Chapter 14
“I’m not playing tight end.”
Brooks looked at me and shook his head. “But you’re a great tight end.”
“No, I’m a running back. You’re the big one, you move just as fast, you’re the tight end.”
“Fine. But then who’s going to be quarterback?”
“We’ve already established that I’m quarterback,” Wyatt added.
“Do I get to play wide receiver then?” Elliot asked, and I rolled my eyes as we moved back.
“Yes. But try to catch the ball this time.”
“I caught the ball, damn you all.”
“It’s okay, babe, I enjoy tackling you,” Trace said from the other side of the line.
“Stop calling him babe when we’re playing football,” East growled. “That means you’re probably going to go easy on him.”
“Hey, you’re on my team,” Elliot argued, and I laughed, taking a step back.
We were playing five-on-five, which I thought was amazing considering we were just doing it with the blood relatives. When Eliza hung out with us, the only Wilder cousin that wasn’t a dude, she would play on both sides, and was probably the best punter we had. Except for that one time when we used two trees for a field goal and she ended up breaking a window. She could run faster than any of us when we were in trouble. I couldn’t help but remember those times when we had all been dirty and had bruised knees and knuckles from wrestling and being dorks. And then when Eliza had wanted us to play ‘girl games’—her words—we had all joined in, and I’d even gotten a makeover or two. Not that I would let anyone else know that. But we’d all done it together. And now here we were, doing it again. The whole damn reason we had moved here.
“Okay, let’s get this done.”
We moved into formation, and since we weren’t using a center, Wyatt snapped the ball himself.
I moved to my position, since we were doing a passing play, and ran into Eli, who was wide, tall, and nearly knocked the breath out of me. Considering how hard I trained every day to do my job, it was a little disconcerting that a man who sat behind a desk all day could kick my ass.
He just smirked at me, and I scowled up at him.
“Excuse me, I thought we were playing flag football.”
“Touch football, dumbass. Here let me help you up.” Eli lifted me up to my feet in one quick movement, and I shook my head.
“What do you lift?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“Did you put a whole gym in your house?”
“Much to Alexis’s consternation, but then, she likes my muscles, so why not?”
I shoved at his shoulder as I laughed and we got back into position.
We were up by seven when Trace’s phone rang, and since it was the emergency ping, we all stopped so he could answer. I went to get my water, my gaze on him when he turned to me and scowled.
“I got it. We’re on our way.”
I set down my drink and made my way over to him. “What is it?”
“She’s fine. She’s okay.”
Those words were like a splash of ice water over me, and bile filled my mouth as I forced myself to take deep breaths so I wouldn’t pass out.
It was happening all over again. As soon as I started to care for someone, they needed me and I wasn’t there. I wasn’t strong enough. I couldn’t protect them.
Something had happened to Aurora. I knew it. And I hadn’t been there to protect her.
I didn’t want to hear him say that. I couldn’t.
Because all I could do was hear the doctors tell Heather’s parents that she was dead. That our baby was dead.
I could still see her lying in my arms, blood pooling over her stomach and her thighs as I tried to stanch the bleeding. She had put her hands over her flat stomach, trying to protect the baby, and I had done the same thing, only I hadn’t been strong enough. Blood had seeped through the glass shards in my arm and from the graze over my thigh where the bullet had struck. I had nearly forgotten that. The pain searing into my body when the bullets were fired. The people with a hate in their heart and eyes and bodies had come for us, all because we were out there enjoying life, supporting everyone at a homecoming parade for the cheerleaders.
And because our lives weren’t exactly what people wanted them to be, they had shot into the stands and crowds. I had forgotten about the glass in my skin as I had shouted for help. But when it came, it had been too late.
I couldn’t be too late again. I couldn’t.
Trace put his hand on my shoulder, pulling me out of my memories.
“Ridge, Aurora’s fine. She was seemingly mugged in front of the grocery store on her way home. She’s at the hospital now. They took her purse and wallet and phone and everything, so she was able to get them to call here to let us know what had happened once she got settled. My team got the news to me. Because we’re not family or her emergency contact, we’re not allowed to know anything more than that. They literally cannot tell us what’s going on medically, but we do know that she’s okay because that is what she told them to tell us. So we are going to head to the hospital now to go see her. I need you to breathe. You’re so fucking pale right now I have no idea if you’re even listening to me. Can you hear me? I need you to say something.”
“I’ll call the girls,” Eli said from my side, and that’s when I realized that my brothers and cousins had all come to surround me, and I saw Wyatt on the phone beside me. He had to be calling Gabriel. Because that’s what our family did, we came together. Now, anyway, we did. Not so much before, but we were figuring it out now.
“I’m fine.” I coughed, clearing my throat. “I’m fine. I’ll go see her.”
“You’re not fucking driving,” Trace ordered.
“You already told me you weren’t my boss; we’ve discussed this. I’m driving.”
“We can take your car, but I’m driving you there. One of my guys or one of these Wilders can follow in another car. But you don’t get to go alone.”
“Damn straight,” Alexis said as she stomped towards us. “We were just with her. She’s one of us now. She’s been initiated into the girls’ club, and if my friend is hurt, I want to see her.”
I ran my hands over my face, needing to get out of there. But I was seriously afraid of seeing Aurora injured in any state. And that was wrong. That was on me and I needed to fix it.
“I don’t fucking care. I just need to go.”
I knew I was being an asshole, but Aurora was alone. Alone and hurt. How the hell had someone mugged her in broad daylight? It was still light enough at seven o’clock in the evening that someone had to have seen something.
I jumped in my SUV with Trace driving. I didn’t care in the moment to fight about who was driving, I just needed to get there. Wyatt and Brooks jumped in the back, and I knew there were at least two more SUVs behind us.
“Not all of us are going to be able to get into the back to see her. Hospitals are careful about things like that,” Brooks said.
Brooks had dealt with hospitals enough that he knew. Of course, he knew.
“Are you sure you’re up for this?” I asked, my voice hollow.
“Just like you are, brother. We’ve got you. And when it needs to be just the two of you, we’ll make sure that happens.”
“And we did the math so there’s enough space in the other SUVs for the three of us to head back in it, and maybe go pick up Aurora’s car.”
“You don’t have the keys,” Brooks put in.
“Alexis said she has a keypad on her front door and she changes the number frequently, so one of us can get in and get her spare car key. Or whatever needs to be done. We’ll handle it. You just worry about Aurora; we’ll worry about the details.”
Part of me relaxed, while the rest of me panicked, needing to see her. It felt like it took hours to get there, but it only took about forty minutes. Which, thanks to traffic in South Texas, really wasn’t that bad.
But all I could do was keep hearing Heather scream, hearing her family push me out of the hospital waiting area as they screamed at me. I could still feel her father’s fists on my face from when he hit me. It hadn’t mattered that I had been bleeding too, that I hid my own bullet wound just so I could see her. The doctors had stitched me up, and when I explained about the baby, I had finally been able to get news. The day had never made sense, and yet I could still hear it all repeating, hear the screaming over and over.
But this wasn’t then. Aurora would be fine.
And yet, deep down inside, I wasn’t sure that was the case.
She was not Heather. She was not the woman that I had loved and who had been carrying my child.
They kept talking, and I knew they would handle the details, but I needed to get there. We finally pulled in and I jumped out of the car when Trace finally stopped.
I made my way in, and then realized once again I wasn’t family. I had no right to be there. But Aurora’s family was up north all in a different state. They couldn’t come down here this quickly. Maybe her best friend Joni would be there. I had met her and her husband a couple of days ago for a quick dinner, and I didn’t even have their number. And if Aurora didn’t have her phone, we were all fucked.
I knew my family would make their way into the waiting room as well, and Trace would deal with my car, but I needed to see her.
I walked up to the front desk and swallowed hard as the nurse looked up at me.
“How can I help you?”
“I’m looking for Aurora Lee. She was brought in earlier. Someone called to let us know she was here because the muggers took her phone.”
I wasn’t sure what else to say. The woman looked at me and smiled. “Are you family?”
“No, I’m her boyfriend.” That was the first time I had said it out loud, but it was the best label I could come up with, more efficient than saying I was the man she was sleeping with and dating.
“What’s your name, son?” the woman asked, and I shook myself out of my own fucking head. “Ridge Wilder.” She looked down at her paperwork and nodded. “Aurora put you down as someone that we’re allowed to bring back. So come on. She’s fine. She explicitly said that you were allowed to know what was going on. She seemed very adamant about that.”
Relief settled into me as I staggered, holding onto the wall.
Of course, Aurora would be adamant about that. Because I had told her what happened with Heather and the baby. Of course, Aurora would be thinking of me when she had been mugged.
“Do you know what happened?”
“She’s speaking with the police right now, but from what she said, someone said her name, tased her, stole her purse and phone, and then kicked her in the hip. She has some bruising and is going to be sore for quite a while but is fine. No permanent damage. Now, why don’t you go talk to her because I see the cops are leaving.”
I stood there, frozen in place as I tried to move forward, as I tried to tell myself that this was fine.
I couldn’t go through this again. I couldn’t lose her again.
No, that wasn’t right. I had lost Heather. I hadn’t lost Aurora. They weren’t the same person.
I couldn’t do this.
But then I was moving, because she couldn’t be alone, and I could feel the nurse’s gaze on me.
I must have said thank you because she said you’re welcome, and then I was inside the room, looking at Aurora, who looked so tiny in that large hospital bed.
There was a bruise on her chin, and her face was scraped up a bit where she must have fallen. I wanted to murder the man that hurt her.
“Ridge. I’m okay. I’m so glad that they called the Wilders for me. I couldn’t remember anyone’s phone number. That is so stupid, right? I used to remember every single phone number, now that we have cell phones I don’t remember anything.” She was babbling, and I knew she was scared but was trying to calm me down.
How fucking selfish was I?
I crossed the room so I was standing next to her bed and cupped her unharmed cheek.
“Are you really okay?”
Tears filled her eyes and she blinked them away.
I would kill the man who had caused those tears.
“I’m fine. I promise. I don’t know what happened. It was a little scary. I don’t know how the man knew my name.”
That worried me, but I set it aside as something I would talk with Trace about. He had friends in the local sheriff’s office so maybe they would know more about what had happened. Because that was an anomaly. Someone who mugged you didn’t typically know your name.
“We’ll figure it out. Between Trace and me and the cops, we’ll find out who did this.”
“They took all my things. It’s going to take forever to get all those cards and everything replaced.”
“Get Elliot on it. Between him and Alexis, they’ll get it done in a couple of days.”
I wasn’t joking, and from the way that she smiled, she knew it.
“That is true. I just hate annoying people and taking their time.”
“Don’t be. Alexis said you were one of them. So you’ve been assimilated into the Wilder friends and family.” I winced. “I’m not good at this, Aurora. I’m just glad you’re okay.”
She frowned. “I’m sorry you had to come out here.”
“It’s okay. As long as you’re fine, we’ll figure things out.”
“We’ve got a code blue.”
More words came over the intercom and I froze, Aurora’s hand tightening on mine.
This was happening all over again. Aurora was bruised, hurt, and had been alone.
I couldn’t do this. My chest seized, and I felt like I was gasping for air.
“Trace is going to be here in a minute, and he and Alexis will make sure you have what you need so you can get home and rest.”
She frowned, confused.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, her voice breaking.
“I just, I know this is going to be a lot for you. I don’t want to be in the way. So I’m going to give you some space.”
I heard the words coming out of my mouth, and knew they were idiotic and a copout. But I couldn’t stop them.
There was nothing more for me to say.
“I’m really fine. Yes, I’m a little sore, but you don’t need to go.”
Someone shouted in the ER behind us, a baby cried, and all I could hear were the sirens and the screams of the dying.
It was as if a switch had gone off, and Aurora seemed to understand. Her hand fell from mine.
“Oh. Right. I’ll make sure Trace and Alexis are allowed to come back. And I’ll let Kendall know that my iPad is in the office, and that it has all my contacts and things. You know, the cloud and all that. Don’t worry about me. I’m really okay. Why don’t you go get some air? I know this has to be a lot for you.”
She kept speaking, but I couldn’t hear her words. The only sensation I knew was pain.
Suddenly Elliot was there, and I remembered that he volunteered here during his free time, considering his previous job. I could feel the concern in his eyes when he looked at me, but then he was smiling at Aurora.
“Well, I guess you wanted to get out of inventory later. I see how it is.”
Aurora smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes.
“I know, right? I can’t help it. But don’t worry, I can maybe help from a chair somewhere.”
“No, you’re going to be resting. We’ll take care of you.” I staggered off the bed and reached out to squeeze Aurora’s leg to make sure that she knew I wasn’t leaving forever, I just needed air. But she winced at the contact, and I realized it must’ve been one of her bruises, so I fell back and nearly landed on Trace. I didn’t know how he was back here too, but maybe he was on a list somewhere. Maybe my mind wasn’t clicking correctly.
“Why don’t I take Ridge out for some air, and we’ll be right back, okay?”
The worry on Aurora’s face made me want to scream, made me want to hide.
But when I looked at her, I just saw Heather, and I knew I was going to throw up if I didn’t leave.
I didn’t even know what was happening, but then Trace was pulling me through doors and hallways that I couldn’t pay attention to, and then my hands were on my knees as I retched into a bush, memories assaulting me one after another.
“There you go. Get it out.”
“Fuck.”
“I get it. You’re okay. She’s not going to blame you.”
“I’m going to blame myself.”
“She knows what’s going through your head right now, we all do. Just breathe, okay? Then we’ll get back in there.”
“No, I can’t go back in there. I’ll just, I’ll see her, I’ll see her soon. I just, I need to go or I’m going to break, and I thought I was stronger than this.”
Trace pulled me up to meet my gaze and frowned.
“We’ll take care of her. She’s family now. But you are too, Ridge. Think about what you want. Because you’re just going to hurt both you and her if this is too much.”
“I didn’t expect her.”
A small smile played on his lips and he nodded. “We never expect them. But when they show up, they just knock you over and it takes every ounce of strength you have to keep standing. But it’s worth it, you know. You’re strong, Ridge. With all you went through? You’re so damn strong. Remember that. But don’t hurt her along the way as you’re trying to remember how strong you can be.”
“I saw Heather there, not Aurora. And I hate that because they are not the same. I don’t even feel the same.” I held up my hand. “That’s something I need to talk about with Aurora once I get it through my head, but right now we need to focus on the fact that she was hurt, and whoever hurt her knew her name, Trace.”
Trace’s eyes narrowed.
“Tell me everything.”
I shook my head. “That’s all I know.”
“Then we’ll figure it out. And we’ll keep her safe. But you need to breathe.”
“I need to go back in. But I can’t. I’ll follow you guys home. But I can’t walk in there.”
Trace gave me a sad look and nodded before he pulled out his phone.
I knew choices had to be made.
I needed to get my act together.
Someone had hurt her; someone had known her name.
And I had already been too late twice.
I didn’t think I’d get a third time.