A First Love to Die For

Chapter Fifty-One- Perfect

(Lincoln's POV)

Josie had been assuring me all along that she was okay. Still, it was nice to be assured by the doctor that her injuries were in fact minimal. The nurse had just finished putting a salve on her cuts and bruises that she assured her would help with the healing process.

Josie was laughing and joking with the staff. It was me that appeared to be struggling.

"We'll give this a wipe in 20 minutes and then the Doctor has given you the clear to go home."

What the shit.

She had been chained up, beat up and held at knifepoint not even two hours ago. I'd be concerned that the doctor was a complete quack except that he was working alongside my brother and I knew that Declan would never take the responsibility of Josie's health and safety lightly.

Josie was not suffering from any of my reservations. "Amazing. I am starving, I'm good to eat anything?"

The nurse looked at her chart and nodded, "Yes. It looks like you've just been given general pain killers. You should be fine with whatever your heart desires."

I didn't miss the look the nurse tossed us both. She seemed to know a little bit about our desires. Apparently, our kiss had made it into the hospital gossip.

She left and Josie pulled out her phone. "Let's get Lucy in here and I'll give my report to the both of you and then I want out of here. Can we order, "You Gotta Eat here" for pickup?"

"Only if you come back to my place. I can't believe they're just letting you leave. Will you stay with me tonight, just in case? Please?"

She gave me the side eye and I backtracked, "I swear for no other reason. I just want to make sure that you are all right."

Her giggles made me smile. "Lincoln, I'm just messing with you. I really am okay, but I appreciate your concern. I would love to stay with you tonight."

Lucy came in a moment later. She didn't waste any time. "Okay. We've set up a rotating schedule so that there are always two officers with Candy through the night tonight. Sam, Trigg and I are rotating as one of those officers. It made us feel better knowing we were involved to the end. I won't feel better until she's in a cage."

Josie asked, "How is she doing?"

Lucy grunted. "Good news is, it was a through and through. Bad news is, she's a whiny little bitch. The doctor wants to keep her here through the night for monitoring but thinks we could have her in the box by tomorrow morning."

She pulled out her phone and opened a recording device. Then pulled over the mobile table, set up a tablet screen and a keyboard. "You ready?"

Josie nodded.

"Okay, let's start with when you first saw Candy today." Lucy pointed at Josie, letting her know that she had the floor.

I listened as Josie recounted the horror of her day. It amazed me as I listened. She had to have been terrified but here she was calm, and even cracking jokes. I knew she was trying to use humour to defuse the scariness of the situation but holy hell she was amazing. All day long, she had walked a fine line between trying to keep Candy talking and infuriating her to get a reaction.

Lucy finished up, packed up her stuff and leaned over to give Josie a hug. "I'm glad that you are okay. I'll send you this once I've completed it but rest up tonight. There will be time to go through it all in the morning."

(Josie's POV)

The hospital visit had been quick and painless, just the way I liked it.

As we pulled into Lincoln's driveway. I took a deep breath, trying to steady the sudden nerves. It made me feel better knowing about the strong police presence that we were leaving at the hospital. I put my hand to my stomach.