Sacrifice (Heart of a Wounded Hero)

“He’s in the hospital in Jasper,” she huffs, naming a hospital that is about an hour away.

“What happened?” I ask her, alarmed.

She turns and throws her hand in the air. “I don’t know, there was a bomb or something. I saw him today. He’s fine. I actually expected a lot worse.”

I shake my head, not understanding. I run to catch up and stop in front of her. “Wait. He’s been there a month... and you just saw him today?”

For the first time, she actually looks guilty, but it doesn’t last long. The disgusted, out-of-patience look is back just as quickly. She rolls her eyes. “Yeah, uh, we broke up. It wasn’t going to work with me and him. He’s never home.”

I grab on to her arm. I’m in complete shock right now. I’ve always known Harper was vain. That’s never been a question. But I had no idea she had an evil heart too. Completely overwhelmed, I need to clarify the situation. There’s no way she’s saying what I think she’s saying. “You broke up with him knowing he’s hurt and in the hospital?”

I stare at her in disbelief. Surely, I have it wrong. There’s no way she can be the kind of person that would do something like this. I wait for her to respond, and finally she lifts her shoulders. “He wanted to end things.”

She walks to the man that is standing next to the car in the driveway. “Get all my stuff?”

He grunts. “Yeah, everything you told me to get.”

I watch as Harper walks around to the passenger side of the car, and I reluctantly follow behind her. The truth is, I never liked Harper, and I always thought Logan could do better, but obviously he loved her. I mean they are—were—engaged. “Harper, think about this. He’s hurt and heck, maybe he’s not thinking right. He’s going to need you.”

She looks up at me through the open door and shakes her head. “I can’t.”

Before I can get another pleading thought out, she shuts the door of the car, and they back out of the driveway. I stand here and watch them go, still in shock.

As soon as they’re out of sight, I pace the length of the doorway, trying to figure out what to do. I should probably go up to my apartment over the detached garage and mind my own business, but I know I can’t do that. Logan is in some hospital without family and now without even a fiancée to be there for him. I know what I need to do.

First, I grab the spare key to Logan’s house that is hidden under the fake rock in the flower bed. I go inside the house and feed and water the cat. Next, I lock up the house and cross over to my apartment. I catch sight of myself in the mirror and decide I need to change clothes. After doing that, I grab my keys and head out toward Jasper. It won’t take long, but I know I’ll be trying to figure out what the heck I’m going to say to him when I get there.

He’s independent and is probably not going to like me meddling in his affairs, but I can’t just stand by and do nothing. I just can’t.

Chapter 3

Logan

There's a knock on the door, and I fully expect it to be Tommy checking in on me again. I wouldn't be surprised if he had decided to come back and see what happened between Harper and me. "Come on in," I call out in the empty room.

I'm ready to tell him that everything is okay, but I'm stunned into silence when I see the last person I expected. Ella, the woman that rents the apartment over top of my detached garage, just walked into my hospital room and looks frazzled, staring at me from the doorway. "Ella, what are you doing here?"

Her face turns red, and she stops with her hand still on the door, holding it open. She looks as if she may bolt out of the room, but then she pulls her shoulders back and looks at me determinedly. "I came to check on you."

"How did you..." I start but then drop it because I know exactly how she found out. It must have been Harper.

She's standing there staring at me, and she looks skittish, as if one wrong word will make her run. If it was anybody else, I would probably already have run them off. But I’ve found that I'm always more calm and patient when I’m talking to her. Instead of insisting that she leave me alone, I lean back on the bed. "Do you want to come in?"

She lets the door shut behind her before walking to the foot of the bed. "Do you need anything?" she asks me worriedly.