Beautifully Broken Pieces (Sutter Lake, #1)(68)

“This is going to hurt, sir,” Kelly said before leaning all her weight against my wound. It was as if a hot poker lanced through my chest.

I heard Hank’s muted voice on the satellite phone, something about an officer down. My vision began to tunnel. “Oh no, you don’t,” Kelly yelled. “Stay with me, Walker.”

I tried to force my focus, to narrow it in on her. “Tell Taylor—” I began.

“Nope. You’re going to tell Taylor whatever this message is,” Kelly began. “But I guess you can practice on me.”

My lips tried to pull into a smile but failed. “Tell her…love her.” Just before my world went dark, my mind was filled with nothing but images of Taylor’s face. Her bewitching blue-gray eyes. Her wide smile. Her golden hair, framing her beautiful face like a halo. If I was going to go, at least the last thing I saw was pure beauty.





36





Taylor





The words on the page blurred as I attempted to read the same paragraph for probably the fifteenth time. I snapped the book closed and picked up my phone for about the one-hundredth time. Nothing. No missed calls or texts.

My stomach churned. Something wasn’t right. Walker should have called by now. My eyes bore imaginary holes into my phone’s screen. I tapped the message icon.

Me: How’d everything go?

Me: Just making sure you’re okay.

Me: Please just send me a quick text letting me know everything’s fine.

My morning tea roiled in my stomach. That’s it, I was calling Jensen. I hadn’t wanted to worry her, but I was now officially freaking out. I had just tapped on her contact when I heard tires on the gravel of my driveway. My breath whooshed out of me. It had to be Walker. I was going to smack him really fucking hard for scaring me this badly.

I rushed to the door, yanking it open and stepping out onto the porch. I was halfway down the steps before I realized the car wasn’t Walker’s. It wasn’t one I knew at all. The driver’s door opened, and it took me a couple of seconds to recognize Tessa as the form who exited the vehicle.

My heart stuttered, skipping several beats before settling into a rapid rhythm. Tessa started towards me, her steps measured, her face pale and her expression worried. I fell backward, my ass landing with a jolt on the stair. There was a burning sensation in my chest I’d only felt once before. I shook my head back and forth with a fierceness that made it ache.

Tessa crouched in front of me, careful not to touch me. “Jensen asked me to come and get you. She got a call while we were setting up for the day.” She paused. “I’m so sorry. Walker’s been shot. He’s at the hospital now, but it’s bad.”

Her voice was incredibly gentle. It didn’t matter. Her words still inflicted a level of pain I’d never thought to experience again. I had taken great care to make sure I never had to go through it again. But I’d gotten lazy, careless. I’d let my walls crumble, and now I was paying the price.

Tessa rose slowly and extended a hand. She had a fluidity of movement that was beautiful. It’s funny the things you noticed at times like this. The world seemed to be moving in slow motion. “Can I help you up?”

I said nothing. Just stood and started towards Tessa’s car. Gravel bit into my feet, but I didn’t care.

“I’m going to grab your shoes and purse,” Tessa called. I still said nothing. Just slipped into the passenger seat.

Tessa was back in a flash, placing my purse on my lap and easing my feet into a pair of flip flops before circling around and getting in the car herself. We drove in silence, with nothing but the roaring of my blood in my ears to keep me company. Thirty minutes later, Tessa swung her car into a parking space at the hospital. I numbly reached for the door handle, pausing only briefly to get out a strangled “thank you” to Tessa.

She nodded. “Of course.”

We made our way towards the double doors of the emergency room. My steps faltered as the angry red letters shone down on me. I hadn’t been in a hospital since the night my mother died. I gritted my teeth so hard, they made an audible noise, but I forced myself to keep walking.

Tessa led the way to some sort of reception desk. She spoke softly to a woman behind the counter, and I didn’t try to listen. “They’re in a waiting room upstairs.”

We took an elevator up two floors, and Tessa found the room we were looking for. It was full to bursting with people. Just the sight of them all made me nauseous. My breaths came more quickly. Jensen spotted me and flew from her chair, throwing her arms around me as her body was wracked with sobs.

I forced my arms to encircle her. To do the kind thing. I felt like a robot.

“He’s in surgery,” Jensen said between sobs. “It’s really bad. He was shot in the chest. They said they’d tell us more when they know it.”

I tried to coax out words of reassurance, but I had none. Jensen led me towards her parents, who looked ravaged. Completely wrecked. Their only son’s life was hanging in the balance, and there was nothing they could do. Jensen placed me between herself and Sarah. Sarah reached out to grip my hand tightly. She seemed to have no words either.

The room was mostly silent as we waited. Muted conversations started up and then died off. People got up to place or receive phone calls. There were lots of individuals in uniform. Bryce arrived with Ashlee, and Jensen collapsed into his arms, dissolving into sobs as he held her. I gripped the arms of my chair tighter.