slide to the floor. The man with his arms around her didn’t budge; clearly he was more concerned about her than the bass.
Which was nice, but that bass had given her a lot of pleasure in the hours she’d been dancing here. No way was she going to allow it to crash. She pushed away from Darius’ chest so she could reestablish her hold on the instrument. At the same moment, another bar patron—probably trying to help—grabbed the neck of the bass, which had the effect of swinging it up toward Kate right when she was reaching for it.
Bonk.
The edge of the bass struck her on the side of her forehead. Stars gathered at the edge of her vision. This time the pain was real. This was not at all the good kind of trouble. Not the One More Stupid Thing she’d imagined. She let out a weird sound that she knew she was going to regret. And then she slumped into Darius’ arms as everything turned off like a computer booting down.
Chapter Five
Jesus. With his arms full of unconscious woman and everyone rushing to help, Darius could only watch as the Moose is Loose degenerated into pure chaos.
The other band members jumped down from the stage. A few drunk patrons seized the opportunity to throw punches at each other. A security guy yelled and waved his arms for everyone to be quiet. He had no idea what had happened to his bass. Someone must have saved it because it was nowhere to be seen.
Then a voice from the mic cut through the noise. “Cut it out, everyone.”
Maya Badger, in her gold top, glared at the crowd from the stage. “That’s enough,” she ordered. “Everyone get a grip and calm the F down.” She caught Darius’ eye and gestured with her head. He interpreted the move as “get Kate out of here.”
“We have an injured party, so I need everyone to make way.” The crowd had already quieted down, so she didn’t even have to raise her voice anymore. Damn, she was good. Even in her party outfit, she knew how to make people do what she said. The Lost Harbor Police Department was in good hands.
He nodded his thanks and scooped Kate into his arms. She was tall and not exactly light, but her weight felt good to him. Jessica appeared at his side. “Is she okay?”
“I’ll check her out as soon as I get her out of here.”
“Is it okay if I stay with Maya? I know she’s got this, but she might need some support.”
“Yeah yeah, don’t worry, I’ll take care of Kate. I’ll text Maya after I’ve assessed her.”
He had EMT training, of course. The majority of the calls they got at the Lost Harbor firehouse were medical. He felt very comfortable with his ability to handle her injury. If she needed more than he could offer, he knew exactly where every urgent care, ER, firehouse and police station in the entire Misty Bay peninsula were located.
Everyone gave him space to carry Kate toward the exit. For privacy’s sake, he didn’t want to examine her in the middle of the Moose is Loose, or even in the kitchen. And he had that cabin, after all. It would double as an exam room.
He kicked open the side exit and turned at an angle to maneuver her out the door. It was actually dark outside, which meant it must be very late. This time of year, the sky stayed light until after ten. Even now, a halo of sunset lingered near the horizon, arching seamlessly into an achingly deep midnight blue scattered with stars.
The pure air felt clean and brisk after the steamy heat of the bar. He drew in deep breaths as sweat gathered on his forehead from the effort of carrying her.
Opening the door of the cabin was another trick. Why had he locked the damn thing? He didn’t have anything valuable in it. The only important thing he’d brought was his bass, and who knew where that was at this point.
The cabin was one of those prefab “log cabins” put together from a kit. A simple A-frame with room for a bed, a chair and a nightstand. A minuscule bathroom with only a toilet and sink. Perfect for someone who needed a place to crash after a night partying at the Moose is Loose.
But it was clean and quiet and he had no qualms about setting Kate down on the bed so he could examine