Cowboy Up(89)

“Clay,” Mav whispers, pointing to the red smear that looks like someone dragged a body down the hall.

“Caroline!” I scream, rushing forward and following the trail, Mav hot on my heels. I hear more footsteps rushing up the porch and I have no doubt that Sheriff Holden didn’t waste a second following me.

“No,” I pant, coming into my office and seeing a nightmare coming to life. My world stops spinning a second later when I see through the cracked door of the office bathroom the delicate hand lying limp—the hand adorned with the rings I had put there.

“Holy hell,” someone says behind me.

I jump over the very dead woman on the floor in the middle of my office, noticing that not only is her head missing, she’s got a knife sticking out of her chest, directly under her collarbone.

My girl fought.

“Linney, love?” I sob, pushing the door open enough to get into the bathroom. “God, darlin’.” My knees slam into the floor and I reach out to check her pulse, feeling instant relief blast through the dark pit of dread that had settled over me when I find one, though it’s weak. “Get an ambulance here, now!” I bellow out. “Stay with me, baby. You stay with me, Linney.”

I rock her in my arms and pray, plead, and beg. My throat burns and my eyes sting. I bury my face in her neck, breathe her in. Her limp body is heavy in my arms, her face drained of color.

“Ambulance is five out,” Mav says, his own voice betraying his calm outer appearance. He grabs a towel off the rack and presses it against her leg. “She’s gonna be okay, Clay. Believe it. Ain’t room for any other outcome.”

I shake my head, my tears falling faster. I don’t say a word. Not while my brother helps to stop the blood flowing from her leg, pulling my shirt she’s wearing down to cover her underwear. When the paramedics burst through the door and take her from my arms, though, I break. Break into so many pieces that I know if something happens to her, I’ll never put them back together again.

The stretcher makes her look even tinier than normal. The men work on her for only a second before rushing down the hall. I jump from the floor and sprint after them.

Mav grabs my arm, stopping me from getting to the ambulance. I turn and punch him in the face when the ambulance door shuts, one of the men yelling out that they’re on the way to the hospital in Law Bone and taking off without me—taking my everything away from me.

“Get in the fuckin’ truck,” Mav demands, spitting and wiping his split lip with the back of his hand.

He stomps toward my truck, not looking to see if I’m following. We both climb in, and he punches the gas while I hunch forward to push my hands through my hair. Silence and the sound of my engine speeding through the night ring in my ears, the vision of Caroline lying in a pool of blood, lifeless, etched in my brain.

“She’s gonna be okay, Clay.”

“I’m nothin’ without her,” I mumble, feeling the pain of my words like a knife to the heart.

“Stay strong. She needs you fightin’ too.”

“If she doesn’t—”

Mav slams his palm against the wheel and bellows a string of curses. “Shut the fuck up. You’ve got another ten minutes before we get to the hospital, and I fuckin’ swear, you better fix your shit by then. You’re doin’ her no good already placin’ her in the ground when she fought to make sure you never gotta know what it’s like to not have her. You fight, knowin’ she’s doin’ the same.”

I blow my air out and lean against the seat, closing my eyes and doing my best to bat the fear back. The vision of Caroline as I saw her last makes it hard, but finally we pull up to the emergency room entrance, and I’m out and rushing into the brightly lit waiting room.

“Caroline Davis. My wife. She was brought in by ambulance.”

The young nurse nods before typing something into the computer in front of her. “She’s here, but I don’t have any news right now. If you have a seat, someone will be out as soon as they can tell you more.”

“I need to be with her,” I tell her frantically.

She gives me a sad smile and shakes her head. “I’m sorry, sir. It’s hospital policy.”

“Come on,” Mav says, taking my shoulder and turning me to walk over to one of the empty seats.

And we wait.

We wait and I pretend my world isn’t ending.





28


CAROLINE


“Wake Up Loving You” by Old Dominion



The heavy weight against my hand is the first thing I notice.

The warmth from that weight, the second.

With the cobwebs in my mind, though, it’s hard to register much of anything else.