the ground until he was sure he wasn’t in danger of losing it again, then found a sandwich shop near the hospital and bought everyone lunch.
When he returned to the waiting room, half the town of Ennis filled every chair. Some he knew, others he’d never encountered. Everyone turned to look at him the moment he stepped inside, but no one approached. They said nothing about his bloodied knuckles when he laid the sacks of food on a table. A nurse offered to get him Band-Aids and ointment, but he shrugged her off. He wanted the pain. It drowned out a voice in his head that whispered, What if she dies?
Other than her brothers, most kept a wide berth from him. Jamie approached briefly and gave him a hug, then ended up with Ty’s arm draped around her shoulders. Kenzie arrived with her son, looking frazzled and lost, an hour later than everyone else. Jordan waved her over and they hugged, seemingly friends now rather than enemies. Skylar’s staff huddled in a corner with red eyes. The mayor stood to the side and on his phone, glancing at Logan with concern but kept his mouth shut. Duke’s posse was near the door, whispering in hushed tones, but their concern and fear for her was obvious. If Skylar had any doubt the town of Ennis cared about her and the boys, this show of support proved her wrong. Every face was lined with worry.
Two hours later, a tall man with graying hair, who looked more lumberjack than doctor, walked into the waiting room. He scanned the solemn faces and asked loudly, “James family?”
The whole room stood and gathered together.
Logan couldn’t breathe as he made his way over with her brothers, the town keeping close to their backs. Air was trapped in his lungs as his heart raced with fear, so he held it until the man stated with a smile, “She’s out of surgery and awake. Fighting mad to be accurate. She wants the vent pulled but we need to leave it in about a day, until the swelling in her throat goes down, or we’ll have to intubate her again, and that’s no fun at all. We gave her some paper and a pen to write with. She wanted me to ask if, and I quote, if the dickweed lost his balls to Max.”
The room erupted with cheers, but Logan doubled over and drew in air as the townspeople slapped him and her brothers on the back. After regaining his composure, he righted himself and threw back his head and laughed with the rest of them. Skylar was all-American steel through and through. She was the strongest person he’d known in his life. Stronger than any soldier in the army.
“What about her hand?” Jake asked when the cheers died down. “Did she lose her spleen?”
“She was lucky. It was a small laceration we were able to fix. As for her hand, I imagine it will act up when it rains. We put in a few pins while she was under sedation, so she won’t have use of it for a while and she’ll need physical therapy. CT didn’t show any structural damage to her larynx, so other than being hoarse once we extubate her, she shouldn’t have any problems. She’s got a bad contusion on her temple and bruising on her throat. One of her ribs is cracked too, so she won’t be laughing anytime soon. She looks worse for wear, but all of it will heal. It’ll be up to you to help her heal any lasting damage that dickweed caused.”
Logan stuck out his hand for the doctor to shake. “Appreciate it. More than you’ll ever know, Dr.?”
“Raine. Dr. Raine. Are you Max?”
“Logan. Max is my German shepherd.”
“Ahh, I see. So did he?”
Logan caught on to his question and answered. “He went for the throat instead. The man bled out and couldn’t be saved.”
Raine didn’t blink an eye. “Good,” was his only response.
Twenty-Four
Absolution
GO HOME, LOGAN.” My voice sounded scratchy still, but anything was better than having a tube down my throat. It had felt like I was breathing through a straw.
Logan stared back at me but didn’t move. He hadn’t left my hospital room in days. My brothers had come and gone, but not Logan. He was a fixture the nurses worked around. If they asked him to leave the room for privacy’s sake, he’d turn his back, but he wasn’t budging from the room. The staff soon learned