“I don’t know if he’s going to die, but he’s going to be dead if these people catch up with him. So we have to take the risk, don’t we?”
He caught her eyes in the mirror. “Yes.”
“Okay, then, we do that,” she said, and he was proud that she sounded calm when she was anything but. “My guess is he’s still using heroin. That’s what he was using before. He needs prescription medicine, but we can’t get that till we get home.” She was working through things aloud, so Ethan stayed quiet and let her talk. “Just pull up at the first drugstore you find open and ask what they have for heroin withdrawal. I’m sure it’s a question they’ve been asked before. And water. We need to get some into him.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Annabelle watched Ethan run into the drugstore and wondered if he would ever forgive her for putting him through this. Not that she would forgive herself anytime soon. When he’d asked her to leave him back at that apartment building she’d gone cold. Just the thought of doing that, leaving Ethan alone with those men, had made her realize just how much he now meant to her. Walking away from him would never have been an option for her…not ever.
She looked down at her brother, then bent and kissed his forehead.
“Dear God, Cooper, how could everything have gone so wrong for you?”
He didn’t answer her, and she hadn’t expected him to. He was in the throes of a nightmare that Annabelle knew would take him months, possibly years, to recover from. They’d fight this, and it would be long and dirty, but hopefully when they came out the other side they’d still be sane. She’d get Cooper clean. He’d always be an addict, but she hoped a recovering one, and then she’d have to find a way to pay Ethan back.
He’d shown no fear through the entire ordeal, not even when those men had arrived, one carrying a gun that he’d pointed at them. Ethan had calmly said that if they followed him to the car then they would get their money, while Annabelle had been terrified, fear making her body shake so hard she’d had to clench her teeth together.
“I have a bag of things that the guy said would help until we get to a doctor,” Ethan said when he returned to the SUV.
“Thank you.” She could barely get the words out. They seemed inadequate; a simple thank you would never convey how grateful she was to this man, how humbled she was that he had done all he had for her. “For everything,” she added.
“You were there for me with my family. I just did the same,” he said, looking at her in the rearview mirror.
“It’s not the same. Not in a million years could what you did for us, Cooper and me, be described as the same.”
“You gonna make this into a big thing between us, Annabelle?”
“How can it not be?” she said. “I owe a hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. That’s not money I just have stuffed down the sides of my sofa.”
“You’re not selling your house to pay me back.” His eyes narrowed as he looked at her again. “I need you to promise me that. In fact, can’t you just let it go and we’ll move on?”
“From a hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars?” She looked at him like he’d lost his mind. “I can barely move on when I borrow five dollars. I have to pay it back the same day. But a hundred and seventy-five thousand…I’ve never even owned that much money, let alone know where to start with repayments.”
“It’s not your debt, it’s your brother’s,” Ethan said.
“It’s my family’s debt, Gelderman,” Annabelle said, looking down at her brother. “And any debt we incur is our responsibility to repay.”
“Belle?”
Cooper’s voice was faint, but she heard it.
“I have you, Cooper, and we’re going to keep you safe now.” She stroked his cheek and held him close as he started to shake harder.
“D-don’t feel g-good.”
Ethan pulled onto the airstrip and stopped beside the plane.
“I know, Coop, and I’ll help the best I can, but it’s going to be hard,” she whispered, knowing that he was going to suffer a hell of a lot more than he was right at this moment. She tried not to be angry with him, but it was there, smoldering inside her. Anger at what he’d done to himself, and anger at what he’d now forced her to do on his behalf.
“Let’s get you on board, Cooper.” Ethan opened her door and picked her brother up as if he was a doll. “You bring the bag of medicine, Annabelle.”
They put him in the bedroom, and there Annabelle got her first good look at her brother. He looked years older, his face lined and pale. His clothes hung off his body and he smelled of things she couldn’t describe.
Opening the bag, Annabelle got out the pills and a bottle of water, then Ethan held Cooper’s shoulders while he swallowed a few pills and drank enough to make her happy. She then settled him back on the bed and took the space beside him.
“I’ll watch him now, Ethan. You go and get some sleep in the cabin.” Annabelle couldn’t interpret the look he gave her.
“Call if you need me. The flight should only take about two hours. I’ll get you some food when you’re ready.”
