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It was the only opening Reed needed. He swept his gun off the counter.
Garret fired.
Fire ripped through Reed’s abdomen. He was flung back against the counter, and the back of his head exploded with pain. The world turned red first, then black.
ChapterFourteen
“No!” Esther screamed, watching her worst nightmare come true as blood blossomed along the bottom of Reed’s T-shirt as he went down.
The memory of blood covering Roman’s chest pierced her, but she shoved it away and focused. She elbowed Garret hard, grabbed his arm, and flipped him over face-first onto the tile floor. Garret’s forehead smacked the tile and his body went limp. She went down on one knee and slammed her elbow into the back of his neck just to be certain he was out.
Thor and her dad rushed into the bathroom first. Colt and Greer must be outside securing the area.
Esther scrambled to Reed’s side, checking his pulse first. She felt the reassuring thrum. “He has a pulse.”
Her dad went to Garret’s side and pointed his gun at him even though he wasn’t moving. He pulled out his phone with the other hand and instructed, “Call 911.”
Thor grabbed a clean white hand towel from the stack in the bathroom and dropped to Reed’s other side, lifting his shirt and examining the wound before pressing the towel against his side. “Bullet wound to the side of the abdomen. It looks clean.”
Esther leaned down. Reed’s warm breath touched her cheek. “He’s breathing.”
She heard her dad repeating everything to the dispatcher. “Has a pulse, breathing on his own, gunshot wound to the side of the abdomen that looks clean, putting pressure on it, unconscious …”
“Is he unconscious because of the shot or blood loss?” Esther asked Thor. She was steady, composed, and her only focus was on Reed being all right. Dimly, she realized it was the opposite of her experience with Roman, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it.
He shook his head. “I don’t think so. Did he hit his head?”
“Yes. He hit his head on the counter,” she remembered with a breath of relief. He was still in danger, but hitting his head was much better than losing consciousness from a bullet wound that quickly. She gently probed at the back of his head and felt a large knot. “Head wound most likely the cause of lack of consciousness rather than the gunshot wound,” she reported to her dad.
Garret stirred and opened his eyes. Her dad bent low and grasped the man’s shirt, shoving him into the tile and then digging his knee into the man’s chest. “You tried to hurt my daughter. I will kill you if you so much as blink.”
Esther had never heard her dad threaten someone like that. She knew he was trained to kill and could easily take out Garret, but it warmed her heart to hear him be so protective.
Garret’s eyes went wide. He didn’t move.
“Esther …”
Esther’s gaze darted back to Reed.
His dark eyes fluttered open, and he murmured, “I love you.” Then his eyes rolled back in his head.
Esther’s heart gave a strange turn and her body filled with happiness. He loved her. She already knew—he’d told her before he kissed her that it was because he’d fallen in love with her—but he’d been willing to sacrifice himself for her in the showdown with Garret.
He was unconscious, and they’d been through something traumatic. She should be completely falling apart in this out-of-control situation. Reed had almost died. Her heart raced at the thought, but she didn’t go into panic mode or start muttering or run screaming from the building or pound on his chest and demand that he live.
She looked at his hand lying on the hard tile floor and lifted it into her lap. The feel of his palm warm against hers brought peace. The depth of her love for him calmed and lifted her. Him telling her he loved her only strengthened it. On her own, she had proven herself to be strong. She would be even stronger with Reed, holding his hand, teasing with him, discussing law, laughing and teasing together. Now he just had to be all right and wake up so she could tell him how much she loved him. She sent a silent prayer that he would be okay.
Thor pumped his eyebrows at her. “My buddy loves you. Don’t ditch him, sis. Please.”
Esther ignored her brother, but the last thing she was planning right now was how to ditch Reed. She clung to his hand as desperately as she clung to the prayers running through her head.
Colt and Greer crowded into the already crowded bathroom. “The perimeter is secure,” Colt reported. “He was alone.”
Her dad nodded. “The police and an ambulance are coming. Could you talk to the dispatcher?” He tilted his head toward the phone, not moving from pinning Garret down.
Colt grabbed the phone and started talking as Gavin Strong appeared over Greer’s shoulder.
Esther focused on Reed’s handsome face, trailing her fingertips along the back of his hand, praying he would wake up again and praying the wound to his head or his abdomen wasn’t serious. Thankfully he was breathing, had a strong pulse, and it looked like Thor had the bleeding under control.
