Second Chance Summer(88)

But this one looked like it planned to stick around awhile, and it was violent. With the way the trees were bending in protest, she figured the winds were close to seventy-five miles an hour. Every few seconds lightning flashed—or rather cracked viciously—and thunder rolled.

“I can’t believe they’re out there in this,” she murmured. “It’s crazy.”

“He’s been in worse,” Gray said, and peeled into a clearing with a bunch of other trucks and rigs.

“Incident Command,” he explained. “We’re three miles out from Aidan’s position. Stay here.” Shoving the truck into park, he exited the vehicle. Lily followed suit and ran around the front of the truck, head down because of the rain.

Which was how she ran headfirst into Gray.

He caught her and she couldn’t hear his sigh over the weather but she felt it.

“What part of stay here didn’t you understand?” he asked.

“All of it.”

“Lily—”

Hudson pulled up in a county SUV. Looking serious in his uniform, he exited the vehicle, his gaze going straight to his brother.

“What?” Gray asked him.

“You don’t have your radio on?”

“It’s busted.”

“Aidan and Mitch rescued some idiot off the face, but the unit had to pull back in a big hurry when lightning hit.”

The look that crossed Gray’s face told Lily this was bad. “So where’s Aidan?” she asked.

Hudson and Gray exchanged another look.

“Someone better speak before I go batshit crazy on your asses,” she said tightly.

Hudson met her gaze. “He and Mitch are still on the rescue site.”

“You mean on the face of Dead Man’s Cliff?”

Another glance between brothers. “They’re a few miles up the trail on a rock outcropping forty feet down from the top,” Hud said.

“What?” she asked on a gasp of horror. “Out in the open with this lightning? They could get hit like those climbers did last year. Why aren’t they getting them off the face?”

When Hudson hesitated, she started to storm off toward the trail, but Gray grabbed her hand.

“Let go,” she said, heart in her throat because all she could think was that she’d lost Ashley on a day just like this. “I’ll go pull him up myself, dammit. What’s wrong with all of you? You can’t leave him there!”

“What we can’t do is have you out here in the open in a lightning storm,” Gray said. “Get back in the truck.”

She understood what he was saying, but she was picturing Aidan and Mitch on a tiny ledge, huddled in this crazy-ass storm. She tried to move forward, but Hudson caught her against him.

“Listen to me,” he said, low and calm, his arms bands of steel. He brushed her wet, clinging hair from her face so he could look into her eyes. “If I could, I’d be out there on that mountain right now, rescuing them myself.”

She stared into his fierce gaze, saw the worry there, and realized that if it wasn’t safe for him, it sure as hell wasn’t safe for her.

“He’s going to be okay,” Hud told her. “He’s on a rope and so is Mitch. Trust me, they’re not going to let each other fall. But more importantly, they’re safer than we are. Get back in the truck. I’ll go get a radio and bring it to you. You can talk to him yourself and see. Okay?”

“He’s on a rope?”

“Yes.”

She gave the cliff one last stare.

“Lily.”

“Okay, yeah.” She let Gray pull her from Hudson’s arms and guide her back to his truck.

He shut her in the passenger side and beeped the locks as he walked around the hood.

She smiled grimly. He didn’t trust her. She didn’t blame him.

When he got in, he relocked the doors, hitting the child lock while he was at it.

“Oh, for God’s sake,” she said.

He said nothing at all, just cranked the heater, pointing the vents at her.

They sat in silence for the few minutes it took Hudson to get back to them. He slid into the backseat and shook like a dog.

“Goddammit, Hud,” Gray bitched.

Hud smiled at Lily, and she knew he was trying to make her feel better. She held out her hand for the radio.

He hesitated. “Okay, but first I need to tell you something. He’s a little injured—”

“Oh, God.” She sucked in a breath and felt her vision go wonky.

Hudson reached forward and slid his hand to the nape of her neck. “Push back against my hand,” he ordered. “Deep breaths, Lily.”

“We’ve got you,” Gray said quickly at her side.

Most of her brain felt consumed by panic, but Gray’s voice and Hudson’s hand on her neck anchored her. They were turned toward her, concentrating on her, gauging her reactions. Probably they were worried she was a flight risk, and they’d be right on that score, but she saw genuine concern in their eyes.

“It’s going to be okay,” Hudson promised.

“You don’t know that.” She felt the hysteria come at her again. “Things aren’t always okay. Things go south.” People die …

“It’s going to be okay,” Hud repeated firmly. “Because I won’t let it be anything other than okay.”