Although it seemed like it should be just the opposite, being around her calmed him. She wasn’t quiet or meek, so he didn’t understand why that was. Where was she? He’d been keeping an eye out the window, thinking she should’ve been home by now. Hopefully, she hadn’t had a last-minute emergency, especially another poisoned pet.
Whether or not Maria could narrow down his search of the suspect’s car to a reasonable number with only the first two letters of the license plate remained to be seen. He’d given her the info on the model he thought the car was, and with that and the letters, he hoped she could give him a list to start working on.
He was feeling pretty good about the decisions he’d made. Letting Riley into his life for however long she could put up with him, agreeing to see the head doc, and this morning, e-mailing everyone he knew even vaguely who was still in Afghanistan—sending them a picture of Layla—were all positive steps in getting his head screwed back on right. Seeing the doctor meant he’d have to face whatever had happened that was giving him nightmares, but he was finally ready to deal with it. Yep, he was feeling good that he was finally taking control.
At another glance out the window, he saw that the sun was starting to set, and if she didn’t get here soon, they were going to miss watching it together. Where the hell was she? He took the bottle of beer out of the freezer before it exploded and put it in the fridge.
There was nothing left to do until Riley arrived, and he realized that even more than the sex they had put on the agenda for tonight, he just wanted her with him. Not that he wasn’t looking forward to the sex. He wasn’t going to kid himself about that, but it was more than that with her. Too restless to stay inside, he decided to wait for her on the porch.
“Wanna go out?” Both dogs jumped up and ran to the door. Before he could reach them, his phone buzzed, Riley’s name popping up on the screen.
“Hey, darlin’. You get delayed?” At the sound of heavy breathing, he frowned. “Riley?”
“Hel-help.”
“Riley! Where are you?” No response. Phone in hand, he grabbed his keys. “Stay,” he said when the dogs tried to follow him. Not bothering to lock the door behind him, he slammed it shut on his confused dogs and ran to his truck. The only thing he knew to do was to drive from his house to her clinic, watching for her car.
He was two blocks from his destination when a siren sounded behind him. With a glance in the rearview mirror, he saw a cop car, lights flashing, on his tail. Eyeing his speedometer, he saw that he was traveling far faster than the residential speed limit. Too bad. The cop could just follow him.
His tires squealed when he took the turn into her parking lot, the persistent police car still on his bumper. The front lot was empty, and he sped to the back where she parked her car. If she wasn’t there, he didn’t know what he’d do.
As soon as he came around the corner and saw Riley facedown on the pavement, his heart fell so hard that he thought he was having some kind of attack. He screeched to a halt, shoved the gear lever into Park, and almost fell out of his door trying to get to her.
“Riley!” he yelled, running to her. When he reached her, he dropped to his knees and put his fingers on her throat, looking for a pulse. “I’m here, darlin’,” he said, willing her to respond. She didn’t, but he let out a relieved breath when he felt the blood flowing through her neck vein.
“Don’t move her.”
Cody looked up at the cop standing over them, recognizing him as the man who’d taken her out. “Call for a fucking ambulance.”
The officer was already speaking into his radio, giving an address for the rescue squad. Cody petted her shoulder, not knowing where else he could safely touch her. He wished Doc were here. His friend would know what to do.
He leaned close to her ear. “Wake up, darlin’. We were supposed to watch the sunset together, but that’s all right. We can do that some other time. You just need to wake up.”
She moaned.
Let her be okay, he prayed, something he hadn’t done since they’d lost Evan Prescott on an operation in Afghanistan. His prayer hadn’t work then, but he refused to go there. Sirens sounded in the distance. The cop knelt on the other side of her, and Cody glared at him for getting close to her.
The cop glared right back. “Hey, man, I know she prefers you, but she’s still my friend. Don’t be an ass.”
Cody gave a terse nod as he took Riley’s hand in his. Her skin felt so damn cold and clammy. “Why haven’t you caught who’s doing this?” he demanded. If the cops had done their job, Riley would be sitting on his porch, drinking her slushy beer while he fed her grapes.