“What?”
Ian strode past me to sit in one of the chairs. “I can’t tell which one you’re dating. I thought it was the young twin you were holding hands with, but now I’m not so sure. All four of them clearly have feelings for you and you, them.”
“I’ve told you not to do that profiler crap on me,” I grumbled, as I sat in the chair farthest from him.
He noted that with a smirk. “My presence is making you nervous. I’ve never made you nervous before. There must be something you don’t want me to know.”
“Cheese and rice, Ian, what did I just say?”
“Fine.” He leaned back in his chair and propped his ankle on his knee. “I’m looking forward to telling Logan that we’re lovers.”
“I seriously doubt you’ll both ever be here at the same time and have to put on a believable act.”
“Even if we were, I doubt we’d have to. You’re still a terrible liar.”
“Would you prefer I was a better one?” I asked.
“Right now, I need you to be,” he said, his voice turning serious. “The local police pulled in after I did. Any minute now, your doctor is going to come in to assess you, then ask you if you feel up to speaking with the police about what happened.”
I did my best to stay calm. Ian was obviously here to make sure I didn’t mess anything up. “What do I do?”
“You tell the truth…as Shiloh Pierce,” he answered, and then there was a knock on the door just before an elderly woman, with long white hair, poked her head in.
“Knock, knock,” she sang with a soft voice as she walked into the room. She wore a white coat over navy scrubs. Her honey eyes looked to the empty bed before zeroing in on me. “I’m Dr. Regan. It’s good to see you’re up. How are you feeling?”
As Ian had said, the doctor looked me over, told me I was cleared to go home soon, and as if it were scripted, she told me about the police wanting to see me. Wanting to get it over with, I told her to send them in.
Two cops in dark blue, almost black uniforms came in after she left. One was a man, who looked to be in his late twenties, and the other was a middle-aged woman. The woman—Officer Mendez—did most of the questioning and her partner, Officer Reynolds, only chimed in a few times. The questioning was pretty straightforward. I told them what had happened and went over my interactions with Jacob leading up to the attack. I was a little worried it would be his word against mine, but apparently the attack, up until he’d pulled me to the ground between the cars and out of sight, had been caught on the gym’s security cameras.
“You’re a tough cookie,” Officer Mendez said. “You’re handling this really well.”
Her statement shook me to my core.
“I don’t think it’s sunk in for her yet,” Ian said, covering my lack of response.
Officer Mendez eyed Ian. “Are you family?”
“Family friend,” Ian replied simply.
Mendez looked back at me. She looked like she wanted to ask more, but kept her mouth shut. “I think that’s all we need for now.” She pulled out a card from her pocket. “This is my number if you have any questions.” She held out the card to me and I took it. “We’ll be in touch,” she said, and she and her partner left.
“That wasn’t so bad,” Ian commented as he smoothed down his tie.
“Why are you here?” I asked a little snappishly. “What was so important that kept Logan from coming?”
“He couldn’t get away.”
I glared at him, feeling overwhelmingly irritated. “That’s not like him. He would have dropped everything—”
“It wasn’t safe for you,” he interrupted. “Coming here could lead X right to you.”
A million questions filled my head at once and before I could begin asking them, Ian continued on.
“We’ve made sure it’s public knowledge that Logan is offering his expertise to help catch X. He’s been seen and photographed at many press conferences. It is our hope that it will lure X out.”
“You’re using him as bait?” I questioned with panic riding my voice.
“Logan is X’s only lead to you.”
I stood from my chair to put more distance between us. Giving him my back, I crossed my arms over my chest tightly. I had to hold my breath. It was the only thing I could think of to help keep myself together on the outside, because on the inside, I was falling apart.