Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
L arissa was about to use her crutch to make the man blocking her move.
“I really don’t want to hurt you, but if you don’t move—”
A tall man stepped out of the door, holding Eryn.
“We need to get her to the hospital.”
Larissa looked around, searching for a vehicle they could use. “Someone find the keys for one of the trucks!”
The man holding Eryn laid her down on the porch then took off.
“She needs the hospital!” Larissa ordered, lowering herself to the ground.
“Who has the key for the tan truck?” Knox’s sharp voice rang out.
“They’re in Tanner’s pocket,” one of the men sitting on the ground in a group spoke up.
Larissa started examining Eryn, finding her pulse dangerously low.
“Eryn, can you hear me? Eryn?”
Her eyes opened. “Larissa?” she whispered.
“I’m here. We’re going to get you to the hospital. Are you in pain?”
“No, I’m just cold … I tried to get Tanner to turn the heat on, but he said we’re out of oil.”
“We’ll get you warmed up.” Larissa took off her coat to place it over her.
“I’ve got the keys,” Knox said, bending down to lift Eryn into his arms. “Shade, you drive them.”
Larissa hobbled after Knox and Shade toward the large tan truck. Shade opened the back seat door for Knox then hurried to the other side to help slide Eryn along the seat. Before he could shut the door, Larissa tried to climb up.
“ Oof .” Larissa found herself sitting in the back seat and the door slammed shut next to her before she could draw another breath. Immediately, she began examining Eryn as best as she could while being jostled when the truck started moving.
“I’m going to die, aren’t I?”
“You’re not going to die,” Larissa assured Eryn, despite her doubts.
“I screwed up so bad. Dusty found out I was having an affair with Tanner, that the kids weren’t his, and he left me. He and Tanner were friends. He swore he’d never tell Dusty, but they got drunk, and Tanner let it slip. I don’t even know why it mattered to him. He didn’t care about them even when he thought they were his.”
“It’s okay. Don’t worry about any of that now. Just think about holding this precious baby.”
“Don’t. I’m not stupid. They won’t let me keep any of my kids when Knox tells them what Tanner was doing in my house. Once Dusty left, Tanner moved in with his buddies and turned my home into a lab. I didn’t try to stop him. I didn’t want him leaving me like Dusty.”
“Was that why Tanner wouldn’t let you come into your appointment yesterday?”
“No, he wouldn’t let me leave because he knew I would have called the sheriff on him for not letting that woman leave.”
“The woman in the house?” Shade asked from the front seat.
“Dusty quit making house rent payments. Tanner wouldn’t give me the money to pay it because he was waiting for a buyer to come today to buy his merchandise. He said we would clean the house out after the buyer left, and he would buy me my own house. The woman showed up yesterday, said she had bought the property and would give me time to pay the rent.” Eryn gave a sobbing cry, clutching her stomach. “I guess I felt that, huh?”
Larissa swallowed hard, seeing tears slip out of the corners of Eryn’s eyes.
“It won’t be much longer. We’re almost at the hospital.”
“Tanner was high and thought the buyer had sent her to scope out how many men he had. He was always paranoid about someone stealing his stash. He wouldn’t let her leave and locked her in one of the bedrooms upstairs. He promised me he’d let her go today after the buyer came.
“Last night, I was in bed when I woke up to hearing her screaming and went to the room where she was locked inside. Tanner was trying to rape her. I started hitting him, and she got loose and started running down the stairs. I got away from him and went to the kids’ room to get my baby. He caught up with me at the top of the stairs, and we started fighting. He didn’t mean to make me fall down. His buddies caught the woman and brought her back before she could get out of the house. Benie told her if she tried to escape again, he’d kill me and my babies. She stayed even when the shooting started, despite me not calling the police when Tanner wouldn’t let her leave.” Eryn started crying harder. “I hurt so bad …”
As she talked, Larissa took Eryn’s pajama bottoms off to examine how far dilated she was.
“I know you do.”
“How many children are in the house?” Shade asked, bringing the truck to a stop in front of the emergency entrance.
“Three.”
Shade put the truck in Park and slid out of the truck with his cell phone to his ear as he hurried inside the emergency room.
Larissa opened the truck door and was sliding herself out when the sliding door opened and Lana and two orderlies came rushing outside with a gurney.
Lana’s eyes flew to hers. “I’ve been worried sick,” she snapped as the orderlies maneuvered Eryn out of the truck.
“I’m fine,” Larissa assured her. “We’ll talk about it later.”
Lana’s anxious gaze switched to Eryn.
“She’s eight centimeters dilated. Her pulse is slow and thready,” Larissa started rattling off Eryn’s stats as they went through the sliding door. “She fell down a flight of stairs yesterday. We need to get an ultrasound—”
“I’ve got this,” Lana stopped her from entering the triage room. “You have to let me handle it from here.”
“I’m her midwife. I can be in there,” she argued with her sister.
“Not after holding you hostage. Anything goes wrong, you could lose everything you’ve worked for. Dr. Price is on his way down from the second floor. Once he’s here, he’ll take over for me. Go wait in the waiting room. Priscilla is on her way.”
Larissa stepped and had to watch as the door closed behind Lana.
She went to the restroom, where she washed off, her mind still on Eryn. Leaving her was hard to do, but knowing Lana wouldn’t handle over Eryn’s care until Dr. Price got there was assuring.
The waiting room was empty except for Shade, who was standing by the front door, talking on his cell phone. Taking a seat, she leaned the crutches against the wall.
When Shade finished the call, he sat in the seat in front of her.
“I thought you had left,” she said uncomfortably. There was something about Shade that always made the hair on the back of her neck rise.
Shade shrugged. “I thought I’d stick around until the others arrive.”
“What others?”
From what she had witnessed, everyone shot at Eryn’s needed a coroner, not a hospital.
“My friends are bringing Eryn’s children to be checked out.”
She had been so focused on Eryn that she had forgotten about the children. “I should have called Knox.” Angry at herself, she asked Shade, “How are they?”
“Knox thought they seemed okay, despite the conditions they were living in.”
Larissa frowned. “Their living conditions?”
Shade’s expression made her stomach plummet.
“How did I let her fool me so badly? I should have—”
“How could you have known? Knox is the sheriff, and he didn’t. Unless a report is made, no one would investigate. Usually, they pick out-of-the-way places to remain unnoticed, get regular jobs, and mingle with people in town so no one will grow suspicious of where their money is coming from. Treepoint’s been clean the last few years. They were good; they sailed under Knox’s radar.”
“Eryn told me they just moved to town about eight months ago.”
“Makes sense, then.” Shade’s eyes dropped to her shoulder. “You should get that wound taken care of.”
“I will after Lana comes out.”
Her sister was going to be furious she had been grazed by a bullet.
Looking down at her shoulder, she saw the black color of her sweater had hidden the bloodstain. How had Shade seen it when her sister hadn’t?
The door slid open, and a group of men walked inside. Moon was carrying a baby wrapped in his jacket. Viper was holding one who was chewing on her fist.
Their young age made her emotions swirl. She liked Eryn, had felt them growing closer with each of the appointments.
A door opened, and two nursers came out to take the children back to the emergency room.
As the emergency room door opened again, Knox walked in with a girl who appeared to be fifteen or sixteen. The girl’s appearance had Larissa’s hand going to her mouth. Long brown hair was in total disarray, she was more dirty than clean, and the clothes she wore hung off her tiny frame. It took her several minutes as Knox talked to a nurse and the girl sullenly listened, refusing to give her name each time Knox or the nurse asked, for Larissa to realize what was off about the girl. She was barefoot.
When the nurse tried to take the girl’s arm, she jerked away and tried to run out of the door.
“Leave me alone!” she screamed frantically.
Seeing Knox was about to stop her, Larissa spoke up.
“Come sit by me.”
The girl spun in her direction.
Larissa patted the hard plastic chair next to her.
Looking caged, the girl glanced at the door, which the men had moved to stand in front of, then looked back at her. Slowly, she started toward her, giving her a suspicious look as she sat down two chairs over from her.
“I want to leave,” she said with hostility.
“From the way things look, I don’t think that’s going to be an option.”
“Are they going to take me to jail?”
Larissa gave her a gentle smile, despite the girl glaring at her. “I’m guessing not.”
“Is Eryn okay?”
“They’re working on her right now.”
“Then she’ll be okay. Doctors can fix anything,” she said assuredly.
She hated to disillusion the girl, but she had a terrible feeling it would be a wasted effort.
“Is Eryn your mom?” Larissa asked her curiously.
“No, she’s my aunt.”
She pressed her lips together and didn’t respond. Larissa didn’t want to press her, since her legs were shaking under her thin pants.
“Larissa,” Priscilla called, walking in from the entrance with Crazy Bitch and Ginny. They rushed toward her.
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re bleeding.”
“It’s just a nick.”
Priss started to reach for her sweater.
“We’ll take care of it later.” Larissa nodded her head to the young girl, who was watching Ginny as if memorized. “Priscilla, Crazy Bitch, Ginny, this is Eryn’s niece …”
Put on the spot, the girl looked shyly toward Ginny. “My name is Lennon.”
“It’s very nice to meet you, Lennon.” Ginny smiled at her, holding her hand out.
“I’ve seen you on TV.” Awestruck, the girl’s tough veneer disappeared into a gushing teen.
The women all sat down. Ginny sat next Lennon, soothing her when Knox approached to talk to her.
“Ah … to be that young again,” Priss observed.
Larissa rolled her eyes. “It’s not been that long.” Turning toward Crazy Bitch, she became more somber. “I’m sorry.”
“I guess I’ll let you off the hook this time since you got all shot up and shit.”
“I appreciate your understanding.” She grinned.
Knox finished talking to Lennon, then went to talk to Viper and Moon, who were standing just a couple of feet away.
“I’m going to have to call Child Services,” Knox told Viper. “They’ll have to find a placement for all three of them. Going to be hard to find someone for all three, especially with two being so young.”
Moon looked at his watch then at Viper. “You got this? I need to hit the road unless you’ve changed your mind about me leaving?”
“No, you can go. We’ve got this. Thanks for your help.”
Eavesdropping despite telling herself to stop, Larissa tuned out what Priscilla was saying. She watched Viper fist-bump Moon and Shade ignore the same gesture when Moon moved his hand in his direction.
“You talked to Wizard since Viper told him you’re moving back to Ohio?” Shade asked Moon.
“Not yet. I thought I’d wait to get his reaction when I get there.”
“He’s not happy,” Shade informed him chillingly.
“I’m not either.”
Moon is leaving Treepoint? Her hand unconsciously went to her belly. Should I tell him?
Licking her dry lips, she stood undecidedly for a second then made up her mind. She couldn’t, in good conscience, keep the information from him.
She took a step toward them and prepared herself to face the most humiliating experience in her life.
“I’m sure it won’t be long before Viper lets you come back,” Knox joked, breaking the tension between the two men, hitting Moon on the back good-naturedly.
Larissa changed her mind and took a step back. There was no need to rush. She had eight months to let Moon find out he was going to be a father.