“Ya know,” Murphy said as she bit her lower lip, “you could have been shot. Why didn’t you call to let me know you were on your way?”
“Figured I’d surprise you.”
She let her partner into the house. Jackson came back into the living room from the back. “She’s passed out asleep,” Jackson said.
“Wow, that was fast,” Murphy replied.
“Probably the afternoon’s stress finally getting the best of her.”
“Pizza?” Harper said, with a goofy grin on his face.
* * * *
Ethan
Ethan was a wreck. Between Stephanie’s house blowing up and Blayne getting shot in the shoulder, he blamed himself for everything that was happening. He was sitting with Kira in the same waiting room they’d been in when they’d waited for Jamie to get out of surgery. Now, they were waiting for Blayne to get out. Thankfully, the shot wasn’t fatal, but the surgeon didn’t know what damage the bullet had done to Blayne’s scapula.
The emergency department was busier this evening than it had been earlier in the week.Earlier in the week? That was just yesterday.Ethan first learned a shooting had happened when an alert flashed across Blayne’s iPhone on the Associated Press’s app saying,Ethan Bond Assassinated in Texas. Ethan had freaked out and immediately started calling his phone. Then he had tried calling Kira repeatedly to find out what was happening. He had finally called an Uber and headed to the hospital to find out what was going on himself.
When Ethan arrived, paparazzi were already pooling around the main entrance, so he’d walked around the building until he discovered a side door that let him in. He had spent fifteen minutes walking through fluorescent-lit corridors, lost. He found an orderly who had taken pity on him and helped him locate the emergency department waiting room.
He had found Kira up and pacing, trying to keep it together. When Ethan came into the room, she glared at him as she hissed, “You!” She had walked right up to him and slapped him across the face before pulling him into a giant bear hug as the tears started flowing. Ethan wasn’t sure which shocked him more, the slap or the hug.
Now, he sat in the waiting room, holding Kira’s hand. He heard a buzzing sound from Kira’s bag. She picked it up and pulled out her phone.
“Oops, I believe this one’s yours,” Kira said, handing Ethan his Galaxy. “I picked it up before the police got there.”
Ethan looked at the phone like Kira was handing him a scorpion. There was a small crack on the screen and a streak of blood on the side of the case. The device continued to buzz as he reached out his hand and took it. He looked down at the screen and saw a slew of messages. He wasn’t sure where to start first. He texted his parents to let them know the media news reports were wrong. He then sent a group text to the ZERO family, saying he was fine. Last, he texted Zach directly.
Got my phone back. My friend Blayne was shot. He was pretending to be me.
Ethan hesitated before he added,I think the bullet was meant for me. He hit send.
“Kira,” a male’s voice came from the door.
Ethan kept his eyes on his phone, waiting for the series of texts he knew would come his way. He saw the hem of the man’s white coat, blue scrub pants and clogs.
“Arnold,” Kira said, looking up from her seat standing, “how is he?”
“He’s fine. Thankfully, the bullet went through the outer part of the arm, missing his subclavian artery.”
“Arnold,” Kira snapped, “speak to me like I’m a human.”
“Sorry,” the surgeon replied. “If Blayne had been shot on the inside of his arm, it would have pierced a major artery. He would have bled out before he got here, if not on the operating table before we could have figured out what was going on. Thankfully, this is not what happened. Instead, it was right under the shoulder on the outside. The bullet grazed his humerus but missed the major nerves, which was my biggest concern when I took him into surgery. The bullet didn’t hit the bone directly, which would have caused both bullet and bone to fracture, causing considerably more damage. All in all, this is a stroke of one-in-a-million luck. He’s going to hurt like hell, and rehab will take some time, but he shouldn’t lose any sensations. He’s a very, very lucky man.”
Ethan let out his breath. He hadn’t even realized he’d stopped breathing while the surgeon had been talking.
“When can we see him?” Kira asked.
“We?”
Ethan felt Kira put a hand on his shoulder. “Dr. Arnold Giest-Mueler, let me introduce you to Blayne’s friend, Ethan Bond.”
Ethan tilted his head up to look at the older man.
“Holy shit, it is you. Jamie said you’d been in his hospital room last night. I figured it was the drugs talking.”
Ethan shook his head, offered a weak smile and extended his hand. “Thank you for taking care of Blayne.” A tear welled in the corner of his eye, and he reached up and brushed it away with the back of his hand.
