Chapter 6
Walker sat in the hard plastic waiting room chair, legs crossed at the ankle, staring down at his dusty boots.
He wondered what was taking so long. He knew doing concussion protocols took time, but it seemed like he’d been waiting for an eternity, and the woman at the front desk wouldn’t say boo about how Serena was doing.
He was trying not to think how his heart almost stalled, seeing Serena lying there motionless. When he'd seen the blood on her temple, he’d wanted to maim whoever had harmed her.
To hurt whoever had hurt her as badly. Worse. Infinitely worse.
But he had to let Garrett do his job, had to step away when everything inside him told him to charge forward. He wondered how much of that was his need to be a hero for Serena.
Kujo stood in one corner of the waiting room, talking on his phone, presumably to Hank.
Walker hoped he was simply checking in and not reporting back that they were a bad bet.
He figured the man had come along to observe on how he interacted with the community.
After all, Kujo’s visit was a performance evaluation of a sort, even here at the hospital.
He thought about Garrett, about what a team player he’d been at and immediately after the shootout, and how the alphabet soup agencies who’d come along to chime in with their two cents when the dust had settled had shut him out and then made him look the fool.
No matter how much influence Taylor wielded within the press, especially after the movie, it hadn’t been enough to overpower the Marshal Service’s public relations juggernaut that’d followed the assault.
No one wanted to admit they’d screwed up, that they’d had a dirty agent, and shit rolled downhill.
The news cycle had moved forward, as it always did, leaving Garrett and his men in the dust.
He’d thought they’d come to a détente over last fall’s craziness, and Walker didn’t like the fact they could potentially be at odds over what had happened this morning because of it, since there was no way in hell he was stepping aside from the investigation into Serena’s assault.
In the past he might have let that kind of tension play out. See who came out on top.
Instead he knew he needed to fix it. He wanted this deal with the Brotherhood Protectors to go smoothly.
The five years he’d spent as a security specialist after he’d separated from the Army had been fine, but not what he wanted for the rest of his life.
He wanted what the Brotherhood Protectors had, a shared purpose that fed his soul.
His time guarding pampered celebrities and rooting out corporate espionage had left him cold, and now he wanted more, so much more.
So he would make nice with Garrett, maybe eat a little crow, even though it went against his nature. Because Serena’s safety was worth way more than pride.
As if summoned, the sheriff walked into the waiting area.
It struck Walker suddenly that maybe the sheriff’s general prickliness hadn’t been about the shootout at all.
What if the sheriff and Serena were a couple and Walker was unaware of it?
From what he’d seen, Garrett had been nothing but friendly and professional toward Serena, but they could simply be discreet.
In a town that thrived on gossip as much as it did oxygen, it would make sense that they’d keep a relationship close to the vest.
Had Walker steamrolled into the middle of a relationship, being all overly familiar and protective with Serena, with no regard to the possibility there was one?
The concept of it depressed him in a way it shouldn’t, since he had no claim on Serena anymore, beyond that of friendship.
If he’d screwed up in that regard, he had a bunch of apologies to make, and pronto.
He knew that the sheriff and their ranch manager Jesse had been married a long time ago, and that the divorce had been hard on both of them.
He only knew that much because of comments Jesse had made here and there.
But even if she wasn’t in a relationship now, it didn’t mean that Garrett wasn’t.
He stood, conscious of Kujo’s gaze on him as he did.
“Garrett,” he said conversationally. “I don’t really know how to ask this, so I’m just going to come right out. Did I step on your toes this morning with Serena?”
Garrett studied him for a long moment, then nodded.
Damn it. The man’s response stung in a way that had nothing to do with his pride, and everything to do with the fact that Garrett and Serena were together.
It wasn’t as if Walker had much to offer anymore, or so his exes claimed, but apparently somewhere deep there had been a little spark of hope that was now extinguished.
“I’m sorry about that. You probably know that Serena and I go way back to when we were teenagers. But I swear, there’s nothing but friendship between us now. Regardless, I’ll keep my distance from her from now on.” The words positively stung as they fell from his lips.
Garrett stared at him, absolutely befuddled. “What are you talking about?”
“You and Serena,” Walker said. “You two are a couple.”
Garrett barked out a laugh. It wasn’t jovial or pleasant sounding. “Serena and I are not together. I’m still harboring some mad over how the media treated me and my deputies last fall, and today I’m pissy that someone had the audacity to hurt one of my friends.”
Kujo had wandered over, having tucked his phone away, obviously listening.
“So you’re not…” Walker said and then let the sentence hang. Because from the grin that had morphed onto Garrett’s face, he and Serena were not, indeed, a couple.
Then Garrett’s smile turned into a grimace, reminiscent of that painful bark of laughter.
“The love of my life hates my guts,” he said, then changed the subject.
“While we’re waiting to hear what the doc says, walk me through the scene, and then talk to me more about this whole Brotherhood Protector thing. ”
Ignoring the wave of elation that surged through him at Garrett’s statement, Walker ran through the description of the man he’d seen fleeing The Menagerie and what he’d done in the minutes following the incident.
He wished he had more to add, but his glimpse of Serena’s attacker had been so fast there hadn’t been much for him to divulge but the basics.
He was pretty sure he’d recognize the man again, simply based on his height and weight and the way he’d moved.
In his estimation, the man’s training probably hadn’t been military, he hadn’t moved like the men Walker knew, but he’d been stealthy and light on his feet.
Like a thief. Walker hoped he wasn’t morphing imagined qualities onto the assailant and tried to only state facts.
Garrett and Kujo listened intently, with the sheriff interjecting questions here and there, but nothing new really materialized, so Walker moved on to Last Light’s new incarnation while he kept one eye on the doors leading into the ER.
He reiterated what Kujo had said earlier about the Brotherhood Protectors, restating the fact they did not want to get in law enforcement’s way.
Garrett’s posture seemed to relax with each word, as did Kujo’s.
When Garrett nodded in approval, Walker gave an internal sigh of relief.
At the very least, he thought this part was going to turn out all right.
So he turned his attention from the Brotherhood Protectors and Garrett Hanson and returned it to where it belonged. Serena.
Serena walked into the waiting room, more than ready to head home after having adamantly refused the wheelchair.
She wasn’t surprised to see Walker, along with his friend and Garrett Hanson huddled in one corner, deep in conversation.
Neither Walker nor Garrett were the type to leave her unattended.
It was a weird feeling to be looked after, she realized, when she had been so used to being hyper independent, even in her relationships.
It was Garrett who stepped forward first, cowboy hat in hand.
“We need to discuss what happened,” he said.
“And I’m not talking about your assault, at least not completely.
Until we figure out what’s going on, I don’t know that you’re safe at The Menagerie.
I’m assuming Lila wants someone to keep an eye on you as well, at least for the short term. ”
He delivered the words in a steady monologue that dared her to interrupt--or disagree.
Everything inside her went tight. Not because he was wrong, but because he was putting everything Lila had said, and she had felt, into what felt like an order.
He was telling her she had to leave her home.
She didn’t like that one little bit, even if the push-back wasn’t totally rational.
Then Walker chimed in and made it even worse.
“You can stay at the ranch. We’ve got extra rooms in the main house or you can stay in one of the cottages.
” He turned to Garrett. “Quentin will come down and do some recon, then we’ll install a security system at The Menagerie.
Right now he’s working on what it’ll take to integrate our systems with the Brotherhood Protectors’ if we’re given the green light, but that’s not as much of a priority as Serena’s safety. ”
“Wait a damn second,” she said, holding up one had in a stop motion. All of the men focused their attention on her.
While she could appreciate and understood their concern, it didn’t mean they could steamroll over her without even asking her thoughts. She pointed a finger at Walker and pulled all her past experience at working with men who didn’t listen to the forefront.
“You don’t get to decide what I’m gonna do and not do. Old times be damned.” She turned to Garrett. “Don’t you think you’re overreacting? What if it was a simple burglary?”
Garrett seemed to weigh her words while Walker choked on a response. The fact she’d made them slow their roll was satisfying, until it wasn’t. Her safety was what was driving their actions, and now she felt a little petty.