Breaking News (Prime Time #2)- Ella Frank Page 0,1
by his ear.
He pulled back and ran a hand down my cheek, his blue eyes boring into mine. “This isn’t your fault. You know that, right?”
No, I didn’t know that. How could I? Sean had been at that award ceremony tonight because of me. He’d been fighting off that man because of me. And now he was lying in surgery, bleeding out, because of me.
“Okay, if you don’t want to come with us, at least sit down. That way I won’t be worried about finding you passed out on the floor when we get back.”
I swallowed back the automatic I’ll be fine and let Bailey guide me to the seats in the back of the waiting area.
I collapsed down into the corner chair, settled in, and crossed my arms and legs. I could still see the doctors and nurses pushing in and out of the double doors. When I looked up to see Bailey watching me, I reached for his hand and said, “Go.”
“Are you sure?”
No. “Yes. I just… I just need time to process, that’s all.”
Bailey wasn’t buying that for a second, judging from the furrow on his brow, but he said, “We won’t be long.”
“Okay.”
Bailey nodded, but before they left, Henri reached out and patted my arm. “Don’t forget, it’s Dick in there. If anyone’s stubborn enough to fight this and come out on the other side, it’s that pain in the ass.”
I knew he meant to help, to lighten the mood, and a couple of weeks ago, he probably would’ve. But as the two of them walked out, all I could think of was the way Sean had been the last time I’d seen him, the last time I’d touched him, and my heart broke all over again.
“MR. THORNE? MR. Thorne? I need you to come with me.”
The firm voice and hand on my elbow helped guide me to my feet, as I watched the paramedics hover around Sean where I’d left him lying still and lifeless, bleeding out on the ballroom floor.
This couldn’t be happening. It couldn’t be real. But as I looked down at my hands, the red stain on them told me just how real it was. That was Sean’s blood on my hands, Sean’s blood on my shirt, and as that reality began to filter in through the shock, my entire body began to shake.
“Mr. Thorne? Did you hear me? I need you to come with me.” The hand holding my arm tightened and began to pull me away from the chaos—away from Sean—but I wasn’t going anywhere. Not unless he picked me up and bodily carried me from the room.
“Let me go.” My voice was faint, even to my own ears. But whoever this man was kept right on walking, until I shook my head and said, more forcefully, “Let me go.”
The fingers gripping my arm loosened, and as I spun around to relocate Sean, the room began to spin, and I swayed on my feet.
“Blinding…” Sean’s earlier words echoed in my mind as the golden place settings reflected the lights and made everything around me blur. “You stepped into view, and now there’s nothing but you. Blinding.”
“Mr. Thorne?” There was that voice again. “Are you okay?”
Was I okay? I’d just seen a man shot and killed in front of me, and was now watching my bodyguard—my…Sean—bleed out on the ground. So, no, I was not okay. I wasn’t sure I ever would be again.
As I took a step forward, my knees gave out from under me.
“Shit.” An arm wrapped around my waist, and then I heard, “Look, my name is Nichols. Detective Nichols. I was here tonight with you and Sean.”
Nichols? Yes, that sounded familiar.
“Let me help you,” he said, offering up a grim smile.
But I didn’t need help. Sean needed help. I heard someone count, “One, two, three,” and turned back to see the paramedics shifting Sean onto a stretcher.
“I want to go with him,” I said, my voice barely audible. “I want to go wherever they’re taking him.”
Nichols gave a clipped nod as the paramedics wheeled the stretcher by us. “Okay, then let’s go. They’ll have something in the rig for you to clean up with.”
I looked down at my hands again and immediately tried wiping them on my pants, but it was no use. Sean’s blood was now well and truly staining my hands, just as I had feared, and nothing in that rig was going to wash it away.
“Hey, Martinez?” Nichols called out as we pushed through