Free The Ninth Floor by Liz Schulte

bitch.”
    “Ryan—”
    “Sorry, sorry.”
Bee didn’t like me to call Mom names, but let’s face it, the woman deserved it.
    “Your mom does
love you in her own way.”
    “You keep
telling me that, and I keep waiting for her to show it.”
    Bee shook her
head and looked like she was going to say something else but stopped when the
door opened. My father peeked his head into the room, smiling when he saw us.
He entered with a large vase of breathtaking flowers. I hopped up and stopped
him before he could get close. “Bee can’t have flowers or plants. Her immune
system is very weak right now. Sorry. I’ll take them out to the nurses’ station
for you.” He gave me another sheepish smile and let me take the vase.
    I didn’t
return his smile. My dad had always been nice, and he loved me, but he never
stood up for me with Mom, not once. I wanted to forgive him, but every time I
looked at him I saw the man who let me be sent me away because he didn’t want
to make waves. I felt a familiar stab of disappointment.
    I gave the
nurses the flowers and went to wash my hands. I walked out of the restroom as
Jack came out of the nursing station. He smiled and nodded toward the end of
the hall. I turned and went in the direction he indicated, happy for a reason
not to go back in the room with my dad. When I got to the window at the end of
the hall, I waited for him to catch up. He cleared his throat and headed for
the stairwell. I paused a heartbeat then followed behind. My pulse quickened at
the subterfuge. I couldn’t imagine what he was being so secretive about, but my
interest was definitely piqued. When the door clicked shut, he took my hand and
led me down a flight of stairs, still not saying a word. Once we were on the
landing of the ninth floor, he tugged me toward him and his mouth grazed over
mine once before coming back for a deeper, longer kiss that made my toes curl.
My fingers found their way to his soft hair while his hands ran down my spine
to the arch of my back where they slipped beneath my shirt.
    He pulled back
slightly, but our noses were still touching and his hands were still rubbing
circles on the bare skin of my back. “Good morning,” he whispered.
    “This isn’t
slow,” I whispered back before I feathered a kiss across his lips, which curled
into a smile at my words.
    “I guess I’m
still confused. Do you mean slow like this?” He met my lips again, only this
time it was a long, languid kiss that stole my breath and made a sigh lodge in
my throat.
    The sound of a
nearby door opening made us pull apart, though our lips were swollen and it
would be obvious to anyone what we were doing. I smoothed and straightened my
royal blue shirt as we waited for footsteps but nothing echoed in the
stairwell. I looked at Jack.
    “It sounded
like it was from up there,” I whispered. Jack went up a level to check. I
crossed my arms, my cheeks flaming as I pressed up against the wall. The doors
on our level were chained shut. So strange. Part of me wanted to find out why,
but the more practical part said there was enough going on with Bee and I didn’t
need to run off on a wild goose chase.
    Jack came down
the steps with a curious expression. “Whoever it was must have gone back. I
didn’t see anyone.”
    “I don’t think
exit doors are supposed to be chained shut, are they?”
    “I told you
the floor was closed.”
    “I thought you
just meant no one was on it, not that it was physically locked up.”
    He shrugged.
    “Isn’t the
hospital building a new wing because they need more space? How can they not use
one of the floors just because of a ghost story?”
    Jack shushed
me. “Don’t even say the word. We’ll talk more about it tonight if you’re free?”
    “I need to do
some painting.”
    “Would you
like company?”
    I didn’t fight
my smile. “Well, yes, doctor. I think I would.”
    Jack sent me
out into the hallway, saying he’d go down to the eighth floor and would come
back up on