Gone (Deadly Secrets #2)(66)

Footsteps pounded in the hall. Alec looked up just as a frazzled Raegan appeared in the doorway, her auburn hair a tangled mess around her face, her eyes wide and frightened, her coat hanging off one shoulder and down her arm as if she hadn’t had time to pull it all the way on.

“Oh my God, Alec.” Her gaze darted from his bandaged shoulder to the doctor and back to him as she rushed into the room and around the bed to his uninjured side. “Are you okay?” She looked up at the doctor. “Is he okay?”

“Raegan.” Relief poured through Alec like a waterfall. He reached for her with his good arm as soon as she was close, ignored the sharp stab of pain in his bad one, and wrapped his hand tightly around hers to reassure himself she was safe, that the prick hadn’t gotten to her too.

“He’s going to be fine.” The doctor rested one hand on the back of Alec’s bed. “Looks to be mostly soft tissue damage. The bullet either ricocheted off the muscle on his outer arm or it went clean through. We’ll know more after we take a few pictures.” He looked down at Alec. “Do you still need a phone or are we good now?”

“We’re good,” Alec breathed, staring up at Raegan as he squeezed her hand.

“Okay.” The doctor stepped back, tugged off his gloves, and tossed them in the trash can by the door. “The nurse will get your IV started, then someone will be in to take you to imaging. After that, we’ll get you stitched up and out of here.”

“Thanks,” Alec said, still focused on Raegan, his relief so sweet it pushed aside the pain.

Eyes wide and not totally focusing, Raegan looked toward the door as the doctor left.

As soon as he was gone, Alec sat forward, wincing at the tug in his wounded shoulder, and pulled her down to hold her against him.

“Oh my God, Alec.” She closed both arms around his neck and held on just as tight. “When Ethan called and said you’d been shot, I thought—”

“I know.” Thank God he’d been on the line with Hunt when that shit had gone down. And thank God he’d been conscious to tell Hunt where he was. Hunt had obviously called Ethan right after calling 911.

He swallowed the lump in his throat, closed his eyes, and breathed in the sweet scent of her, not feeling the pain anymore, not feeling the ache in the back of his head, not feeling anything but her. He’d thought the same thing—that his time was up, that it was all over, that he’d never see her again. His throat grew thick. He wasn’t ready to let her go. Knew he never would be.

“I’m okay,” he said, fighting back the hitch in his voice. Knowing he needed to reassure her . . . and him. He swallowed hard. “’Tis but a scratch.”

His stupid Monty Python reference pulled a half laugh, half grunt from her chest. Pushing back, she sat next to him on the edge of the gurney. But there was no humor in her shimmering green eyes when she stared down at him, just pure terror. “If it had been a few inches to the left—”

“But it wasn’t.” He squeezed her hand. “I’m okay, Raegan.”

The nurse came in with the IV bag, dragging at his attention. She hung it on the pole and moved around the room gathering supplies.

“Don’t freak out.” Alec looked back at Raegan. “This is all just precautionary.”

Tears filled Raegan’s eyes. “I thought I’d lost you. Right after I found you again.”

Emotions closed his throat—that she could love him so much after all this time. That he was so damn lucky to have her in his life. That he was such a fool for having ever let her go.

Wrapping his good arm around her once more, he pulled her against him and held her close. “You’re not gonna lose me. Never again, okay?” He pressed his lips against her temple. “I’m not going anywhere.”

She nodded and held him tightly, sniffling and fighting, he knew, tears that wanted to consume her.

The nurse cleared her throat. “Sorry to interrupt, but I need to get his IV going, and I need his good arm to do that.”

“Oh.” Raegan stood quickly and let go of Alec, swiping at her cheeks with trembling hands. “Sure.”

She moved to the other side of the bed, near his injured shoulder, and looked down. Sickness rolled over her features while the nurse tied an elastic band around his good arm and searched for a vein.

“Look away, Raegan.” To the nurse, he said, “Blood makes her light-headed.”

The nurse glanced up. “You can wait in the hall if you’d like. I’ll call you when I’m done.”

Raegan crossed her arms over her chest. “I’ll be fi—”

Footsteps sounded outside the door again, and Alec looked in that direction just as Hunter O’Donnell peeked his dark head around the corner. “Hey. Okay for me to come in?”

“Hunt.” Alec breathed easier. “Yeah, come in and block Raegan so she can’t see this.”

Raegan frowned. “I’m fine.”

No, she wasn’t fine. She was emotionally wrecked and still shaking. Ignoring Hunt’s raised eyebrows and his unspoken what the fuck is she doing here? question, Alec said, “I don’t want her passing out.”

Dressed in jeans, a black button-down, and a leather jacket, Hunt moved into the room and stood between Raegan and the bed. “I remember that. Didn’t you end up needing your own X-rays? They thought you cracked your skull when you hit that gurney.”