“Copy that,” he muttered, turning the wheel hard and putting on his lights. Snow and salt crunched under the tires as he gunned it toward the village. Perfect. Just what he needed. Something to sink his teeth into.
The car ahead blew past a stop sign, tires fishtailing, and Rush swore viciously. Whoever was driving that car was going to get their ass handed to them.
Then his stomach dropped.
The car was Lily’s.
For a split second, the lights and snow blurred, and he wasn’t on Route 14 anymore. He was back at the canal, and the water was black and icy, rising around Caroline Whitmore’s car, and her terrified eyes were locked with his. He could feel her slick hand slipping from his grip. Hear Chloe’s screams. And then, as he swam away, the silence, failure in the marrow of his bones.
What if it were Lily this time? What if he lost her too?
“Son of a bitch!” he yelled, slamming his hand down on the horn.
She didn’t even tap the brakes.
He rode her bumper until she finally jerked the car onto the shoulder in a spray of gravel. Rush yanked his truck behind her and was out in seconds, fury boiling over.
“What the fuck are you doing?” he barked, striding up to the driver’s-side window. “You could’ve killed somebody driving like a?—”
The door flung open, and Lily all but exploded out. Her eyes were wild, and she didn’t have a jacket on. “Rush! Amber’s having the babies right now!” she screamed.
For a second, the words didn’t compute. Then he heard it—Amber’s guttural cry from inside the car—and Rush’s blood iced over.
He yanked open the passenger door and dropped to his knees. Amber was braced against the seat, her feet on the dash, sweat dripping down her temple despite the cold air. Lily had scrambled back into the driver’s seat, gripping her sister’s hand with both of hers. Her wide green eyes met his, and whatever she saw there made her pale.
“All right, Amber, you’re okay,” he said automatically, his voice steady even as his pulse skyrocketed. “We’ve got this?—”
Then he saw it. The passenger seat of Lily’s car was soaked in blood. Too much blood.
Not again. Not fucking again.
His breath locked in his chest. His hands went numb. The world narrowed until he was back at the canal, in the icy water, Caroline’s hand slipping out of his—failure twisting his gut.
“Rush!”
Lily’s voice cut through the fog. She grabbed his arm hard. “Stay with me. She needs you.Ineed you.”
Her voice hit like a rope thrown to a drowning man. Rush dragged in a breath, shoved the canal back where it belonged. This wasn’t then. This was now. Amber was here. Lily was here. And he wasn’t going to lose either one of them.
His training surged, clear and automatic. He forced calm into his face. “I’m calling for some help, okay, Amber? Sit tight. You’re doing great.”
He sprinted back to his truck to get the first aid kit, already talking to Myrna. “Dispatch, this is Unit One. I need an ambulance on Route 14, mile marker twenty-two—woman in active labor with twins and heavy bleeding. Get them here fast.”
By the time he returned, Lily had Theo on speakerphone. Amber half sobbed, half screamed, her whole body trembling.
“Sweetheart,” Theo’s steady voice came through the speaker. “I’m almost there,” he said soothingly. “My love, can you breathe for me? Just like that, yes.”
Amber tried a fewhee hee, who whosbefore screaming again, a raw sound that rattled the windows of the car. “I can’t! I can’t wait! Ahhhhhhhh!”
“Rush,” Theo barked. “Where the fuck are you?”
“Route 14, mile marker twenty-two,” Rush said, snapping on gloves. “Get here fast.”
“Oh my God,” Amber sobbed. “I don’t want to have my babies in a Subaru! I want my epidural!”
“Lily, get blankets from my trunk. And water, if you have any.”
Lily sprinted around the car while Rush crouched beside Amber.
