Aspen’s hands fist in my shirt, but her voice is steady.
“You’re sick,” she says. “Miles, you need help.”
“I don’t need shit!” He fires another shot, but thankfully he’s aiming for the ceiling. I can hear sirens, grateful that someone called the police. “Now, tell me where that bitch is. She has it coming, in spades, for what she did to me.”
“You beat her!” Aspen yells.
“She’s fucking mine!” he yells back. “I can do as I please with her. Now, tell me where she is or I’ll kill you both.”
“Miles—”
He shoots again. This time, he hits me, sending me back into Aspen. We crash to the floor just as the door bursts open, and there’s yelling and more gunfire.
Blood everywhere.
On me.
From Aspen’s head.
“Oh Jesus, no.” I take her face in my hands. “Baby, wake up. Aspen. Talk to me, Aspen.”
“Sir, we’ll take it from here.”
“He shot. I don’t know what he hit, there’s so much blood.”
“He hit you, sir.” I look down at the blood coming from my arm and then at the man standing over me. I recognize him. Why can’t I think of his name? “Let’s get this all cleaned up. Let me get to her so I can help her.”
I nod and sit back as more paramedics, police officers, and firefighters file in, getting to all three of us, assessing the scene.
I look through the glass case and see Miles lying dead on the floor, a pool of blood around him.
“She has a pulse.”
“Thank fuck.” Someone wraps my arm, but I don’t give a shit. I can’t take my eyes off of the woman I love. A man—Sam?—presses a white cloth to her head while someone else takes her blood pressure.
“How’s Nick?” I call out.
“I’m alive, sir,” he calls back. “The perp is dead.”
“Good.”
“We’re taking you all to the hospital. Now.” Sam’s face is grim as he looks down at me. “She’s not coming to. That wound on the head is bad, Callum. Let’s go.”* * *“If you don’t let me go to her now, I’ll have you fired,” I growl at the nurse.
“I’ve been threatened with far scarier things than you,” she says as she loads a syringe with something. “You need this shot, sir.”
“Then give it to me and let me go.”
“The doctor has to approve it.”
“For fuck’s sake,” I mutter and push my uninjured hand through my hair. The bullet grazed my arm, leaving behind plenty of blood, but the wound will heal quickly. I got much worse when I was in the British Army years ago.
I’m mostly annoyed that they won’t let me see Aspen.
“Just tell me if she’s okay.”
“I’m with you,” she reminds me. “So, I’m not sure what’s going on with her. But as soon as I’m finished with you, and the doctor approves it, you can go see her. Now, calm down, and this will go more smoothly.”
“I almost lost her,” I mutter. “Jesus, I just found her, and I almost lost her.”
“I haven’t heard anyone call a code,” she says kindly. “Which tells me no one has died. Let them work on her, and me on you, and then we’ll get you all healed up.”
I nod, slightly appeased. Nothing is as important to me right now as making sure Aspen is safe and whole.Chapter 17~Aspen~It’s bright in here.
I squint as I look around.
“Am I in the hospital?”
A man smiles down at me. “You’re awake. Yes, you’re in the emergency room. You have quite a concussion. You’ve been in and out since you arrived about an hour ago. I’m Doctor Hamilton.”
“My head is killing me.”
“I’m sure it is. We started some Tylenol. Because you weren’t lucid, and we couldn’t ask questions, we had to do a lab panel before giving you any medicine. How far along are you?”
I frown. “Far along from what?”
He looks up from his computer. “In your pregnancy.”
“You have the wrong patient. I’m not pregnant.”
“According to your labs, you are. I take it you didn’t know. Given that, you’re probably not too far along.”
I close my eyes against the incessant pounding behind my forehead. “I’m not pregnant.”
“I can show you the lab results,” Dr. Hamilton offers. “You’re definitely expecting. Congratulations.”
I shake my head, but that only makes me nauseous, so I stop.
“You have one whopper of a concussion, Aspen. You’ll need to take it easy for a few days, and you’ll need constant monitoring.”
“Where’s Callum?” Everything from the café comes rushing back to me. “Oh my God, where’s Callum? Is he okay?”
“He’s two doors down. He’s going to be just fine,” the doctor assures me. “It was just a minor wound on his arm. You’re the more injured of the two of you.”
I sit back in relief. Oh, God. I almost lost him.
“And Nick?”
“I can’t give you too much information on Nick because you’re not family, but I can say he’s going to be okay.”