The Love She Craves: Selling Her Soul to Declan Read Free Page B

blank.”
    He wished his was. He had to get away from her. “I think that’s pretty understandable. I’m on duty for a few more hours, so if you think of anything, just ask the volunteer at the desk to page me.”
    “I don’t think you told me your name.”
    His head tilted to one side as he wondered if she was joking. He pulled the cap off his head as if seeing his sun-streaked brown hair would somehow jog her memory. “You don’t remember me?”
    Nyxie shook her head. “You’re the doctor who let me see Cody before surgery,” she said, kicking his ego in the balls.
    How could she not remember him? He was the star quarterback of the Chimera Flats football team, big man on campus. He made speeches at the pep rallies for the love of Pete.
    “Chimera Flats High School…. You were a freshman my senior year.”
    Was it his imagination or did she pull the girls in front of her and take a retreating step away from him? Was she protecting the girls or herself?
    “I’m sorry,” she said, her voice only a fraction louder than a whisper.
    “Don’t be. I doubt we spoke more than once or twice. I’m Declan Stryker. My father—”
    “Was the new football coach,” she finished, withdrawing further.
    He smiled and nodded. She remembered his name but hadn’t recognized him. “That’s right.”
    Declan’s smiled faded as he realized she wasn’t pleased to see a friendly face from high school. But he doubted there were many people in high school she would consider friendly. He’d never seen her hanging out with anyone, not that he spent much time in the freshman hall, but he saw her every day in the cafeteria, eating alone at the second to last table. Even when the long table filled up, everyone left open spaces around her.
    Nyxie broke eye contact first as her attention was drawn to someone entering the room. Declan turned, expecting to see the parents of the her nieces, but instead he found two Chimera Flats police officers pointing out Onyx to a pair of Lubbock cops and a woman who had entered the room with them.
    “Are you Onyx Carmichael? I am Rosita Gomez with Child Protective Services. We have some questions for you.”
    Declan, acutely aware of the other families awaiting news of their loved ones in surgery, ushered everyone into the consultation room off the main waiting room. He couldn’t say why he didn’t leave. It was none of his concern. She just looked like she could use a friend.
    Nyxie sat down on the sofa with a girl under each arm, holding them protectively to her sides. The cops hovered as if they expected her to fight.
    Christ, had they come to arrest her?
    “The boy who was hit,” the social worker said as she looked down at her paperwork for his name. “Cody Carmichael, you’re his sister?”
    “And guardian,” she stated.
    “Are you? We have no record of you receiving guardianship of anyone.”
    “I’ve always taken care of Cody. A piece of paper doesn’t mean anything.”
    The woman frowned and scribbled some notes on a page. “And where are your parents?”
    “Daddy died two years ago. Mama is…gone. She’s probably dead, too.”
    More notes.
    “When was the last time you saw her?” the CPS worker asked.
    Onyx gnawed on her bottom lip and hesitated. “Lotus, Reina, go back in the other room and finish the pizza.”
    “You’re going to leave them alone again?” The woman’s tone and demeanor throbbed with condescension.
    “We’re in the next room,” Nyxie protested.
    “Someone could take them.”
    Nyxie folded her arms over her chest and stubbornly lifted her chin. “Oh, that’s right; predators always prowl surgical waiting rooms looking for unattended children.” She turned to one of the Chimera Flats cops. “Lew, will you go with them? Lotus and Reina don’t need to hear about my mother—or theirs.”
    “Sure thing, Nyxie,” he said in a tone that made Declan understand he knew her and meant her no ill-will.
    Onyx waited for them to leave the room before