Maid for the Rock Star (13 page)

TWENTY-FIVE

Jason woke up handcuffed to the bed. He recognised the cold touch of steel around his wrist and reached out with his free hand for the sexy dominatrix who'd shackled him. His desire stirred instantly at the thought, but his fingers closed on nothing but cold cotton and air. Where was last night's chick?

He pried his eyes open and light lanced his retinas, so he forced them shut again. Fuck, who'd unleashed a jackhammer in his head? He needed a beer. No, a bourbon. Yesterday he'd had beer. He'd never drink the stuff again. Only bourbon and vodka in future.

A persistent beeping irritated him. Slow and steady, like a heartbeat.

Jason cracked one eye open, just wide enough to take in the room. He was lying in a single bed. A hospital bed, handcuffed to the railing. What the fuck? He tugged at the handcuffs, which looked a lot tougher than the ones he'd played with in the past. He might actually need a key to get out of these. And he'd better, soon, because he needed to piss like a...something big and flowing. With lots of water. A waterfall, maybe.

"Get me out of these fucking things!" he growled, jingling the chain.

"Mr Felix, you're awake!" An older man in police uniform strode into the hospital room. His tight smile didn't look as friendly as his voice sounded. He held out his hand. "Inspector Burgess."

No. That couldn't be right. He only did handcuffs for women, not men. Something didn't add up here and he intended to find out what. Jason held up his cuffed right hand. "I'd shake your hand, but it's a bit hard in these. How'd I end up here?"

A flash of white caught his eye and Jason peered at his hand. Both hands. Someone had stuck patches of gauze on them, as if he'd gotten hurt. One was stained brown like dried blood. Jason swallowed and looked away. Now he wanted to be sick, too.

"Mate, I gotta piss."

Burgess coughed irritably. "Nurse!" he called. "Some help here."

Jason perked up. A hot nurse would sure help his mood right now.

But the nurse who walked in looked like she'd been the matron at the hospital since Jason was born. Maybe even before that. Definitely not hot enough for him. She smiled broadly.

"Are you going to get me out of these? I can't get to the bathroom," Jason grumbled.

Her eyes shone. "That's up to Inspector Burgess, but he's not here right now." Jason looked around wildly, but she was right – the bastard had sneaked out while he wasn't looking. "I can help you with that."

Ten excruciating minutes later, Jason had a story about an elderly matron with cold hands and an unhealthy obsession with male catheterisation that would forever cure him of any sexual fantasy involving nurses, hospitals and handcuffs. A story he never intended to tell anyone as long as he lived.

When Inspector What's-his-name returned, Jason had never been so happy in his life to see a police officer. "Mate, I think that nurse just molested me. You should arrest her."

The officer laughed mirthlessly. "Well, now. It's funny you should talk about arrests. My constable swears you hit her and tried to kill her."

Jason might not remember much about last night, but he sure as fuck hadn't wanted to hurt any women. "I don't hit girls." He squared his jaw. "Learned that one back in primary school. When I make girls scream, it's because they like what I do."

The police officer's expression didn't change. "Well, it seems there's a first time for everything. Constable Nelson says you were driving on the wrong side of the road, crashed into her patrol car and then rolled your vehicle. You're lucky to be alive, you know."

Jason wracked his brain. He vaguely remembered something about parachutes and freefall and numbers and tits. "Does she have hot tits?" he asked finally. If he could find the owner of the tits, maybe he'd remember more about her. Maybe.

"Mr Felix, what happened two nights ago? After you left Matso's?"

"Matso's? Nah, that was last night."

"You've been unconscious for more than thirty-six hours, Mr Felix. You left Matso's almost two days ago." A notepad and pen materialised in the cop's hands.

"That the name of the pub?"

The officer nodded.

"I left the pub because I wanted to go home. Back to the hotel, I mean. I have a house on the lagoon and staff on call." Tits. He remembered the tits. The perfect tits belonged to a hotel maid. Audrey. No, Audra. "Where is she?"

"Where is who, Mr Felix? Was there someone else with you in the car?"

Jason opened his mouth to describe the perfect globes he wanted to wrap his hands around, but he didn't think the cop would understand. "No, don't think so. She's waiting for me at the hotel." This didn't sound right, but it was good enough. "Shit, have I really been here two days? I need to get back. There's a girl – "

"First you need to tell me about the other night, Mr Felix. My constable arrested you for attempted murder and if you're as dangerous as she says, I'm not releasing you. Instead, I'll charge you. And it won't be the only charge, either. Dangerous driving. Reckless endangerment. Resisting arrest. Assaulting a police officer. Even rock stars aren't immune to the law. Especially not when it comes to bashing police officers." The Inspector regarded him coldly. "So start talking. The bar staff and your friends at Matso's said you left, and no one else saw you until you met Constable Nelson. Let's start with what we both know. You were driving in your Landcruiser," he prompted.

"Driving. New...my new car. Right. I left the pub with a carton of mango beer because she likes that. I wanted to get back to the hotel. It was a really long drive. It got dark and the road just kept going. I couldn't find the hotel, so I just kept on driving, figuring I'd find something eventually. There were...someone attacked me." Jason squeezed his eyes shut, trying desperately to remember. "A cow. Big brown one. Bigger than me. Came right at the car, like it wanted to gore me through the windscreen. Would've killed me. So I swerved out of the way. There were lights...and a crash...and...blood. And an angel in blue with a sexy voice." Not Audra, though. "And then I woke up here."

The police officer nodded as he scribbled in the notebook, then reached for his phone. He waited a few seconds, then barked, "Get Constable Nelson up to the hospital. He's awake." He terminated the call.

"How'd I get here?" Jason asked.

The Inspector hesitated for a moment before he responded, "Don't you remember?" Jason shook his head. "Constable Nelson radioed for backup and an ambulance. You busted up her car pretty good. We'll be down a patrol car for a while until head office sorts out the expense claims for getting it towed back to Perth and whether it's worth repairing or if it's a complete write-off. That'll add damaging police property to your list of charges, too. Forgot about that. Anyway, the other patrol car was at another call in one of the remote communities, so it was a few hours before we got a team out there. The ambulance got to you faster. We think they set a new record – four hours for a round trip. Constable Nelson accompanied you in the ambulance and received first aid. No thanks to you."

Jason squirmed uncomfortably. "I didn't mean to hit the other car. I hadn't seen anyone else for miles and when that killer cow came at me, I only thought about getting away without dying. Didn't notice the lights until it was too late."

Silence swelled between them.

"When can I go back to my hotel?" Jason asked, hearing his voice sound depressingly forlorn. Damn it, he'd felt bad enough when he started driving. And when he woke up. Now, he'd almost killed a cop when he should be curled up in bed with Audra.

"When I say so, Mr Felix, and not before." The Inspector rose. "Ah, here she is."

"Is the bastard really awake?" a woman demanded. "Have you charged him with attempted murder yet? I want you to yank his licence so he'll never, ever drive again. If that crash didn't kill him, he'll be a danger to every officer and driver 'til the day he dies. Drunk as a ditchie, he was." An angry policewoman with a sexy voice that Jason remembered walked into the room. No, an off-duty police officer. Her shirt collar was unbuttoned, she wasn't wearing her name badge or officer number, her shirt was untucked and her tool belt was mercifully absent. Good thing, too, because her hands were reaching for something at her hip and clenching air. "The first words out of his mouth had better have been an apology or I'm going to give him a second bump on the head to match the first."

Jason reached for his hurting head and found the fist-sized swelling hidden in his hair. He couldn't even remember hitting it. Or had she done it? "I'm sorry." He was. She had a cut above one eye that looked about a day or two old and he was fairly sure he'd caused it, even if he couldn't remember.

"You better be. Have you charged him yet, Inspector?"

The Inspector coughed. "Well, see, we have a bit of a problem. He says he swerved to avoid what he says was a charging cow. Your dash camera shows a bull near that bend where you two met. Wouldn't be the first time there was a bull on the road. Looks to me like nothing more than an unfortunate car accident."

"He was drunk. The whole car reeked of it and so did he! After he crashed into me, he even had the gall to ask me for my number. No sober man does that."

Jason knew he needed to be the full-on rock star and charm the pants off this chick before someone thought to charge him properly. No one did rock star charm better than Jay Felix, even if he was lying in pain in a hospital bed. Jason gave her the full benefit of a slow, sexy grin. "I dunno. I thought you were an angel come to rescue me. And I didn't ask for your number. I said I'd give you mine when I got out of the car I was trapped in. Upside down, as I recall. All that blood rushing south at the sight of an angel like you..." He winked. "I read somewhere that when you're in a car accident, you have to exchange phone numbers. I've never been in one before, so it's all new to me."

With what looked like considerable effort, the girl turned away from Jason. "Where are the blood test results? As soon as I was released from Emergency, I had them do a blood alcohol screening. Other drugs, too. Who knows what he was tanked up on before he tried to kill me?"

Jason forced his grin to stay in place as he replied, "Mango beer. I'd been enjoying a few brews and a bit of good food with some lovely ladies at the pub. I liked it so much, I decided to bring more back with me to the hotel. Where I could drink responsibly, of course." Fuck. He'd been drinking since breakfast and a blood test would show that for sure. There went his driver's licence and the PR team would be after his hide. If the rest of the band didn't skin him alive first.

"Sure, we got the results back. It shows some residual alcohol in his blood, but not enough for him to be over the limit." The Inspector raised his eyebrows. "Mr Felix, under the circumstances, I'm going to let you off with a warning. Once the paperwork's sorted, and provided you don't pose a threat to my constable here without your car, I think we should all forget the whole incident. No charges, no reporters, no lawyers and no hard feelings."

Jason eyed the two police officers. No charges and no reporters would be a relief for him, but the Inspector was worried about his lawyers. So he bloody well should be. If he had no evidence against him, he could sue the police for this.

What would a rock star do?

Jason hitched up his grin and drawled, "Well, that sounds reasonable. If you bust me out of this place and help me get back to my hotel, I think we have a deal. Inspector – " He wracked his brain for man's name and dredged it up. " – Burgess," he finished triumphantly.

Burgess nodded. "Uncuff him."

Constable Nelson drew in a deep breath, making her boobs swell so Jason couldn't possibly look anywhere else. "Inspector."

"Now, constable."

Metal clinked as she produced the keys and set to work on Jason's restraints. "This isn't over," she hissed. "If I ever see you driving in my town again, I'll have the breathalyser out before you can blink. If you blow over the legal limit, I'll have you slapped with a drink-driving charge faster than you can take your keys out of the ignition. Take a good look at these handcuffs, because you'll be seeing them again." She held them up and jingled them ominously.

Jason wanted to rub his wrists, but he was in full rock god mode now. "Oh, I see them, Constable Nelson. But next time you use those on me, make sure you're wearing your sexiest underwear because you'll need to be at your best when you go to bed with me." He winked again. "I've never slept with a real policewoman before and first impressions stay with you forever, you know? I am pretty unforgettable, after all."

She turned bright red and couldn't seem to formulate a reply.

"Thanks for coming in, constable. You enjoy your days off." Inspector Burgess dismissed her. She nodded curtly and left. Burgess dropped his tone so it wouldn't be heard outside the room. "She's a good officer, Mr Felix. If she said you were drunk, you're a lucky son of a bitch you had time to sober up before she thought to breath or blood test you. Not to mention the blood transfusions you had while you were unconscious. Diluted your blood alcohol quite nicely, I'll bet. Next time, she won't make the same mistake. And neither will I. You put one foot over the line of the law in my jurisdiction again and I'll have you in the lockup. You won't get a nice private room like this. Not even a pillow. And most of the guys we have in the lockup are in for drunk and disorderly, violent crimes. Looking for a fight and someone else to beat up. So you'll have a roommate from hell. And my first call will be to the press. All the money and lawyers in the country won't get you off. Are we clear?"