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“Sorry. Ly’s got her. She’s okay.” He listened for a second, putting his finger up to signalwait. “Geneva wants to talk to you.”
Cooper snatched Zach’s phone. “Hey, Robin. Are you okay?”
“You have to come home!” Geneva’s voice was hoarse and strident; the words seemed violently forced into the phone. “Something’s wrong with Siena and nobody will talk to us about her. There was smoke everywhere and loud noise, it was so hot and we went through my window and I scraped up my knees. Everything was on fire! Mr. Gutierrez took Gimli to the emergency vet for me but I think he’s sick, too, and nobody’s come to say if Siena’s dying!”
Geneva’s stress ratcheted her voice higher and higher, rougher and rougher, with every word, until she was practically screaming and crying at the end—and Cooper’s head was about to explode with the need to get there.
He took a breath and made his voice calm. “I’m coming as fast as I can, hon. Siena’s with doctors who’ll help her. She’s where she should be right now. You’re okay?”
He heard Geneva take a breath as well. When she spoke, she was calmer. “The nurse fixed my knees, and Lyra’s nice. She’s staying with me. I didn’t know her but she said she knew you and I could trust her. I was too scared to say no.”
“I’m glad you didn’t. Lyra’s family. You can absolutely trust her. She’ll keep you safe.”
Cooper hadn’t had a particularly strong feeling about Lyra before tonight. She was good at running the clubhouse, Zach was totally gone for her, and Ben and Reed would both be lost without her, so he figured she was good people, but his personal relationship Teflon had kept him from forming anything other than a sort of vague appreciation for her.
Now, however, if she needed an organ, he’d rip out his own and hand it over. With a bow on top.
“I’ll be home as soon as I can. We’re about three hundred miles away, so it’ll be a few hours, but I’ll get to you as soon as I can. Okay?” Every minute of this phone call was delaying his arrival home.
“Okay. I’m worried about Gimli.”
Cooper had no fucking idea who that was. Fast as he could, he replayed this call and remembered her saying that Mr. Gutierrez—that was Jorge, he thought—had taken Gimli to the vet. Oh, right. Hamster.
“Mr. Gutierrez took him to the vet, right?”
“Uh huh.”
“Okay. So, just like Siena, Gimli’s getting taken care of by the people he should be. So you sit tight, okay?”
“Okay. I’m scared.”
“I know, Robin. I’m gonna get home as fast as I can. Keep to Lyra, and she’ll take care of you. Will you put her on for me?”
“Okay. Hurry, please.”
“Like the wind.”
There was a rustle and some quiet talk, and then Lyra said, “Hi, Cooper. I’m so sorry about all this.”
“Don’t you be sorry. If you hadn’t been on the ball, I don’t know when I’d’ve heard.Thank you.Will you text me—or Zach, your dad, Reed, whoever, just text somebody with updates? I need to know how Siena is.”
“I was planning to do that, yeah. We’re at Triad Regional, by the way.”
“We’ll be there as soon as we can. We’re coming from Ely.”
“I’ll keep you posted. Ride safe.”
Cooper handed the phone back to Zach, who said a few words to his old lady and ended the call.
“Let’s get you home, brother,” Ben said.
Cooper zipped his pack and grabbed his kutte. “Let’s ride.”
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~oOo~
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