Page 99 of Keeping Penny

The doctor nodded. “We’ll get a cot set up in his room for her.” Then he nodded at the others and headed out.

“He’s okay,” Penny whispered to Casper, as he knelt in front of her chair.

“Yeah. Like the doc said, he’s tough.”

Penny nodded.

“I’ll go home and get you some overnight things,” Zita told her.

Looking up, Penny gave her a small smile. “Thanks.”

“And I’ll go downstairs and get you something to eat. You have to be hungry,” Mandy told her.

Now that she thought about it, she was hungry. Starving, in fact. Penny nodded at her friend.

“And I’m gonna stay my ass right here until you get to go back and see Pyro,” Laryn declared.

Penny chuckled. And it felt really good to feel something other than horror, fright, and worry. “Thanks for being here, everyone.”

“Nowhere else we’d be.”

“Of course.”

“You guys are family.”

And it hit home to Penny that indeed, these men and women, they were family. They might not be related by blood, but that didn’t matter. They were there when they were needed the most, supporting them and not wanting anything in return, and would do anything necessary to keep both her and Pyro safe. Penny had thought she was content with her family consisting of just her and Bowie, but she was wrong. This Night Stalker family was the best thing that had ever happened to them both.

She took a deep breath and did her best to let the horror of the last twenty-four hours go. She was safe. Bowie was safe. Pyro was safe. She couldn’t ask for more.

* * *

Pyro was confused. He heard a beeping noise that made him want to rip apart whatever electronic was making the annoying sound. It wasn’t a noise he’d ever heard his chopper make before, and he couldn’t understand where he was or what was happening.

Then he heard a noise he’d recognize anywhere.

Snoring.

Well, not snoring exactly, more like extremely deep breathing.

Penny.

And just like that, the events of the last day—two days? He had no idea what day or time it was—came back to him.

For a second he panicked, thinking maybe Penny had gotten kidnapped and was being held hostage with him. But when he took a deep breath, he recognized the scents of a hospital. Thankfully he hadn’t spent too much time in them, but enough to know where he was.

He wasn’t in pain, which was a relief, because he could still vividly remember how bad he’d been hurting from both his broken leg and the stab wound in his thigh.

With effort, Pyro forced his eyes open. The room was dim but not dark. The curtains were closed across the window in his room, so he couldn’t gauge the time based on what it looked like outside.

Penny shifted just then, and all thoughts of what time it was, or which day, flew from his mind. All that mattered was the woman sitting next to his bed, her head on the mattress and her hand holding his.

His memories became a bit fuzzy after his friends had joined him in the basement, but he remembered seeing Penny there.

And he remembered something else. He squeezed her hand.

As if he’d hit her with a cattle prod, Penny whipped her head up and stared at him.

“You’re awake!”