Fight or Flight by Natalie J. Damschroder Read Free Book Online Page B

back.”
    Regan stood.
    “Hey.” Tyler shoved her with his fingertips against her chest, and she plopped back down. “You’re not going anywhere, Regan. Tell me what’s going on while we’re waiting.”
    “She needs her IV back in. Mr. Sloane, if you’ll please move over.”
    He did, and the nurse moved in on Regan’s right. Regan ignored her.
    “You tell me first,” she said to Tyler. “How did I get here?”
    “I got home late, but your lights were on, so I was coming over to see how things went while I was gone. When I came out the back door, you were lying in my backyard, naked and beaten to a pulp.”
    She snorted. “Hardly a pulp, and it wouldn’t have been so bad if there weren’t five of them.” A sneaky hint of pride overrode any embarrassment she might have felt at being discovered naked in his backyard.
    “Five!” He stared at her. “Who the hell were they?”
    “No idea. So…”
    “I called nine-one-one for the police and ambulance. They set your shoulder right there, almost made me puke. You’ve got cuts all over you and you’re lucky your cheekbone isn’t fractured. Who did this to you?”
    His tone was getting demanding. “Ask them.” She motioned toward the door. The nurse, who had finished collecting her equipment, tried to grab her right arm. Regan shrugged her off and lifted the tissues. The bleeding had stopped.
    “Ask who, the cops? They don’t know.”
    “Didn’t they interrogate any of them?”
    “Any of who? They didn’t catch the guy.”
    “The ones in my house! Don’t tell me they didn’t go inside!” She huffed. “I knocked one out on the floor in my bedroom, another was stabbed in the stomach. Alan! Oh my God, Alan.” She closed her eyes. “They killed Alan. Another one might have been knocked out in my kitchen. Probably the one with the broken nose and the one who busted my shoulder got away.”
    “Regan, honey.” He crouched in front of her and took her right hand just as the nurse reached for it again. “Alan’s dead, yes. But there was no one else in the house. The police told me that much—after they decided I hadn’t done this to you.”
    He let go of her hand and let the nurse take it. Regan pulled away and glared at the woman, who glared back.
    “Where is that cop? Why is this taking so long?” She tried to stand again, and both Tyler and the nurse stopped her. “Don’t you understand? Someone is after my daughter . I can’t just sit here waiting to hear if she’s dead or alive or missing. Will you stop it!” The nurse backed up at her yell. “I don’t need the damned IV, but thank you for your diligence. It would be very helpful if one of you would go find Officer Boyse.”
    The nurse stalked out, but no one came back in. Tyler stayed at her feet, his thumb stroking over the back of her hand. “Regan, talk to me. What’s going on?”
    “I can’t, Tyler.”
    “Can’t? Why?”
    She looked at him. Why? Because the first time she let down her guard, it bit her in the ass. The one person she’d allowed close to her had been murdered. She couldn’t let Tyler become a victim.
    Or allow herself to turn to him. Her anger was keeping her sane at the moment, and if she leaned on him, even a little, she’d fall apart. So she retreated into old habits. He may not have been part of the attack, but he could have ordered it. She didn’t know anything about him, except he never seemed to work. He exercised at her fitness center and mowed his yard twice a week and dragged his garbage cans down his driveway at five-thirty on Wednesday. None of which made him a good guy. She stayed silent.
    Finally the cop came in, and he didn’t look happy.
    “Kelsey?”
    “She’s not at the police station. They contacted campus security, who called her room. When no one answered they went over there. The dorm room was empty. There were possible signs of a scuffle or someone leaving in a hurry, but unfortunately, those could also be the signs of a messy