They’d need soap to wash the bulk of the blood off, but water and towels would make a decent start. Before he could stop himself, he glanced at Madeline. Her hands were as bloody as his. And nobody had offered her a damn thing to clean up with.
It wouldn’t kill him to haul the water and towels over to her. It was barely a dozen steps out of his way. He found what he was looking for stashed behind the front seats of Tag’s truck and dragged the whole twelve pack of water out. There were only two rolls of paper towels. That would have to do.
Tram silently followed him over to Madeline.
“Tram, meet Madeline.” He passed the two pack of paper towels off to Tram and set the twelve pack of water in front of her sparkling shoes. He ripped two bottles free and straightened. “You can thank her for saving Tag’s life.”
“Tag?” Madeline asked tentatively, her warm brown eyes latched on Devlin’s face.
He ignored the jump to his pulse. Delayed adrenaline. That’s all.
“The guy you saved. His name’s Brett Taggart. Goes by Tag,” Devlin said, his voice gruffer than normal. He gestured toward Tram. “This is Lucas Trammel.”
“I see.” Her eyes warmed even further until they glowed like some exotic spice. “But I didn’t do much of anything. You’re the one who drove that spike into his chest.”
Her laugh was rueful, husky, sexy as hell and started a volcanic reaction in his blood and brain. Christ. His dick went nuclear so fast it made him dizzy.
What the fuck?
He obviously needed to get laid—every day—for a couple of months. Maybe that would exhaust this sudden inexplicable horniness.
“The 14 gauge?” Tram’s eyes shifted between Dev and Madeline and his eyebrows rose. “You’re the one who inserted it?” There was surprise and sympathy in his whistle. “I bet that was fun.”
Tram had arrived a minute or so after the EMTs. He must have assumed they’d been the ones to start the needle compression. But it reminded Dev of something. “You got a 14 gauge in your med kit?”
They’d been damn lucky Tag had had one in his.
“Nah, but seems like it might be a good addition now, don’t you think? You?”
Devlin scowled. “First thing I’ll be doing after we’ve checked on Tag.”
If they’d had to rely on the med kit in his truck, Tag would be headed to the morgue instead of the hospital.
Cranking the lid off the first bottle, he turned back to Madeline and found her hands out, waiting for the faucet to turn on. As he’d suspected, she was a quick one. He tipped the bottle down and let the water flow.
“How is your friend?” she asked as she rubbed her hands beneath the flow of liquid. “Is he going to make it?”
“Yeah.” Dev coughed the gruffness from his voice. “He’ll make it.”
Dev would make damn sure of that. Hell, he’d follow the bastard to heaven and drag him back to Earth if he had to.
Swaying unsteadily on the small chair the EMT had scrounged up for her, Sarah held onto Tag’s hand for dear life. As if her grip was the only thing keeping him alive and her conscious.
The trip to the hospital took place in a foggy, swaying, siren-screaming haze. By the time they reached the emergency room, her body was alternating between sweats and chills.
Probably the adrenaline crash. Tag had once warned her the sudden drop could be brutal. She reluctantly let go of Tag’s limp, bronzed hand and hopped out of the vehicle as soon as it came to a stop. Her breath hitched as that damn, annoying stitch struck her side again. But she forgot about it as a barrage of scrubs-clad nurses and doctors descended on the ambulance.
They transferred Brett onto a gurney with urgent, practiced ease and rolled him into the ER at a run.
Her breathing shaky, she ran an unsteady hand over her sticky hair and grimaced. Slowly her hand dropped to her side. It was almost embarrassing how much the muscle in her side was starting to hurt, when Brett was fighting for his life behind those glass doors.
“Now that your fiancé is getting the help he needs,” the female EMT said, slamming the back door of the ambulance, “let’s get you cleaned up. I’m sure someone inside has a pair of scrubs you can borrow.”
Sarah released a shaky sigh. “That sounds lovely.”
To her humiliation, she swayed, might have even toppled over if the EMT hadn’t leapt forward