Gater. Fucking Gater did this. I know it in my bones. Anger rushes over me. I am so mad that I cannot see straight. I feel so goddamned helpless and I don't know what to do. I want to hurt the people who hurt my fiancé. I want to rip them to shreds. They went after the fucking light in my life. The man that simultaneously gets on my absolute last nerve and makes life the most fun that it's ever been.
The hospital is only ten minutes away and when Linc screeches up to the front door, I am out of the truck and on my feet. My wobbly, shaky feet carry me faster than I thought possible inside the hospital. I do not wait for Mindy and Linc. I could care less if they are right behind me or if they brought me here to drop me off and leave. I just need to see him. I need to put my eyes on Cass.
The lady at the front desk greets me with a smile but her smile quickly fades when she sees the expression on my face. "How can I help you?" she asks solemnly.
"Caine Sonnier. He came in by ambulance," I say.
"It looks like he's in surgery, dear," she says softly, opening a map and pointing me in the direction of the surgery waiting room.
Footsteps behind me make me whip my head around. Linc and Mindy have caught up.
"We're going to the third floor to wait. He's in surgery," I relay the information just as it was told to me. I'm hollow. If you bounced a ball inside of my chest, it would echo. There is no matter left inside of me. I want to cry and scream and shatter the glass of every window in this building. Instead, I walk quietly to the elevator and ride it up to the third floor. Once we're there, we're directed to the surgery waiting area. It's a room of its own with about thirty chairs, a table on one end with a coffee maker, creamer, and sugar, and a stack of Styrofoam cups.
There's a water dispenser beside it with the tiny cone shaped cups on top. I fill one and down the small cup of water. Mindy has been radio silent and when I look over at her, I see that she's got tears streaming down both her cheeks. I avert my eyes, knowing if I look at her crying, I won't be able to hold it together.
One by one, our family begins pouring in. Scott is first, the solemn look on his face nearly rips my heart out of my chest. Aaron and Conner show up together. Then Digger, Snapper, and Leo roll in. Snapper is stewing as he sits alone, no doubt imagining the ways that he will make Gater pay for this. No one has said it, but I know it. Without a doubt, without a question. As sure as I know my name, I know he is the one who's behind this.
Five hours later, a doctor enters the room looking as tired as I feel.
"Here for the family of Caine Sonnier," he says.
Scott grabs my arm, urging me forward. "We're all family."
The doctor looks around and instead of arguing, he simply nods and begins to go over how the surgery went. There were two bullets, and he was able to retrieve both. One was lodged in between his clavicle and sternum, narrowly missing a major artery and the other was two inches shy of paralyzing him forlife. The doctor says he's confident that Cass will make a full recovery with minimal therapy, if any.
When he leaves the room, my knees buckle beneath me. Scott is standing right beside me and he grips my arm, keeping me from hitting the ground as the world around me begins to fade in and out. I hear some yelling somewhere in the distance and my hand is clamped tight inside someone's. I finally give in and stop fighting against my body, succumbing to the darkness.
When I wake, I find myself lying in a hospital bed with monitors beeping around me. It's dark, for the most part, with flickers of light coming from the sink area by the door. I look around, taking in the sights around me. Mindy is next to my bed. It then dawns on me why we were at the hospital in the first place. Mindy looks up from her phone and her eyes widen.
"Lilly!"
Tears immediately race down her cheeks.
"How is Cass? Is he awake?" I fire off the questions quickly.
Mindy's holding my hand in hers, with it pressed against her cheek. She nods.
"He's awake and he's about to tear this hospital to shreds trying to get to you. Here." She opens her phone and I hear the sound of a video call ringing. She hands me the phone. Linc is staring at me on the other end, looking both exhausted and exasperated.
"Here, fucker!" he shoves the phone into Cass's hand and Cass's face comes into view. The fury on his face dissipates and is replaced with admiration as he stares at me.
"Baby, are you okay?" he asks, brows furrowed.
I nod, crying at the sight of him. Crying because he's alive. Crying because he's okay. Crying because I need him and can't get to him.
"They won't let me out of this damn bed to come see you," he huffs.
"I'm okay. I'm just glad you're okay."
"It's going to take more than two bullets to keep me down. I'm like bad grass, you can't kill this," he says with a cocky grin.
That grin heals a bit of my broken soul. I so desperately want to touch his face. To feel the roughness of his calloused hands against mine. I see him on this screen but I want toseehim.
"Mindy, can you get a nurse?" I ask.
"On it!" She rises slowly from her chair and waddles toward the door. A suddensplooshsounds through the room. Mindy halts with her hand on the doorknob.
"Uh-oh," she says.
