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Eden had never felt more vulnerable in her life. Chandler and Adam were right. Her sense of safety had been violated—not just with the poison, but with the knowledge that someone had broken into her home to put it there.
Chandler still stood beside the bed, holding her hand. “Hey. It’ll be okay, Eden. I promise. The police are at your house right now, investigating.” At her surprised look, he added, “I went out after the doctor diagnosed you to call them. What happened to you is a crime. It needs to be investigated.”
He was right, she knew, but there went her dreams of climbing into her bed and pulling the covers over her head until this whole nightmare went away. Couldn’t do that with police in your house. She sighed and put on a brave face, same as she always did. “Do we need to go let them in?” she asked.
“No, it’s fine—when we were dropping you off the other day, Adam actually tripped over the rock with your spare key, so I was able to direct the police on where to find it.”
Eden chuckled a little in spite of herself. “Thank you,” she said, softer than she’d intended. “For helping me.”
He took a deep breath, his expression unreadable as a long second stretched out in uncomfortable silence. Finally, a nurse came in with Eden’s discharge papers and a set of scrubs and socks for her to wear, since they’d disposed of her clothes in the biohazard bin. Chandler stood outside the exam room in the hall, while she slowly got up and pulled on her new outfit, grateful they’d included a scrub jacket for her to help ward off the chill. Springtime in Virginia was generally pretty warm during the day, but it got cold at night.
Once she was dressed. Chandler returned, along with enough tension to curdle the air.
“Uh, I guess we should head back to my place and make sure the police have everything they need,” she said, sitting on the edge of the bed again until a sudden rush of dizziness abated. Except home would mean answering more questions and giving more statements and doing all the things the doctor had recommended before she could even settle in and sleep, which was what she wanted more than anything in the world. The unhappiness and fatigue inside her threatened to overwhelm her, and she felt tears building up behind her eyes again. She swallowed hard. “I’ll need to start throwing out all my food, and I’ll have to go shopping again…” At the rate things were going now, she wasn’t sure how she’d make the trek out to Chandler’s car without passing out, let alone scrub down her entire house.
“No. First, we need to get you settled. Someplace safe,” Chandler said, frowning down at her. “While you rest, I’ll go back to your house and talk to the cops and figure out how the poisoner got in. I’ll take care of disposing of everything while I’m there, and I’ll line up a cleaning crew to scrub the place down. If the investigators want to talk to you too, they can do it tomorrow. Remember what the doctor said. You have to take care of yourself now. That’s the most important thing. And until I get your house secure again, you can’t go back there.”
The independent part of her wanted to bristle. But she forced herself to take a breath and really think about what he was saying. This whole incident had proven her house wasn’t safe. Even if she cleaned it out, would she really feel safe staying there, knowing her attacker had gotten in once and might be able to do so again? “What did you have in mind?” she asked warily. “I mean, I guess I could go stay at a hotel, but it would get expensive pretty quickly.”
“What about your parents? Can you stay with them?” Chandler asked. “You mentioned they just had a new security system installed, right? State of the art?”
“No. I mean—yes, they have a new security system. But I won’t be staying with my parents. I don’t want my family involved in this, remember? Especially since we have no idea about the extent of the danger. I’m not going to bring that to their doorstep.” She pulled the thin, green scrub jacket tighter around herself. “Maybe I can call Lena. Crash with her a few nights.”
“Does she have a security system?”
“No.”
“Then she’s out too. Without security, you staying there would put your best friend at risk.”
Shit. God, why hadn’t she thought of that? It was getting harder to think straight after everything she’d been through, but she knew Chandler was right. She’d never, ever want to endanger Lena at all. On the other hand, her options for a safe place to stay were dwindling.
“Look.” Chandler crouched in front of her, putting them closer to eye level. She appreciated it, since looking up made her head spin. “I know you probably don’t want to hear this, but I really think you should stay with me.” She balked at the idea, but he held up a hand before she could say anything. “Please. Just hear me out. My place is safe. I’ve got a good security system, and if someone did manage to get past it, I’d be there to keep you safe.”
She wasn’t sure what made her more nervous, the unknown killer out there who was after her or the thought of being around Chandler Ruthven twenty-four seven. Not because she didn’t like him, but because she did. Far more than was wise. But no matter how attractive she might find him, now was not the time to explore that, especially if they were cohabitating for a while.
Think, Eden. Think.
There had to be another way. Had to be alternatives. Except no matter how hard she strained to think of one, nothing came to mind. Her parents were out. Her siblings were out. Lena was out.
Shit.
With no choice left and what was left of her precious energy crashing like a faulty rocket, Eden surrendered to the inevitable. “Fine. I’ll stay with you. But.” She took a deep breath. “I don’t want anyone to know about this. Definitely not my family. Got it?”
Chandler stared at her for a beat or two, as if she were a complicated puzzle he was trying to solve, then gave a curt nod. “Got it.” His tense shoulders relaxed a bit as he straightened and moved away from her again. “I won’t say a word to your family.”
