“I gotta be able to see, D.”
She swallowed around a knot of emotion. “It’s not time to worry, Sean. Not yet. I promise.”
“You’ll tell me. Right? You’ll tell me when it is?” He nailed her with a one-eyed stare that was just south of panicked.
“I’ll fucking tell you,” she said, playing it hard and cool so he would believe she wasn’t scared. That everything was cool, normal, totally fine.
That word again.
Garcia and Bronson returned, and Dani almost groaned when she saw what Mike had in his hands.
“We don’t need to transport you on the spinal board, but you do need the collar—”
Sean’s jaw went tight. “No, I don’t—”
Mo leaned over him again. “Wear the damn collar.” Sean gave in and Garcia got busy putting it on.
Bronson smirked up at Mo. “You wanna come on all our calls?” The big guy chuffed out something that, under other circumstances, might’ve turned into a full-on laugh. Then his cell rang and he stepped away.
Dani rose and suddenly there were cops there wanting to talk to her. Keeping one eye on Sean as they prepared to load him up, she gave her information and a quick run-down of what she saw.
“Look, I’m riding with him to the hospital. Is there any chance you can follow up there? Or can I call you tomorrow?” Dani asked the policewoman.
“The driver admitted that he didn’t see the light, so we might not need more from you, but I have your information just in case.” The woman handed Dani a business card.
“Thank you,” she said, slipping it into her jeans pocket. Dani turned to Mike and Erin. “I’m riding along.” When the EMTs nodded, she looked for Mo and founded him standing at the edge of the crowd, where all their friends stood huddled. When had they gotten here? She jogged over.
“How is he?” Billy asked just as Shayna said, “Is he okay?”
“Better than I expected. Banged up and having some vision issues in one eye from a cut. The visor to his helmet caved in.”
“Jesus,” Noah said, with Kristina tucked tight beside him. “That helmet probably saved his life.”
Dani nodded, itching to get back to Sean’s side. “Listen, they’re taking him to University. I’m riding in the ambulance.”
“Go. We’ll see you over there,” Mo said.
With that Dani rushed to the open rear door and climbed up into the rig. Garcia was at the wheel, and Bronson was busy getting the stretcher secured and Sean hooked up to everything he needed to be hooked up to.
“I need you belted in, too,” Erin said to her.
Dani was already doing it. It wasn’t a helicopter, of course, but the same safety protocols applied and her muscle memory kicked in to secure herself. And then she reached out to Sean. She wasn’t sure how to touch him in a way that wouldn’t hurt, so she rested her hand on his wrist.
His gaze cut to her. “Do I know how to show a woman a good time on a Saturday night or what?” The words were full of humor even as the storm roiling in his dark-eyed gaze wasn’t.
“If you wanted to get me alone, you could’ve just asked,” she said with a smirk.
“You would’ve cut me off at the knees.”
“Damn straight.” She squeezed his arm and her thumb rubbed back and forth just to take a little of the bite out of the words.
“Don’t get soft on me now, Dani,” he said, his voice like sandpaper had scoured his throat. She didn’t need him to explain that. The minute she got soft with him, he’d know something was really wrong.
It took fifteen minutes to get across town to the hospital, and they rode the rest of the way in silence.
Whatever the weird nature of their drive-each-other-fucking-crazy status was, Dani was glad that she could be there for Sean.
Even if being there for a man she sometimes wanted to strangle made her feel even worse for not having been there for the man she’d loved.
Chapter Three
It wasn’t often that Dani found herself in the hospital’s waiting room as a visitor, and she freaking hated it. She’d stayed with Sean long enough to get him admitted and triaged, long enough to see them cut off his shirt so they could examine his abdomen, long enough for the team to determine he needed a CT scan to both check for a head injury and evaluate the orbital trauma.
Which was where he was now.
At least she had everyone from WFC here waiting with her. Mo sat with a cup of coffee in his hands that she hadn’t seen him once drink. Kristina sat with her head against Noah’s shoulder, both of her hands wrapped tight around one of his as if she were holding him together. And Dani guessed by the way Noah’s knee was bouncing that maybe Kris was doing just that. Over meals and other get-togethers this past year, Dani had gotten to know Kristina Moore, and it was clear how much strength Noah drew from her. Given how wrecked Noah had been when he’d first joined WFC, Dani knew their relationship had started off rocky. But to look at them now, you’d never know it.