Chapter 20
Juliette
Someone was screaming.
I blinked, dazed, before finally realizing it was me. Wes was on the ground, bleeding, blood pooling beneath his torso. I dropped to my knees and cradled his head in my arms. “Wes… Wes!”
His eyes fluttered closed as people gathered around us.
“Someone call 9-1-1!” I screamed. “Call 9-1-1!”
“I just did!” a man shouted. “They’re on their way.”
I slapped Wes’s face gently, trying to wake him. “Wes! Open your eyes! Open your eyes, Wes!” Chaos swirled around me—people running, someone screaming, a dog barking nonstop—but I couldn’t focus on any of it. I just kept shaking the man in my arms. “Please, Wes. Please wake up.”
Blood spread across the ground, seeping into my clothes.
But his chest was still going up and down—barely, but enough.
He’s breathing. On his own. My heart pounded as I rocked him back and forth, the world around us fading to a blur.
A man knelt beside me. I think he said he was a med student.
He pulled off his jacket, slipped it under Wes’s body, and applied pressure to the wound, trying to slow the bleeding.
Somewhere nearby, a second dog started barking.
People moved around us, voices rising, footsteps pounding, but it all felt distant.
Like I was underwater and everything was muffled.
Sirens wailed in the distance, growing louder.
I have no idea how long it was before someone grabbed my arm. “Miss, we’re the paramedics, let us take over.” The guy who’d been holding pressure helped me to my feet and stood next to me, watching.
“Gunshot wound,” one of the paramedics said to the other. “You turn, I’ll slide. You’ll hold pressure. On my count…”
One.
Two.
Three.
One paramedic rolled Wes onto his side and pressed a hand over the wound. The other slid the backboard underneath, then carefully rolled him onto it, keeping his partner’s hand in place.
“The bullet definitely went through,” the guy in charge muttered.
Two police officers arrived, and the paramedic spoke to them while gesturing to the gurney. “Help us carry so we can keep pressure on, all right, Mac?”
“Sure thing.”
Then they were hauling ass to the ambulance. I followed as they loaded Wes into the back.
One of them looked at me. “Who are you?”
“His…girlfriend.”
“Did you drive here?”
I shook my head. “Wes did.”
He nodded toward the ambulance. “Get in. You can ride with us.”
I climbed in, heart hammering as they slammed the doors shut behind me. We started moving before I was even settled on the bench, and the paramedic immediately began cutting Wes’s shirt off and hooking him up to a bunch of wires. He slid an oxygen mask over his face and spoke to me as he worked.
“What happened? Is there any other trauma we should know about? A fight or anything before the GSW?”
I shook my head. “I don’t even know who shot him or where it came from.”
He nodded. “I won’t shake your hand. But my name is Cal. What can you tell me about your boyfriend? Any medical issues I should know about?”
“I don’t…I don’t really know. He’s healthy and only takes a vitamin in the morning. I know that.”
“That’s good.” He glanced at a machine flashing numbers. “His vitals are strong. We’re going to be at the hospital in less than five minutes, and then the doctors will take a look at him and probably run him right up to surgery to stop the bleeding.”
“Okay.”
Wes looked so pale, and it freaked me out how still he was. I sat frozen, clutching the rail like I needed it to hold me together. A few minutes into the ride, he stirred. His arms were strapped down, but he was clearly trying to move them.
“Wes.” I leaned forward. “Can you hear me?”
His eyes fluttered, then opened, and he looked around, dazed and confused. He tried to lift his head and speak, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying with the oxygen mask over his face.
“Easy, man. Don’t try to move,” the paramedic said. “You’re in an ambulance, and you’re okay. But we need you to stay still.”
Wes’s eyes met mine for a second before shutting again.
“What happened?” I asked, panicked. “He was awake.”
“Totally normal. People come to and nod off again.” He moved closer to Wes and spoke louder. “We’re almost there. Your girl is fine, buddy.”
The ambulance rocked as it sped through traffic, sirens wailing, and blue and red lights flashing on Wes’s face.
When we pulled up at the hospital, the back doors burst open, just like in the movies.
A team of doctors and nurses swarmed, lifted Wes out, and then we were running—pushing through corridors, wheels clattering, voices calling out numbers I didn’t understand.
I jogged behind the gurney until a nurse held out her hand to stop me.
“You’ll have to wait here.”
“But…” I looked over her shoulder. Wes was already disappearing down the hallway.
“We’re going to take good care of him. The best thing you can do for him now is see the clerk at the admitting desk and give her whatever medical history you know. Is this your husband?”
I shook my head. “Boyfriend.”
“What’s his name?”
“Wes Callahan.”
She attempted to smile but didn’t quite finish the job. “I’ll give you an update as soon as we have one.”
I nodded, feeling helpless as the gurney turned a corner and vanished from sight.
***
A half hour later, I was pacing in the waiting room. I’d checked in with the admitting clerk twice already, and she’d assured me someone would come speak to me when they were done examining Wes and getting him stable. But every minute that ticked by felt like an hour.
The emergency room had a set of sliding glass doors that had opened and closed a dozen times since we got here.
Each time I looked up, yet I couldn’t tell you what a single person who’d walked in looked like.
Until now. Because this guy looked exactly like the men I grew up around—like someone from my father’s crew.
Or…a rival family’s. He glanced in my direction, and my breath caught in my throat.
Could he be the one who shot at me? At us?
The reason Wes was lying in a hospital bed?
I held my breath as he walked up to the admitting window.
The clerk pointed across the room, and a moment later, he walked over and hugged a woman waiting in the chairs on the other side.
I breathed, but the knot in my chest didn’t loosen.
The guy didn’t seem to be a threat, but he was a much-needed reminder. I need to call my father.
I walked over to the woman behind the glass who had taken Wes’s information. “Excuse me. Can you tell me where the chapel is?”
She pointed to a doorway. “Down the hall, take the first right, and it’s the first door on your left.”
“Thank you.”
As I walked, I pulled my phone out and scrolled to my father’s name in my contacts. Opening the door to the chapel, I was relieved to find it empty and immediately pressed the Call button.
He answered on the first ring.
“What’s wrong?”
“Dad, Wes was shot.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m at Memorial Hospital.”
“Where exactly?”
“I’m in the chapel right now. I was waiting in the emergency room for them to come out and tell me how Wes is, but I realized I needed to call you. I need to get back.”
“You don’t leave that chapel, Juliette. Do you understand me? Is there a lock on the door?”
“I need to get back to Wes.” Tears welled in my eyes. “He’s all alone.”
“I don’t give two shits,” Dad barked. “You stay in that damn chapel until my men get there.”
“Are you even listening to me?” I shouted. “Wes was shot! He could die!” My pulse pounded in my ears. “And it’s your fault!”
“I’ll have men to you in fifteen minutes. Leave the hospital with them when they arrive.”
“Go to hell!” I yelled as I ended the call.
I wiped my eyes and went back to the waiting room, regretting that I’d left.
“Hi. I’m sorry to bother you again,” I said to the admitting clerk. “But I stepped out for a few minutes, so I don’t know if you were looking for me about Wes Callahan. I’m still waiting to hear how he is.”
She pointed with her pen to two men in suits. “No info from the doctors yet, but those two police officers asked for the woman who came in with Mr. Callahan.”
Great.
They must’ve overheard because they walked over. “You came in with the gunshot wound?”
I nodded.
“I’m Detective Olson, and this is my partner, Detective Barkley.” He flipped open a small pad. “What can you tell us about the shooting?”
I shook my head. “Nothing. One minute I was standing at a booth at the farmer’s market, and the next Wes was on the ground bleeding.”
“There was no argument or altercation beforehand?”
“No.”
“Did you get a look at the shooter?”
I shook my head again. “I didn’t see anything. Wes covered me like a human shield.”
“The clerk said Mr. Callahan is your boyfriend?”
I nodded.
“And your name is?”
“Juliette.”
The door that led to the back finally opened. “Person here for Callahan!” a man called.
Forgetting about the cops, I rushed to the man in scrubs. “I’m here for Wes.”
“Mr. Callahan is stable, but we’ve taken him up to surgery. If you want to follow me, I can take you to the surgical waiting area. You can register at the nurses’ station, and they’ll check in with the doctors during the surgery and give you periodic updates.”
“Okay.” I started walking, not even noticing that the cops had joined me.
“Juliette,” one said. “We’re going to need to take a statement.”
“I told you, I didn’t see anything.”
“Sometimes a witness doesn’t even realize they have information that can help us find the perpetrator. Something seemingly innocuous that you saw can turn into a lead.”
“I can’t even think straight. I need to go to the surgical ward.”
He nodded. “We’ll come find you in a little while.”
***
Three hours later, a doctor finally came out to talk to me. He lowered the mask covering his mouth and pulled off his surgical cap. “I’m Dr. Ettleman.”
“Hi, Doctor. I’m Juliette Grecco.”
He put his hands on his hips. “Mr. Callahan did great. The bullet nicked his liver, but I was able to repair the laceration without complication. His vitals are strong, and the minute we woke him up in recovery, he was asking for you.” He smiled.
“He’ll be in the hospital for a few days, but I expect he’ll make a full recovery. ”
I let out a long breath and covered my heart with my hand. “Oh, thank God. Can I see him?”
The doctor nodded. “He’ll be in recovery for another thirty to sixty minutes. Then he’ll go to the ICU as a precaution. He lost a significant amount of blood.”
“Okay.” I nodded, still trying to absorb it all. “Thank you, Doctor.”
“I’ll let the nurse know to come get you when he’s being transferred.”
He walked away, leaving me standing there, equal parts relieved and wrecked. ICU. A significant amount of blood. I sank into one of the waiting room chairs and stared at the floor, my mind replaying the day until a nurse finally appeared.
When I looked up, she smiled. “You can see Mr. Callahan now.”
I rose so fast I nearly knocked the chair over. “Great. Thank you.”
“He’s still groggy,” she said as we walked down a quiet hallway. “But he keeps asking for you.”
I swallowed hard as we entered the ICU. The big room was bright, with a chorus of monitors beeping in the background and a faintly antiseptic smell.
The nurses’ station was in the middle, and the perimeter was lined with glass-walled rooms. Some had curtains drawn, others gave me a glimpse of patients connected to tubes and blinking lights.
When I saw Wes, I forgot all about the nurse and rushed into his room. His eyes were open but he looked so, so pale.
“Oh my God. How are you?”
He gave me a half smile. “Been better.”
The nurse interrupted. “Don’t be alarmed if he goes in and out of consciousness.
The anesthesia will do that. But I’ll give you two a few minutes.
Then I’ll need to take a full medical history.
” She smiled. “We still know nothing about Mr. Callahan other than he’s worried more about his girlfriend than himself. ”
I smiled down at him. “You scared the hell out of me.”
He lifted his head, but it looked like it hurt, and his voice was just above a whisper. “Is there a lock on the door?”
My face scrunched up. “The glass door?”
“Yeah. I can’t protect you. I don’t even know where my gun is.”
I laughed and leaned down to hug him. This man was lucky to be alive after being shot, and all he cared about was protecting me. “Don’t worry about anything except getting well.”
“You need to call your father.”
“I did.”
He strained to push out words. “And listen to what he tells you to do.”
I frowned.
“You have to leave and go somewhere safe.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“Juliette—” his voice strained.
“I’m not leaving you. You almost died.” Tears filled my eyes just from saying the words. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if something happened. I’m in love with you, Wes.”