Midnight Renegade by Anya Summers

16

Reegan left work at three on Friday for a number of reasons, the most pressing of which was her desire to get ready for her night with Brody. He was cooking her dinner at his place, and had things he wanted to discuss. Or at least, that was what his text had said this morning.

They hadn’t seen each other this week, with the exception of a quick, late night booty call on Wednesday night, because work had kept her chained to her desk. She was busy fixing the glitches and vulnerabilities that the system-wide tests had uncovered. It was painstaking, going through her coding line by line to correct, modify, and strengthen the gaps. And it was why by noon today, she’d already put in sixty hours.

She yawned. The signal turned green for her to access the ramp onto interstate twenty-five, and she pressed on the gas to make the turn, pulling her SUV into the intersection.

Reegan heard the squeal of tires seconds before impact.

Her body jolted. Her head smacked against the center console that came flying loose with the power behind the crash.

One minute she was hale and hearty, ready for a night of exquisite pleasure. The next, she was in a daze in the front seat of her vehicle with the sound of sirens approaching. Her head throbbed and she pressed a hand against her temple, finding it wet.

How did her head get wet? She looked at her fingers and they were stained with blood.

Everything that happened next had a fog over it and was surreal, like it was happening to someone else, and she was watching from a distance. First responders helped her out of her car and onto a stretcher. She barely thought about her purse and keys until a firefighter with kind eyes handed them to her.

Reegan’s body ached. A police officer talked to her, handing her the information about where her vehicle would be towed to.

“Do you have someone you can call?” the officer with salt and pepper hair asked.

“Yes, Brody. He’ll come.” She nodded, and it felt like iron lances were being driven through her skull.

“Good. Now, I’m going to file a report on the accident. This is the report number, here, on this card. That’s what you’ll want to give to your insurance company.”

“Thank you.” She took the card, gripping it in her hand as the EMTs loaded her into the back of the waiting ambulance.

This definitely wasn’t what she had planned on doing tonight. She hated that her night with Brody wasn’t going to happen like he wanted. Even dinged up, she hated the thought of not pleasing him.

The ambulance transported her to the nearest emergency room at St. Anthony’s Hospital in Westminster. This was a first for her, being brought in by ambulance into the hospital. Because they weren’t certain regarding the extent of her injuries, they rolled her right into one of the few available ER rooms.

The nurse took all Reegan’s vitals, and promised to have a doctor in to see her shortly.

When she finally got a minute alone, she tried calling him. His phone rang and rang until finally his voicemail picked up. “Brody, it’s Reegan. I was in a car accident. I’m at St. Anthony’s Hospital in the emergency room. I’m pretty sure my car is totaled. I’m okay, I think, just a bit dinged up. The thing is, they already told me I will need someone to come pick me up when they discharge me. Normally, I would call Sophia, but she’s in Hawaii. If there’s any way you could come get me, I would appreciate it. Could you call me?”

The doctor came in as she ended the call. “Hi Reegan, I’m Doctor Alan Karpman. I see that you were in a pretty bad car accident. After taking a look at your vitals and to be on the safe side before we release you, I want to run a few tests with that cut on your head, just to make sure there’s nothing more serious going on that we can’t see. And I want to get an X-ray of that wrist to make sure there are no fractures or breaks. We’re going to do a blood draw, and we’ll get an IV going. Do you have someone to drive you home?”

“I should. Just waiting for them to call me back.”

“Okay, good. I’m sure it’s not what you wanted to do on a Friday night, but I will try to make these tests as painless and fast as possible for you, so we can get you on your way.”

“Thanks, doctor. I appreciate it.”

“Uh-huh. I’m going to have a nurse come get you for those tests. Hang tight.”

Reegan nodded as he left, and checked her phone. Before she had a chance to try Brody again, the nurse returned. She hooked Reegan up to an IV, and drew blood. Then there was a knock at the door. Reegan glanced up with a smile, thinking Brody had somehow already made it.

But those hopes were dashed. It was another nurse from the neurology department, who rolled her down in the hospital bed for a cat scan and an MRI. They were going to great lengths to ensure nothing was wrong. Considering the cut and size of the bump on her head, Reegan knew they were merely being overly cautious.

It was an hour before she was brought back to the room, where she tried Brody’s cell again. All she got was his voicemail.

She texted him. 911 Emergency. Please call me.

While she waited for the tests to come back, with a sitcom playing on the television mounted on the wall of her room, she kept trying Brody. She was supposed to be at his house already. Why the hell wasn’t he answering?

Unless… no, he wouldn’t do that. Except, his message this morning that said he wanted to talk had doubts creeping up in her mind. Was this why he’d wanted to talk? Had he invited her to dinner at his house so that he could break it off with her? Was that why he was avoiding her calls and not answering his phone?

Was he repeating the same pattern—like when they were in college and he’d ghosted her, only this time he had scored?

Panic engulfed her. He couldn’t do this to her, not like this. She tried calling him again.

“Brody, it’s Reegan,” her voice broke, “I’m in the hospital and need a ride home. Would you please call me?”

Another hour passed, and there was still no reply from Brody. It made her want to weep. How could she have fallen into the same trap again? Wasn’t this a sign that being with him, agreeing to sleep with him and date him had been wrong? Even the thought of it left her heart aching.

She glanced at her phone, knowing she needed to find someone to come get her and take her home. When she opened her contacts, in the most recent calls section, a name popped up. She studied it for a moment, trying to decide. Then she pressed the button to call.

“Reegan. I’m so glad you called. I know you said—”

“Paul…” Her voice quavered as she fought back tears.

“What’s wrong? What do you need?”

Blinking the tears back, she explained. “I’m in the emergency room. I was in a car accident. I know this is a big imposition, but they won’t release me without a ride home and I was wondering, if it’s not too much trouble…”

“Tell me what hospital and I’ll be there in thirty minutes.”

She closed her eyes, and rattled off the name. “St. Anthony’s Hospital in Westminster.”

“I’ll be there soon. Don’t you worry about a thing.”

“Thank you.” She hung up and burst into tears. Her head wasn’t the only thing injured in the car crash. Her heart had been broken in the fallout.

And it was so much worse than when she had been in college. Because back then, she hadn’t truly known what being with Brody was like. Now she did, and the pain was indescribable. Would she never learn when it came to him?

* * *

Where the fuck was she?

He had told her six on the dot. Six had come and gone two hours ago. The woman was two hours late for their date. Brody had started pacing when she was fifteen minutes late and hadn’t stopped since, marching from the kitchen—where he had their dinner cooling on the kitchen island—back to the front door—which he would open and search his drive for her SUV.

Was she blowing him off? Was this payback for his treatment of her in college?

He’d thought they had moved past it. He reached in his back pocket for his phone and came up empty. Then he patted all his pockets, front and back. Where the hell was his phone?

Brody spent the next thirty minutes searching his house for the damn thing. He checked his bedroom, the bathroom, the dungeon where he had been prepping for Reegan’s arrival. He looked in his home office and in his briefcase. He checked in the pantry and fridge, just to be on the safe side. He checked out on the back patio, and in the garage.

He checked his truck, looked though all the compartments, under and between the seats.

What the hell had he done with the damn thing?

And then he recalled the image of himself tossing it onto his drafting table at the office. Shit.

He would bet that was where it was at. He made a note, and put it on his front door in case she showed up.

Reegan, left my phone at work. Be back soon. Wait for me.

Then he took off, driving like the hounds of hell were nipping at his tailpipe. Throughout the entire drive to the office, he ran scenarios through his head over why Reegan had stood him up. It was the equivalent of looking up one’s medical symptoms online. By the time a person was done, it was the end of life as they knew it.

Reegan wouldn’t stand him up. Not his Reegan.

With the traffic, it took him thirty minutes to get to his office. He had to remind himself to disengage the alarm before heading back in through the darkened cubicles to his office. He found his phone lying on his drafting table.

There were twenty-one missed calls, fifteen text messages, and three voicemails from Reegan. He punched up the first one, and listened. His heart dropped as he listened to all three.

Oh, baby!She was hurt. Of course, she wouldn’t stand him up. How could he have even thought that for a second? Reegan was warm and giving, if a bit of a brat at times. But she acted that way like it was a game, so he would punish her and then take her to bed.

Brody rubbed a hand over his face over his blunder.

Christ, she had needed him, and he’d failed her.

He raced out of his office, making sure he locked up and reset the alarm. Reegan was fine. Banged up could mean a number of things. He would bring her back to his house and take care of her, whatever it was she needed. And once he’d reassured himself that she was okay, he’d be able to breathe again. He drove like a madman on a mission from god, weaving in and out of lanes as he passed other vehicles. If a cop wanted to pull him over, they would just have to follow him to the hospital, because he wasn’t stopping until he saw Reegan.

Brody pulled into the parking lot for St. Anthony’s as if he was a racecar driver, with his tires squealing from taking the turn too fast. He parked in the first open spot he located, raced inside the emergency room entrance, and strode straight up to the admissions desk.

“Can I help you, sir?” The nurse looked up from her computer with a pleasant smile and tired eyes.

“Yeah, I’m here for Reegan Taylor, she was brought in from a car accident.”

“Just a minute, let me check and see what room she’s in.” The nurse typed on her keyboard. Her brow furrowed, and she glanced back up. “I’m sorry, sir, but it looks like Miss Taylor was discharged twenty minutes ago.”

Reegan hadn’t waited for him. Since she couldn’t get hold of him, she must have gotten someone from the club to come pick her up. “Okay, thanks.”

Reegan was likely almost home. That was good news, it meant her injuries weren’t too serious. The hospital never would have discharged her otherwise. He strode out of the hospital, intending to head directly to her apartment. If he had to, he would sleep on her couch and be there to take care of her. He hoped that she would forgive him for his blunder tonight.

As he drove downtown toward her apartment, he tried calling but it went straight to voicemail. Was she avoiding his calls now? Not that he could blame her if that was the case. He had messed up tonight rather epically.

By the time he arrived, his entire body was on edge as he rode the elevator up to her floor. Determination filled his steps toward her front door.

It opened before he reached it. A tall, dark-haired man emerged, saying, “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay? I think you should have someone look after you tonight.”

Reegan stood framed in her doorway, her skin pale, with circles under her eyes, and a stark white bandage over her forehead. Brody’s knees almost buckled at seeing her alive.

Reegan replied to the man with a tight smile, “No. There’s no concussion, and they gave me stuff for the pain. I should be all right.”

“Then I’ll see you at dinner on Sunday.”

“Yes, I’ll be there. Thanks again.” Reegan’s smile froze on her face when she spied Brody.

Who the fuck was this guy having dinner with his girlfriend? Then he noticed her wrist was wrapped in an ace bandage, too.

“Babe.” He approached her on unsteady legs, needing to hold her and reassure himself that she was all right.

“Don’t babe me, Brody,” she snapped, her eyes full of indignant, cold fury.

“Do you need me to stay?” the guy asked, glancing between them.

“No, Paul, I can deal with him.”

Paul? As in Paul, her ex-boyfriend, Paul? The dud between the sheets guy she’d broken up with? That was whom she had called instead of someone from the club?

“If you’re sure?” Paul questioned, sounding unconvinced.

“I am.” Reegan smiled at Paul.

Paul nodded and then gave Brody an arched glare. As much as Brody wanted to mark his territory, with Reegan glaring at him, he tempered his possessive streak. Once he and Reegan had patched things up, then he would deal with Paul. The moment the guy walked away, leaving just the two of them, he reached for Reegan.

She jerked away. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Let me see how bad the damage is,” he said, pushing his way into her apartment.

“Don’t touch me.” She backed away, crossing her arms defensively over her chest.

“Reegan, I’m sorry. I left my phone at the office. I didn’t mean to miss all your calls. What can I do? Have you eaten? I can order some takeout, or make you something.”

“Just stop, please.” She held up a hand, staring at him with stark reproof.

“Tell me what you want from me.” He ached to hold her and assess the damage. He wanted to chase the haunted shadows in her eyes away.

“What I wanted? Oh, let’s see, I wanted my boyfriend to be there tonight after having my car totaled, and being taken by ambulance to the hospital. But we don’t always get what we want, do we? Although, if nothing else, tonight served to prove that this arrangement was nothing but an illusion.”

Panic entered his chest at her words. “What are you talking about? Do you think I left my phone at work to hurt you?”

She shook her head. “No, but I expected something like this to happen. How could I not? As much as I’ve tried to move past our past, the truth is, I don’t trust you. And you know what? While I sat in that hospital room trying to reach you, and failing, I kept thinking I was once again being ghosted by you—and when it mattered most. No relationship can survive when it’s built on quicksand.”

Needing to fix this, Brody walked toward her with the thought that if he could just touch her, then he could reach past the wall she had erected. He went to pull her into his arms but she backed away, shaking her head. “Babe, what do you need from me? I know I messed things up for us back in college. But that was college. You’ve got to let it go. We’re different people now. You must know that I would never do that to you intentionally.”

“The thing is, I don’t, and that’s the problem. Brody, whatever this was between us, it’s over.”

“What? You can’t be serious. Tonight was an unfortunate mistake but it wasn’t deliberate or premeditated.” His heart pounded in his chest as he searched her face for any signs of softening, and found none.

“I’m sorry, but it’s not working for me. And I would like you to leave. It’s been a long, difficult day.”

“Babe, don’t do this. Please, we can work it out,” he begged, feeling her slip through his fingers.

“There’s nothing to work out. It’s done. That was part of our agreement, that when one of us decided we were finished, it would be over. And for me, it is.”

Everything in him wanted to fight, wanted to make her listen. But she was a stonewall, impenetrable, blocking him out of her life as if the past few weeks meant nothing. He knew that in her present state of mind, he would get no further with her. He nodded. “I’ll go. Give you a few days to cool off.”

Her voice trailed him as he strode away. “A few days won’t matter. My decision is final.”

At the door, he glanced over his shoulder, drinking in the sight of her, and said, “Just take a deep breath, get some rest, and we will talk in a few days.”

“Goodbye, Brody.” She shut the door on him.

Standing out in the hallway, he stared at her door, wishing he could reach her but knowing if he tried to push, it really would be over between them. Reegan was in too volatile a mood, and he couldn’t blame her for it. All the blame could be laid squarely upon his head.

And he wasn’t going to let her go without a fight.