Page 57 of Forever my Love

ChapterNineteen

The entire room burst into sheer and utter chaos when the first gunshots echoed in the crowded room.

“Reece!” his parents screamed at the same time while Hailey stood there, dumbfounded at what she was seeing.

One moment she and everyone else in the auditorium had been celebrating Reece’s victory. The next, they were unsure of what had just happened. They watched as Reece was thrown backwards onto the mat and blood flew out of his chest. Then more shots sounded and all hell broke out.

She was shoved, pushed, and pulled away from the ring. Then someone took her hand and pulled her back towards it, as if rescuing her from a tidal wave dragging her out to sea, away from where she wanted to be, needed to be.

“We have to get to him,” Amber said, trying to shove her way back to the center of the room.

Hailey helped push them back to where Luke was kneeling over his son, shielding him from any more bullets. His hand covered his son’s chest as red blood oozed slowly between his fingers.

Reece’s eyes were shut and he had an odd color to his face.

“He’s shot,” Luke said to Amber, who cried out. “Someone shot him.” His voice cracked slightly.

Another man approached them and yelled over the chaos that he was a doctor.

Luke helped the other man put pressure on Reece’s chest while a group of people surrounded them as if using their bodies as shields.

She was surprised to see that Robert Carrigan Jr. was one of the ones locking arms to protect the man who had just beaten him in the ring.

She knelt next to Amber and held onto the woman as they worked on Reece. Finally, a few officers showed up with some EMTs, who put Reece on a gurney.

They were shuffled quickly out of the arena, down dark hallways, and stuffed into a car that followed the ambulance holding Reece in it.

“Why?” Amber kept crying as she held her. “Why would someone shoot my baby?”

Luke’s phone rang as they pulled into the hospital. “It’s Hannah,” he said, shaking his head as if trying to clear it. He answered the call.

She could tell from Luke’s side of the conversation that Reece’s sister knew what was going on.

“It’s all over the news. She’s been trying to call us,” he explained.

“I must have left my purse in my seat,” Amber admitted.

Hailey realized that the only reason she still had hers was that she had strapped it crossways over her shoulders earlier.

“Let me talk to her.” Amber took the phone when Luke handed it to her.

When the car stopped, they climbed out and rushed into the hospital while Amber continued to talk to Hannah on the phone.

Amber was telling her that, no, they didn’t know who had shot him. No, they didn’t know his status. Yes, he was alive, breathing, and no, it didn’t appear that he’d been shot in the heart.

Hearing those words caused Hailey to break. Her body crumpled in the front desk area as she was consumed with guilt and sorrow.

Hands held her, lifted her, held her as she cried harder than she ever had in her entire life.

Even after being tied up, raped, and beaten, she hadn’t cried as hard as she did now.

“Hailey, honey, we have news,” Amber said sometime later, softly shaking her out of the darkest place she’d ever been.

She jerked her head up and realized it was Luke who was holding her like a child while Amber sat next to him.

“He’s in surgery. They say the first bullet hit him here,” She motioned near her collarbone. “The second one hit him in the ribs here.” She touched her lower left side. “The doctor is very hopeful. His vitals are good. He’s very healthy.” She smiled and nodded a few times as tears rolled down her cheeks.

“This is all my fault,” she said softly, suddenly too tired to think. Her head hurt from the tears, from the worry, from the pain of knowing this was her fault.