Bodie by Nyssa Kathryn

Chapter 21

Bodie hung up the phone. He’d just spent the last twenty minutes talking to Sage, who was both their team doctor and Mason’s woman.

Oliver moved to stand beside Bodie. “Her heart rate’s gone down. Her breathing is back to normal. Now we’ll monitor her, and if she’s not awake within a couple of hours, we’ll take her to the hospital.”

Wyatt nodded from across the room. “Saving her immediate life takes priority over her request of no hospital.”

Their words made sense. But it didn’t change the fact that watching her lie unconscious in his bed made him long to do more.

When Bodie had looked away from Sinclair at the fair, only to see Wyatt on the phone but no sign of the women, dread had overridden everything else and he’d taken off looking for her, leaving Sinclair right where he was. The moment he saw Maya fall unconscious into Oliver’s arms, a fear he’d never felt before had cascaded through his entire body.

They’d taken her straight to his apartment. Bodie had wanted the hospital but her final words had stopped him. Had her heart rate stayed as high as it had been, Bodie would have ignored her request and taken her anyway. As it was, once they’d reached the car, once he’d held her in his arms, her breaths had evened out and some color returned to her cheeks.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, he touched Maya’s hand. Warmth had also returned to her skin, thank god.

He shot a look across the room. “Can you take me through the lead up to this again, Quinn?” So he could try to make sense of how one minute, Maya was fine, and the next she was the furthest from it.

Quinn had talked about it in the car but he’d barely heard. His entire focus had been on the air moving in and out of Maya’s chest. The sound of her heart beating.

She cleared her throat from her position under Wyatt’s arm. “When we were on the ice, she started rubbing her chest like she was in pain. She looked worried. We decided to rest, so we got off the ice. When Wyatt went to call Oliver, I think her chest pains got worse because she wanted to go home.”

Guilt swirled in Bodie’s chest. He’d talked to Sinclair for too long. He should have kept an eye on Maya, dammit. He knew something had been wrong.

“We were about halfway to you when she just stopped walking. Her face went white—like, white-white. I tried asking her what was wrong but it was like she couldn’t hear me. Then she turned around and started walking through the crowd. I tried following, but when she started running…”

Wyatt leaned down and pressed a kiss to Quinn’s head. “You did good, sunshine.”

Why did Maya run? Most people who were experiencing chest pain would have stopped and rested.

Quinn shook her head. “She looked scared.”

“She looked terrified when I caught her,” Oliver added.

Bodie turned and shared a look with Oliver. His friend was likely thinking the same thing he was. “Sinclair,” he muttered.

Oliver nodded. “That’s what I’m thinking. He would have been involved in the investigation of the lab break-in in New York. Maybe Maya remembered him and thought he’d drag her back there.”

But would that really warrant so much fear?

“We’ll ask her when she wakes,” Wyatt said, almost seeming to read Bodie’s thoughts.

He nodded, scrubbing a hand to his face. He hoped that was soon. Not just because he wanted to get to the bottom of what happened, but also because her not waking was causing unease to pulse through his limbs.

“I might go order us some food,” Quinn said softly, heading toward the door.

Wyatt took a step to follow. “You gonna stay here, Red?”

There was absolutely nowhere else he wanted to be. “I’m going to stay with her until she wakes.” And even then, he probably wouldn’t be leaving her side for a long time. “You and Quinn grab the spare room and Oliver take the couch. I’d prefer that you guys stay here, if that’s okay.”

Oliver clamped a hand to Bodie’s shoulder. “Wasn’t planning on going anywhere else. Give us a shout if you need anything.”

Once the bedroom door was closed and it was just him and Maya, Bodie quickly removed his shirt and jeans and climbed into bed beside her. Then he pulled Maya’s body against his and breathed her in. He wouldn’t sleep. He’d listen to every little breath she took. He’d keep her warm.

He placed his lips near her ear. “Come back to me, sweetheart.”

Because I need you to tell me that you’re okay.

* * *

“It’stime to take her to the hospital.”

Bodie’s voice sounded like it was coming to her through a tunnel. Hollow and echoey.

Her tired body almost wanted to ignore it and keep sleeping. Almost. It was the word “hospital” that pulled at her mind, forcing her attention. She didn’t want a hospital. Not only could she not afford a hospital, but there were no circumstances in which she wanted them to run her name through the system.

She was sure Sinclair would have set up alerts for something like that. He would have her location within minutes.

But wait. He’d already found her…

Fragments of her last memory started coming back to her. Of the fair. Of seeing him. She’d heard his voice. His real voice, not the one in her head. She’d also finally seen his face.

Her heart sped up at the memory.

“I think she’s waking.”

That wasn’t Bodie’s voice, but it was familiar.

When something touched her cheek—a hand, maybe—Maya flinched.

“Maya, it’s me. Bodie. Can you open those beautiful eyes for me?”

Bodie’s smooth, calm voice immediately went a long way toward soothing her. But opening her eyes meant facing reality. A reality where Sinclair was right here in Keystone and had been talking to the man she was falling for.

At that thought, her eyes flew open. Bodie’s face hovered above her. He was sitting on the edge of the bed. Worry lines marred his normally smooth features.

“There you are.” His thumb moved over her cheek bone, lightly grazing the skin. “How are you feeling?”

Sick. Anxious. Like her world was caving in on itself.

“How do you know Sinclair?” The words fell from her lips, each one coated with fear.

Bodie’s thumb paused in its movement as he studied her face. “Sinclair is the agent we’re working with to locate the last remaining members of Project Arma. Was he the person who questioned you after the New York break-in?”

No. He hadn’t wanted to question her. He’d wanted something else.

At her lengthy silence, someone across the room coughed. Oliver. He stood by the door.

“I’m gonna head out. Let you guys talk.”

Bodie nodded, while Maya remained silent. It wasn’t until it was just her and Bodie that she pushed to sit up.

“Maya—”

“I’m okay. I want to be sitting for this conversation.”

She had no idea why. Maybe because being eye level would stop her from feeling at such a disadvantage. That was the last thing she wanted, when these next words were so important.

“There was something I left out when I told Quinn my story.” Something that had been the driving force in her picking up and leaving New York. “Since you told me the truth about who you are and what you’re doing here, I’ve had a lot to work through. That’s the only reason I haven’t told you yet. And before that…I wouldn’t have mentioned it because I know how powerful the CIA is.”

And she didn’t want him to get hurt. The same reason she didn’t tell Quinn.

Bodie became unnaturally still. When she hesitated again, he seemed to snap out of it and took her hand in his. It gave her the last bit of strength she needed.

“When the men broke into the lab, they asked for certain materials. The ones I told Quinn about. Then they called someone.” A shiver coursed down Maya’s spine at the memory. “While two of the guys filled a bag, the one on the phone confirmed they had what they needed. The man on the other end told them to kill us and get out.”

Maya almost wished the guy hadn’t put the call on speaker. He’d probably done it so his friends could hear…or maybe because he enjoyed the fear coming off her and her coworkers.

Maya still remembered the absolute terror that had rocked her body at hearing those words. At hearing someone sign her death warrant.

Bodie remained silent, waiting for her to continue.

“They threw me against a wall and I became unconscious. When I woke up, I was in the hospital. There were people outside my door. I heard his voice.” Her stomach clenched at the memory. “He was talking to the doctor, who told him I would wake in a few hours and to give me that time before any questioning—the doctor called him Agent Sinclair.”

There was the smallest tightening of Bodie’s fingers around hers and a slight narrowing of his eyes. “What happened next?”

“I assume the doctor walked away, because Sinclair’s voice changed. Lowered, like he was talking to someone in confidence. I could barely hear him.” But she had been able to make out a couple of words. “I heard ‘atrial septal defect’ and a mention of that evening.”

It was enough to know she had to leave. Hell, just the sound of his voice had been enough.

“When their voices started getting farther away, I got out of bed, changed and climbed out the window. I didn’t go back to my apartment, I just took out as much cash as I could from an ATM and left. I checked my emails from a public computer one last time, and that’s when I saw Quinn’s email. I wrote it down before leaving town.”

Bodie nodded. She could tell he was trying to contain his anger. “It was smart not to go back to your apartment. Smart to run away. You did really good, sweetheart.”

Maya swallowed. There was a question that she was pretty sure she knew the answer to but needed to ask anyway. “What’s your relationship with Sinclair?”

Finally, all attempts to mask his emotions vanished. A scowl of rage and frustration crossed his face. The man looked ready to kill. “We’ve suspected for a while that he’s up to something. He’s never liked our involvement in shutting down Project Arma and frequently withheld information he was supposed to share. He’s also just an overall asshole. We did searches on the guy but always came up with no red flags.” Bodie shook his head. “When I spoke to him at the fair, he said he was in town looking for you. He had more questions about the break-in.”

Sinclair would know it was a plausible reason for him being here.

“I asked how he’d found you, but when I looked over and didn’t see you or Quinn, I took off before he could answer.” He pressed a kiss to her temple. “Leave Sinclair to my team. You focus on you. You’re safe now, Maya. He won’t touch you.”

His words were exactly what she needed to hear. What she’d been yearning to hear for so long. Moisture filled her eyes. “I’ve been so scared. Scared of the lengths he would go, to make sure I didn’t talk. The power he has as both a CIA agent and with his connection to people so physically capable…I was also scared that by telling you, I’d endanger your life.”

Bodie lifted his hand to her cheek. “You don’t need to be scared anymore. And always tell me. Even if you think it’s dangerous. Even if you’re terrified for your life or mine. Tell me.”

A tear spilled down her cheek. “Okay. Thank you.”

Bodie pulled her to his chest.

The tough discussions weren’t over. Soon, he would want to know about the severity of her heart defect. And she wanted to tell him. But for now, being held by the only man in the world who made her feel safe was too good to pull away from.