Tell Me What Is Priceless (Siren Publishing Classic) (15 page)

“So, Jake made a mistake. It was a massive mistake, but not everyone is perfect.”

“Zar, you didn’t see Blaze’s face when she told me to find you. She doesn’t think it was a mistake.”

“Why would he do something like that on purpose? Jake knew that I was falling in love with her. I told him that when I asked him to come over.”

“I don’t know,” she said as the elevator came to a stop. “Is there some reason he would want her out of your life? What else happened that he would want to do something like that to the two of you?”

Zar started to say
I don’t know
and then stopped for a moment, staring at Nan as the elevator slid open. “Oh shit. The Queen’s Dragon. I gave it to Blaze. Where is she?”

Nan pointed. “Second room on the left,” she said as he took off down the hall. Nan went after him as Zar burst through the door into Blaze’s room. She lay on the bed with her eyes closed, her entire body shivering violently. Nan stood in shock as Zar ran to the side of the bed. “Nan, get help right now. Tell them she is having convulsions, and she may be having an allergic reaction.” Zar wrenched her mouth open, looking for something to keep her from biting her tongue. He shoved a piece of gauze between her teeth and then held her down with his hands to keep her from injuring herself.

A nurse ran into the room, pushing him aside. “What happened?”

“I don’t know. I found her like this. She said that she is allergic to most of the painkillers on the market. Did anyone give her pain meds?”

The nurse hit the button on the call box and screamed, “Code red emergency. Get someone into room 316 stat!” She turned to Zar. “You are going to have to leave, sir. We need room to treat her, please?”

Zar backed off, moving out of the way as the emergency team rushed in with the cart. Nan stood in the hallway, her eyes wide in terror. “Is she going to die, Zar?”

“I don’t know, Nan. All we can do now is hope for the best.” He put a reassuring arm around her shoulder. Nan leaned into him and started to cry. “She can’t die. I love her like my best friend. She is my best friend. You don’t think that doctor guy tried to kill her, do you?”

“I don’t know,” he replied, staring with hope at the door, willing it to open.

When it did, a nurse came out, but she was unwilling to tell them anything.

A voice startled them both from their thoughts as Kale asked from his wheelchair, “What’s going on? Why are you standing out in the hall?”

Zar blinked at him as if coming out of a fog. “Oh, Kale. I’m sorry. I thought…I don’t know what I thought. How are you?”

“I feel like shit. I’m being charged with a hundred counts of something. I guess they haven’t found Jenny yet.”

“Jenny! She is alive, Kale. She and the baby are fine. She is waiting for you at home. You need to call her.”

“Alive?” he said, his face brightening with a smile. “How? When. Oh shit! Do you have your phone?”

“Yes, I do, but you can’t use it in here. Nan, can you take him around the corner? There is an outside deck where he can make a call. I’ll stay here and let you know if anything happens.”

Kale exuberance faded. “What happened? I thought Blaze was fine. They told me that she had only some cuts and broken bones. Did they miss something during the initial evaluation?”

“Kale?” Zar asked. “Did Jake give you any medication?”

Kale lowered his eyes. “Yeah, he did. It was only a minor painkiller for a headache. I don’t know what it was, but it kicked my ass. I don’t even remember driving off the road. I remember that I felt like I was suddenly unable to steer. The wheel went nuts in my hands. It sounds crazy, but it was as if someone else was steering it.”

“The steering on that Lexus was mint,” said Zar. “You could turn that thing on a dime. I want the steering checked. If Blaze is right, then it wasn’t your fault. She doesn’t have HIV, and she gave Nan an idea that maybe Jake was responsible.”

“Jake? Why?”

“I don’t know for sure, but I’ve been standing here, running it over in my mind. I told him I was falling in love with Blaze, and I wanted us to be tested for HIV. He shows up and finds out that I gave her the Queen’s Dragon. He gives you pills that fuck up your head and then tells her that she is positive. I reacted just like he expected me to. I was hurting from the rain, and I was in no condition to argue with Blaze. She was the last one in the world who expected to be positive. Jake left and had enough time to mess with the Lexus. It was unlocked. I never lock it up at the house. He knows about cars. His hobbies are old cars and antique fighting instruments. I hope I’m wrong, but he had the best access to get in and try to kill Blaze.”

“Kill Blaze? What are you talking about?”

“Blaze is allergic to painkillers. I’m not sure about this either, but when we found her a little while ago she was having a seizure. I think someone gave her too much of the wrong painkiller. She looked just like our high school friend Mike before he died of an overdose.”

“Oh, Zar, is she going to be all right?”

“I don’t know. They are in with her now. We are waiting for someone to tell us something. Go call Jenny. She needs to hear from you.”

“Okay, I’ll be right back. Would you mind if she came here? I really want to see her.”

“Tell her to come. We will figure something out.”

Kale held out his hand, and Zar took it in a gesture of brotherly compassion. “She will be fine, bro. Nothing can happen to her. She has you to look forward to waking up to.”

“I hope you are right. I haven’t had very good luck with women since I told Angelica to get out. I often wonder how much of an influence she still has on my life. I wonder if she has a doll with my name on it. I envision the doll hanging over an ever-burning candle with glass and thumbtacks scattered around it. I know it’s a stupid, neurotic thing to think, but I can’t shake it.”

“Maybe we should go look Angelica up and see.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Zar replied with a thin smile. “Go call Jenny.”

He watched as Nan rolled Kale down the hall and around the corner. A young male doctor came out a few minutes later. “Well, she is out of danger. It appears that your diagnosis was right. She was given a painkiller that she had a severe reaction to. The problem is that she turned down an offer for meds earlier, and we have no idea who gave her something. Her chart clearly lists what she is allergic to.”

“Is she awake? Can I see her?”

“I’m sorry, but we haven’t been able to wake her up. We fear that she has slipped into a coma. We won’t know for sure without further tests.”

Zar leaned back against the wall for support. “I want to see her. If she is in a coma, how soon before I can take her home?”

“I don’t think that would be wise. She would need twenty-four-hour-a-day care. She would be better off in a facility set up to deal with such cases. Let’s cross that bridge when we get to it.”

“How soon can I take her home? I don’t want her in a hospital. I want her where she can get input. She needs her dogs and people who love her to care for her. I will hire nurses to watch over her. I will do whatever it takes. I’m getting her out of here as soon as possible. My mother was in a coma before she died, and I’m not leaving Blaze here.”

“I don’t think you understand what kind of cost you are talking about. She would need a full-time nurse, not including medical supplies and a bed to put her in. She would need a therapist to work to keep her body from becoming permanently atrophied. It’s a major undertaking and expense to care for someone in a coma at home. I don’t think her insurance will pay for it.”

Zar laughed sarcastically. “I don’t think it will either. I wouldn’t even bother to apply for it. She is under the care of Russ Enterprises from this moment on. Anything she needs, she gets. As soon as you will release her, she comes home. Let me know what needs to be done to arrange it, please. Expense is not an issue. Blaze is the issue, and in the scheme of things, this was my fault. I won’t lose her again.”

“If you really think it’s within your ability, then I’ll call a social worker for you. They can go over the details with you and give you an idea of what you will need. I wouldn’t plan on taking her home just yet, though. We need to run some more tests on her, and her arm will need to be reset in a new cast. You are welcome to go in and see her if you want. She is very bloated, so don’t be shocked by her appearance.”

“Thank you, but not much would shock me. Please send the worker up as soon as you can. I want to know what I need to do. Thank you for keeping her alive, and I’m having a guard assigned to her room. I don’t think this was an accident. Would it be possible for you to contact the police and ask them to have someone stop in?”

The doctor appeared stunned. “You think someone did this on purpose?”

“Yes, I do.”

“I’ll have an officer sent up as soon as possible. In all honesty, I can’t imagine why anyone would give her a painkiller she is clearly listed as being allergic to.”

“Yeah, well, we’ll see. I’m going to go in and sit with her,” Zar said as he pushed himself off the wall. He limped into Blaze’s room and stood looking at her. Her cheeks were swollen and had a purplish tint to them. “What have I done to you, Blaze? I should have known better. Every person I touch turns to shit. All my money means nothing, and it seems to bring me only misery.”

He walked slowly over to her bed, seeing flashes of his mother before she died. “Oh, I miss you. You were my bright light in life, Mom. Why did you have to die on me? Are you looking down on me now and seeing my pain? How do I live with this? I’m so in love with her. She is so intense and so beautiful. Help me find a way to bring her back. I promise to fight for her this time. I won’t let her walk out of my life.”

Nan put a hand to his shoulder. “How is she? Zar, she looks horrid.”

“Shhh,” he said, putting a finger to her lips. “We don’t know if she can hear us. Don’t say anything to discourage her from coming back. The doctor says they think she is in a coma. They have some tests to run on her. Nan, how big is the house inside?”

“What house?”

“Her house, the one you live in. How many rooms? How big are they?”

“I have the basement. Upstairs is a big bedroom, a small bedroom, a living room and dining room that are open in an
L
shape. The kitchen is in the center of the
L,
and there are connecting openings between the three rooms. Why?”

“I want to bring her there. I don’t want her in a care facility. Do you think it would be big enough to support all of us? Kale is going to need help for a while also. Maybe we could set her up in the living room. The nurse could stay in the small bedroom and Kale and Jenny in the big one. It’s going to be a while before he is up to traveling back up to Mass.”

Nan sagged into the chair next to the bed and shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess that could work. She can’t afford that. Her insurance is shit. They would never pay for anything like that.”

Zar dragged a chair closer to her and sat down. “Do you know anything about me?”

“Only what the report said. Oh, I shouldn’t have said that.”

“I already know she had me checked out. I did the same thing to her. Did she tell you anything about me?”

“A little. I know you made her happy, and you are good in bed.”

Zar chuckled. “Thanks. That is not what I meant. Nan, I’m a multi-millionaire. I’m very discreet about my money, and not many know just what I’m worth. I’ve a lot of assets rather than bulk cash. I don’t want her in the hospital. I think she should be where she can hear and feel life. I want to sleep next to her and let her know I’m there. I want her to hear the dogs moving around her and know that people are close. I want her to feel the sun and be a part of life. She needs that to bring her back.”

“Yeah, I will do whatever I can for her. She has done so much for me. Maybe you should come over and see the house and meet the dogs. I need to get home and think about feeding them. I don’t know what the dogs and I would do without her. I couldn’t even afford their food on my own. They both eat special food. Please say that she is gonna get better.”

“I can’t promise that, Nan. I want her to get better as much as you do. She has touched my life so much in only a few days. Wishing doesn’t make it happen, though.”

“I know,” Nan said, her eyes filling with tears. “Wishes may be all we have right now. Why her, Zar? She is the sweetest person I know. How could this happen to her? Why not someone who deserves it?”

“I don’t know, and no one deserves this. Hey, did Kale get in touch with Jenny?”

“Yeah, he is still talking to her. He was so cute on the phone. You look so much alike.”

“I know we do. I wish I were more like him on occasion. He is broke, and he is always happy. He has no responsibility and no regrets. Well, he has regrets, just not as many as I do. Why don’t you go home and take care of the dogs. I’m sure they are lonely. I’ll call if anything happens. Do you have class tomorrow?”

“Yeah, but I’m not going. I’m going to take a couple of days off.”

“I’ll call you in the morning. I want to come over and see how big the house really is. Go home, Nan.”

Nan got to her feet, putting her palm to his shoulder. “Zar, she was in love with you. Did you know that?”