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“Did you bring my friends in?” he asked. The words clogged his throat, coming out hoarse and broken so that he barely recognized his own voice.
Jude nodded. “It was a hit and run. Their SUV flipped and they were both pinned inside.” Jude reached out, lightly touched Snow’s arm. “I’m so sorry. You should go to your friends.”
His mind snagged on Jude’s explanation, wrapping around the confusion rather than facing the horror that was waiting for him just a few steps away. Neither Ian nor Melissa drove an SUV. Was it really them? Could Lucas be wrong? Fuck, please let him be wrong. Let them all be wrong.
Snow frowned as he forced himself to pull his gaze from Jude and walk to the waiting area. His heart was beating so hard, it reverberated in his ears.
And then his breath froze. Rowe sat on the floor, cradled in Lucas’s arms. Lucas looked up, expression bleak as he met Snow’s gaze and slowly shook his head. Andrei hovered over them both, his normally dark skin unnaturally pale. Snow covered his hand with his mouth as he took in the violent sobs wracking Rowe’s body, his body swayed as his knees threatened to give out.
All the different voices around them blended into a roar in Snow’s ears. Rowe—their strong, funny Rowe—completely devastated. He knew what that meant. Melissa. Oh God. Everything around him spun, then narrowed into a tunnel that wavered. He blinked when someone from the hospital suddenly stood in front of him. He knew her. Sanders. Sarah. Doctor. Pediatrics. What was a pediatric resident doing here?
“Hey, Dr. Frost, your friends have been waiting for you. Let’s sit down.” She nodded to his right and he turned to find Jude there again. The man wrapped a strong hand securely around his arm and tugged him toward the chair behind Andrei.
“No.” Snow pulled away. “Where is she? Where’s Ian? Somebody tell me what the hell happened!”
He locked onto Rowe and waited for the world to disappear beneath his feet.###
They were wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Rowe kept repeating the word over and over in his head because if he didn’t he wouldn’t be able to breathe. The world began and ended with Mel. Nothing could stop her. Nothing could steal her from him. She was everything. The air, laughter, hope, life. The world.
Not his Mel.
But Lucas was holding him tight and the world around him kept spinning, blurring with that doctor’s words.
The damage was too extensive.
She’d lost too much blood.
There was nothing we could do.
Too late.
Nothing…
But that didn’t make sense. They were doctors. There was always something they could do to stop the bleeding and fix the wound.
Snow’s voice broke through the dull roar in Rowe’s ears. He should have been here. With Snow, there was no such thing as too much or too late.
Shoving off Lucas’s hands, Rowe gracelessly pushed to his feet. “Where were you?” he demanded, his voice gravel choked. Snow stopped demanding answers, two strangers on either side of him. “Where were you? You were supposed to be here.”
Someone’s hand dropped on his shoulder, but Rowe shrugged it off, taking two stumbling steps to close the distance between himself and Snow. Wrapping his fingers in the lapels of Snow’s winter coat, he pulled him close. “Where were you? Were you off getting your dick sucked while my wife died? Why weren’t you here to save her? You’re supposed to save her!”
“No, Rowe!” Lucas’s voice came sharp, trying to slice through the rage that was building. Some part of his brain registered the raw pain that dug ugly furrows through Snow’s face, but it wasn’t enough. He wasn’t there. How many messes and nightmares had they pulled each other out of over the years? They were always there for each other. Always. But Snow had failed to keep up his end of the bargain.
Rowe threw off the strong hands grabbing at him, pulling him away from Snow. There were words buzzing around him, but he couldn’t understand them. There was only the man who failed him. Failed his wife.
Balling up his fist, he slammed it into Snow’s jaw. The man staggered to the side, falling to his knees. He didn’t even register the flare of pain in his fist. Rowe lurched forward, preparing to continue his attack, but multiple hands grabbed him, wrapping him up. There were more soothing words, but they didn’t touch him.
“How many people have you saved? People you didn’t give a fuck about. People who didn’t give a fuck about you. You saved them. Why couldn’t you save Mel? She loved you. She defended you. Where were you?”
“Rowe—” Snow’s voice was raw and barely audible over the pounding in his ears.
“She loved you!” he screamed.
“Rowe, stop. It’s not his fault.” Lucas’s calm words did nothing to dampen the fire in his gut.
