Chapter Eighteen #3
Nick held up his phone when she started asking him questions and tilted his head toward the hallway.
Cash nodded, and he ducked out. Nick took a screenshot of both photos and sent them to Burke’s cell phone with a message.
This is the guy who put the stolen tools in Tyler’s truck.
Possibly Mick’s nephew or even great-nephew.
Burke called him in under a minute. “I thought I told you to stay out of it.”
“You’re welcome,” Nick replied.
Burke chuckled. “How’s Rue?”
“Doctor is with him now. Hopefully, they’ll run his tests and send him home. Hoping to be out of here in an hour.”
“You just jinxed yourself. I’ll see what I can find out about Quinton Carson. Do me a favor.”
“Name it,” Nick said.
“Text me when you hear what the doc has to say.”
Nick really wished he could change his bet. “Absolutely.” He disconnected the call just as a retching sound reached his ears.
Rue was leaning forward with a barf bag to his mouth when he stepped back inside the triage room. Nick hoped that wasn’t a sign of a concussion.
“Let’s order some scans to be on the safe side,” Dr. Rashid said when Rue finished vomiting.
She threw away the bag in the hazardous waste container and gave him a clean one.
“Maybe it’s a result of your adrenaline crashing, but you could have a concussion.
” She typed rapidly on the laptop and then gave Rue a gentle smile.
“Orders are in. A nurse will come by when they’re ready for you. ”
Rue groaned when she left. “Now I’m hungry again.”
Cash ruffled his hair. “Maybe we can do saltines and ginger ale soon. Let’s find out what the tests say first.”
As Burke predicted, Nick had indeed jinxed them.
Rue didn’t get cleared to leave for another five hours.
Nick volunteered to bring the car around while Cash waited for Rue’s prescription muscle relaxers.
He, amazingly, hadn’t broken or severely injured anything.
The doctor said he’d have bruises and discomfort, but that was it.
Nick pulled his phone out of his pocket to text Burke when he stepped through the automatic sliding doors.
The sound of a fast-approaching vehicle caught his attention.
Nick turned his head and held his hand up to shield his eyes from the bright headlights.
An older, square body truck screeched to a stop in front of him. He recognized Tyler behind the wheel and Owen in the passenger seat. There was someone sitting hunkered over between them. Alarmed, Nick pulled on Owen’s door handle.
“What the hell are you guys doing here?” Nick asked. “Cash told you to stay home where it’s safe.”
“We couldn’t take it anymore. We needed to see Rueben,” Owen said.
“We borrowed Finley’s truck because no one would tie it to the ranch,” Tyler added.
“Who’s your friend?”
The guy sitting in the middle of the bench seat lifted his head. Hollow hazel eyes stared back at him, and Nick immediately knew who he was looking at. He was as forlorn as Cash had described, but he now sported early signs of severe bruising on his face. “Keegan, right?”
“I got away,” Keegan rasped. He swayed forward like the words had drained the rest of his energy.
Nick knew from who, but he had to ask. “Who did you get away from?”
Keegan tried to speak but nothing came out but a dry sob. He swallowed hard and tried again. “Samuel, but that’s not his real name.” Keegan’s voice sounded as fragile as he looked.
“I think we better get you checked out inside,” Nick told him. “You don’t look so good.”
“Slashed their tires,” Keegan replied, then shook his head. “Rueben was always so nice to me.”
The guy wasn’t making sense, so he turned to Tyler and Owen. “Tell me everything.” Unfortunately, they started talking on top of one another. “One at a time,” he said with patience he didn’t feel.
Tyler and Owen had gotten restless, borrowed Finley’s truck, and headed to the hospital.
Along the way, they encountered Keegan, who resembled a ghost or zombie in the headlights.
He was staggering around on the side of the road.
They recognized him and stopped. Keegan was trying to walk to the ranch after escaping Salvation Anew’s compound.
Keegan’s head fell forward. “Tried to beat the gay out of me.” His breathing didn’t sound right. Nick thought he might have broken ribs.
“Fuckers,” Tyler hissed.
Keegan tilted sideways, and his head landed on Owen.
“Did he say anything to you that made sense?” Nick asked.
“We got it in bits and pieces,” Tyler told him. “We put them together, and Keegan confirmed our interpretation with a nod.”
“They tried to kill Cash,” Owen said. “Cheered when the emergency call came through the scanner. They forgot to secure the lock on Keegan’s room in all their excitement.
When they found out Rue got hurt, not Cash, they bragged about taking one of us out and vowed to go bolder and bigger the next time. ”
“Samuel Jeremiah did this? He cut the brake lines?” Nick asked.
Keegan lifted his head long enough to give a subtle nod.
“His name isn’t Samuel,” Owen said. “The guy who framed Rueben goes by Brother Quinton, and he slipped and referred to Samuel as Mick once.”
Keegan swayed sideways into Owen again.
“Keegan stole a knife and slashed their tires so they couldn’t follow him. Thinks they won’t know he’s gone until morning.”
“We need to get you inside, Keegan,” Nick said.
“I don’t have money,” the young man replied.
“I do,” Cash said.
Nick turned and found Cash and Rueben behind him. He hadn’t heard them approach.
“Rue!” Owen and Tyler called out.
They rushed to hug their friend while Cash and Nick helped Keegan out of the truck. He wobbled between them when his legs struggled to hold him upright.
“We’ve got you, Keegan,” Cash soothed as he held the younger man close. “Everything will be okay now.”
Rueben snagged a wheelchair out of the ER and wheeled it over.
“Sit down before you fall down, Kee,” Rue said gently.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Keegan managed when Nick and Cash eased him down in the chair.
Rue kneeled down in front of Keegan and took both his hands. “I heard what you said. You were very brave.”
Nick got out his phone again to call Burke when the man in question pulled up outside the ER.
“We called him on the way in,” Tyler said. “Don’t worry. We told the nice dispatch lady about Salvation Anew listening to the police scanner. She said she’d call his cell phone instead.”
Burke jogged over and stopped when he saw Rueben and Keegan with clasped hands. “Replaced me already?”
Rueben smiled up at him. “Not a chance.” He introduced Burke to Keegan as his future husband, and he introduce Keegan to Burke as the witness that will put Salvation Anew away.
Burke gently shook Keegan’s hand. “You’re very brave. Let’s get you checked out first. Then we’ll talk some more.”
Cash sent Rueben home with Tyler and Owen and made them promise to text when they got there. The rest went back inside the emergency room.
Nick looped an arm around Cash’s neck. “You sure know how to show a guy a good time.”
Cash wrapped his arm around Nick’s waist. “This is almost over. I can feel it in my bones.”