By the time we stepped inside the jet, sweat was pouring off me, my teeth were chattering, and my body was shaking uncontrollably. Ozzy and Cole, wearing matching worried expressions, gently laid me out on the long, padded bench seat before Caris moved in and carefully tucked a couple of blankets around me.
“You’re sweating buckets.”
“I know,” I panted.
Closing my eyes, I tried to process the pain slicing through me but failed miserably. I bit back the roar bubbling up from deep in my chest and slowly turned my head. When I opened my eyes, Caris was gone. I could hear her, Ozzy, and Mia talking from somewhere toward the rear of the jet, but before I could summon the strength to lift my head, the three were back, standing beside me.
Caris held a bottle of water, Ozzy a pillow, and Mia a towel.
“You forgot the bedtime story,” I murmured.
“I’ll tell you a story,” Ozzy scoffed as he gently lifted my head and placed the pillow under me. “Once upon a time, there was a smart-assed bass player from Detroit.”
“I already know that one.”
Caris knelt down beside me, took the towel from Mia, and blotted the sweat from my face. “Once upon a time, there was this insanely handsome boy who found a young girl huddled against a loading dock in the middle of the night. He was so beautiful with his long, dark hair and self-assured stride, and the first time she looked into his sexy, dark eyes, she swore he could see all the way into her soul.”
“I like this one. I definitely want to hear more.”
It wasn’t a lie. I was dying to go back and relive every amazing second I’d spent with Caris. Go back and change all the stupid mistakes I’d made. Go back so we could fill the empty years apart with love and laughter…and kids.
“Take a drink, and I’ll tell you more,” Caris coaxed, carefully tilting the bottle to my lips as the jet’s engines started to rev.
“The pilot says we’ll be in Little Rock in about thirty minutes,” Ozzy announced as my eyes slid shut again. “He’s radioing ahead for an ambulance and limo to meet us on the tarmac.”
“Good.”
“Hang in there, Syd. It won’t be much longer.” Caris’s voice seemed miles away as I floated back down into the darkness.
When I woke again, I wanted to be anywhere but hoisted up in Cole’s arms and jostled against his wide chest as he carried me off the jet.
“Are we eloping?” I grunted as fire tore from my shoulder to my toes.
“It’s tempting. You’re a whole lot more fun to work with than Ozzy, and I’ll kill you if you repeat that,” Cole mumbled. “But I’m gonna have to say no, only because you have a dick and your tits are too small.”
I laughed— big mistake—then nearly cried like a baby as he carried me down the stairs, rattling my bones, and placed me on a waiting gurney.
“Thanks, man.” I grimaced. “Where’s Caris? I want her with me in the ambulance.”
“She’s coming. Mia is talking to her right now.” Worry strained Ozzy’s face as he eased in beside the gurney.
“Listen, as soon as you’re patched up, we need to get back on the plane and to the ranch.”
“What’s happened now?”
“While we were sleeping, I called Quinn and told him we needed to cancel the tour again until your shoulder healed or until this shit with Zattman was resolved.”
“I bet he was thrilled to hear that.”
“He didn’t give a fuck about the tour. He’s freaking out that you got shot. When I was explaining what had happened, he added Reed to the call, so I filled them both in. While we were talking, Reed had his assistant contacted the Diamond City police and gave them the location of the car Cole took out.”
“Let me guess. When they got there, our shooter was gone, right?”
“They didn’t find so much as a footprint.”
“After that, Reed himself placed a call. Long story short… Zattman skipped town the minute he made bail. Even his own lawyers don’t know where he’s at.”
“We do.”
“Yeah, well, that brings us to our second problem. If Zattman was the shooter, which he probably was since you’re still breathing, he now knows we’re with Caris. He has to at least suspect we’re in on the plot to take him down. So that means—”
“He wants to take all of us out, too.”
“Yep. Everyone, and I mean everyone, including parents, kids, and dogs, are now heading to