“I couldn’t help him,” her voice caught and he squeezed her hip. “I couldn’t protect him. I wasn’t paying attention.”
“Jess. You’re our baby sister. You’re carrying our niece. We’re always going to protect you. The only thing Lach asked me about while I was in there was if you were alright. Making sure you were really okay. That’s why you should be on your way to the hospital. You and the baby need to be checked over.”
“There was no reason for me to,” she answered quickly.
“That’s not true. Your blood pressure—” Hawk started to say before she cut him off.
“Is fine.” She looked up at Hawk and frowned.
“Hey. If you need me to call the rig back, I will.” Colt grabbed his radio off his belt.
“Don’t you dare. I’m fine.”
“You should at least let a doctor monitor the baby. When Vi and I lost…”
“I remember.” Jessie took two steps away from Hawk and wrapped her arms around her brother again. “I’m not going to lose this baby. She’s fine. So am I. Stop worrying about me and tell me what’s going on with Lach. Is he… is he going to be okay?”
Colt huffed, his hand coming up to rub his jaw as Jessie swayed back into Hawk’s side.
“Hayes and his squad got the car stabilized, the paramedics are working on getting his leg secured. He’s not conscious right now.”
“Oh god,” Jessie whispered.
“They sedated him, Jess. For the pain. Or, gave him some medicine that made him loopy, and then he kinda just went out of it. But they’ve got him. Hayes and I are going to get him in the chopper and then we’ll all go down to Dallas General, okay?”
“I’m going to take Jessie as soon as Stone gets here with my truck. We need to get her checked out, and the only place I could get her to agree on was the hospital they’d be taking Lach to.”
Colt’s eyes went wide. “Thought you said you were okay?”
“Like you said, it’s just better to get checked,” her voice shook, and Hawk didn’t miss the way her hands went to her back, pressing in against her hips.
“Alright, back to the bench with you, now that we got the info from Colt.”
“Text Hawk if anything changes,” her voice wavered as Hawk turned her back to the bench. “I don’t want to be at the wrong hospital and away from everyone when you get there.”
Colt nodded. “I still need to call Mom and Dad. Fuck.”
“No. Dakota’s here. He said he’d call Beau and they’d tell Mom and Dad. Might want to tell Beau where Lach is headed though.”
“Okay. Yeah, shit. I need to talk to Dakota too about all this. Fuck.” Colt swore as he looked over his shoulder. Between two deputies and a couple of firefighters, including Hayes, Hawk could see Lachlan being situated on a backboard.
His phone buzzed in his pocket.
Mae:
Stone and I are here. We’re parked down the street and can’t get by all the emergency vehicles.
We’ll be right there.
“Hey, Pretty Girl. Mae’s here with my truck. I’m going to carry you over there and we’re gonna get to the hospital, okay?”
“I can walk,” she protested.
“I know you can, but I really want to hold you in my arms right now. Think you can let me? Just until we get to the car?”
Her eyes went glassy and a tear slipped down her face as she nodded. He knew she’d see right through his reasoning, but he didn’t care. The moment she was up in his arms, and he could feel her warmth radiating into him, Hawk had to work overtime to choke back his own emotions.
Thirty-Three
