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between Hardy and White, but I didn’t make out what they were saying. I didn’t really want to hear it.
    “Hey,” Dylan said as he came in. “So, you get the girl back?”
    “Yeah. She’s sleeping off the sedative.”
    “Dude, she clocked you good, huh?” He chuckled and came closer to inspect my throbbing nose. I would have rolled my eyes, but that would have hurt. “Didn’t think anyone could get the drop on you like that.”
    “Didn’t see you come running,” I growled. Normally, I wouldn’t have cared if Dylan was ribbing me about anything, but I had to admit… being taken by surprise by a girl who was all of a hundred and thirty pounds and almost a foot shorter than me was a little embarrassing.
    “Because Hardy said to stay back. I was covering the south exit anyway, on the off chance that she’d go there.”
    “She doesn’t know about that exit,” I replied.
    Dylan shrugged. “Eh, she might have found it eventually. She’s smart.”
    That she was, which it didn’t surprise me that Dylan picked up on it after only a few days, and her intelligence made the current situation harder. She knew how to fight, how to lie… what else was she more proficient in since leaving home?
    Hardy and White came out of the room, quietly shutting the room behind them. White came over to me immediately. “Sit over there.” He pointed to the couch.
    “Doc, I’m fine,” I grumbled, but his face hardened.
    “I don’t give a shit if you think so. Go sit down and let me see your damn nose.”
    “That’s so romantic,” Dylan snickered.
    “Fuck off, Urban,” I growled, but sat down on the couch.
    “You only wish,” Dylan laughed and left the room.
    I winced as White inspected my nose with that tough line of concentration on his face. Whatever he did to it was obnoxiously painful, and made my entire face throb, but he cleaned the area, wiping away the blood with gauze and antiseptic wipes, before he added a bandage over it. “Come see me tomorrow and we’ll see how it’s doing then.”
    “Fine,” I said, sullen. He packed up and left soon after. Hardy sat down on the couch next to me and let out the longest dramatic sigh ever. “How’s Addison?”
     “She’s out. We got her a little more comfortable. I don’t know… I mean… I’m supposed to have watch in a few minutes.”
    I nodded, answering his unasked question. “Go. I’ll get Dylan to stay with her.”
    “I don’t want her to wake up with a stranger.”
    Damn. The concern on his face sent guilt into my chest. I sighed. “I’ll stay then.”
    “But—”
    “I’m not a stranger. All three of us grew up together, you know.”
    Hardy snorted. “You were the older boy who shoved her face in the mud. Not sure she’ll like you around.”
    “She kicked me in the nuts. She totally deserved a mud bath.” I grinned, thinking about the gangly girl I’d picked at with Hardy. Simpler days. Hell, now that I thought about it, that girl was always beating up on me. I delicately touched my nose. “She’ll be fine. And you need some time alone too. Watch is good for that.”
    Hardy sighed and grabbed his jacket that was laying on the couch. “I’ll be back. I have to run to town to get some stuff for chow. Let me know when she wakes up?”
    I nodded again. “I will. I’ll be here.”
    Hardy left, and I glanced back at the bedroom door. Yep, I was here, and she was in there. Distance was good. She had some kind of power over me. I’d first noticed it in that room when I’d grabbed her. And again when I’d set her down in the cot.
    I didn’t like her having that power over me. Not one bit.

Addison
    The voices above me were distant. My mouth was dry, like I’d been breathing through it most of the time. Slowly, I came back to reality, small bites of all the things that happened in the last few hours sliding back into place a little at a time.
    When I opened my eyes I expected to be back in that interrogation room. Maybe chained to the