Page 97 of Take The Risk

​Putting my head in my hands, I tried to block out the bright white of the walls, the blue chairs. The people. I just wanted darkness, and then I hated it because I saw it again.

​“Why is my mother in handcuffs?” I slammed my truck door, stomping to the officer placing her in a squad car.

​Wade’s cruiser pulled up behind me at the same time Rowdy and Delilah showed up in his truck. I wasn’t even going to get into what it felt like to actually trust Rowdy. At least for now.

​“Ty!” Mom exclaimed. “I didn’t mean to do it.”

​“Do what?”

​I looked around for Phoebe, noting the ambulance that sat in the driveway, its lights flashing and partially blocking my view of the front lawn.

​I heard her before I saw her. “Gun!”

​The police reacted fast, and so did I. But not fast enough. I was too far away to get to Phoebe. She’d grabbed Jesse, throwing him to the ground, hurling herself on top of him. I saw the bullet hit her, her back jerking, blood spraying outward like a balloon that popped. The second bullet hit her lower, and she twisted just as she landed on Jesse with a thud.

​“Rowdy!” Delilah’s cry was followed by a third gunshot and a feminine scream that pierced the air.

​Wade’s yell to his officers to get the gun was muffled by the roaring in my ears. I didn’t care if I got shot. I raced to Phoebe. Jesse was screaming beneath her, begging for someone to help her. I couldn’t even feel relief that my brother was okay.

​The EMS guys were there, forcing me back. Forcing me away from her.

​“Ty!” Wade’s arms wrapped around me. “Let them work. Let them help her!”

​Helen was similarly holding Jesse back, tears streaming down their faces.

​When they turned her over, the EMT started calling her name. And for a second, just one second, she opened her eyes and found me. Her hand reached out, and I shoved Wade so hard he landed on his ass. I didn’t care. She needed me.

​The EMT snapped at me to move back. I took her hand anyway. It was like holding a butterfly, soft and precious.

​“Baby,” I choked.

​“I love you,” she’d whispered, her throat gurgling, blood making her teeth red. “I will always love you. You and Lock are my favorite story. Never forget. Don’t let him forget.”

​Then her eyes closed and they didn’t reopen.

​I hated seeing it again. But I kept my eyes closed because at least I could see her there. I could pretend that I didn’t have her blood on my hands or staining my shirt. Someone had brought me clean clothes at some point. I didn’t want them. I wanted her. Any part of her.

​A loud banging of the door precipitated the shrill voice. “Someone had better tell me who shot my best friend and where I can find them.”

​“Why do you have a baseball bat?” I thought Luke asked with a start. I didn’t know he was here.

​“You can’t have that in here.” I felt Wade move from my side.

​“Touch Wanda, Country Cop, and she’ll be giving something a little more south the mother of all love taps.”

​“Can you not threaten people?!” Wade hastily took a step back.

​I didn’t want to lift my head. I wanted the image of Phoebe right in front of me. I blinked, recoiling against the sterile lighting to find Alex in heels and a business dress, holding a baseball bat threateningly toward Wade.

​“Oh, it’s not a threat.” She took a menacing step forward, her heels clacking on the floor.

​She swept the room, and that was when I noticed everyone was here except Louise. She had agreed to get Lock from school and keep him at her house while we waited. Luke, Eric, Helen, Jesse, Wade, and even Mom were here. Though she sat on the opposite side of the room far away from me.

​She’d been released on her own recognizance, and with Jesse, Delilah, and me here, she’d come too. I’d endured her tearful apology to Jesse. When she went to try with me, I hadn’t even looked up from the image of Phoebe in the blackness in my hands. “Not now” was all I said.

​Alex panned around and then settled on me. Instead of sympathy or even understanding, her face grew hard and a little mean. “She’s going to live. You think anything else and we’re going to have a problem.”

​I almost smiled at that. Alex was determination personified. If Phoebe…if she…I couldn’t even think it. All I knew was Alex would find her and drag her back kicking and screaming, if Phoebe...