My heart crumbled in my chest, and my teeth started chattering. It felt like I’d been hit by an eighteen-wheeler in the middle of a snowstorm.
Katie took one look at my face and grabbed both our purses, then pried the phone out of my hand and took over. Despite the shock, I moved faster than I ever had in my life. My brain was incapable of regular function, but my body worked at double speed.
We rushed out the door and raced to the hospital in Katie’s hybrid, parking in the ambulance bay before running inside. I thought I heard someone yelling at us, but then I heard Katie barking out some kind of reply before she was back at my side.
I didn’t stop moving until I saw the big, hulking guy I thought was Hunter Holmes pacing up and down outside a room in the emergency department. He started moving toward me as soon as he saw me, confirming my suspicion that I was right about who he was.
“April,” he said, pointing at a door down the hall. “She’s right in there. She’s okay, but she’s a bit sleepy because of the meds Chris gave her.”
I nodded but pushed past him like I didn’t even see him. It would have been impossible to miss a guy that size, even if he hadn’t spoken, but I just couldn’t slow down right now. I would thank him later.
Craig was nowhere to be seen at first, but then he turned the corner with his arms laden with snacks. The fragile hold I’d had on my self-control snapped as soon as I saw the motorcycle club wannabe.
“You asshole,” I yelled, black spots dancing across my vision. “What the fuck have you done?”
He smirked at me like he didn’t have a care in the world. “I didn’t do a thing. Adi fell off the bike all by herself.”
“Bullshit.” I narrowed my eyes at him, stalking right up and poking my finger into his chest. “This is your fault. I’m going to check on my daughter now. You better stay the fuck away from her, Craig. I mean it.”
“Yeah?” He snorted and opened his mouth to continue, but then I felt a massive presence behind me.
Hunter’s hands came down gently on my shoulders. “I’ve called security. They’re going to remove him in a second. Go on in. I’ll wait here.”
Craig’s expression turned murderous as he turned on Hunter, but the other man didn’t look either impressed or intimidated. He simply crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows as if challenging my backboneless ex to argue with him.
Trusting Hunter to keep him the hell out of the room, I didn’t waste time in getting to Adi. Tears swam in my vision when I saw her lying on a hospital bed in the center of the sterile room.
A doctor was with her, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her for long enough to look at him. “Adi, baby? Are you okay?”
She didn’t answer, but when I got closer to her, I saw her eyes were closed. Just then, a deep, calm voice spoke from somewhere in the room.
It was like my head was a void, though. I had to put in some real thought before I realized it had to be the doctor talking.
“It’s okay, April. She’s asleep because of the medicine we gave her, but she’s okay. I spoke to her myself until she drifted off and I haven’t left her side.”
I nodded, going to the bed and taking her small hand in mine. Still without moving my eyes off her, I leaned over to rest my forehead against hers and snapped at him.
“What the hell happened to her?” I asked, my voice coming out harsh. I knew I was channeling my anger at the wrong person, but I couldn’t help it.
My brain was stuck at the moment I got that call, and my emotions were totally and completely out of my control. In the very back of my mind, though, in a place that was still rational and thinking logically, I thanked my lucky stars that she’d ended up at my hospital.
Someone here had recognized her and thought to call me because Craig surely wouldn’t have.
Whoever that person was, I owed them. Big time.
Chapter 3
CHRIS
I’d never subscribed to the idea that someone’s looks could dictate their personality, but the redhead in front of me sure was fiery. I understood that she was emotional and in shock, but she was aiming those things