Tyler (Blue Halo Book 6)

Emerson smiled as she opened the bathroom door to the smell of bacon drifting up the stairs. Tyler knew she loved the stuff, and it was exactly what she needed today.

The second visiting hours started, she was going to see Levi. Sage and her partner, Mason, had been able to get on an early flight, so they might already be at the hospital. And Emerson was keeping her fingers and toes crossed that the swelling had gone down already and the surgery on his skull could be performed soon. Then, they were one step closer to being able to talk to him. Have an actual conversation with the man and figure out how best to help him.

She pulled on a flowy, colorful dress and pulled her hair up into a high ponytail. She’d never been a makeup person—she touched her face and rubbed her eyes way too often for that.

She was just moving down the stairs when she heard Tyler speaking.

“She’s awake?”

Emerson paused. Tyler sounded hopeful. Then…

“No, if Steve wants you down there for the questioning, you should go.”

Go? Go where? She continued down the stairs, slower this time. At the kitchen, she paused again. Tyler held out his arm.

Smiling—of course he’d heard her coming—she moved forward and slid against his side.

He kissed her head in greeting before talking to whoever it was again. “Yeah, keep us updated.” She was about to move out of his arms, but he snagged her wrist and pulled her back into him. “Hey. Where are you going?”

“Everything okay?” she asked quietly.

“We do some off-the-books work for the FBI. They have a case right now that no one can crack. It’s doing everyone’s head in. We might have something now, though.”

She saw the stress lines beside his eyes and traced them with her finger. “I’m sorry. Want to talk about it?”

“You have enough going on, baby. You do not need to hear about this messed-up case.”

Oh, she definitely felt like she had enough going on. Still, she hated that he had to shoulder an additional burden.

He lowered his head, nibbling on her ear. “I made you bacon.”

A shudder rocked her spine. “I smelled it the second I got out of the shower.”

In fact, she’d probably smelled it in the shower. Pixie had always joked that she’d smell bacon miles away in the middle of a snowstorm.

Emerson set the table while Tyler plated the food. The bagels caught her eye. If there was a second food she’d sell her left kidney for, it was most definitely bagels. It wasn’t surprising that he’d noticed; she only ordered them nearly every time they went to The Grind.

“Better be careful making all my favorite foods,” she said with a smile, grabbing a bagel for her plate. “I might come to expect this kind of treatment.”

“If bagels and bacon put a smile on your face, I’ll make them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”

She laughed. “Well, then you’d have to roll me around because I’d be the size of a house.”

“You’d still be the most beautiful woman in the room.”

Oh, this man and his beautiful words. “Say sweet things like that, and I might come to expect those every day too.”

“Good. You should expect me to say nice things and treat you the way you deserve to be treated,” he said quietly, an intensity about his expression.

She swallowed, piling bacon onto her plate. A lot of bacon. Definitely too much. But then, could you have too much bacon?

Tyler spent every second of their meal making her smile and laugh when those should be the last things she felt like doing. He even shared a bit more about his mom. Their little traditions and the way they’d celebrate holidays. The woman sounded a lot like Pixie. Kind. Nurturing.

“I wish I could have met her,” Emerson said quietly after she’d swallowed her last mouthful of food.

“She would have loved you.”

The way he said it, the way he looked at her…it made something in her belly stir.

She took a big gulp of water to soothe her entirely too-dry throat. “We should clean up so we can get to the hospital.”

“We should,” he agreed, and yet, it was another few beats before he finally rose.

She was just slotting the last dish into the washer when Tyler’s ringtone sliced through the room. She turned her head as he answered.

“Sage, how’s he doing?”

Sage, the doctor. She must be with Levi already.

Tyler frowned. “Yes, we can come in now.”

Her breath caught. Come in… Because something had happened?

Tyler could feel the nervous energy rolling off Emerson in waves as they stepped through the hospital doors. He lowered his head and whispered into her ear, “Relax.”

“I can’t.”

His hand tightened around her waist.

Jason was guarding the room today, with Mason by his side. Tyler shook Mason’s hand. “Good to see you, man. Thanks for getting to Cradle Mountain so quickly.”

“Not a problem, Ty.”

His hand returned to Emerson’s waist. “This is Emerson Charles.”

Mason dipped his chin. “Hi, Emerson.”

“Hi.”

“Sage is with Levi,” Mason said, nodding toward the door.

They looked inside the room to see Sage by the bed, glasses on her nose and notes in front of her. Emerson looked from Levi to Sage as they walked in.

Sage glanced up and smiled. “Hi, Ty.”

“Sage.”

She held out her hand for Emerson. “Hi. I’m Dr. Sage Porter.”

“Emerson. Thank you so much for getting here so quickly.”

“Of course. Now, I’ve looked over Levi’s charts and can see his bullet wound is healing really quickly, but then we expected that. All the guys with altered DNA heal from injuries at an astounding speed. He’s already past the peak of the swelling, so I would say that by tomorrow morning, we should be able to perform the surgery he needs.”

He heard Emerson’s heart speed up. “And he’ll wake up after that?”

“As long as everything goes to plan, yes.”

Emerson sighed, almost deflating beside him.

“Also, I did a scan of his shoulder today and found he does have a chip embedded.”

So the commander responsible for Project Arma had chipped his guards as well as his prisoners. Asshole. Had he thought they would eventually desert him? Go against orders?

“I’ll remove that before he leaves here,” Sage said softly. “But…there’s something else.”

When a look of sympathy flashed in Sage’s eyes, Tyler got a sinking feeling in his gut. Whatever the “something else” was, he knew Emerson wouldn’t like it.

The doctor’s gaze flicked to the notes. “I did a full panel on his blood and found drugs in his system.”

Whatever he’d been expecting the woman to say, it wasn’t that.

“Drugs?” Emerson asked quietly.

“Lysergic acid diethylamide, to be exact.”

Tyler frowned. “LSD? The hallucinogenic?”

“That’s the one. There was also a small unlabeled box of tablets in his pocket. When we test it, I’m fairly certain we’ll find it’s the same drug.”

Emerson shook her head. “No. That can’t be possible. He wouldn’t do illegal drugs.”

But even as she said the words, Tyler heard the doubt in her voice. Her brother had gone through a lot. He had issues, and not only was it possible he’d take illegal drugs, it might also explain his downward spiral and paranoia.

Sage gave Emerson an empathetic look. “I’m sorry, Emerson.”

“So it is his fault,” Emerson said, almost sounding like she was talking to herself.

“Em—”

“The reason he’s not thinking logically, the reason he’s hurt and killed people, is because he’s voluntarily taking drugs. Even though he knows how dangerous he is already, between his PTSD and his altered DNA.”

Her gaze flashed to her brother, but this time, in addition to the sadness, there was anger.

Before he could say anything to soothe her, Emerson spun and quickly left the room. He shot an apologetic look Sage’s way before going after her. He let her get halfway down the hall before grabbing her arm.

“Emerson—”

“I’ve been fighting for him!”

“I know.”

“I left my home. I lied to you. I used all my savings to hire two different firms to find him!”

“Because you love him.”

She shook her head. “Yet, he didn’t love me or anyone else enough to fight for himself.”