slid out of the booth once Decker had finished paying for their meals.
They were outside and walking to her car before Bricker asked, “What about the middle name Jane? Where did that come from?”
“It was the first name they gave me when I was found. Kind of a place saver while they looked for any family.”
“Jane Doe,” Mac said quietly, working it out without her having to explain.
“Yes,” she said without emotion, and was searching for a way to change the subject when Bricker gave a sudden shout of warning. CJ instinctively stopped walking to look around for any threat, and had just spotted a red pickup barreling down on them from her left, when she was caught around the waist, slammed into Mac, and pretty much thrown forward with him by Justin Bricker.
CJ felt Mac’s arms close around her as they flew through the air, was aware of his turning his body in an effort to shield her from impact as they crashed toward the tarmac, heard his grunt of pain, and saw the agony that flashed across his face as they hit the ground and slid. But she only caught a brief glimpse of it. The jolt of their rough landing had her head snapping forward over his shoulder. The next moment her forehead slammed into the tarmac so hard stars swam in front of her eyes . . . before they blinked out, leaving darkness.
Eleven
“CJ?” Mac asked with concern, worried by the way she’d suddenly gone limp against his chest. Rolling her under him, he lifted his weight from her body and peered down into her pale face, noting that her eyes were closed and blood was pouring from a wound on her forehead. “Dammit!”
“What is it? What happened?” Decker’s growl drew his attention around to see him half carrying Bricker toward them. While the young immortal had basically tossed them out of the way like they were a couple of toddlers, Bricker obviously hadn’t got out of the way in time himself. One arm was bloody and hanging limp, and one leg mangled and dragging behind as Decker helped him hop toward them. He also had a head wound. It looked much worse than CJ’s, but he was still conscious so the flap of skin drooping down to reveal the skull beneath apparently wasn’t as damaging as what CJ had received. At least his skull looked fully intact. It made Mac worry that CJ’s wasn’t.
“We have to get her to the hospital,” Mac said grimly, scooping CJ up and getting to his feet.
“Bricker needs blood,” Decker said with a frown, and then catching a glimpse of his back, added, “So do you.”
Mac wasn’t surprised at that news. He’d slid across the pavement on his back and probably had a serious case of road rash, third-degree friction burns where his skin had been scraped off by the tarmac. “CJ goes to the hospital first, then you can use her car to take Bricker back to the RV for blood while I wait at the hospital with her.”
Decker didn’t argue. As an immortal, Bricker would heal from any wound he’d sustained the moment he was given blood. But CJ was mortal, and much more fragile. Her head wound could be deadly, so as Mac expected, Decker merely nodded and scooped up Bricker to follow him to CJ’s car. Mac had reached the vehicle and was shifting CJ in his arms to open the back door when he noticed that Decker wasn’t with him anymore. Pausing, he glanced around and saw that the other man had stopped to deal with the restaurant workers and guests who had poured out of the Pub and Grill to hurry toward them. Mac watched as their faces turned blank and they began to return inside, and then—assured that Decker had handled it—he finished opening the back door and slid in with CJ, arranging her in his lap so that he could see her face.
“Do you know where the hospital is?” Mac asked Decker with concern a moment later as the other immortal settled Bricker in the front passenger seat. The injured immortal’s eyes were closed now, his face slack. He’d obviously lost consciousness. No doubt due to the pain, Mac thought as Decker nodded in answer to his question.
“We passed it several times while trying to figure out where you were,” Decker told him. “It’s on the edge of town on the main street.”
Decker had straightened and closed the passenger door, so Mac