14. Mara
Chapter 14
Mara
The last few hours—I almost didn’t survive them.
Honestly, if not for the fact that my daughter needed me, I would probably be in a padded room right now.
I could never unsee the fear and pain and worry in Abel’s face when he walked in to say we had to go to the hospital, that Noah had been hurt.
My heart still hurts.
My mind, the bastard it was, showed me what I could have walked into in that room.
My husband was lying on the gurney, blood covering his face and shoulder. But unlike when we’d found him up and moving, until he’d collapsed, I saw him with wires everywhere. Monitors beeping. His prone body lifeless, unresponsive.
A funeral flashed into place. Me having to say goodbye to him. Our daughter growing up without her father.
I could feel the chill in the air, my heart and mind fighting for the right outcome.
I sat up in bed, shaking, my face wet with tears.
Noah laid, sleeping peacefully. I couldn’t help it, I had to reach out, touch him, make sure he was really here and this wasn’t a dream.
He stirred, his eyes slowly opening.
“I’m sorry,” my voice broke.
He sat up and pulled me into his lap. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m okay.” His arms tightened, and I started to breathe again. “You okay? Want to talk about it?”
“Bad dreams. You know…”
“Yeah, I know.” He kissed my cheek, and I curled into his broad chest. “If you want me to quit, to find something else to do?—”
I sat up with a jerk and shook my head. “Don’t you fucking dare. I will not—No. You love what you do. We’ve had this discussion. I am not that selfish to take you away from a job that matters. You mean something to the people of this community. You’re needed. It’s just hard to know things can go sideways and to see them actually do it.”
“I’d do it for you. For your peace of mind.”
“You could get hit by a fucking bus tomorrow. No. You, my sweet man, were born with a purpose. That is to serve and protect the men and women of Seaside. I love you, for being you, for doing what not many people are called to do. I love your willingness to take a bullet—a brick to the head—to stop the bad guys. So no, you will not be quitting. But you will be more careful.”
He smiled, leaning in to capture my mouth with his. My eyes closed, and I soaked in the feel of him against me.
Our peaceful bliss was interrupted by a steady knock coming from the front door. I climbed off the bed and ordered him, “Stay in bed.”
Did he listen? No. He grabbed his handgun, and with it pointed at the floor, he followed me up the hall to the living room, stopping to the left of the door. Hidden from view.
“You do realize that bad guys don’t knock, right?”
He gave me a look.
Shaking my head, I called out, “Who is it?”
“Nick. Open up. It’s urgent.”
The door flew open, my panic already setting in at the tightness of his features.
“I need you to come to the hospital. There was an incident.”
“What happened?” Noah asked, stepping up behind me.
Nick looked uneasy as he said, “Willow—Beth—showed up at the shop. There was?—”
“For fuck sake. Spit it out, asshole.”
Yes, I snarled at him. I already had a bad feeling. Someone had been hurt. But who? Abel? Brenna? Was Spencer there too? I thought so, but my mind was foggy. I knew they were going to clean up.
“Abel and Brenna have been shot. They’re stable, but you’re needed.”
My world did stop then. They’d been fucking shot?
I couldn’t tell you what happened after that, other than we were now walking into the emergency room. I didn’t stop at the desk; I kept walking to the door. When it opened, I hurried down the corridor. I saw Abel sitting in a wheelchair, his head hung low. Spencer stood beside him, his hand resting on Abel’s shoulder. He was standing guard, comforting his friend.
Abel’s left leg had a bandage around it. His pants had been cut, the blood staining them a maroon color.
“Abel!” Noah’s shout from behind me had his head popping up. The redness of his face, the tears he hurried to wipe away.
Spencer looked around, stepping back to rest against the wall.
“Brenna…”
“The bitch came out of nowhere. I tried to stop the bullet. I did, but she got hit.” Abel met his brother’s gaze, and the tears rolled down his cheeks more.
“Where is she?” I asked, my voice nothing more than a dead monotone.
“They took her for a CT.” It was Spenser who answered. “They said the bullet was through and through, but they wanted to check for any unseen damage.”
I nodded, moving to hug him. “Thank you.” I stepped back and bent down to hug Abel. Hard. Holding onto him as if he might disappear, all while holding onto my own tears falling. I might want to choke him daily, but no one else got to hurt him. My family.
I stepped back after a few minutes, wiping at my face. I needed to keep my shit together or I’d be finding that padded room soon.
“Hold her and let me see if I can find out what’s going on.”
Noah held Kelsey out to her uncle, and he took her, burying his face in her neck. She would help him calm down. Babies were good at that.
I found a spot on the wall where I could be close to Abel and still see Noah and Nick at the nurses’ station. I rubbed my neck, trying to get the ache of tightening muscles to relax. I just happened to catch sight of a gurney coming up the hall. My anger surged. Willow, Beth, whatever her name was lying on it. Her face turned toward us. I saw the longing look she gave Abel. He stiffened, but I had this.
“My Abel…don’t forget me.”
What. The. Fuck!
I ran for the gurney and leapt on her. My fist met her face as I screamed at her. I heard others calling my name. Ask me if I answered them? Or stopped beating on her? Go ahead.
One hand was cuffed to the bedrail, but the other arm was loose. It had a hard cast on it. I got hit in the face, the cast scraping along my cheek. I didn’t care. I slammed my fist into her one last time before meaty arms yanked me off the gurney. I kicked, getting her in the gut and thigh before I was spun away.
“Mara, enough!” Nick was the one who had me in a bear hug.
“Let me go!” I squirmed, but there was no getting out of his grip. I gave up and went limp. When he set me on my feet, the words “are you going to behave” left his lips just as I sprinted back toward the gurney.
This time I was scooped up and held to a chest that I knew wouldn’t let me go. Noah was cursing as I sighed.
“You’re fucking bleeding. I was gone for less than five minutes.”
“That was fucking epic!” Abel held up a hand, and I high-fived him.
Yeah, I did. No shame in my game.
“I should arrest you,” Nick growled out. His anger was apparent, but it didn’t hold a candle to the rage boiling up inside of me.
“Do it. I will smile like a fucking loon in my mugshot. That sorry sack of horse shit shot my fucking brother and my best goddamn friend. Ask me if I fucking care about being arrested, Nicholas!”
“She’s kind of scary sometimes,” Spencer whisper-yelled at Abel. Who in return snorted.
“No shit.”
My feet were finally lowered to the floor when they wheeled Brenna through the emergency room door. She was alert, looking around, and I saw the relief on her face when she saw that Abel was okay. He, too, relaxed a bit seeing her.
“What happened to your face, heffa?”
“Shut up. Are you okay?” I asked, walking to her, lying across the bedrail to hug her.
“My leg fucking hurts. That bitch shot us.”
“I know. But you’re okay?” I questioned, running a hand over her arms before hugging her again. The poor nurse gave me a smile that said, “Can you get your ass out of the way?”
And, I did. I followed her into a larger bay. The curtain made a hiss as it was pulled shut.
“Your face is bloody. What did you do?”
“Got hit in the face with someone’s arm cast.” I shrugged. “I’m fine.”
“She put a WWE-worthy smackdown on Willow.” Abel grinned. That grin slipped when Kelsey got fussy. He laid her on his shoulder and rubbed her back.
I watched them, tears stinging my eyes again. I put the bed rail down, took Brenna’s hand, and watched her.
“I’m okay. The doc said the bullet went straight through. The muscle will heal. They did a CT to make sure they didn’t miss anything. Other than it hurting like a bitch, I’m okay.”
I nodded and looked at Abel.
“It’s just a flesh wound. A few stitches. I’m fine.”
“How in the hell did you let her get enough time to shoot twice?” Noah asked, his brows pinched together.
“We didn’t. She only shot once. Spencer tackled her to the ground. That’s how her arm got broken.”
He spent the next couple of minutes going over what happened. He’d dove to take the bullet for his wife. He’d put himself between a crazy woman with a gun to save Brenna. I knew if the roles were reversed, and that had been us in that exact same situation, Noah would have done the same.
“Wait, wait,” Noah said, his hand coming up as he shook his head. “You mean to tell me, you dove to take the bullet, and yet, you both still got hit?”
“Yeah, that’s what I just said.”
Noah’s bark of laughter had us all looking at him like he had two heads.
“Sorry. I’m proud of you, little bro, but we need to work on your reaction time. You’re not Iron Man. Bullets still hurt.”
Abel rolled his eyes. “Whatever, asshole. Least I didn’t get brained by a toddler.”
“You realize, none of this is a laughing matter? Right? They were fucking shot. I had to stand there, helpless, and watch them both take a bullet.” Spencer sounded off. I got up and moved to where he stood. I took his hand and gave it a squeeze.
“You’re right. It was, is, a serious matter, but now that it’s over, let them laugh through the shock and pain. It’s what they do. Brenna and I do it too. You can’t always keep all of the serious shit bottled up. If you do, one day, it’s going to explode out of you. You’ll say the wrong thing, hurt someone’s feelings. That will probably be Cindy who gets the brunt of it. And I will say this here and now. If you hurt my friend, I don’t care if you are this idiot’s best friend, I will neuter you and feed your balls to the fishes.”
He cracked a little smile. “Duly noted. I will do whatever is in my power to never be on your shit list. It doesn’t seem to end well.”
The room was silent for a half a heartbeat, then Brenna, god love the crazy ass heifer, started to cackle. I mean a full-on witch cackle.
“Jesus, would you shut that off. You’re gonna scare my kid.” I snorted out a laugh, my heart finally starting to knit itself back together.
“If you don’t need me for anything, I’m going to go give Cindy an update.”
“Thank you, Spencer.” Noah shook his hand and pulled him in for a big hug. “Seriously, if you hadn’t been there…”
“We won’t worry about that because I was there.”
“Here fishy-fishy.”
“She’s higher than Snoop right now,” Abel chuckled.
I could see the pain on his face.
“Noah, will you let the nurse know he needs something for pain? Please. And see how long before these two can go home.”
“Sure, love.” He gave me a questioning look.
I couldn’t help but smile as I said, in the sweetest voice I could, smiling like a serial killer, “If I go back out there and see that bitch, I’m going to jail. Figure I shouldn’t test fate. Ya know?”
“Don’t drop the soap…you’ll be someone’s b…i…tch.” Brenna sang out the word bitch. I couldn’t help it, I laughed again and moved to where Abel sat holding Kelsey.
“Are you really okay?”
“Yeah, minor wound. I’ll be limping but mobile. My queen though…”
“She’s going to be a pain in my ass ‘cause she has a pain in her leg. Yeah, I know. I love her though, so it’s okay.”
He smiled.
“You’re both coming to our house. No arguments. Until you are well enough to take her home and take her abuse by yourself.”
“It’s not abuse if you like it.” He waggled his eyebrows.
“Don’t make me kill you.”
I got up and moved to sit on the end of Brenna’s bed, my hand resting on the uninjured one. Today could have turned out so much worse. Everyone was very lucky to be here, alive and relatively okay.
I had never been so grateful for anything in my life.