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Tears soak my skin as she lets it out and hopefully lets go of some of her pain. “I think I need help,” she whispers.
Jessie sits down on the other side of her, with Elodie getting fussier by the minute. “We’ll be right here, Em. I’ve asked your doctor to come in and talk to you about options too. There’s no shame in needing help, short- or long-term, and there are tons of medications out there that are safe for you and her.”
Em nods her head. “Okay.”
Jessie lays Elodie against Em’s chest without giving her the option to say no, then grabs a bottle of formula and hands it to her. “You need to bond with your beautiful baby girl, Em.” Jess sits down in the reclining chair and kicks her feet up on the bed. “I’ve got an hour before my shift starts, and I’m not going anywhere until your doctor comes in, okay?”
Emerson gently runs the nipple along Elodie’s little lips until she latches on and snuggles in against her momma. “Yeah. Okay.” She bites down on her bottom lip to stop the trembling. “I love you both so much.”
“We love you too, Em. And we’re not going anywhere.” I lean back against the bed and kick my legs up next to hers.
“Yes.” She turns her head toward me and sniffs. “You are. You need to go home and shower and sleep. I get out of here tomorrow, and I’ll need help.”
“Anything, Em. I’ll do anything you need.” I kiss the top of her head, then the top of Elodie’s. I grab the hoodie Jack left for me earlier and throw it on over my tank. It smells like his expensive cologne, but it’ll do. I pull my hair out of the hoodie, then mouththank youto Jessie before slipping through the door, utterly exhausted, and hoping an Uber is close by.
“Carys,” Cooper calls out my name, startling me. “You ready to go home?” He stands from a chair across the hall from Emerson’s room and reaches for me.
I look around for the rest of the guys or something to explain what the hell he’s doing here, but there’s no one around except for a few nurses and some visitors in the hall. “Yeah, I’m going home.” He’s in the same clothes he was wearing earlier, but there’s an unease to his face that’s new. “Have you been here all day, Coop?”
He scans the hall without answering, then takes my hand in his. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
It’s the second time he’s touched me today, and like he’s electrically charged, the hairs on my arms stand on end at the connection. My body has always reacted to his this way, and I want to weep with relief over the fact that he’s standing here in front of me. Instead, I throw my arms around him and hope to God he doesn’t push me away. “Thank you for being okay, Cooper. My heart broke when I heard what happened to Linc, and admitting this probably makes me a horrible person, but all I could think was thank God it wasn’t you.”
Coop’s body stiffens against mine before he pulls himself away. “We’ve got to get moving, Carys.” His long legs eat up the distance as he practically drags me down the hall.
I struggle to keep up with him. “Hey.” I tug back, a little embarrassed over my mini-meltdown and more than a little annoyed at his lack of response. “I get it. You’re in a rush, but my legs are half the length of yours, and I haven’t slept in over thirty-six hours, Cooper. Can you please slow down and tell me what the hell is going on?”
He speeds up instead of slowing down and slides us both into an empty elevator before the doors close. Coop drops my hand and hits the emergency stop button, jerking it to a halt before his big body crowds mine against the wall. “I’m trying to protect you, Carys. You need to understand that Axel is dangerous.” His warm breath ghosts over my face as every frightening word leaves his lips, chilling me to the bone. “If I thought you’d be safer, I’d send you back to Kroydon Hills, but you’re better off here, where I can protect you.” He bends his knees so our eyes are level. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“Not exactly.” I gasp as my body shakes violently. “Dangerous how?”
Coop slams his hand against the wall of the elevator next to my head, and I turn my face away from his as a tear runs down my cheek. He hits the button again, and the elevator jerks back into motion before he wraps an arm around me and tucks me against him. “I can’t answer that. But I need you safe.” He ushers me through the doors the second they open and out into the parking garage.
“Coop...”
He doesn’t stop to answer me. Instead, he just rushes us to his Jeep, shoves me in it, slams the door shut, and then moves quickly around to his side. Once we’re both inside, Cooper turns his head and looks me over briefly with something unreadable in his eyes. “Buckle up.”
He doesn’t say anything else until we’re on the interstate. “You were my first thought when I woke up in the hospital. My brain is still a little foggy on everything that led up to that point, but you were my first thought when I woke up.” His words are spoken softly but with a force powerful enough to steal the breath from my lungs. He doesn’t offer me anything more, and I take a few minutes before I ask any questions, scared to break whatever peace offering he’s giving me, no matter how short or long it lasts.
“How are you doing now? How is your head and your... your—”
“My bullet wound?” he fills in. “The doc took the stitches out before I left Germany. Now it’s just tape that will fall off soon.” He looks at me out of the corner of his eye. “My memory still isn’t completely back.”
“Did Axel have something to do with what happened over there?” I can’t believe I’m even asking the question and half expect him to say no. To tell me that sounds insane. Because it does. But Coop doesn’t say any of those things.
“Yes.”
One word. Three letters that just blew my mind.
“Oh, God,” I gasp. “Who hurt you, Cooper? Who hurt Linc?”Please let me be wrong.
Cooper doesn’t answer, but his knuckles tighten around the steering wheel, and I try to absorb what he’s not saying. It doesn’t make sense. None of it does.
Then I start thinking about the cafeteria earlier. Axel wasn’t there to hurt me or anyone else.Was he?It’s like a puzzle with pieces that don’t fit together, but I try to make sense of it anyway.
“I don’t understand... Why would Axe do this?” It’s Axel. The goofball who’s been joking around about marrying me for over a year.
“We’re not sure. But our best guess is money. The problem is, we don’t have any fucking clue what he’s doing now, and the fact he came to you today can’t be dismissed. But I promise you, I’ll keep you safe. I’ll be at the house with you and Emerson until this gets straightened out.”
