Sweet Harmony (23 page)

Someone must have shut off the phone. Probably it was the woman. She stared down at the cell, her hand shaking.
Maybe Owen knew something she didn't. If the doctor knocked him out again before she spoke to him…As she gave a shiver of apprehension, Daniel placed his hand on her shoulder.

"What's going on?"
Daniel asked.

"Owen just called me," she said. "He needed to tell me something
, but I think he was still confused after the accident and couldn't figure out what to say."

"Maybe he's still awake," Daniel said.
"I'll drive us there."

"Do you think the doctor will let us in
to his room?" She doubted the hospital had middle of the night visiting hours.

"
A person will do anything for a couple hundred bucks," Daniel muttered. "Come on."

Daniel seized her hand and dragged her to the door. Even now
in the middle of an emergency, her cheeks colored at the memory of the kiss they'd shared.
Snap out of it, girl!
she screamed at herself.
Now is not the time.

As she stumbled into the living room, she
forced herself to focus again. Jaiden was sprawled out on the couch and Boris was a mountainous lump on the carpet. Daniel snapped his fingers.

"Up, you guys," Daniel
said.

Boris was on his feet within seconds looking embarrassed he had to be roused in such a way. Jaiden was slower on the uptake and sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"What's going on?" Jaiden asked.

"Owen's awake," Daniel said. "Boris, you're coming with
me and Annamarie to the hospital."

"I'm coming to," Jaiden said.

Daniel nodded.

Seconds were ticking away. Right now, the doctor could h
ave been force-feeding Owen sleeping pills.

"Let's go." She dragged Daniel to the door.

She and the others rushed to the parking lot. When she made it to Daniel's Lamborghini, she could barely remember running from the dorm. Even though the car seated four, massive Boris had trouble squeezing inside. Poor Jaiden looked like he was suffocating beside him. After she was settled in the passenger seat, Daniel took his place as the driver. For once when the guy rocketed out of the parking lot going so fast she was sure he was going to break the sound barrier, she was grateful.

"Do you think we're going to make it before they knock him out?" She glanced at Daniel worriedly.

"I hope so," he said.

"What if all
Owen knows is that Nathan was the one who was stalking you?" Jaiden asked.

"Then this trip will
be for nothing," she said. "But what if he does know more? With Nathan on the run, we have to learn what we can."

Daniel grunted in agreement and pulled into the hospital parking lot. Even though she hadn't been paying attention, she was certain the guy had broken a hundred traffic laws to make it so quickly. She stumbled out of the car and everyone else followed her. Daniel was at her side within seconds and didn't hesitate to seize her hand. Once they made it inside, he made a beeline for a woman in pink scrubs who was sitting behind a desk.

"Can you tell me where Owen Riesling is staying?" Daniel asked.

"Visiting hours are from ten AM to nine PM," the woman said. "It's two o'clock in the morning. You can't see him now."

Instead of being deterred, Daniel flashed his most dazzling smile. Even though the woman was at least forty, the guy was so handsome even she appeared stunned.

"I'm sure we can work something out." Daniel smoldered at her, his blue eyes glistening. "Can you at least tell me who
's in charge of Owen's care so that I can speak to the person? It's an emergency. I'm sure you understand."

"Well…I…" The
woman was trying to fight against Daniel's angelic beauty but lost. "That would be Patricia Kingston. She's down the hall to the left. She's a tall woman with curly black hair. You'll probably spot her right away, since she just passed by me."

"You
're a treat." Daniel's eyes flickered toward the woman's nametag. "Naomi, thanks so much for helping me out."

The woman turned crimson at the sound of her own name. Annamarie endured a violent flash of anger.
If she knew what Daniel is really like,
she thought. Darn. Right now wasn't the time for her to be frustrated. She should have just been grateful that Daniel could turn every woman on the planet into a puddle of mush.

Daniel nodded toward the hall.

"Let's go," he said.

She made it to Daniel and glanced at him.

"Nice work," she muttered. "If you had pushed a little harder, Naomi would have given you her phone number and tried to superglue herself to your Lamborghini."

Daniel raised an eyebrow and smirked. St
ill he had no time to poke sharp sticks at her because she was already walking as fast as her legs could carry her. At the end of hall a plump woman with bushy black hair was drinking a cup of coffee and shooting the breeze with a woman behind the desk. The person had to have been Patricia Kingston.

"I'll try not to push too hard." He nudged her elbow. "After all, I wouldn't want to make my girlfriend jealous."

"I'm not your girlfriend!" she shouted, making both Patricia and the woman she was talking to glance in her direction.

Jaiden made a strangled sound out of the back of his throat.

This time when Daniel approached his prey
—
aka Patricia
—
he went with a different approach. An easygoing grin crossed his face. He pulled Patricia discretely away from the woman she'd been talking to and spoke so quietly Annamarie couldn't make out what he was saying. At first, the woman's eyes flashed with annoyance and she shook her head. After Daniel pulled out his wallet, though, Patricia's brown eyes grew warm and her head shakes became nods. He finished off his approach with a casual shoulder squeeze. The woman pointed to the end of the hall.

Daniel beckoned
Annamarie over.

"You're going to make a great businessman," she said
when she reached him. "I couldn't have pulled off half of what you just did."

"It's in my blood," Daniel said. "Just be glad
I got for us permission to enter Owen's room."

After the four of them made it to room 524, Daniel opened the door and stepped inside.
She followed behind him. The small room was shrouded in complete darkness. She took a step forward and rammed her knee straight into a chair she hadn't seen. After spewing some impressive swearwords, she limped around the room.

"Nice one." Daniel cackled.

"Are you okay?" Jaiden reached for her arm to steady her.

Out of the four of them, Boris was the only one smart enough to turn on the light.

Annamarie, gritting her teeth after hurting her leg, gazed at the bed in the middle of the room. Owen laid still, a white blanket spread across his massive body. His eyes were shut and his face was pale. His blond hair stuck to his face in sweaty ringlets even though the room was cold enough her skin was covered in goosebumps. She staggered over to Owen and sat on the bed next to him.

"Owen," she said, touching his arm.

The guy didn't respond.

"I think we're too late.
" She hung her head. "They must have given him a sleeping pill already."

"That woman said they gave him
medicine five minutes ago," Daniel said. "There is no way it would affect him that fast. Try shaking him."

"I wouldn't recommend shaking a guy with serious injuries," Jaiden muttered.

She didn't shake him, but she wasn't gentle either.

"Owen, wake up,
" she said, squeezing his hand.

The guy hadn't reacted to the light
, but he opened his eyes after hearing her words.
Thank heavens,
she thought, staring into his pale face. She'd never seen him look more exhausted.

"Annamarie…" Owen groaned.

"Hey, Owen." Tears threatened to fall. Stupid emotions. Why couldn't she be stoic?

"Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?" Owen asked. "Like an angel."

Her cheeks burned. She'd never known he saw her like that.

"Thank you." She bit her bottom lip. "Listen, Owen, I hate to do this to you now, but I need to know what you were going to tell me
at school."

The words seemed to rouse Owen from whatever stupor he was in. The guy sat up, his eyes bulging from his head.

"Oh, oh, oh." He shuddered every time he said "Oh." The heart rate monitor picked up speed.

"Easy." She rubbed his arm. She didn't want to give him a heart attack or something.

"I heard them talking," Owen muttered. "The two of them."

"
The two of them?" Her heart was racing. "Who?"

"The two
people that are stalking you." A line of drool trickled down Owen's chin.

Daniel
grunted in impatience, but to his credit, he held his tongue. Owen's eyelids drooped. She was running out of time. Panic made her blood rush.

"Their names," she said. "Please tell me you remember their names."

"Names?" Owen shut his eyes slowly.

"Names, Owen." She
squeezed his arm again. It took all of the self-control not to shake him like Daniel had suggested.

"
It was Nathan," Owen muttered.

Crap. I knew that already.

"And who else, Owen?" she demanded. "Who else?"

He gurgled feebly for a moment. What if he didn't tell her?

"Owen, please!" she cried.

"Bridget," Owen finally said.

Owen's eyes shut and he didn't speak anymore.

Bridget? She looked to Daniel, stunned and appalled. Nobody else in the room mattered.
The guy reached for her and pulled her into his arms.

"This is all a lot clearer now." Daniel
clutched her. "Let's go back to campus. Annamarie and I need to see Mrs. Carmichael."

****

Annamarie stared out the window as Daniel pulled into his parking space. After she climbed out of the car, Daniel was at her side within seconds. Jaiden and Boris had to forcibly extract themselves from the tiny backseat.

"I can't believe I didn't remember this before, but I saw Bridget and Nathan talking a couple of weeks ago
. I thought the two of them were dating," she said. "I'm so stupid. How could I not have remembered that?"

She pounded her forehead with her fist. Before she could land the third blow, Daniel seized her
arm and stopped her.

"Don't injure yourself," Daniel said. "It's not your fault."

"Why the heck would Bridget do all of this?" she asked. "I mean I stepped on her scarf, but so what? I'd only traded insults if she started the argument first."

Jaiden cleared his throat from behind them.

"We call Bridget Captain Crazy for a reason," Jaiden said. "She's always stalked Dan, but we sort of just ignored it."

"Of course, I never thought she'd go this far," Daniel said.
"She was annoying but harmless.

"You've never been interested in anyone before Annamarie, though." Jaiden's voice was
tense as he spoke the words. "It must have made her snap."

"Wait a second," Annamarie said. "I'm not sure she did all of this. After Owen was pushed down the stairs, she was crying.
The girl was obviously upset."

"You saw her?" Daniel asked.

"The girl ran right into me," she said. "She was hard to miss. I think she was blubbering worse than I was."

"I can only hope she's still
on campus," Daniel said. "At any rate, we really have to talk to Mrs. Carmichael right away."

Annamarie checked her watch.

"I doubt the principal is here now," she said. "It's four o'clock in the morning."

"Do you think Mrs. Carmichael would leave a bunch of coed students alone together all night?" he asked. "She and some of the other teachers have
rooms here on campus. Mrs. Carmichael lives right above her office. I doubt she's going to be overly excited to see us this early, but once we explain what's going on, I'm sure she'll understand."

"And it's not like she'd expel you anyway."

Daniel could harpoon somebody in the head and still get away with it.

"
While you talk to the principal, I'm going to look for Bridget," Jaiden said. "I know where her dorm room is because I saw her when I was looking for Annamarie. I hope I can persuade her to come to the office to fess up."

"You do that." Daniel nodded in agreement.

"Be careful." She didn't like the idea of Jaiden going into the bear's cave all alone.