Uncaged Love Volume 5 Read Free Page B

keeping those compressions going.”
    I picture the bullet puncturing Colt’s belly and feel sick. He seems so strong, but even he can’t deflect a gunshot.
    “Is Parker going to go to jail? Will he be able to keep fighting?”
    “I doubt he’ll see jail time. Seems like he wasn’t caught up in it as much as the others.”
    “But his career?”
    “Hard to say. Sponsors are fickle. This looks bad, fighters going after fighters.”
    I lean back against the pillows and stare at the ceiling. “I need to see Colt.”
    “Now that you’re up, I’ll get Killjoy down here,” Nate says. “He’ll see what he can do.” He picks up my hand in his grizzly beaten-up one. “Can you work with us on this?”
    I nod. I don’t want to. And I probably won’t in the end. But I’ll at least act like I will.

Chapter Four  

    Later that night I start working to convince a clearly exhausted Nate to go home and sleep. When the nurse brings me pain pills, I pretend to take them, and complain I can’t keep my eyes open.
    It takes a good half hour of pretending to sleep before Nate believes me and leaves.
    I wait another half hour before I throw the sheets aside and set my feet on the floor.
    My steps are not as solid as I would like. I want to yell at my ridiculous legs for being wobbly and weak. They have nothing to do with the silly wound in my shoulder. I refuse to let them shake. I will get to the ICU floor by sheer will.
    It’s late, and no one is in the hallway. I have no idea how secretive I should be, if I’m allowed to walk around, or if someone will force me back to the room. I decide to play it safe and stay out of sight as much as possible.
    After a turn in the corridor, I see the nurses’ station. I figure they are going to stop me, so I have to find another way. But I don’t even know where I’m going. If I can get to an elevator, surely it will tell me how to find ICU.
    I backtrack up the hall. When I pass my room again, I pop inside to look beside the door. Sure enough, there is a fire evacuation map on the wall.
    The main hallways all lead to the nurses’ desk, but if I cut through the break room and go to a side hall, I can make it to the elevator without passing the desk. I peek out the door again. Still quiet.
    I head the opposite direction until I reach the break room. A nurse is just leaving out the opposite door. I pause, then cut through. The nurse carries a cup of water into a patient’s room.
    My legs are shaking, but my adrenaline is rising. I can feel the power surging through me. I know I can count on it. It will get me where I want to go.
    This corridor is short, and a door leads me right to the hub of the hospital and the visitor elevators. I wish I had regular clothes, but I will just have to fake it.
    A custodian pushes a cart into one of the elevators, and I follow him in. The directory is posted inside. The man nods at me politely, trying not to look down at my bare legs and socks. When the door opens, I step out.
    The ICU ward is straight ahead. Visitor hours are over. A woman in bright red lipstick and a neck draped with jangly beads looks right at me when I come through.
    I decide to ignore her and see how far I get. But I only have two choices. The waiting room, or a sealed door that requires an access pass. I’ll have to talk to this woman.
    I turn back around. “I’m Colt McClure’s wife,” I say. “We were shot a couple nights ago.”
    Her eyes get big. Good. Maybe she’ll listen to me.
    “I’m here to see him.”
    The woman picks up her phone. A dozen gold bangles slide up her arm. I don’t think I could ever in my lifetime even own all the jewelry she’s wearing right now.
    “Hatty?” she says. “I’ve got a girl here saying she’s Colt McClure’s wife.” She nods as if Hatty could see her through the phone. Pendulous earrings swing from her ears. “I’ll tell her.”
    She sets the phone down. “Someone will be right with you.”
    I’m not sure what to make of