Page 29 of Tripp

His words would haunt me forever.

“Tripp, I need you to stay calm.”

Calm? What the fuck? “What happened?”

Casey had gone to work this morning. Had there been an accident? She could have been hit; someone could have hit her car. She could have lost control. The possibilities raced through my head.

“Hey, stay with me.” He met my gaze. “There was an acc-incident. Casey’s pretty banged up. Shelby is looking her over, but we called for an ambulance.”

I jerked back, trying to move around him to get to my bike. I still had Penny in my arms. “Where is she?”

“Pops, here, let me have her. You can’t ride like a maniac with a baby on your bike.”

Penny let out a loud cry, reaching for me as I climbed on my bike. “Daddy.”

“Princess, Daddy has to go see about Mommy, okay? I’ll be back soon. I promise. Stay with your brother.”

“Tripp,” Gabe called out. “She’s over at the park. She’s going to need you to keep that head of yours in the game. All right, man?”

“Come on, we’ll go with you.”

“Dammit!” Phoenix cursed. His choice was simple though. He stayed with his sister.

“I’m taking Penny to the center. She’ll be safe there,” Gabe called out, taking her from her brother. “You go with him,” he said, pointing his chin my way. “Keep him out of cuffs, yeah?”

“I’ll do my best, Sheriff.”

I paced, my anger growing with each step I took.

“Any word yet?”

I shook my head. “She’s having scans done. They mentioned her arm, shoulder, and a CT of her head. The goose egg was worrying them.”

It was just me and Gabe in the waiting area, the others were on the way, but today had a lot of moving parts. Mainly, no one was prepared for this shit!

That was until Lori stepped into the waiting area. She gave me a squeeze. “Dani Lynn and Stella are at the center with Penny. She’s fine. They have all the kids in the craft room; she has no idea anything is wrong.”

“I didn’t want to leave her, but Casey needed me.” I scrubbed a hand over my beard. “Thanks, Lori.”

“I know you didn’t. It’s hard to leave them when bad things are happening around you. But there, she’s not alone; she has other littles to play with.”

“That’s all well and good, but is she safe there? Can someone get in to hurt her? That’s the kind of shit rolling around in my head.”

“The center is like Fort Knox. I assure you, an army of trained men would have a helluva time getting in there,” Gabe chuckled.

“The center is that guarded?” I asked, astonished. My head tilted to the side, my gaze on him. It was a safe haven for battered persons. Women, men, kids, everyone was welcome. I knew all of that, but making my brain calm down enough to listen was another thing altogether.

“Yeah, it’s that guarded. You gotta remember, that’s my kid in there. She has a duty to the people inside those walls. She wants them to feel safe. That means cameras on the entire perimeter. Bolted outside doors that only open with a fingerprint, retinal scan, or the code. Only four people have the actual code, and it changes every thirty days. Everyone that’s a part of the center has a full background check, SLED, military—you name it, we find it. The selected people that work there are programmed in with either their prints and or a scan. It’s overkill, but the last time there was a problem there, Kris and Lana were caught unawares outside. It almost cost Kris her life. The chances of something like that happening again are slim to none.” He shrugged.

“The boys are there as well. Derek and Carter have eyes on the cameras. If someone or something breeches the invisible fence, they’ll know it.” Lori chuckled this time. “It’s like nerd heaven in the security room. You’d think it was the White House.” She smiled up at Gabe. “Like Gabe said, Dani Lynn takes her job seriously. Besides all of that, there are four deputies stationed around on the street. Drew and Jacks will be heading that way as soon as their patrols are done.”

Gabe raised a brow at his wife.

“What? I got all the information, not just what you asked for. I knew he’d want it all. Y’all are cut from the same cloth, ya know?”

He laughed, wrapping his arm around her. “Thank you.”

I was thankful for her giving it to me straight. If nothing else, I could say I knew my little angel was safe. With that load off my shoulders, I went back to pacing.

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