Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 94512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
“How’s your love life?” Dare asked instead.
“Nonexistent,” his friend muttered and shut up instead of asking more questions.
Dare grinned for the first time all night.
Suddenly a crackling sounded, and the dispatcher’s voice broke into the silence. “Headquarters to Car Five.”
Sam answered. “Car Five on Main.”
“Ten-four. Car Five respond to Three Seasons Avenue.”
“Car Five en route,” Sam said.
Dare’s stomach clenched at the mention of the address where Tess had gone tonight.
Static again and then, “Car Five, be advised the caller stated there is an underage female passed out on a bed inside house. Serendipity EMS is en route as a precaution. Advise if any other services are required once on scene.”
“Ten-four,” Sam said, then muttered to Dare, “Damned kids and alcohol.”
Even as Dare swung the car around, he’d broken into a sweat. “Tess is at that party.”
“Shit.”
Dare hit the siren and floored the gas.
By the time he pulled up to the house, any cars that had been parked out front had disappeared and his stomach dropped, memories of his friends doing the same ten years ago coming back in vivid color.
They sprinted across the lawn and burst through the front door.
“Where?” Sam asked.
A shaking girl pointed at a doorway off the living room, and when Dare beat Sam inside his worst fears were confirmed. Tess lay passed out on a bed, with only her friend Michelle beside her.
Dare ran to her side and checked for a pulse. Thready but there.
“Parents or adults around?” Dare heard Sam ask.
“They went out after we got here,” a trembling Michelle said.
Dare kept his hand on Tess’s cheek, telling himself she knew he was there with her now. Sam sent Michelle out with instructions to wait in the other room just as paramedics burst in, for which Dare said a silent thanks. Though he and Sam had basic CPR training, for all Dare’s cool, he couldn’t handle this.
Sam must’ve known it too.
Suddenly his friend pulled him out of the way. “I called in for backup. You’re off duty. Go with her.”
Dare managed a nod, watching in horror as the paramedics slipped an oxygen mask over Tess’s nose and mouth and talked to each other, words Dare had heard before but couldn’t manage to process.
“Let’s get her into the bus and run an IV.” Dare recognized Christopher’s voice. “The more we hydrate her, the better off she’ll be.”
They shifted her small body onto a stretcher and began to move.
“Dare,” Sam said before he could follow. “I just spoke to Michelle. Tess wasn’t drinking to get drunk. She was just nursing a beer to look like she was going along. She went to the bathroom and came back, picked up her drink, and a little while later, she passed out. Sounds like maybe someone slipped something into her drink. Got it?”
Dare nodded. He knew what to tell the doctors. “Thanks.”
“Alexa is on call. She’ll meet you at the hospital. Now go!” Sam slapped him on the back.
Next thing Dare knew, he’d taken an endless ambulance ride to the ER, where Tess was taken away. Dare paced the corridor and waited for the rest of the family to arrive.
Over an hour had passed since Liza arrived with Nash, joining the rest of the Barrons while they waited for news. Cara arrived a short time later. Dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, she was obviously off duty and had come for moral support. She spoke to each of the brothers, then settled into chairs in a corner to wait along with the rest of them. Occasionally she stepped into the hall to call Sam and check in, but she had no solid news either.
Meanwhile, Nash and Kelly huddled together, Ethan’s arm around his wife as they comforted each other. Nash held Kelly’s hand at the other end of the couch while Dare sat on a chair staring straight ahead. Liza had a seat beside him. He knew she was there, had lifted his gaze to meet hers, but he wasn’t speaking. Not touching her, holding her, or turning to her for comfort.
Though this vigil was for Tess, and Liza was sick with worry for the teen, standing among this tight-knit family, Liza felt very much alone.
She propped her shoulder against the wall and waited, watching the clock on the wall instead of Dare. She’d tried to get through to him, to put her hand on his shoulder and call his attention, but it was as if he weren’t here.
Finally, Alexa stepped into the room and everyone came alive, surrounding her and asking questions.
Dressed in hospital green, she held up a hand. “Here’s what I know. Tess will be okay. That’s the most important thing.”
Liza released the breath she’d been holding.
“Will be?” Ethan asked.
Faith placed a hand on his shoulder.
Alexa nodded. “She’s okay now, just weak. The labs and urine showed she wasn’t legally drunk, which is probably what saved her. We suspect she was drugged with Rohypnol—”