Free His Safe Keeping (The Safe Series) by Tina Bass

had Mary laughing, and then, before she knew it, they were all laughing so hard their sides were hurting. That was when Dr. Miller came in, along with another doctor—he was the cancer doctor and everybody just called him Big Doc C—and they both stopped mid-step, grinned, and Dr. Miller crossed to Krista. “Kris, how are you feeling, darlin’?” Dr. Miller spoke directly to her, and she felt Kade’s grip on her hand tighten. She looked at him and then back at Dr. Miller.
    “So far, so good,” Krista responded to Dr. Miller’s inquiry.
    “How about after last week’s round?” Dr. Miller asked.
    She looked back at Kade and then back at Dr. Miller again, trying to decide what she wanted each of them to know. “It was…not too bad.” She definitely didn’t want Kade to know she’d stopped twice before he’d found her on her third stop.
    “Krista.” She heard Kade call her name. And the look Kade gave her said he knew she was holding back. She dropped her eyes and then faced Dr. Miller.
    “I had a very bad dizzy spell,” Krista said, and she felt Kade’s hand tense for a second. “But, it passed pretty quickly.”
    “And…” Kade prompted.
    “And I became very nauseated, but that also passed when I laid my head down.” Krista stopped speaking, and she could feel Kade’s hand tense again when she said no more.
    “Krista, tell him all of it,” he demanded as he sat there gazing at her, his jaw tight.
    She took a deep breath and felt his hand squeeze hers, lending her his strength. “It hurt, really bad, like all the blood in my veins had turned to fire.” Kade gripped her hand in both of his, so she hurried and finished. “I got sick, twice, then slept some and when I woke up, I felt weak, but not as tired as I usually do. The next day, I felt a lot, as in a whole lot, better.” All the time she talked, Dr. Miller was taking notes.
    “You do know these rounds will get worse before they get better, right?” Dr. Miller asked. She nodded because she did know all of this. They had discussed these new, more intense, rounds in depth. “Kris,” Dr. Miller murmured. “If it gets too bad, you have to tell me, and we can try something else.” Krista just nodded her head again before she answered.
    “I know. We talked about this. I can do it.”
    “I’ll be with her. I’ll take care of her,” Kade stated this firmly.
    She watched as Dr. Miller looked over at Kade, almost with contempt. “And you are?” he asked, rudely.
    Krista jumped in before Kade could say something that would probably contain the F-word. “This is Kade, he’s a…uh…friend of mine.”
    “A really good friend,” Kade added, stressing on the ‘good’ part of ‘good friend.’
    Dr. Miller ignored Kade and turned his attention back to Krista. “You take care and if you have any problems or any questions, or anything , you call me.” And he was stressing the ‘anything’ in his statement. Tucking his clipboard under his arm, he added one more thing. “You have all my numbers, Kris, right?” She just nodded again, wondering what that was all about. “Okay then. I’ll see you next week or earlier if you need me. Anytime .” Dr. Miller nodded at her as he was leaving the room. He just stared at Kade, who gave him a chin lift. Then Candy came over to remove the IV needle from her arm. When she did, she jerked just a little harder than was necessary and Krista jumped. Not a lot, but enough for Kade to notice.
    “Sorry.” Candy smirked. Then Kade leaned over Krista and got into Candy’s face which was still bent at Krista’s side. He spoke low, but not too low that she couldn’t hear him.
    “Bitch. You ever and I mean ever , hurt her again, I’ll make damn sure you’ll be damn sorry. You got me?” Then Kade straightened in his chair and stood, holding his hand out to Krista. When she put her hand in his, he pulled her to his chest and wrapped his arms around her. He asked her a question spoken into the top of