tell Barrett. I was going to get Tyler myself. I stood up so fast I got dizzy and had to grip the edge of the table.
Tyler’s mother was at my side instantly. “What is it?”
I held up my phone, letting her read the text. “Oh dear,” she said. Her arm came up around me again. “It’s okay. Whatever happened, it’s not too bad if he’s leaving the ER. Right?”
She was correct, but it didn’t make me feel much better.
Be there soon, I replied.
Tyler must have been heavily medicated, or else he’d have demanded to speak to Barrett himself, on my phone.
I dumped the empty paper plate in the trash.
“I can go with you,” Mrs. Whittaker said.
“No, you stay here and enjoy the rest of your day. I’ll get your son, and bring him back home.”
She hugged me, a full body hug. It would have been bliss, if I hadn’t been so worried. She must have forgotten that I was on lockdown, and not allowed out without an escort. However, I was not about to take Barrett away from protecting her and Abigail. I slipped out of the house undetected.
Stomach churning, I got in my BMW and headed toward the hospital, which was about thirty minutes away from Pine Hills.
The ER wasn’t crowded. The ERs in Chicago were always chaotic. Maybe Thanksgiving in a rural area wasn’t a holiday that caused a lot of excitement.
It didn’t take long for a nurse to take me to Tyler. He lay on a bed with his head wrapped up in a white bandage. His shirt was off, and a thick white bandage was also wrapped all the way around his torso, and there were scratches all over his hands.
I rushed toward him. “What happened?”
“It was Christopher.”
“You knew when you left.” I didn’t even need to ask; I could see the truth in his eyes.
“Yes. I knew.”
“That’s why the detective came to get you.” I looked around frantically. “Where is he? Is he okay?” If one of Tyler’s co-workers was killed because of me, or even badly injured, I’d never get over it.
“He’s fine. He’s at the station, handling the paperwork. He’s been on the phone with the Chicago PD and the FBI.”
“So Christopher is in custody?” I asked.
“Yes.”
I sank into the hard plastic chair by his bed. “How are you? Were you shot?” It didn’t seem likely, unless it was just a graze.
“No. I was able to get the gun away from him. But he stabbed me.”
I bowed my head and rested it on the edge of the mattress. “I’m so sorry.”
He tangled his hand in my hair. “It’s my job. And I told you, I’ve had worse. This piece of shit is far from the worst I think I've dealt with.”
“That war wasn't my fault. This is.” I lifted my head to glare at him. “This part of your job wouldn't exist if I hadn't come here.”
“Nothing about this is your fault.”
“It absolutely is my fault. I brought this asshole to your town.”
He put his hand under my chin and lifted it. “You think it makes me feel any better to think of you alone somewhere, running from this monster?” He closed his eyes briefly. “I’m trained, Ava. I know what I’m doing. And he still got me.”
I sniffed again, trying to hold the flood of tears at bay. I was in love with Tyler. There was no denying it now. I wanted to be with him, and I wanted to raise our child together. We just couldn't get our shit together, and neither of us was in the habit of telling the truth at all.
I opened my mouth to confess the truth about Jenny, and to tell him I was pregnant, but he sat up and scowled. He looked all around the room. “Where is Barrett?”
“I left him at the farm with your mother and sister. Before you get mad, he didn’t know I was leaving.”
He fell back against the pillows and closed his eyes. “I’m still going to kick his ass.”
While we waited for the discharge papers, I sat and held Tyler’s hand, just grateful that the man I was in love with had survived the attack from a mobster who wanted me dead.
Thanks to Tyler, I was still alive, and so was our baby. I just had to find the right time to tell him he was going to be a father.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Tyler
This fucking sucked. I was supposed to be protecting Ava, and I was doped up on pain medicine.