Save Me: A Singular Obsession Novella Read online

  “Are you acquainted with Andie Simms?”

  He stared at her blankly, hoping he didn't appear as shocked as he felt. “Yes, why?”

  Carter flipped to another page in her notes. “Miss Simms came into the station earlier today to make a statement about some drugs being found in her locker. Is it the same drug this boy OD’d on?”

  “Possibly,” he said, trying to cover his confusion.

  Andie had gone to talk to them voluntarily? That had to mean she was innocent. He checked Mike’s reaction, but the big man was expressionless. Eric was the one giving everything away on his face.

  He redoubled his efforts to imitate Mike’s stoicism as the rapid-fire questions continued. He had the faint sense they were trying to trip him up, but they didn’t ask him the one thing that would have thrown him—about his personal relationship to Andie.

  “Did Miss Simms mention where she was staying?” Mike asked. “We understand she left her old place recently, but she forgot to update her address with the club’s manager.”

  Carter straightened and narrowed her eyes faintly. “She did, but we’re not at liberty to disclose it,” she said in a noticeably colder voice.

  Oh, great. The cop was going think they were searching for Andie to shut her up or threaten her in some way.

  “All right,” Mike said dismissively. “I’m sure she’ll come in to pick up her next check.”

  Eric nodded in agreement, although he hated not knowing where she was. Eventually, the cops left and he and Mike were alone with the patient again.

  “If Andie went to the cops to make a statement, then those drugs are definitely not hers,” he said emphatically.

  “Not necessarily,” Mike replied. “She could be trying to throw them off the scent. But I admit it’s not likely. We are inspecting the other members of the staff.”

  “Is there anything I can do to assist?” He’d do anything to help her. Maybe a big gesture would ease the abruptness of his departure two years who.

  “I’ll let you know. I’m going back to the club now to set up a few more cameras—discreetly. In the meantime, get some rest. You look like death warmed over, Asian McDreamy.”

  Eric flushed and wrinkled his nose. “Where did you hear that name?”

  Mike laughed, but he sounded tired. “You still have fans here I guess, despite flaking out on them. The nurses have been whispering like mad at their station.”

  How awkward. “I only care about one girl’s opinion. I need to find Andie.”

  “Ask Todd,” Mike said. “Just don’t do or say anything stupid. Everyone’s a suspect.”

  “I won’t tip him off about the investigation,” he promised. “I’m only going to ask if he has Andie’s current address.”

  I won’t ask if she ever mentions me or if she’s happy. And I won’t ask if she loves him…

  There were some things he was better off not knowing.

  Chapter 6

  Eric was at Lynx before the doors opened. He let the manager, Trey, know he was on call as their doctor that night, but he had a few questions for him first.

  “When does Todd start his shift?” he asked.

  “Todd K or Todd S?” Trey asked, shuffling through some papers on his desk.

  “I don’t know. Which is the bartender?”

  Trey smiled. “Both are. But only Todd K is on the schedule today. He should be prepping at the main bar now.”

  “Okay, good. I need to ask him something,” he said, hurrying away before Trey asked him what it was.

  The main room of Lynx boasted an open space with stairways on three sides. Two led revelers to a catwalk where they could dance. The third led to the VIP suites.

  Those were the rooms where Andie would serve celebrities and casino high-rollers. Once upon a time, that last group had included him. Now his access to those exclusive spaces was because he was the on call doctor.

  That is how it should be, he reminded himself. Eric had never wanted to be a high roller. He’d just wanted to gamble. It was the thrill he was addicted to, not the perks that came with winning.

  He paused at the bottom of the stairs, taking inventory of the main room. Lynx was such a big club, there were actually several bars. But this central space had one so special, magazine articles had featured it.

  The main bar had been custom built to suit the décor. A circle of cloudy steel with built in lights gave it the illusion of floating in space like a UFO. The massive glass top, with its softly rounded edges, had required special craftsman as well. There were no stools. Instead, black leather couches surrounded on two sides a little distance away, while the third side was unobstructed. There the floor inclined down until it opened onto the dance floor.

  The bar was so large it had to be manned by at least four bartenders. Two, a man and a woman, were currently behind it arranging glassware and cutting garnishes for the assortment of drinks they would serve later.

  “Are you Todd?” he asked stepping closer to the male bartender.

  The tall brunette man stopped in front of him, setting two glasses on the bar.

  “Yeah, that’s me.” He cocked his head at him. “Don’t I know you?”

  He shrugged. “Maybe. I’m Eric, one of Calen’s concierge doctors. I used to be a regular when this place first opened.”

  The guy nodded, the defined muscles of his arms straining against his white cotton sleeves as he polished a whiskey tumbler. “Oh, you’re Andie’s ex,” Todd said with a smirk as he set down the glass and picked up another. “What can I do you for?”

  Wondering why the guy wasn’t more worried about her, Eric leaned against the bar. “Mike filled me in on her situation. Apparently, she recently moved out of her apartment and didn’t leave a forwarding address. He would like to know where to find her. Is she staying with you?”

  Please say no.

  “Mike wants to know?” Todd asked with a laugh. It was a normal enough sound, not smug, but it made Eric want to punch him in the face.

  “I would like to say hello as well,” he said evenly. “I’m going to be in town for a while at Calen’s request.”

  Mentioning the boss was less than subtle, but it got the dick to give him an answer, albeit grudgingly.

  “Me and Andie are on a little break right now,” Todd said, moving off to stack more glasses. “You know how she is. Blows up hot and then simmers down. It’s kind of our pattern, but she always comes back. We’re actually thinking of moving in together.”

  The hell she is fuckwit. “So you don’t know where she’s staying right now?”

  Todd pursed his lips. “Couldn’t say. You might want to check with the other waitresses. She’s friends with all of them.” He finished stacking more glasses and leaned back to check his stocks. “I have to grab some more bottles in the back. Sorry, I couldn’t help you track down Andie, but I’ll be sure to tell her you are looking for her.”

  He left humming. Eric resisted the urge to go after him to throw the punch he’d been holding back.

  You’re not a surgeon anymore. Concierge medicine didn’t have the same motor skill requirements surgery did. He could probably get away with a few solid punches.

  “He was fucking with you, you know.”

  Turning, he was surprised to see a young nondescript woman watching him. She was wearing the Lynx waitress uniform—a black minidress with silver trim.

  They used to be silver with black trim. Andie had been devastating in that outfit. Of course, everything looked amazing on her.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” the girl said. “I’m used to it. My name’s Juliet. And Todd knew exactly who you were. Andie still keeps a picture of you on her phone. He used to give her shit about it, but she wouldn’t delete it.”

  “She didn’t?” He tried not to sound as pathetically happy as he was. “Do you—”

  “She’s staying with me. Off Highway Fifteen, Kenwood Avenue, number four-o-three, apartment t
en. I’m only telling you this cause of the shit she’s in. If you fuck with her more, I’ll fuck with you,” the short blonde said with a deadpan expression. “Is that clear?”

  The address was close by. He could be back in less than an hour—before the club got going for the night.

  “Crystal clear. Thank you so much,” he said, already heading to the door.

  Juliet put her hand on her hips. “She won’t be happy to see you.”

  “I know.”

  Chapter 7

  “Motherfucker!” Andie slammed the door shut.

  It is not Eric Tam on the other side of the damn door. Of course, it’s not him. You’ve hit rock bottom and now you’re hallucinating. Doc Hotshit is long gone. He left you eating his dust instead of his cock.

  “Andie? I know you’re not happy to see me… That’s okay. I just want to talk and your roommate, Juliet, told me you were here.”

  Juliet wasn’t her roommate. She was crashing on Juliet’s couch. Roommates paid rent. She had no money.

  Crap! This was not supposed to happen. Not like this. She was supposed to run into Eric in New York or Paris after getting engaged to an attractive, wealthy man. Someone who dwarfed Eric’s six feet. Maybe an NBA player. She would be wearing the perfect red dress with her hair and face expertly made up. Eric wasn’t supposed to show up when she was both homeless and jobless, dressed in a tank top and a pair of boxer shorts with the elastic shot.

  “Can I come in?” he called through the door. “I can wait till you get dressed. Mike was concerned about you. Are you okay?”

  Oh God, this was humiliating. Not to mention her brief glimpse of him was enough to confirm Eric was as tall and gorgeous as she remembered. He was even dressed neatly in a button-down shirt rolled up at the cuffs despite the crippling afternoon heat.

  Damn him and that fucking effortless style. Why couldn’t he have gained weight or started losing his hair? You don’t have to open up. Being an immature brat was always an option.

  “I’m not going away until you talk to me.”

  Sighing heavily, Andie pulled away from the door and went to her bag to grab a pair of jeans. When she finally opened the door she was composed and wearing her cutest I’m-not-trying-to-look-good-outfit. And shoes. Being barefoot always made her feel more vulnerable. Well, right now her feet were covered in black leather steel-toed boots. It was as strong and confident as she could get on short notice.

  Eric gave her a small smile. “Hi.”

  She stared at him with what she hoped was a withering expression.

  “Mike called me about the pills they found,” he said after an awkward silence. “I realize it’s been a while, but I was worried about you. Do you want to talk about it?”

  This was either some sort of dream or a nightmare. “Are you serious? I haven’t seen you in years.”

  He blinked and shook his head. “I know it’s been a long time. I’m sorry. But this is the first time I’ve been back in Vegas since I left. I did call and text when I was able to.”

  She had wanted to be cool and casual about the amount of time that had passed before he’d reached out to her, but his reminder set her off. “That was months after you left. And those pills weren’t mine. I even went to the police to tell them so.”

  “I know,” he said quickly. “They came to talk to us at the hospital.”

  Andie backed away and sat at the small dinette table next to the kitchen.

  “Why were you at the hospital?” she asked, wondering if he was thinking of returning to Vegas and getting his old job back. Did he expect her to see him again if he did?

  Eric glanced around, looking adorably flustered at the lack of seating. The only other chair at the table was full of books, so he remained standing.

  “I found a guy passed out in the bathroom of Lynx after hours last night. An overdose. We suspect it was Drek. He had a few more capsules of it in his pocket.”

  Andie felt her stomach drop. “Oh. Is he dead?”

  “No, I found him in time. Needless to say, the cops were pretty interested in the pills Mike found. He doesn’t think they were really yours by the way.”

  She covered her face with her hands. “Doesn’t matter. I know Mr. McLachlan’s zero tolerance clause backwards and forwards. I’ve read it a dozen times since I got dismissed.”

  “You’re on probation. You’re not fired yet.”

  “I’m not fired up until the point I get arrested,” she said. “I’m not sure they believed me when I went to make my statement.”

  “Calen and Mike are going to keep searching for other suspects. I just wanted you to know that. I’ll be staying around for a few weeks as well. And if you’d like another place to crash, you can stay at my hotel.”

  She lifted her head up out of hands, prepared to blister his ears with swear words bad enough to make a sailor blush, but Eric forestalled her.

  He held up his hands. “In your own room, of course. Far away from mine. On a separate floor. Whatever you like.”

  Biting her tongue, she counted to three. “No thank you. I’m fine here.”

  Eric nodded slowly. “Okay.”

  He put his hands in his pockets and she waited for him to say he had to leave, but he just stood there fidgeting with something in his pocket.

  “Well, thanks for checking in,” she said impatiently. “You can leave now.”

  “I was in rehab.”

  “What?”

  One hand came out of his pocket, gesturing aimlessly at nothing. “I left so abruptly I didn’t have time to explain.” He swallowed and averted his gaze. “Wow. I imagined this conversation over and over, but it’s harder than I thought.” He looked back up to meet her eyes. “You’re surprised. I guess you didn’t suspect?”

  Andie belatedly realized her mouth was open. She’d been around a lot of drug users in her youth, but Eric hadn’t rung any of those warning bells. And she prided herself on being able to spot a user from a mile away.

  “What were you on?”

  Eric shook his head. “It was poker actually…although I was starting to drink pretty heavily there at the end, after I started losing. When I left I had lost almost everything—even my mom’s house.” He coughed. “I supposed I should be grateful she didn’t live to see that. She still thought I was a successful surgeon when she died.”

  Andie remembered he’d told her he’d moved back to Vegas to take care of his sick mother. The woman had passed before she met her, though, and Eric hadn’t liked speaking about her after she was gone. She tried to think of something to say, but Eric was intent on getting his explanation out.

  “I had pretty much hit rock-bottom that night I did the emergency tracheotomy. You heard about it right? I had just been fired, lost the last of my cash and my car. I came to Lynx to drown my sorrows. I was hoping to see you, but to this day I’m glad you weren’t there. I don’t remember much of what I did, but it’s my rock bottom. Not remembering still freaks me out. I’m just grateful I pulled it off and didn’t kill the kid choking. I attracted your boss’ attention with that stunt. The next day he offered me a job, one contingent on going to rehab and moving out of Vegas permanently. Except for leaving you, it was an easy choice. Or at least I thought it was at the time. I didn’t realize how much I would miss you.”

  Shit! I don’t have to forgive him.

  “You could have told me all of this years ago,” she pointed out.

  He rubbed the bridge of his nose. It was a familiar gesture. He’d done it a lot those last few weeks before he left.

  “I was ashamed of myself. I mean, I lost my mother’s house. I still can’t believe I did that. But you’re right. You deserved an explanation—a better one than I just got a job offer I couldn’t turn down. Although, in my defense, back then I still believed Calen was Irish mob. I was scared of him so I may have rushed to rehab.”

  “And they didn’t have phones?”

  “Not for the first month. Part of the rules.”

  Damn it,
was she allowed to be mad after hearing his explanation? The first call from him had been around a month and a half after he left.

  You can be whatever the hell you want. She didn’t owe him anything.

  “Thank you for explaining, but all of this isn’t really relevant. I admit I’ve hit a rough patch, but I’m confident the cops or Mike will clear me. As for our former relationship, there’s not much to say. We used to hook up. Now we don’t. We’ve both moved on.”

  “I haven’t.”

  There was a charged moment when her heart did a little loop-de-loop.

  “There hasn’t been anyone since you and I ended things,” Eric continued. “I know you have someone in your life or did very recently, but I didn’t want anyone else. I was focused on getting better and more recently on building my business. I’m running my own concierge medical service now. We work exclusively for McLachlan properties, but we’re going to branch out soon. I’m hiring more staff as we speak.”

  Andie felt like she was encased in ice while her mind raced, trying to decide what to feel. Was he hinting that he wanted to get back together or was he trying to recruit her for a fucking job?

  My dream job, she reminded herself.

  Wait, he doesn’t even know you decided to become a physician’s assistant. She’d gotten her acceptance letter for the UNLV program right after he left.

  “So…you’ve been busy,” she said lamely.

  “I missed you,” he said softly. “I still do.”

  Fuckety fuck fuck.

  Andie stood up. “I don’t know what you want, but I can’t deal with this right now.” Her priority was to stay out of jail and find a job.

  And it wasn’t like he was asking her to get back together. All he’d said was he missed her, nothing more. That was some grade A passive-aggressive shit. She wasn’t going to put herself out there again. Getting her heart smashed to pieces once was enough.

  She started to move to the door, so she could open it and ask him to leave, but he grabbed her arm.

  “I still want you,” he said in low, intense tone. “That hasn’t changed. But I can’t live here anymore. Calen was right about that. When I leave I’d like you to think about going with me. My home base is in Boston. It would be a fresh start for you too. You’ve never liked living in Vegas.”