His left hand slid down. Part of the driver’s door had twisted and the metal had shoved into him.
Had the SOB in that SUV been trying to kill me?
Strange...he hadn’t been taken out in war zones. He’d made it out of battle again and again. But on this road, so close to home...
“I thought...thought he was going to try and push us at the curve.” Grant wanted to explain to her why he’d turned around. Trying to protect you.
Her hand caressed his face. “It’s okay. We’re safe, Grant. We’re safe.” It sounded as if she was trying to reassure him. He’d wanted to reassure her. To protect her.
He’d failed.
“It impaled him,” he heard one man mutter. “I can see it...right there.”
Grant swallowed. His head turned. He saw Scarlett. Beautiful Scarlett. She was crying. She wasn’t supposed to cry. She was supposed to be safe now. Happy.
“Second chance,” Grant murmured. He wanted to kiss her. He’d always loved kissing Scarlett.
She nodded. A tear trickled down her cheek. “We have a second chance. This...it’s just a scratch, Grant. Firefighters are coming. They’ll bring—what do they bring?—the Jaws of Life,” she rushed to say. “They’ll get you out. You’ll be fine.”
Was she trying to convince him? Or herself?
He attempted to smile for her. He didn’t want Scarlett to be scared. “Had...much worse before.”
Another tear slid down her cheek.
He shook his head. “Don’t...cry...for me. Shouldn’t cry.”
“Because you’re going to be okay,” she said, nodding. “You have to be okay, Grant.”
He did. He would be. It was just...he felt so cold.
It was hot in Texas. There was no reason for the cold.
Metal groaned near him. Was someone still trying to open the door? “Don’t let them move it. Scarlett...don’t...”
“Grant? Grant, look at me.”
He hadn’t realized that his eyes had closed.
“You’re the strongest man I know. You hold on, do you hear me? You keep those eyes open and on me. You see me. See me.”
He smiled at her. At least he thought he did. “You always saw me. Scared me, the way you saw...so deep.”
“Grant?”
“Did you see...that I loved you?”
Her breath choked out. “You are not making some death-scene confession. I will not have that, do you understand?”
His Scarlett. Always making him smile.
But he couldn’t see her anymore.
“Grant?”
“I hope...you saw...”
He couldn’t see anything at all.
Chapter Eleven
The doctors and nurses rushed the gurney through the emergency room doors. Scarlett had been racing with them, had been at Grant’s side every moment since the attack, but a nurse turned back and caught her shoulders.
“Ma’am, I’m sorry, but you can’t go in there.”
“He needs me!” I need him.
“He needs medical care.” Sympathy laced the woman’s voice. “The doctors are going to take care of him. Just stay here, and I’ll update you as soon as I can.”
She pulled away.
“Please—” Scarlett’s voice broke.
The nurse looked at her.
“Take care of him? Make him...make him all right again.”
The woman’s face softened. “We’ll do everything that we can.”
And then she was gone.
Scarlett stood in the middle of the ER waiting room, her shoulders hunched as she tried to keep the tears from falling. She’d never seen Grant like that. So still. So pale. When the firefighters had finally cut him out of the vehicle, when she’d seen just how deeply that metal had twisted into him...
Grant, how were you even talking to me?
She looked down at her hands. There was blood there. His blood. His SUV had been nearly destroyed on the driver’s side, but she’d come away without so much as a scratch.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. They were supposed to be past the danger. Some maniac in a too-fast vehicle wasn’t supposed to take Grant’s life away.
“Miss?” A nurse behind the check-in counter was frowning at her. “Is there...is there someone I can call for you?”
Grant’s family. She needed to call them. To tell them what had happened.
But she couldn’t seem to move. She could only stare at the blood on her hands and think—
I can’t lose him.
Not when he’d just come back into her life again. It wasn’t about a second chance. It was about their only chance. And she couldn’t lose him.
“Miss?”
Stay strong. Grant needs you. Stay. Strong.
She put her hands down. The blood had smeared over her clothes. His blood. Scarlett swallowed. “His family. The McGuires. I have to call them.” They needed to all be there when Grant came out of surgery.
Because he would pull through. There was no alternative for her.
Putting one foot in front of the other, Scarlett made herself move toward the counter. She needed to contact his family, but...
What is their number? Her fingers trembled. She’d lost touch with them all over the years, and didn’t even know their number. She didn’t know—
“Scarlett?”
She turned at the familiar voice and saw Detective Townsend standing just a few feet away. He frowned at her. “What’s wrong? What are you doing here?” His gaze raked her and shock filled his eyes.
“It’s Grant.” Don’t break. Stay focused. “He’s hurt. I need to reach his family, but I...” Shame filled her. I don’t even know their numbers.
Shayne pulled out his phone. Dialed fast. “Brodie? Yeah, it’s Shayne. Get the family to St. Benedict’s Hospital right away.” There was a stark pause. “Grant’s hurt.”
And apparently, that was all he needed to say, because he lowered the phone back down.
“They’re coming,” he said simply.
She lifted her chin. “Thank you.”
He closed the distance between them, moving slowly, as if afraid he’d spook her. “That’s a lot of blood, Scarlett. Do you need help, too?”
She shook her head. “It’s all his.”
The detective took her hand. Pulled her away from the check-in desk. “What happened?”
Shayne...he’d been doing his job all along, she knew. Unfortunately, his job had involved trying to pin a murder on her.
“I’ve known Grant a long time,” he told her softly. “We’re friends, though you may not believe that.”
Her eyelashes flickered.
“Talk to me.”
Her breath slid out. “We were going into town. To meet with the DA—”
The furrow between his brows deepened. “You had a meeting with the DA?”
“Yes, my lawyer called us. He said...” She stopped. That didn’t matter right then. “A black SUV was following us. He hit Grant’s side of the vehicle and...” Her voice dropped. “It’s bad.” Those two words were stark. Scared. “The metal went through his side. We couldn’t get him out of the vehicle, and the blood...” Her gaze fell to her hands once more. “I need to get it off. Please.”
His hands tightened around her. “It’s all right. We’ll take care of you.” He pulled her with him.
Her gaze slid to the ER doors. Grant was back there. “He’s going to be okay,” she heard herself say.
“Hell, yes, he will be. Grant McGuire isn’t about to let death take him.” Shayne sounded absolutely certain. “He’s not about to let anyone or anything take him away from you.”
Her gaze flew to him.
But Shayne just shook his head.
“I’ve seen the way he looks at you, and I’ve been with Grant a few times when he got drunk and desperate. You’ve been in that man’s head for years. Now that you’re back in his life, there’s no way he’s giving you up.”
Her eyes widened in surprise. Shayne had known about her and Grant all along? And he hadn’t said anything.
“My instincts are usually pretty good about people,” he told her. “And I didn’t think you were a killer, despite what the evidence was trying to tell me.”
Her breath whispered out.
“He’s going to be all right,” Shayne told her.
This time, it almost sounded as if he was trying to convince himself.
* * *
THE WAITING ROOM was full of McGuires. They weren’t in the ER any longer. Grant was in surgery, and they were camped out, waiting to hear from his doctor.
Brodie was pacing, moving restlessly like a caged lion. Davis was stone still as he stared out the window. Sullivan kept grilling the nurses in three-minute intervals.
Ava sat next to Shayne. The detective shot her worried frowns every few moments, and he even awkwardly patted her hand a few times.
Mac was on the way. He’d caught a flight out of Atlanta, and had told them that he’d be there as soon as he could.
The surgery was taking too long. Scarlett knew that. But then, she’d known this would be more intense than a simple stitch-up.
She sat with her eyes directed straight on the OR doors. When those doors opened and the doctor came out, she wanted to see him first thing.
“Where’s Justin Turner?” The low, growling voice belonged to Sullivan. He’d turned away from the nurses and had closed in on Shayne.
Scarlett didn’t look at them. She kept staring at the doors, willing them to open.
“He’s upstairs. Third floor. I’ve got two guards on him.” Shayne sounded weary, and Scarlett realized he must have been at the hospital, grilling Justin, nearly all night. “I was just leaving when I saw Scarlett.”
The hospital’s main parking lot was just beyond the emergency room entrance.
“If he’s the killer,” Sullivan demanded, “then how come my brother was targeted today?”
And it had been an attack targeted right at Grant. His side of the vehicle.
The image flashed before her mind, of Grant pinned in that SUV, but she shoved it away. Kept staring at those doors.
“Your brother investigates a lot of cases. You all do.” Shayne’s answer was low, and Scarlett had to strain in order to hear him. “Maybe this isn’t about Scarlett at all. Maybe it’s about something else. Someone else.” He paused. “You can bet I’ll find out what’s happening,” he finished grimly.
“We’ll find out,” Sullivan swore. Then he paced toward Scarlett. She tensed, expecting him to start interrogating her once more. He’d done that before. Asking her, again and again, about the driver. Had she seen him? Had she seen the tag on the vehicle? When had they first noticed the SUV? Was the driver swerving the whole time or had he come at them deliberately?
She’d had no doubt that it had been a deliberate attack.
“How are you holding up?” Sullivan’s voice was...soft, for Sullivan. Concerned.
And her eyes slid away from those OR doors. She stared up at him. His eyes didn’t look so hard then. Real emotion shone back at her.
For an instant, he wasn’t Sullivan...he was the boy she remembered from school. Her friend. Sully.
He didn’t wait for her to answer. Instead, he slid into the seat next to her. It creaked beneath him. He took her hand. Squeezed. “You know I hate hospitals.” His voice carried only to her. “Because every time I come into a place like this, I remember you.”
Her brows lifted.
“I wanted to help you that day, but there was nothing I could do. You were hurting—hell, it was far past hurt.” His fingers tightened on hers. “And then...you just walked away. By yourself. You walked out of the hospital and I just watched you.”
“Sully...” His old nickname slipped from her. The nickname that only friends and family ever used.
“We’ve been friends, of a sort, for most of our lives.”
She swallowed. Yes, despite everything, she did think of Sullivan that way. He’d seen her at her worst, again and again.
“My brother has loved you since the first moment he saw you. I know...because I saw just how lost and confused he got when he was with you. He thought his life was going to be one thing...and then...there was you.”
Scarlett wasn’t sure she wanted to hear more.
“He never thought he deserved you.” Those words were almost whispered. “Not with the blood on his hands.”
His blood had stained her hands today.
“But he wanted you, more than he ever wanted anything.”
Her gaze slid back to those doors.
“I know that you’ve always had the power to wreck my brother. You probably don’t realize it, but you do. Because even when he wasn’t with you, he was holding on to the idea of you. Hell, if you look in his wallet, you’ll even find that old prom picture of you two. I’m pretty sure he took that to every hellhole he survived.”
You were with me. Grant’s words drifted through her mind.
He’d been with her, too. Always in her heart.
“I just...I thought you should know.” Sullivan’s voice was gruff. He started to rise.
She caught his hand. Curled her fingers around his wrist. “You’re not my friend, Sully.”
He flinched. Pain flashed for a moment in his eyes, but then was quickly hidden. “Right. I overstepped. Sorry, I didn’t mean to assume—”
“You’re more,” she said simply. “You scare me, you infuriate me, but...you’ve always been there for me.” Her lips lifted. “You’re like the very, very scary brother who comes out when I need him most.”
His eyes widened.
“My life wouldn’t be the same without you. And that night, in this hospital when I lost the baby...” This same damn hospital. “I was glad that you were here.” Because she hadn’t wanted to be alone then.
He nodded. His eyes had lightened.
She became aware of the silence then. Sully’s voice had been pitched low, for her ears alone, but Scarlett hadn’t hushed her own words. She glanced around and saw that all the McGuires—and Shayne—were watching them.
“Well...” Brodie stopped his pacing. “What do I have to do in order to become your brother?”
“That’s easy,” Davis said, before she could think of a reply. “Get Grant to marry her, then we’re all in.”
Marry Grant?
The OR doors opened then. She leaped to her feet and raced Sully to the doctor. She beat him by seconds as she staggered to a stop. “Grant!” His name burst from her. “Is he—”
The doctor frowned at her. “Are you family, ma’am?”
He hadn’t been one of the doctors she’d seen before. He didn’t know—
“She’s family,” Sully said flatly. “We all are. Now...how is he?”
Rolling his shoulders, the doctor said, “There was extensive internal damage, but we were able to stop the bleeding. The man in there is exceptionally lucky. If that metal had gone in even another inch, there would have been nothing we could do.”
Don’t let them move the door. Scarlett...don’t...
She swiped at the tears on her cheeks.
“He’s going to need a few days to recover, and the man will have to take it easy for a while after that.” A smile lit the doctor’s face. “But he’s going to be just fine.”
Yes! Scarlett grabbed Sully and hugged him tightly. He held her just as fiercely.
Then she shoved him away and whirled toward the doctor once more. “When can I see him?”
“He’s in recovery. He’s not awake, and probably won’t be for quite some time, but you can go in for a bit. Sometimes having family close by helps the recovery process.” His gaze swept the assembled crowd. “But only two at a time. No more, understand?”
She understood Grant was going to be all right. The fear that had grabbed so tightly to her finally began to ease.
* * *
HE WAS CONNECTED to tubes. Machines. A steady beeping filled the recovery area as Scarlett crept toward the bed. Ava was with her, moving just as slowly and gingerly.
Grant’s lashes were closed. Stark white hospital sheets were pulled to his hips. He looked pale, and dark shadows lay beneath his closed lashes.
He’s alive.
“Grant always seems so strong.” Ava’s voice was halting as she approached the bed. “Sometimes I forget that he’s just like the rest of us. He can get hurt. He can—”
“He is strong,” Scarlett said, cutting through her words. She knew exactly what Ava had been about to say. He can die. No, he wasn’t dying. Not today. Not anytime soon. She ran her fingers lightly over the back of his hand. An IV was attached there, and she tried to be careful, not wanting to pull on the tape.
His eyelashes seemed to flicker.
“Second chances, Grant,” she whispered as she leaned toward him. Her lips brushed lightly over his cheek. “It looks like you just got another one.”
* * *
SULLIVAN TURNED AWAY from the recovery room. His brother was going to make it. Sullivan had never doubted it.
Even if fear had snaked around his heart.
“Aren’t you going in?” Brodie asked him, frowning.
“It’s not me he’ll want to see.” The person who’d make his brother wake up and recover? Yeah, that would be Scarlett. For Scarlett, Grant would do just about anything.
Even sentence himself to years of pain because the fool thought she deserved someone “better.”
His gaze slid to the right. Shayne Townsend was there. Leaning against the back wall as the cop called someone on his phone.
Sullivan stalked toward him.
“Yeah, yeah,” Shayne was saying. “She thought she was meeting with the DA this morning. I don’t know why. Someone got their wires crossed.” He paused a beat. His stare sharpened on Sullivan. “I want a full report on that accident scene. I know it’s not my case, I don’t care—send me what you find out.” He ended the call. Frowned at Sullivan. “Is everything—”