Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 31942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 160(@200wpm)___ 128(@250wpm)___ 106(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 31942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 160(@200wpm)___ 128(@250wpm)___ 106(@300wpm)
I know he’s trying to distract me and make me feel safe. “I’d rather know what’s happening with Brody. Can you go down to the front desk and check?”
“No can do.” He grabs a chair and drags it closer to the bed. He plops down in it and eyes me. “Until I know if Davis is dead or alive, this is my place.”
“Brody lost a lot of blood,” I whisper. I’ve never seen that much blood loss. Granted, I’ve never seen a gunshot wound.
“He’s tough. He’ll bounce back.” Ryker is quick to reassure me but there’s a pit of cold dread in my stomach. I just need to know that he’s OK. I won’t be able to breathe again until I get that news.
13
BRODY
There’s liquid fire being poured into my stomach. When I make a noise, a soft voice makes reassuring sounds. Seconds later, something cold flows through my veins. The pain stops, and the familiar darkness pulls me back under.
The beeping noise nearby won’t stop. I want to ignore it and fall back into that deep sleep, but something nags at me. Pieces of my last mission float through my mind. There was a cabin, a man in a blue suit. A woman in danger.
Charlie.
Charlie was the one in danger.
The realization has me forcing my eyes open. I grit my teeth against a wave of nausea when the whole damn room spins, a blur of white and gray. Where am I? How do I get to my woman?
“Whoa there, slugger.” A hand presses into my shoulder.
I struggle against it even as I recognize Colt’s voice. He doesn’t understand. I have to find her. I have to go to her and fuck, there was blood when I hugged her. So much blood that just the thought makes me want to throw up. If anything happened to her, I’ll never forgive myself.
“She’s safe,” he murmurs as if sensing the direction of my spiraling thoughts.
Instantly, I stop struggling with him. “She’s alive?”
“Ryker is bringing her to you.”
“Davis?” I demand. The last thing I remember, my two friends were wasting their breath trying to save that piece of shit. They’re better men than I am. I didn’t give a damn when I saw his bullet wounds. I stepped right over his prone body to get to my woman.
“I’d wager he’s in hell where he belongs,” Colt says. He takes a seat in the chair that’s pulled next to my bed.
Growing up in a tiny religious town, I was taught not to feel gleeful when others died. But some people are beyond redemption and what I learned about Davis definitely puts him in that category. “Good.”
Sierra moves from her place beside the window. “We’ve been worried about you.”
Colt pulls her into his lap. “He’s fine. Like I said he’d be.”
Before I can ask any more questions, the door is swinging open and Ryker is pushing Charlie in a wheelchair. She looks deathly pale in her white hospital gown and her brown gaze is filled with unshed tears.
Her chin wobbles when she sees me and despite the chair, she leaps from it and rushes over to me. She throws her arms around my shoulders and I fight the urge to wince. My left one is hurting like a motherfucker but that doesn’t stop me from wrapping my arms around her. She’s my woman and now that she’s finally in my arms again, everything is right in my world.
“Gentle with him,” Colt instructs.
“He’s down a spleen,” Sierra says.
“It’s pretty fuckin’ rare to lose one to a bullet wound,” Ryker adds.
She pulls away from me, but I clutch her hand. I need to be connected to her in some way right now. Just her touch is reassuring me that she survived. She’s alive and she’s here. With me. “Is he going to be OK?”
I send the three of them a glare to tell them to reassure her. I don’t even know what the hell my spleen does but the only thing I care about is that I lived. I lived so I could spend the rest of my life walking beside this woman and protecting her.
“He’ll be fine other than a lifetime of impotence,” Colt jokes.
I roll my eyes at the same time that Sierra hits his shoulder and explains, “The doctor expects him to make a full recovery. He’ll need to stay here for a bit though. Just to make sure.”
Charlie finally looks at me again and there’s no mistaking the love shining in her eyes. All I want right now is to be alone with my lamb. I fake a yawn and Sierra takes a hint. “I think it’s time for the rest of us to grab something from the cafeteria.”
Colt follows her but Ryker doesn’t move from his post by the foot of the bed. It’s not until she gives him a nod that he finally leaves.