A shudder rolled through her.
Aspen slipped an arm around her shoulders. “Stop worrying.”
“I don’t want another person to die because of—”
“Don’t finish that sentence. None of this is because of you. Not Lucian. Not whatever’s happened to Oscar—which I still wish you’d told me about. And not Hamish.”
She laid her head on her friend’s shoulder. “Thank you.”
Aspen rested her head on Callie’s. “I’m always here for you.”
She was, and Callie knew exactly how lucky she was to have her. Her gaze caught Lock’s. He’d stopped pacing and was watching her. He was always watching her. She was lucky to haveallthe people she had in her life.
She didn’t realize she was digging her nails into her thigh again until Lock sat on the other side of her and covered her hand with his own.
His lips grazed her ear. “It’ll be okay.”
Just those three words did so much to ease her anxiety.
She didn’t know how long they waited, watching the doors. It was only when Eastern stepped inside the hospital with a deputy behind him that Callie straightened.
Lock rose and talked to his brother in a hushed voice. Eastern’s body language gave nothing away, and a few seconds later, he headed down the hall and Lock sat back down.
“We weren’t the only ones who called him,” he said quietly.
Her stomach dropped. “You mean—”
“The hospital called.”
So it was likely a criminal case, and Hamish wasn’t just sick.
She nodded quickly like that news didn’t devastate her, when really, it felt like the walls were closing in.
Hold it together, Callie. Don’t make this about you.
A few minutes later, the door opened, and a woman stepped inside. She was older, with short gray hair and lines beside her eyes. But it was the expression on her face that had Callie frowning…she looked worried and scared.
The woman stepped up to the counter. “My son, Hamish Evergreen, is here.”
Callie shifted to the edge of her seat. Hamish’s mother.
The nurse typed a few things on the computer before turning back to the woman. “The doctor will be out to talk to you soon.”
“No! I need to see someonenow. My baby is in there. I need—”
A doctor approached the nurses’ station. “Mrs. Evergreen?”
Eastern and the deputy followed close behind him.
Hamish’s mother rushed toward them, but they spoke too quietly for Callie to hear what they were saying. It was only when the mother started crying and the doctor led her down the hall that Callie’s stomach dropped.
Hamish wasn’t okay.
Emotion clogged her throat, but she swallowed it down.
When Eastern headed over to them, she, Lock, Callie, and Aspen stood.
“What’s going on?” Lock asked, arm around her waist.
