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“Yeah,” he yells back.
The idiot shooting at us takes off running down the street. We got a call about a burglary in progress and came onto the scene while he was still here. I move from my spot behind the car and take off after him. I yell out for him to stop, but it's pointless. He rounds a corner about ten seconds before I do.
Two shots ring out, burning pain hitting me in the shoulder and knocking me down with surprise. His footsteps take off again and moments later, Fredrick is next to me. God, this hurts. The next few hours pass in a blur as I'm shipped off to the hospital, and they go to work on my shoulder.
When I wake up in a hospital room, I think about Ryan. I haven't spoken to her in two weeks. I miss her, and I want to talk to her. I want her. It's that simple. My shoulder aches, and I turn my head to see my mother asleep in the chair. A nurse enters the room, dragging my attention to her. She smiles when she sees I'm awake.
“How are you doing, Officer O'Connor?” She asks quietly.
“You tell me.”
“You're doing well. After some time to recover, you'll be good as new,” she tells me as she looks at the numbers on the monitor.
“What time is it?” I question.
“Almost four in the morning.”
“Gabriel?” At the sound of my mother's voice, I turn my head. She's sitting up in the chair with a blanket covering her lower body and a pillow has fallen behind her back.
“You didn't have to stay the night, Mom,” I tell her as the nurse leaves.
She gets up and walks over to me. “You're my son. Of course, I did. I, uh,” she hesitates. “I didn't know if I should get Fredrick to tell Ryan or not, so I told him not to until I talked to you to see what you wanted. I don't know what's been going.” A guilty look passes over her face, even though I'm the one who hasn't been talking to her.
“It's fine, Mom. I haven't spoken to her since Thanksgiving, so it's not like she's expecting to hear from me or anything.”
She nods. “You should get some rest.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
Mom goes back to the chair, and I close my eyes, knowing I'm going to have to see my father and Owen in the morning. Mom probably sent everyone home. Her mentioning Ryan has me thinking about her again. All this time, I've known how she feels, or felt, about me, and I never told her my own feelings. Whether she wants to or not, she's going to talk to me. As soon as I can get out of here.
Chapter Sixteen
Ryan
A pounding lulls me out of sleep, and I realize someone is at my door. I glance at the clock and see that it's seven in the morning. Who the hell is here? Groaning, I roll over, get out of bed, and grab a scrunchie on my way to the door. I throw my hair up, the pounding louder now, and yank open the door.
“What the fuck do-” The words clog my throat as I see Camilla, Gabe's mother, standing outside my door. I stare at her, my heart frozen mid-beat. Why is she here? What does she want? Did Gabe send her to apologize or something?
“Morning, Ryan,” she says. “I'm sorry that it's so early. May I come inside?”
“Why?” I question with confusion. The words she said to me reappear in my mind full force, sparking my anger. “Would you like to look at all the things my parents have provided for their little, spoiled brat? I'm sorry, but it's way too early in the morning for personal tours.”
As I start to close my door, her hand shoots out to stop me. “Ryan, wait.”
Huffing, I open it again. “Honestly, Mrs. O'Connor, I don't want to hear what you have to say.”
“I think you do,” she says quietly, her eyes never wavering from my own. “May I come inside?” she repeats. Something about the way she said it makes me step aside.
I lead her to the kitchen table, thankful that during my study breaks, I've been in a cleaning frenzy. Camilla sits down and places her hands in her lap. For a moment, she doesn't say anything at all.
“Gabriel told me that you haven't been talking to him.”
Narrowing my eyes, I interrupt, “No, I haven't spoken to Gabriel.” It pisses me off that she says his first name like that, which is ridiculous.
“And it's no wonder. You're a hard person to apologize to.” My mouth opens, but she holds up her hand to stop me and keeps going. “I'm sorry, Ryan. Sometimes, I worry too much. Gabriel's relationships always end because he's too compliant, too willing to trust. He dated a girl once who was a few years younger than him, and she took advantage of him and his hard earned money.
“I made assumptions about you because of that, and I shouldn't have. My son told me to trust him, and I didn't. So I'm sorry about what happened. And so you know, after he brought you home, Gabriel came back and let me know how angry he was over I what I said. He did stand up for you.”
