Rescuing Ryder (Serenity Securities, Team Hawk #1)

Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

Caroline’s phone rang and she sifted through her purse to catch it before it stopped. Seeing her friend Tex on the video screen, she hit the button.

“Hi,” she cheerfully greeted him. “The guys just returned from dinner. Perfect timing.”

“Hey Ice, Patch isn’t answering. Can you take your phone to him? I need a private moment with him.”

“Sure.” She scooted from her seat and handed Patch her device. “Wolf and I need some fresh air.”

Ryder sighed and waited for the door to close. “Damn it. It’s bad enough you sent them to stay with me. Now you’re calling me nonstop.”

Tex held his hands up in surrender as he stared at his friend. Ryder’s face appeared even more gaunt and haunted than the week before. “If you answered, I wouldn’t call as much. I need to speak to you and I’m on limited time.”

Ryder held his head down and pinched his nose. “What do you want now?”

A soft feminine voice caught his attention. “Hello, Patch. My name is Claire. Tex flew out and met with me today and I wanted to ask you a few questions if you don’t mind.”

“He flew where?” he asked skeptically.

“I live in a small town in Serenity. It’s about forty minutes outside Seattle. I work for the Jonathon Winters Foundation.”

“What foundation? I’m sorry he wasted your time, lady. My buddy keeps butting his nose where it doesn’t belong,” he griped.

Her soft chuckle sounded like a melody to his ears. He adjusted the phone to catch a better view of the woman who filled the screen.

“It’s a hospital on top of a mountain in Serenity.” She smiled at him while he took in blonde bangs swept to the side and the rest pulled into a bun. She sounded professional yet wore a T-shirt with one of his favorite bands.

“What are you? A doc of some kind?”

“Yep, I’m a certified head shrink. These are my friends. Dr. Chase Winters and his wife, Nurse Practitioner and teen ward supervisor, Kassie Winters.” A man with black hair and a smiling redhead filled the screen.

“Hi, Patch. We’ll give Tex back his phone, but we wanted to introduce ourselves to you. He came out to see if we might be a good fit. We run a recovery hospital for veterans and teens. We’re having a family BBQ tonight and wanted to invite you to our next one,” Kassie explained cheerfully.

He stared at the man behind the two women. The doctor smiled warmly at the redhead as she spoke.

“I appreciate the invitation, but I’m busy. Maybe next time.”

“What are you doing?” the blonde cocked her head to the side.

He huffed at her audacity. “I’m just…busy. I don’t tend to give my life story to someone I met within the last five minutes.”

The redhead sighed loudly. “Sorry, we’re a small town, and everyone knows everything about each other.” She smiled and he found himself chuckling at her contagious laughter and the blonde with the prettiest green eyes.

“I know we’ve come at you out of the blue. We hoped you might want to visit and discuss your prognosis. I can have a ticket for you at the airport and will fly you home after you give me an hour of your time.” Kassie’s eyes widened, showing her hope and determination in getting him to agree.

“Lady, let me fill you in. My friend Tex failed to tell you I refuse to stay in another damn hospital and be hounded about how I feel. I’m sorry he wasted your time,” he sniped at her.

Dr. Meyers stared at him as he spoke. She bit her bottom lip as if trying to concentrate on a puzzle.

“He’s not going to bite, Kassie. He’s already determined he’s as good as it gets. Patch, it was great meeting you. I’m sorry we wasted your valuable time. Your friend must’ve not realized how busy you were.” Her cute little mouth almost sneered at him.

He yanked his head back in surprise. The other woman appeared crestfallen at her words. The man behind them frowned.

“Chase, please invite his friend back into the room. He’s already made his decision and doesn’t want help.”

“Listen lady, I don’t mean to sound like an ass, but I never asked for your help. You called me,” Ryder argued with her in shock.

“You’re correct. Your friend flew across the country and requested a last-minute meeting with us, and we agreed to talk to you. As we mentioned, it’s family BBQ night and the ribs are calling me,” she agreed with him. Her attitude took Ryder entirely aback.

She rose from her chair and left the room.

Kassie leaned into the phone screen. “It’s nice to meet you, Patch. I hope you change your mind. We can offer you something you haven’t felt for a long time…peace. Tex plans to stay in one of our cabins for our veterans who don’t need hospitalization. There’s an extra room if you decide to join him.” She shrugged her shoulders. “You have an invitation at any time. If you don’t like commercial flying, I can have my jet there in five and a half hours.”

He tilted his head back and gave out a full belly laugh. “You’re kidding me? You’d go to the expense of flying me to your mountain to chat with me for an hour.”

She pinned him with her piercing blue eyes. “If it meant saving you, yes,” Kassie admitted bluntly. “Although my pilot will need time to refuel, and I’ll need forty minutes to drive you into Seattle.”

He smirked. “Yeah, forty minutes of telling me how I’m making a mistake and all I gotta do is tell you to turn the car around.” Ryder rolled his eyes in disbelief.

“I can ask Leo if I can borrow a chopper. I’m not particularly eager to ride in them after Chase’s helo crashed. It will cut the ride down to twenty minutes, give or take. I’ll instruct the pilot not to converse with you.”

“Who’s Leo? And why the hell would he loan you a helicopter? Who are you people?” he asked, exasperated.

She beamed at him. “I guess to answer those questions, you’ll have to come here and find out.”

Kassie stood and exited the room as Dr. Winters and Tex returned.

“What the hell? Do you want to send me to a looney farm? The blonde’s freaking worried about her BBQ and red practically offered me a private jet and helo ride. Did you suddenly come into money I don’t know about? Did you forget my pay grade? Even if I considered it, I can’t afford it.”

“The foundation hosts veterans for free. Kassie’s offer stands. You’re welcome to come. I’ll need consent to transfer your medical records if you're considering it. Our team will have options to present to you by the time you arrive,” Dr. Winters informed him.

“What kind of options?” he asked, now curious as he never received an offer to decide on anything.

“To begin with, you determine your plan of care. We find many veterans hate some of the medications prescribed because they make them feel strange. We review the medication lists and decide what can be changed or weaned off. Sometimes, it’s necessary to stay on something for a while. It all depends on the symptoms. Then we’ll work out a therapy schedule and assess any physical needs,” the physician explained. “I’ll give you time to discuss this with Tex and look forward to meeting you.”

He left the room, leaving Ryder for Tex to deal with.

“Why can’t you accept I’m done,” he whispered.

“Because you don’t have a plan, your choices seem to lead down one road. You asked me to stay out of this. After spending the day with these people, I believe they can help you. What do you have to lose? Take them up on the offer, and if you aren’t impressed, they’ll fly you back, and you’ve lost nothing but a day of staring at a blank wall.”

“You and I both know you won’t let this go,” Ryder held his head.

“If you give this a chance, I give you my word, I won’t bother you again. As long as it’s not a half-assed attempt like in the past; you make the appointments and do the work. Then I’ll leave you alone to travel the damn road you’re hell-bent on taking,” Tex negotiated.

“How long do you plan on staying?” he asked.

“I’ll stay until you arrive. I won’t interfere in any way besides getting your medical records here tonight. As soon as you give me your word, I’ll transfer them to Matthew’s office.”

“Who’s Matthew? I thought Dr. Meyers and Dr. Winters needed them.” Ryder paced his living room.

“He’s a friend of mine. They have a security team on the mountain. Their setup seems quite impressive. They help train veterans who want to work in the private sector. I told you this place feels different.”

“Fine. I’ll fly out. I’ll ask Wolf and Ice if they can drive me to the airport,” he stated, resigned.

Tex barely contained his smile. “You won’t regret it.”

“Yeah.” He disconnected the call and placed Ice’s phone on the table. He slammed his fists on the counter, not understanding how or why Tex bothered talking him into this asinine plan. Recalling the gun he loaded before Ice called, something made him hesitate. Closing his eyes, he swallowed down the guilt at almost wanting something to give him a reason or a will to carry on. A pair of emerald, green eyes floated in his mind, belonging to the sassy blonde. She already determined him a lost cause, then why did he need to prove her wrong?

Wolf and Ice walked into the apartment with worried expressions.

“Wolf?”

“Yeah?” he answered.

“Can you drive me to the airport?” Ryder bit out.

“Absolutely.”

Tex opened the door to Dr. Winters’ office. The trio chatted in the hallway while Kassie rocked a baby in her arms.

“I can’t believe you did it. He agreed to come,” Tex informed them. “He’s asking a friend to drive him to the airport.”

Chase shook his hand. “Then we need to have his records sent. Kassie, can you call the pilot and set everything up?”

“Yes, I’ll call and see if Maddie and Joe can spend the night watching the girls. I want to tuck them into bed. Maddie’s chomping at the bit to stay overnight with the baby,” she reminded him. “I’ll return once they're down for the night.”

Chase kissed his daughter’s head and his wife. “Why don’t you stay home? We can start the process, and I can catch you up when I return home.”

“We have an hour to convince him to stay. I’m not losing a minute. We need a plan in place by the time he lands. Catherine can handle the day shift tomorrow and I’ll sleep in,” Kassie murmured.

Claire walked with Kassie to her office and into the connecting nursery, where she gathered the baby items and diaper bag. Claire reached out for the baby and cuddled her while Kassie gave the instructions to the pilot and texted her husband. When she finished, she tossed her phone in her bag.

“At this rate, this kid will never know a moment of sleeping in her bassinet,” she laughed.

“I can’t believe how much she favors you and Em. She’s a beautiful baby,” Claire cooed to the infant.

“She’s the perfect baby. She reminds me of Em as a baby. How did you know he’d take the bait and come? I hid my shock when you left the room.”

Claire smiled. “The man has given up. He’s tired of feeling out of control. It’s the one thing we gave him, a choice.”

“But how did you know he’d agree to it?” Kassie asked as she took the baby and placed her in the car seat.

“I didn’t.”