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“They saved you from dying,” Jackie throws back, shaking her head so fast her hair ripples. “Make no mistake, you’re plenty hurt. I was there to pull you out of it. Your legs were trapped under that dash. If it wasn’t for those farm boys who stopped, we wouldn’t have gotten you out. Don’t be ridiculous.”
My insides curdle, knowing if those local boys hadn’t come along when they had, Clay’s men might’ve easily just mowed down Tobin, and then Jackie and Nelson a little ways behind him on the road.
God, I knew this wasn’t going to work, but I’d gotten so caught up in my own life, in being Ridge’s fiancée—fake fiancée—that I’d forgotten how nothing stops Clay.
He’s a slow-moving brute force of nature.
I don’t care what Ridge says.
I should’ve shot that bastard in the head when I had the chance.
But now people are going to die.
Die because of me.
All because I’d gotten swept up in a fantasy with a man who takes me on a detour from hell. That’s all it can ever be, an escape.
Not a permanent solution.
“Those farm boys wanted to call the cops,” Dad says. “I told them no. I know the game, and I said you’d have your friend come tow the truck.”
“I’ll call Jess now,” Ridge growls.
He hasn’t put his phone down since helping Tobin into the house.
I bite my teeth together hard to keep from screaming. Pissed at the growing list of people sucked into my problem and now suffering just like poor Tobin.
“Dad, I need another bowl of clean water,” I snap.
The water in the bowl I’d carried in is already coppery red, full of the blood I’ve been wiping off of Tobin’s legs.
Ridge sets his phone on the table. “I’ll get more towels.”
I don’t respond, just keep washing, adrift in my own pain, listening for whatever else Jackie tells me to do.
No surprise, she’s as thorough with Tobin’s care as she was with Dad’s.
She assesses every scratch, scrape, cut, and bruise.
She bandages them and forces Tobin to take some pain meds.
She doesn’t even take a breath.
I’m right by her side, frantically working, wondering every second if she’ll run into some complication that’ll force her to call a doctor—exactly the thing I know Dad, Ridge, and his entire crew want to avoid.
If Clay hoped to hit us with a diversion so monstrous we can’t tell up from down, let alone go after him…then mission accomplished.
“Okay,” Jackie finally says, standing up and looking Tobin over. “He’ll be sore for several days, but he’s going to be fine. I’d still like Dr. Abrams to look at those ribs.”
I heave out a huge sigh of relief.
Not for me, but for Tobin.
I just wish—God, how I wish!—there could be a reason to breathe easy, but it’s beyond impossible right now. Whatever faint flicker of hope I had inside me winks out.
“I’ll help him to his room,” Ridge says, moving to his friend and valet. “You’ll be more comfortable in your bed.”
Tobin agrees without complaint this time.
Poor guy.
Poor Ridge.
There’s a bitter sadness in his starry blue eyes that sends a dagger through my heart. But I saw something else, too. A violent urge, the eyes of a god driven to obliterate everyone who tried to murder his friend and demolish his household.
Talk about scary.
I hurry ahead of them, through the kitchen and down the hall to where Tobin’s room is located not far from the sunroom. After turning down the bed, I leave the room, giving Tobin his privacy as Ridge and Jackie lay him down and help remove what’s left of his black trousers and hunter-green shirt.
So much blood, just like the towels.
They’re bound to be permanently stained.
I tear myself away from the awful scene before wretched, panicked sobs make it impossible to do anything.
I’m in the kitchen, washing the bowls, when Ridge grabs my shoulders.
Of course I try shrugging off his hold, but it’s too strong.
“He’s going to be fine, Grace,” Ridge says, no hint of doubt in his fierce voice. “You heard Jackie.”
I’m already lost for words, so I shake my head, brushing his arm with my hair.
“Darlin’, listen,” he whispers. “I’ve got this covered.”
That breath I’d been holding hisses out.
I can’t even look at him, knowing if I do I’m dead.
“No, Ridge, you really don’t. This is…it isn’t some movie script! You’re not living this neat story where the bad guy gets caught and the good guy wins the girl and they all live happily ever—” I pinch my lips together.
I know.
I know I’m being ridiculous and mouthing off like I shouldn’t.
But I know, more than anything, how petrified with fear I am, deep down.
I’m terrified he’s about to get himself killed.
There’s no victory, not for anyone, and I’m most certainly not the girl a man like him deserves to win. Ridge, on the other hand…
