Then I called Boise’s hospital, warning them we were bringing in a victim with a severe abdominal wound and head trauma. When we pulled into the emergency bay less than ten minutes later, a crew waited for us. We got Sutton out and onto a gurney. The team wheeled her into the emergency department, and I moved to follow, but Trey held me back.
“You can’t do anything else for her,” he said.
My head drooped in defeat. Hell, my entire mind, body, and fuckingsouldrooped. Trey loaded me into the truck so we could head around to the front and enter through the lobby, but mentally, I was a million miles away.
My entire heart had gone into that emergency room with Sutton, and if she didn’t come out alive, I couldn’t see the point in going on without her.
forty-five
. . .
LANE
Two days later,Sutton woke up, and I made damn sure I was the first person she saw.
I’d pulled all the strings I could to secure her a private suite, which thankfully came with a couchanda bathroom. When my family came up to the hospital after the incident, Mama brought us both clothes and toiletries. I hadn’t left Sutton since she’d come out of surgery. Instead, I slept on the sofa that wasnotwide enough for my big body.
My brothers had started to call me a creep and tease me that Sutton wouldn’t want me anymore when she learned about the constant vigil I kept at her side, but I flipped them off and ignored them. This woman was mylife. My heart and soul. I refused to let her out of my sight. Now that I knew she’d come out of this on the other side, I was never letting her go again.
It was because of this vigil, because of my unwavering attention on her face, waiting for the moment she’d open those pretty amber eyes, that I was leaning over her the second she did.
They blinked slowly, sluggishly, parting only to slam shut again—likely thanks to the harsh lighting in these rooms.
Finally, though, they opened all the way, and I grinned, entirely unashamed of the tears falling down my face.
“Sunny,” I breathed, cupping her face in my hands, careful with her broken cheekbone.
“L-Lane,” she croaked.
“God, baby, you scared me.”
“I…” she cleared her throat slightly, and I reached over to the nearby bed tray for the cup of water I kept full and fresh, positioning the straw at her lips so she could take a drink. “What happened?”
“You were in a car accident. The doctor will go over everything with you, but all that matters is you’re going to be okay.”
Sutton gasped, as though my words triggered something, and her frail hand reached for my arm, latching onto it tightly.
“Addie?” she whispered. “She…she…”
“Shh,” I soothed, bending to press a kiss to her forehead. “I know all about what Addie did.”
“She was going to kill me.”
“She can’t hurt you now.”
Unfortunately, she survived the car accident. Butfortunately, the evidence Trey and I had gathered against her and Johns was more than enough to ensure both would be spending a significant amount of time behind bars. Addie was here in the hospital, on a different floor in a different wing, with round the clock security and handcuffs securing her to her bed. Once she’d recuperated enough, she would stand trial.
Plus, we’d managed to track down Nick Boyd, who’d been more than happy to give up everything he had on the pair in exchange for leniency with his own charges.
After our show down on the side of the road, Johns had gone underground, but Trey was working tirelessly to locate him. The man wasn’t that smart; he’d slip up eventually.
“Are you sure?” Sutton asked.
“Positive. No one will ever hurt you again.”
Sutton nodded and squeezed her eyes shut, tears leaking free. I gently brushed them away with my thumb.
“I was so scared,” she whispered. “In that car with Addie.”
