“That’s why I’m here.” Ray fell into step beside him. “I’ll drive.”
Pierce shot him a look. “I can drive my own damn self.”
Ray didn’t break stride. “No, you can’t. Not right now.”
Normally, Pierce might’ve argued just on principle. But right now his hands didn’t feel steady, and his thoughts were too loud, too sharp, too tangled up in images he didn’t want in his head. So he said the only thing he could.
“Fine.”
They walk quickly to the parking lot. As soon as they reached Ray’s truck, Pierce climbed in and slammed the door shut.
Ray hadn’t even fully backed out of the parking space before Pierce was pulling out his phone. He dialed Charley’s number, but it went straight to voicemail.
“Damn it.”
“She may still be getting checked out,” Ray said, glancing between Pierce and the road in front of him. “Or Seth may have taken her phone.”
Pierce didn’t answer.
“Seth said she stayed with the guy after he went down. When Seth got to her and tried to get her somewhere not in the open, she refused to leave the guy.”
Pierce closed his eyes briefly and leaned his head back against the seat. “That doesn’t surprise me.”
That was Charley, though. That was exactly who she was. The kind of woman who’d kneel in the open with bullets flying because somebody needed her. The kind who would bleed and still try to save somebody else first.
It made him want to shake her and kiss her and lock her inside somewhere safe until this whole mess was over.
It also made something deep in his chest ache with a love he hadn’t planned on feeling this fast.
Ray’s voice cut into his thoughts. “Seth said she did pass out, but as soon as they got her into the ambulance, she came to.”
That didn’t surprise Pierce. It was probably shock.
Pierce swallowed hard. “Did he say how bad her arm was?”
“Bad enough that she’s gonna need stitches.”
Pierce stared ahead, every muscle in his body wound too tight. “Whoever took that shot either didn’t care she was there or figured hitting her was acceptable collateral.”
He looked down at his phone again, thumb hovering over Charley’s contact before lowering it. He didn’t want to keep blowing up her phone if she was in the middle of treatment. But sitting here doing nothing while she was in the hospital was eating him alive. He just needed to hear her voice.
“She’s gonna try to tell me she’s fine,” he muttered.
That got the faintest twitch from Ray’s mouth. “Probably.”
“And she won’t be.”
“Probably not.”
Pierce scrubbed a hand over his face. “I swear to God, Ray, if I walk in there and she tries to downplay this—”
“You’ll do exactly what?”
Pierce looked over at him.
Ray kept his attention on the road, but there was the ghost of dry humor in his voice now. “Growl at her? Pace? Threaten to duct tape her to a chair until this is over?”
“All of the above.”
