She didn’t get a ticket. Didn’t hit anything. Didn’t blow through a red light, though that last one had been far too close.
Her hands were tight on the wheel, her heart hammering as every mile screamed the truth she’d been trying to bury.
She wasn’t shielding her heart. Not even close.
This wasn’t about walking in with clear eyes and just trying to help solve a case. This was about Rory.
The way he made her feel. The way she couldn’t help but lose herself around him. The way she wanted to give it all back to him ten times as much.
The thought of him leaving had already been enough to unravel her. But the thought of him dying, of him gone forever, was unbearable. It emptied her out and left her gasping for air, even as she pressed harder on the gas to pull into the parking lot.
She slammed on her brakes, skidding to a stop, grabbed her purse and was running for the door, her heels clicking on the concrete a distant sound.
“I’m looking for Rory Connors? I’m Blaze Ridgway’s sister.”
Yep, she was throwing her family name around and didn’t give two shits what they thought of it.
“You need to get a band to get access and then you can go back and they will direct you to where he is.”
She handed over her license. She knew the routine and had to do it a year ago when Ford had been shot, the same when Meredith had been kidnapped. She was getting fed up with making trips here.
They let her through the doors and she went right to the nurse’s station. Her head swiveled and she caught sight of Blaze leaving a room and dashed toward him.
“Come back here,” a nurse said.
She didn’t listen and shouted for Blaze. He turned and motioned her closer.
“Hey. Calm down,” Blaze said. “This isn’t like you.”
“You know what is going on. You all do.” Just because she saw Blaze and Ash the least didn’t mean they weren’t informed of everything the family did or went through.
“I do. But you’re not next of kin.”
“Don’t give me that shit, Blaze. Let me have his phone and I’ll call his mother.”
“Come in,” Blaze said, bringing her into Rory’s room. She saw him on the bed, his head wrapped up where he must have hit it. “It looks worse than it is. Head wounds always do, but he’s been out since they brought him in.”
“How long ago was that?”
“Thirty minutes. Once I realized who it was I called Ford right away. His phone is over there if you want to get in it.”
“I’ll just hold it up to his face like you can do,” she said. “Why didn’t you?”
“Because right now we are trying to see if he’ll wake up. There doesn’t seem to be any other injuries. We cut his shirt off, and his chest looks bruised but not horrible. It was more from the seatbelt.”
“Ford is on his way and I’ll find out. Can I stay here with him?”
“Sure,” he said. “I’m going to have to send him down for a CT scan soon if he doesn’t wake up, but they are backlogged there.”
She pulled a chair over and sat. “Should I call his mom now? I don’t want to worry her just yet. They’ve been through so much.”
“That’s up to you,” Blaze said. “You know him better than everyone else. And, Gale…”
“Don’t give me a lecture right now,” she said, battling those treacherous tears that never used to fall before. “I don’t need it.”
“I’m not. But I’m worried. Not just about what is happening, but you’re coming undone, and we all know, not much shakes you.”
“Well, this is. No way this was an accident. He was a cop. He knows how to handle himself.”
