“Since now.” Colton grins at her, no doubt buzzed from whatever nefarious activities made him late to the party. If he hadn’t shown up, we’d be occupied about now, but he’s completely oblivious. He dips his head to kiss her neck, then whispers something into her ear. When she nods, he grins like a little boy on Christmas morning. “Sorry, Levi. We’re going to sneak away for a few. I made some promises to my girl and it’s time to prove I’m a man of my word.”
I just met Ellie, so I definitely shouldn’t care that she’s looking at him like he made the moon and stars. And Colton’s my best friend, so I absolutely shouldn’t be standing here imagining how I could steal her away from him. Yet here I am, wishing I’d found her first. “Enjoy your night,” I make myself say. As if I meet women like her all the time. As if I don’t give a shit that she’s officially off-limits.
“Don’t mind if I do,” Colton says. He’s already heading toward the door, leading her by the hand.
Ellie waves her goodbye, and I can’t do anything but watch them go. She likes guys who are bad for her, all right. The only guy around here worse for her than me is Colton.
Levi
Sunday, September 9th
“Where is she?”
The nurse presses her hands against my chest before I can push past her into the intensive care unit. “You can’t see her right now.”
“What happened? Is she going to be okay?” Where the fuck is Colton? What kind of trouble did he bring into her life? Why wasn’t he there to protect her?
“Calm down, sir. There’s nothing you can do right now.”
“Please just let me back there.”
Sympathy fills her eyes. “I’m sorry.” She’s a foot shorter than me and maybe a buck ten soaking wet. I could get around her, but I’m guessing the security officers who would follow would have something to say about that.
“Levi.” A familiar voice calls to me through the fog of my panic. Teagan grabs my shoulder. She’s in her teal nursing scrubs. Her eyes are puffy, her nose is red, and her mascara’s smudged.
“Have you seen her?” I ask. Everything inside me has been in tatters since I got the call, and I can hear the broken pieces in my voice.
She shakes her head. “I was working upstairs when I heard.”
Abandoning the ER nurse who’s given me nothing since I arrived, I focus all my attention on Teagan. “What happened?”
Teagan leads me out of the unit and into a corridor behind the elevators. “We don’t know anything yet. The doctors are doing everything they can for Ellie, but she’s got a fight ahead of her.”
“She’s gonna be okay, though, right? They’re helping her now.” Just the look on Teagan’s face—the heartache and the pity—makes me want to punch a wall. “You’re wrong,” I whisper. “She’ll be fine. She has to be.”
“I hope.” Her voice wobbles, giving hope an extra syllable. As if it needs it. As if the tiny word might not be enough. “Carter said her house looked like it had been ransacked.” She shakes her head. “She’s lucky to be alive, Levi.”
I blink at her. “I don’t understand. Who did this?”
“We don’t know. And right now . . .” The grief on her face tells me more than any words she’s spoken.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
She grimaces and cuts her gaze away. “The baby. They had to revive her at the scene, and the baby was in distress, and they were losing Ellie. They tried to save them both, but . . .”
The baby. The words hit me with the force of a wrecking ball. The baby she was terrified to have but was driven to protect. The baby that made her push me away and give Colton another chance he didn’t deserve. She’ll be devastated. If the assault doesn’t kill her, that news will.
“She’s not conscious. We just have to take this one step at a time,” Teagan says. “One hour, one minute at a time. The doctors are doing everything they can to get her stable. And the detective . . .” Her gaze shifts to a spot over my shoulder, and I follow it, turning to see a tall, solemn-faced man walking toward us through the corridor. I’ve known Ben Huxley for years, but the sight of him here now makes my stomach churn. What is happening?
“What is he doing here?” I say softly. “Why isn’t he out looking for whoever did this?”
She looks away. “They’re trying to find Colton.”
“Good. Why the hell isn’t he here?”
“I don’t know.” Teagan squeezes her eyes shut. “But I’m afraid they think Colton was the one who . . .”
No. I’m shaking my head as I turn my attention to the detective at the end of the hall. “Colton’s a sonofabitch and an idiot, but he wouldn’t hurt Ellie. He wouldn’t do this.”
Teagan squeezes my arm. “Just talk to the detective. The best way you can help Ellie right now is to tell Ben everything you know.”
Ben lifts his chin. “We can do it in the cafeteria. We don’t have to go far.”
I throw one last helpless glance over my shoulder to the intensive care unit before nodding. I don’t like leaving, but standing here and doing nothing will make me crazy. “Sure.”
Teagan squeezes my arm. “I’ll call as soon as I hear anything. I promise.”
“Thanks.” I turn to the detective and offer him my hand. “Wish I could say it’s good to see you, Huxley. But considering the circumstances . . .”
He shakes my hand. “Same,” he mutters. “Can I buy you a cup of coffee?”
I nod, and we fall in step down to the cafeteria. The space is utilitarian at best, with long tables and benches just to the left of the food area and way too many fluorescent lights for this hour of the morning.
Ben hands me a cup from the self-service counter before grabbing one for himself. “When did you get here?”
“A few minutes ago, maybe.” I fill my cup with light brown liquid from the vat labeled regular coffee. I need something strong right now, but this looks like it has the flavor and caffeine content of water mixed with a couple of drops of brown food coloring.
“You got here fast,” he says.
“Carter’s team was dispatched to Ellie’s place.” Ben’s familiar with my brother’s position with the Jackson Harbor Fire Department, so I don’t have to explain. “He called me as soon as she was in the hands of the hospital staff.”
Ben pays for both of our coffees, and I follow him to a table in the back corner. When we sit, he holds up a small audio recorder. “You okay with me recording this conversation?”
I blink at him. “Should I have a lawyer or something?”
He arches a brow. “Do you need one?”
I shake my head and wave to the recorder. “Whatever. It’s fine. Record to your heart’s content.”
“You and Miss Courdrey are close?”
“You’re going to act like you don’t know shit about my life now?”
He waves to the recorder. “For the record?”
I blow out a long breath. Tendrils of steam rise from the cup, and I watch them tangle before they disappear into the air. “Yeah. We’re friends.”
“And her fiancé, Colton McKinley—you’re close to him, too?”
Fiancé. That word still does a number on me. She might as well have taken the diamond from him and shoved it right into my heart.
Am I close to Colton? He was like a brother once. We grew up together. Did everything together. Even his years living in Florida didn’t come between us. The only thing that could do that was Colton himself. His dumbass decisions. His shitty priorities. His drugs. “We’ve been friends all my life.”
“Colton had a temper, didn’t he?”
My gaze flies up to meet Ben’s. He knows Colton. And the answer to that question. “He wouldn’t do this to her. Not even on his worst day.”
“Maybe he snapped.”
I shake my head, even though doubt claws at my chest, even though I instantly think of the night she showed up at Jackson Brews in the rain, blood streaming down her face. That night, my first instinct was to believe Colton had been high and hit her. I swallow hard. “Not even on his worst day.”
“Not even if he discovered you’d been sleeping with his fiancée?”
I open my mouth to deny it, but when I see the hard edge to Ben’s jaw, I close it again. “She never cheated on him.”
“Do you think he saw it that way?”
“He. Didn’t. Do. This.”
Ben leans forward, propping his chin on his fist and waiting.
“He wouldn’t do this,” I whisper. And I know it sounds like I’m trying to convince myself.