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A collective gasp filled the waiting room, and Trick’s mother started to cry out in distress before covering her mouth and instantly weeping.
Reese pulled her close for a hug, and my mom hurried over toward her again, while Pick pushed a straining Trick back hard.
“Dammit,enough,” Pick hissed and pointed toward a chair. “Sit down and shut up before you send us all to an early grave with those kinds of horrifying images. Jesus. What the hell were you thinking, saying that shit aloud in front of your mother?”
Trick glanced around, beginning to look contrite. When he focused on Eva, he straight up cringed. “Mom, I’m sorry.”
She waved a hand, forgiving him, even as she leaned against Reese and let her hold her.
I shared a wary glance with Pick as he met my gaze. He shook his head, still looking irritated as if he still may strangle his youngest for his outburst, but then he reached out toward me and hooked a hand around the back of my neck before hauling me in against him, clashing our foreheads together and just holding me there.
“Thank you,” he said in a low, grateful tone.
I nodded and saw movement from the corner of my eye. When I looked over, I made eye contact with my father as he entered the waiting area. He inclined his head respectfully, then started for Eva to give his report.
“She’s doing well,” he waited to say until Pick had joined them. “No internal bleeding. There are a couple of bruised ribs, but her X-rays and CTs look good. The rest of her injuries are minor and superficial enough that she just needs some time to heal. I have the nurse helping her get discharged now.”
“Oh, thank God,” Pick breathed and pulled Eva to him so the two could hold each other through their relief.
“What about—?” Trick started to ask, only to pause abruptly when his dad looked at him sternly. Then he flushed and cringed before asking, “Do you know for sure if she was raped or not?”
My dad blinked at him once, then said, “She was not.”
The whole crowd gave a collective breath of reassurance.
“But she’s still very shaken from the trauma,” Dad went on. “So I would ask that only her parents come back with me to see her. She doesn’t seem to want to be around a lot of people at the moment. She just needs a bit of time to herself to recover first.”
As some protested, and Pick had to raise a hand to get them to see reason, I took a step back, exhaling roughly.
Antsy, impatient tendrils of disappointment swam through me.
For some reason, I’d really wanted to see her again.Tonight.
No, that wasn’t quite right. Ineededto see her again, just to make sure she was really okay. It was a visceral thing that took over every instinct in my gut, and learning that Icouldn’tget close to her made my nerves wrench uncomfortably.
A strange panic bloomed in my chest.
Spinning away, I began to stride off. Not sure where I was going or what I was doing, but I knew I needed to move. I needed to walk.
“Luke,” my dad’s voice called after me.
Grinding my teeth, I slowed to a stop and looked back. He’d left the group that Pick was still trying to wrangle back into order and was striding toward me.
When he came in close, setting a hand on my shoulder and looking into my eyes, I already knew what he was going to say.
“She told me,” he said softly. “Everything you did for her.” A half-sympathetic, half-proud smile flitted across his face. “Are you okay?”
“I already made him talk about it,” JB answered for me, appearing at our side.
I sent my brother a dry scowl as he and Dad shared a silent, meaningful look, and then I rolled my eyes.
“Oh my God,” I muttered, glancing back and forth between the two worried men. “I’m fine.” Then I turned away again, announcing, “I’m going home now.”
“Call if you need anything,” JB commanded as I walked off.
I lifted my hand over my shoulder, giving him a thumbs-up. “Yep.”
But when I got home, I changed into my own clothes and then had no fucking idea what to do.
