Page 193 of Hold Me Until Morning

Then it was anger that surfaced, as if he’d had to work up to what this really meant. Standing, he scuffed a hand over his face before he was glaring at Cody. “I’m going to deal with this through a friend of mine at the Feds, but I need it quiet. I can’t have this scandal marring the reputation of the ranch. As for you…”

Cody couldn’t stop shaking as the man stared at him in repulsion. “I’m disgusted that you got involved in this to begin with, but I am grateful that you came to me in the end. So, here’s what’s going to happen…you’re going to get in your truck and drive off my ranch. You’re going to turn your back and act like none of this ever happened and thank your lucky stars that I’m not turning you in, too. Beyond that, I don’t want to ever see you again.”

The man steeled his voice. “Not here on my property, not in this town.”

He leaned in closer to prove a point. “And if I ever catch you talking to my daughter again which you can be sure I’ve noticed the way you’ve been doing? I’ll make sure you won’t have the capacity to make that mistake again. Stay the hell away from her. Do you understand me?”

Cody’s nod was a jolt of relief.

“Good. Now get the fuck out of my face so I can deal with this mess.”

FORTY-FOUR

HAILEY

I’d heard that it only takes one event to reform the entire shape of your life.

One moment to construct a different mold.

One second to reconfigure the truth of what you knew.

I trembled in the aftermath of it, my mind trying to process the catastrophic incident from earlier this afternoon.

My spirit screamed with the horror of what I had brought to this town.

With what I had caused.

With what I had done.

“Would you stop it?” Cody rumbled.

“No, I won’t stop it.” I could barely speak around the rawness of my throat.

“While I appreciate your fretting, darlin’, I can promise you it isn’t necessary.”

I inhaled a shaky breath.

I couldn’t calm down.

Couldn’t soothe the dread.

Couldn’t assuage the fear that he could have been killed.

He could have been killed.

Because of me.

Because of me.

“I think it’s very necessary.” I choked out the words as I tried to help Cody from the front seat of my Durango. It wasn’t like I could support the weight of the man, but God, I was going to try.

Cody eased out onto his feet, sporting a grin like this wasn’t a big deal and he hadn’t spent the last six hours in the ER being treated and observed. “I barely got a scratch.”

Disbelief left me on a shaky exhale as I tried to hold onto his wrist that didn’t have any bandages on it.

“Barely a scratch? You have stitches in four different places, bruised ribs, a cracked collarbone, and a severe burn on your arm.”

Shattered glass had been imbedded all over his body, impaling him like darts as he’d been sent rocketing back like an arrow. The explosion had burned him, his hair singed, and it’d scorched his forearm and hand that had been closest to the truck, and they said it was likely he’d suffer some permanent hearing damage.

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