Accidentally on Purpose (Heartbreaker Bay #3)(79)

“I’ll bail you out,” she promised thickly.

Morgan gave her a tight smile. “Get Archer taken care of first. Don’t leave his side for me.”

“Morgan—”

“I can wait,” she said, voice steady, her eyes not quite as much.

Elle hugged her fiercely. “I’m so proud of you.”

Morgan’s eyes filled with tears and a low sob escaped. “Right back at you, sis. But seriously, I’ve survived every single screw-up I’ve ever made and we both know there’ve been some spectacular ones. I’ll be okay.”

Elle gave her another hard hug before they took Morgan away. She turned to Spence. “I want to call a lawyer for her—”

“We’ll call mine on the way to the hospital.”

The medics were still working on Archer, starting an IV, controlling his bleeding. When they had him where they wanted him, they clicked the stretcher upright and prepared to wheel him out to the waiting ambulance.

“We’re following them,” Elle said to Spence.

He already had the keys out. “Yep.”

This time there were no smartass comments from the peanut gallery in back. Nothing from Eddie but a tense silence. Spence gave Elle his phone, and while he drove, she called his attorney for Morgan.

When they arrived at the hospital, they were told Archer was in surgery and were directed to a waiting room. Elle called Willa, who was better than any calling tree. She called all the others, and within the hour they’d piled into the waiting room with her. Pru and Finn, Willa and her boyfriend, Keane. Haley in her optometrist’s lab coat. Kylie, still wearing sawdust and sporting a suspicious Vinnie-sized lump in her sweatshirt pocket.

All of Archer’s guys were there too as well as Mollie.

“Didn’t expect to be back at a hospital so soon,” Joe said.

Spence’s attorney called back to let her know that Morgan’s bail hearing was set for first thing in the morning. Beyond that, he couldn’t say for sure, but he felt that it was possible she’d get off with restitution only, no additional jail time.

Elle knew and believed that Morgan wanted a clean slate more than anything, so this got her more than a little choked up and hopeful for her sister’s future. She thanked him and disconnected. “I’ve got to call Archer’s dad,” she said.

Spence sucked air in through his teeth. “Not sure if Archer would want that.”

Elle looked at everyone else.

Joe shook his head. “He’ll be pissed.”

“Super pissed,” Finn agreed.

“But it has to be done anyway, right?” Elle asked.

No one answered.

That meant the call was hers to make. Fine, she’d made tough and uncomfortable decisions all her damn life, what was one more, right? She didn’t have his number but she knew what station he’d retired from. She could at least get a message to him.

Spence did her one better and once again handed over his phone. He had Archer’s dad’s direct cell number. Elle left a message and then realized how full the waiting room was.

For a man who lived like he was an island, Archer sure as hell had a lot of people who cared deeply about him. She hoped he knew it.

“Sit, honey,” Willa said, patting a chair between her and Pru.

Christ, woman, I love you . . . Archer’s words echoed in her head. At least she hoped that’s what he’d said.

“How do you do it?” Elle asked Pru, the one of them who’d been in love the longest. “How do you handle the sheer, overwhelming emotions of it all? And then there’s the biggee—why?”

Pru smiled. “When you find someone who knows you’re not perfect but treats you as if you are anyway, someone whose biggest fear is losing you, it’s worth whatever you have to go through.” She glanced over at Finn. “And if that person is someone you can wake up in the morning with and let see you without makeup and whatever other armor you use to hide from the world . . . well, you’d best hold on tight because if you let that go, then there’s no hope for you.”

Finn pulled Pru into his arms. “Never letting go,” he murmured.

Elle’s heart took a direct hit. She didn’t want Archer to let go . . .

Two hours later, a man wearing scrubs and holding a clipboard appeared in the doorway and looked around the very full room. “Archer Hunt’s family?”

She jumped to her feet. Everyone else stood up as well and they all began to speak at once.

The doctor blinked.

Spence and Elle stepped forward, and the doctor look relieved.

“He’s out of surgery and in recovery,” he told them. “We’ll be moving him to a private room shortly and then you’ll be able to visit him a few at a time. Shattered collarbone and some soft tissue damage. He lost a lot of blood and required a transfusion, but he’s going to be okay.”

Several hours later Elle was in Archer’s darkened room with Joe. Spence had gone to get them some caffeine. They’d sent everyone else home until morning.

Through the light filtering in from the hallway, Elle could see Archer on the bed, heavily bandaged and heavily sedated. He was breathing oxygen through a tube and a saline IV drip ran into his left hand. The nurse had told her he was very busy sleeping and healing, and that the longer he stayed out the better because he wasn’t going to be feeling great when he woke up.