Jennie’s body screamed in pain. Every inch of her hurt. It even hurt to blink. She had no idea where she was. She could still be on the floor of the cabin for all she knew. But she didn’t care. Her body throbbed in time with her heartbeat.
“Jennie?” a low husky voice faded in and out.
The voice was soothing, and she loved the sound of it.
“Jennie, honey? Are you there?”
The puzzle pieces floated together. David. Zoey. Adam.
She sucked in a deep breath and cried out in pain.
Gentle hands smoothed back the hair from her forehead.
The touch almost more than she could bear.
“Jennie, I’m right here.” David’s low timbre cleared her muddled mind.
“Zoey?” The desert in her mouth made her words come out as a croak.
“She’s safe.”
Something cold pressed against her lips.
“Open your mouth for some ice chips, honey.”
She obliged. The relief was incredible.
“Better?”
“Yes,” she whispered. Her eyelids lifted, and the most wonderful sight came into focus.
David leaned over the rail of a bed.
“Hospital?”
“Yes.” His voice quivered. “You scared me, Jennie.”
“Adam?” She felt stupid for the one-word questions, but she didn’t have the strength to say more.
“In surgery.”
She scrunched her forehead and grimaced. “What happened?”
“You don’t need to worry about that right now.”
He wanted to protect her, she knew that deep down, but she had to know. She didn’t want to be babied. She wanted—needed—to feel in control. At least when it came to Adam.
“Tell me.”
David nodded, seeming to understand. “He was hit by a car when he tried to run from us. The doctors aren’t sure if he’ll make it.”
Jennie didn’t know whether to rejoice the fact or feel sorrow for the man who’d kidnapped Zoey and hurt her. A tear slid down her temple.
“Honey, what’s wrong?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered. Yet, she did know. Her choices had put Zoey in danger.
“Honey, Adam made his own choices. You didn’t do anything to cause that.”
