Page 83 of New Orleans Rush

Her life spilling onto his floor.

“No,” she slurred. She opened and closed her mouth. Her pupils were dilated. Blotches covered her neck. “The pen.”

The pen. What pen? “I got you. You’ll be fine.” But his hands shook. He couldn’t tell where she was hurt. He didn’t know why she smelled like the Decatur fish and chips shop.

“I didn’t do nothing. Lay off.”

Huxley glared at Big Eddie. Fox and Axel had him on the ground, the gun kicked from his hands. Axel dug his knee into the loan shark’s spine. “You call shooting her doing nothing?”

Big Eddie writhed like a beached whale. “She’s not shot! It’s ketchup.”

Ketchup? Huxley’s nose twitched, identifying the sweetly pungent scent. It’s why she smelled like fish and chips. It didn’t explain why she couldn’t breathe.

“Pen,” Beatrice said again. Her lips had swelled. She clawed at her throat. Then, “Bee.”

Oh, fuck. Pen. The pen. Her EpiPen. “Where’s her purse? Find her purse!”

Fox snatched a small bag from the floor, colorful enough to light a cave. Definitely hers.

“EpiPen,” Huxley yelled. He didn’t know why he was yelling. He couldn’t stop. “There’s one inside!”

Her purse contents went flying as Fox pulled out the pen and dove toward them. Fox then pulled off the cap and jabbed it into her thigh. “Get some pillows,” he said, firm and even. No hint of wobble or worry. “Raise her legs. It’ll kick in soon.”

Huxley wasn’t sure when his brother had learned first aid. He didn’t give a shit. He snatched a couple couch pillows and elevated Beatrice’s legs. When she was adequately reclined, he lay beside her, propped on his elbow. He watched her chest rise and fall. The blotches gradually receded. Fox brought over a cloth and bowl of water. Huxley went to work, wetting the cloth and cleaning her neck. Hot needles stabbed at the backs of his eyes. “Can you talk, Honeybee? Are you hurt?”

She rolled her tongue around her mouth and swallowed. “Just dizzy and nauseous. And I smell pretty bad.”

“You’ve smelled better.” But she was alive. She was talking. Still, the stabbing needles worsened, clogging up his throat, too. “You almost scared the magic out of me.”

“The magic?”

“If I lost you, there wouldn’t have been any left.”

If he’d watched her die, he’d probably never perform again. All he’d ever see was her pulling faces in his zigzag box, twirling in her feathered costume. Aflame on stage. It would have been too much. “I’m sorry. So, so sorry.”

Tears welled in her gray eyes and spilled over. “You should be.”

There. Right there. Her words hit the center of his aching chest. “I’m an idiot.”

“You are.” She didn’t offer a teasing smile. There was no warmth in her tone, only bitterness.

He’d wanted to see her upset and angry, to be there for her when she finally let out the feelings hidden behind her smiles. He’d just never imagined her anger would be aimed at him. But it was. She’d faced a criminal on her own, had somehow wound up covered in ketchup, which she hated, instead of getting shot. He was proud of her strength, but she shouldn’t have been alone. Not like this. Not for this.

He dried her cheeks with the cloth. “I hope you’ll hear me out. Later. For now, just keep breathing.”

She nodded, more tears slipping out. He also felt one glide down his face.

29

After telling the EMT Beatrice had gotten carried away rehearsing a theater scene, she was whisked to the hospital. Huxley rode with her while his brothers dealt with Big Eddie. When Axel and Fox met him at the hospital, they huddled together in the waiting room.

“We talked to the neighbors who were milling around,” Fox said. “Reinforced the rehearsal story with a malfunctioning prop gun.”

Huxley nodded absentmindedly. “And Big Eddie?”

“He knows if he shows his face here again, we’ll rearrange it. We also reminded him his boss wouldn’t take kindly to being conned with fake death photos. We told him we’d keep quiet if he promised not to hurt Bea’s father.”

They couldn’t protect Franklyn Baker from Big Eddie’s boss, but they’d done what they could. Anything to curb Beatrice’s worry, not that it helped with Huxley’s.