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The howling hurt my head, too.
But what it also did was draw the attention of whoever was calling my name.
The voice sounded familiar, but also sounded like one that I didn’t hear all that often.
I knew why a few seconds later when the bright sun was blotted out as something leaned over me. I looked up to find Bruno staring at me with horror on his face.
“Oh, fuck, doll.” He dropped down to the ground beside me, started to reach for me, but thought better of it. “Oh, fuck.”
I knew it was bad.
But seeing the horror on his face? That cemented it for me.
This was bad.
Really, really bad.
CHAPTER 22
Woke up fat again.
-Text from Ford to Zach
ZACH
“She has a concussion,” the doctor, one I hadn’t worked with before, said. “A very bad one. We’re going to monitor her brain for swelling. She has a cut on her head that’s the cause of the horror show that she was when she was brought in. I closed it with two stitches. Overall, everything else is fine. No broken bones or anything. She was very lucky.”
She was hit by a car. Yes, that made her very lucky.
“I’m having her moved up to the first floor where she can stay a night or two. I’ll remain her doctor, though, since that’s my area. The brain,” Dr. Lout murmured.
I nodded, thankful that I had a good one looking after my girl.
After he left, I looked at Bruno.
“What happened?” I asked, rubbing my face.
He’d already told me what he’d seen—a white sedan hitting Crockett—but that’d been in the thick of panic.
Now, knowing she would be okay, I was able to listen a little bit better.
“It was her father,” he said. “I got the license plate number as he was driving off. Laric and Trouper are bringing in the father as we speak.”
I knew what ‘bringing in’ meant, and I wanted no part of it. If I saw that bastard, I wouldn’t be able to stop myself.
I gritted my teeth. “Tell them to take him to the police station. Let them handle him.”
I didn’t want him on my conscience.
As much as I’d like that motherfucker to die, I didn’t want to be the one to pull the trigger.
Because, eventually, Crockett would want to know details. And I didn’t think she’d like it if she knew that I was the one to murder her father.
Bruno sighed as if I’d just taken away his puppy.
“I can’t believe you don’t want to bring him in,” he grumbled, pouting like a teenage girl instead of the grown man I knew him to be.
I turned then, my eyes going to Bruno. “As long as I have no part in it, I don’t care what you do. Take him to the police station. Take him to the fuckin’ pig farm you think nobody knows about. I don’t give a flying fuck. Just make sure that asshole doesn’t get anywhere near me. I’m finding that I like being on the outside.”
“I can do that.” Bruno grinned then. “I can definitely do that.”
“Um, Zach?”
I jolted, my eyes going to the nurse that had called my name softly.
Pru, Cheyenne’s daughter, was staring at me with a small smile on her face. “She’s asking for you.”
I gave Bruno a pointed glance, making sure that my position on the matter of her father was clear. At receiving the nod, I headed in the direction of the room where they’d put her for the time being until she could be transferred up to one of the overnight beds on the first floor.
When I passed the glass doors, it was to find her eyes barely open and staring at me.
I tried to grin, but I could tell by the look on her face that I didn’t quite accomplish it.
“I’m okay.”
I shook my head and walked right up to her, my hand catching hers.
“I don’t know about that,” I admitted.
She brought her hand up, and I could tell that even that had pained her.
I dropped down until I was in the seat beside her bed and then pressed her hand to my face.
“Don’t ever make me do that again,” I rasped, my lips brushing against her hand as I spoke.
She lifted her hand up and cupped the back of my head.
“I’ve already made a vow,” she promised. “I won’t ever run with headphones again. Next time, I’ll hear the cars and I won’t be surprised.”
I blew out a breath.
I knew that this entire thing was a fluke.
I also knew that I couldn’t hold this against her. She was a runner. She wouldn’t be happy running on a treadmill or around the track just so I could know she was safe.
Fuck.
“At least this way I won’t go through another pair of headphones that suck,” she tried to tease.
The joke fell flat, but I appreciated her trying to cheer me up anyway.
