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“Fuck!” The sheriff screamed. I hoped Garrett landed a kill shot.
Sliding into the driver’s seat, he shoved the key into the ignition and started the truck. Another, even louder shot rang out followed by the hard thunk of punctured metal. We surged forward, Garrett leaning down as he floored it on the rough road.
“I’ve got you. Red, you’ll be fine.” He reached out and took my bloody hand.
I couldn’t feel him. I felt nothing at all.
CHAPTER THIRTY
DÉJÀ VU. THE TERM wasn’t strong enough for when I woke up in a hospital room with Garrett sitting next to me, my hand in his. I tried to speak to him, but something blocked my voice. His head was bowed, and he pulled my hand to his lips.
I squeezed his fingers.
His head bobbed up, his eyes wide. “You’re awake.” He turned his head to the side and yelled, “She’s awake!”
He pressed his palm to the side of my face. “Red.”
I leaned against his steady pressure. Tears gleamed in his eyes as the nurse—the same one from our last visit—hustled into the room.
“Ms. Vale?” She leaned over the other side of my bed and spoke clearly and almost too loudly. “You lost a lot of blood. Dr. Turner repaired the damage to your liver caused by the bullet, but you’ll need to stay here for several days to recover. You’re still intubated to make sure you keep breathing well. We’ll take the tube out once you’re awake for a bit. You can’t talk, though. Blink one for yes, two for no. And press the call button if you need anything. Understand?”
I blinked once.
“Good. I’m going to let the doctor know you’re awake.” She tinkered with one of my monitors and took my blood pressure, then left, her shoes squeaking with each step.
Garrett sat on the edge of my bed and kissed my hand again. “You’re safe. I swear.”
I blinked once, though the shadow of Sheriff Crow passed across my mind.
Garrett seemed to hear my thoughts. “Sheriff Crow got away, but not for long. There’s a state trooper outside your door, and the governor has ordered a perimeter around the county. He won’t escape.”
I glanced to the door, the windows. I felt like the bed beneath me disappeared and I was sinking through to the floor below and lower. The sheriff was coming for me, chasing me. His footsteps sped up along with the beep of some machine. I clenched my eyes shut.
“Nurse!” Garrett yelled.
I couldn’t breathe. Sheriff Crow was going to kill me just like my dad and Lillian. The cold grave would open, and I would tumble in, landing amidst the rest of the victims and barely disturbing the sparse snow along the edges.
“Red, please.”
Squeaking met my ears again, then hands landed on me. I struggled, pushing and fighting.
Black. I tried to call black, but the word wouldn’t come out.
“Red, you’re safe. I’m here.” Garrett’s voice broke. “Listen to me. Listen. I’m here. No one will hurt you. I swear I’ll die before any of them touch you again. I swear it. Hold onto me.”
He cupped my face with his hands. “I’ve got you.”
I opened my eyes and stared into his sparkling blues.
Garrett, not the sheriff, held me. The nurse had both hands on my right arm, pinning it down. My body relaxed as I looked into his familiar, kind eyes. I was safe. The rapidly beeping monitor began to slow. Another nurse darted in with a syringe.
I shook my head as much as I could.
“Are you sure, honey?” My nurse let up on my arm and leaned down to stare into my eyes. “I can send you back to sleep for a bit.”
I blinked twice as slowly and deliberately as I could.
“All right, but if you have another attack, I’ll have to sedate you.” She pocketed the syringe. “You need to rest.”
I blinked once, and Garrett wiped my tears away with his thumbs.
“She’s all right.” He didn’t take his eyes from mine. “She’s strong. Strongest person I’ve ever met.”
“Seems to me like you’re the one upsetting her.” She scowled at him. “Ms. Vale, would you like Mr. Blackwood to leave?”
I blinked twice.
After a wary glance to Garrett, she strode out. “I’ll be just outside at the station.”
I tried to calm myself, to snap out of the aftershocks of fear. Garrett wasn’t the enemy. He’d saved me. Again.
He kissed my palm and sank back into the chair next to me. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea about any of it.” He pressed the back of my hand to his cheek. “I still can’t believe it.” He sighed and ran his lips along my knuckles. “Do you want me to tell you about it?”
Blink.
“I don’t want to upset you.”
I need to know. I squeeze his hand.
“You sure?”
Blink.
“When I found out you left with Rory, I followed. By the time I caught up, all I saw was you staggering out of the woods and into Rory’s truck.” His voice turned cold. “I saw them chasing you, and I didn’t understand, but I knew I’d kill them to protect you.” He laced our fingers together. “All I had was a pistol. I aimed for Len. He was the one shooting at the truck you were in. I killed him in a few shots. Sheriff Crow ducked behind a tree. I should have stayed and shot him in the fucking face, but I couldn’t risk losing you.”
So much killing. Death lived in the woods near the Lodge, not Blackwood. Anything that happened on Garrett’s property was spillover and misdirection by the sheriff. And I’d fallen for it.
“You were in surgery for hours. Bonnie and Ty came by but could only stay for a moment since you’re in intensive care.” He quieted, though the storm in his eyes continued to churn.
The steady beep of the machines and the comforting touches from Garrett soothed my soul. But a thought soured in my mind, and I dreaded sharing the bitter taste with Garrett. Lillian. He needed to know the truth. I drew my other hand across to him, though it took far more effort than it should have. Spreading his p
alm open, I traced the letter L.
“Lillian?”
Blink.
“Are you saying Pete…”
Blink.
He squeezed my fingers. “I fucking knew it. Lillian didn’t kill herself. The photos, hanging around with your father—they found out about what he was doing at the Lodge.” He hung his head. “How did I never see it?”
I ran my fingers through his hair, giving what little comfort I could.
He wiped at his eyes, then glanced up at me. “Just rest. I’ll be here. I’ll always be here. I swear.”
I believed him, every word quieting my ragged nerves as I lay back and closed my eyes.
SOMETHING NAGGING broke through the veil of sleep. My chest hurt, and I couldn’t seem to fix it.
Sheriff Crow loomed above me, one hand wrapped around my breathing tube and the other pressing a knife into my throat.
“Shh. It’s just you and me now.”
The tube blocked my air flow as I tried to take a breath. I was suffocating, Sheriff Crow’s fist squeezing the life out of me as I tried to pull his hand away.
“No, no. It’s got to be this way.” He kept his voice low and gave me the same friendly smile that I’d first seen at the diner. “No witnesses. I can pin it all on the mayor, easy. But not with you around.”
Garrett. I searched the room for him. He was gone. Where?
My lungs convulsed, desperate for oxygen, but none was coming. I scrabbled for the nurse call button, but the sheriff grabbed my wrist. I used my other hand to try and push him away. Nothing. He was too determined, and I hadn’t recovered enough. I glanced to my closed door, hoping for the trooper.
“Trooper’s on a smoke break, sweetheart. Just you, me, and the heart attack that’s about to kill you.” He crimped the tube completely in half.
My lungs seized again, and I sucked in violently, this time catching some air from around the tube.
The sheriff frowned. “That won’t do.” He grabbed the tube and yanked it off, the tape ripping and my throat turning to fire as it pulled out.
