was jeopardizing your life, and now I feel like an utter asshole because she was saving it. Harper saved your life.”

“Yeah. She did.” And he’d chased her off like she was a pest, something to be exterminated. “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t kick you out and never speak to you again.” Because I was close. So damned close.

“I don’t have one. Nothing good enough, anyway. I was so scared when she showed up. You had just gotten out of CT, and they’d sedated you, and all I could think was that it was the past repeating. You’d been hit just like Nicholas. You were sedated just like Nicholas. What if...what if you never woke up…”