“Where are you?” RT demanded.
Brantley waved off the change from the cashier and stepped out of the way. “At the airport. Why?”
“At the air— Never mind. Not important. It’s Reese.”
Hearing the emotion in RT’s voice, Brantley’s heart lodged in his throat and he couldn’t even force out any words.
“He’s at the hospital,” RT explained, his tone hard. “He’s been shot.”
The words registered and Brantley forgot about everything else. He stared, not seeing the people, not hearing the barista call that an order was ready. The only sound was the harsh thump of his heartbeat in his ears and the ragged breaths sawing in and out of his lungs.
“Shot?” he croaked. “What? Why? What the fuck?”
“You need to get here, Brantley. Now.”
Brantley forced his legs to move, heading for the exit at a fast clip, doing his best not to knock anyone down in his haste. “Which hospital?”
“Baylor.”
That told him absolutely nothing. “I’m at Love Field,” he told RT. “How far am I?”
“Half an hour tops.”
“Son of a bitch.”
“He’s in surgery, Brantley,” RT said, his voice softer, calmer than before. “We’re here now.”
“What the hell happened?” he barked.
“Just get here. I’ll fill you in then.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
With his heart lodged firmly in his throat, Brantley hailed a cab.
Twenty minutes later, thanks to light traffic and a determined cab driver—the promise of a two-hundred-dollar tip worked wonders—Brantley walked into the emergency room waiting area.
Not recognizing anyone there, he headed for the nurses’ station. “I’m lookin’ for a patient. Reese Tavoularis. Can you tell me where he is?”
“Are you family?”
“I’m his partner.”
Her eyes softened and he realized she had misunderstood. He’d actually been referring to work, although technically the other had been true up until tonight.
Not that he was going to bother her with those details, because evidently, it worked, seeing as she had turned her attention to the computer, and after he spelled out the name for her, he learned Reese was in the intensive care unit.
Thankfully, she offered decent directions, because his mind was elsewhere and the hospital was enormous. He found it easily, somehow keeping his heart in his chest as he made his way into the ICU waiting room. That was where he found RT with Reese’s brother, Z, along with Reese’s mother, Cindy, and her boyfriend, Hugh.
RT was the first one up, strolling right to him.
“Where is he?” Brantley asked, scanning RT’s face for any bad news that might be coming.
“He’s still in surgery.”
“How long has he been in there?”
“A couple of hours.”
