Landon cracked one eye, then the other. A dull, incessant beeping buzzed in his ears, and for a second, he couldn’t place where he was or why he felt like he’d been tossed down several flights ofstairs. Dave stood above him like a lesser-known archangel—one with crooked teeth and a head bald as a baby’s. “You all right there, mate?” he asked, concern all over his face. “You went down like a sack of potatoes.” He shook his head. “Really, it was something to see. It’s a shame you missed it.”
Landon groaned and flopped his head back on the pillow. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“Yes, you do,” Dave said, suddenly serious. “That’s your girl.”
He would never be able to repay Dave for the simplicity with which he viewed what was an objectively complex situation.
“How long have I been out?”
“Not long,” Dave said. “Maybe thirty minutes? An hour or two, tops.”
“Anhour?” Landon sat up straight as a rod. “How is Rose? Is she safe, is she—”
“Whoa, whoa,” Dave said, placing a hand on his shoulder to push him back down. “Let’s get a doctor in here before you go and do something stupid. I do not want to see a man of your height fall again as long as I live.”
“Tell me.” Landon could see the wildness in his eyes reflected in Dave’s.
“She’s stable,” he said. “Came out of surgery right around the time Graham knocked you out. The only thing the doctors would tell us is that she made it, but they’re not letting visitors in—”
“Help me up,” Landon said, pushing himself up with both arms.
“Did you hear what I just said?”
“She’s awake,” he said.
“I don’t think I said that.”
“She’s alive.”
“Okay, that I did say.”
“I need to see her,” Landon said. He pulled the pulse oximeter off his pointer finger and rubbed his eyes. “Would you just help me up, please?”
“But you haven’t even talked to the police yet.”
“Who the hell called the police?”
Dave snorted. “Graham, if you can believe it. The guy must have one hell of a moral code. Claims he feels like a git for hitting you.”
“He called the police… on himself?”
“Wants to start his second lease on life squeaky-clean, I guess.”
Landon pinched his nose. The man annoyed and impressed him to no end. “Well I won’t be talking to the police, so if you could just help me up.”
“Take it easy—”
“I’ll do it myself, then.”
“Fuck me,” Dave muttered, but reached an arm out to help. “What’s your plan, then? Just going to wander the hospital until you find her?”
“Pretty much, yeah.”
Dave gritted his teeth. “She’s in a recovery room on the third floor. Room 309.”
If he hadn’t been almost out of his mind with worry, Landon would have found that funny. “How is it you always know things you aren’t supposed to?”
“It’s a gift.” Dave gave him a half smile. “But it wasn’t me in the end. I don’t know how she did it, but Poppy scared the poor nurse delivering the news into giving up her location.”