Page 72 of Embattled Ever After

“Go ahead and pass out, babe,” Alex whispered in his ear. “We’ve got you. I love you.”

Okay. He let the darkness suck him under.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Alex didn’t know whatthe hell just happened, only what needed to happennow. Duncan had gone down hard—they both had—but when he’d landed she’d heard a definite crack. It had almost echoed the two gunshots she’d heard.

Alex didn’t see any blood, but if his pelvis had broken as she suspected, he could bleed out internally. They needed to get him inside to the emergency room and stabilize his injuries. She glanced around. “Everyone else okay?”

Shannon was sliding down from the cab of the truck parked at the curb, and John was circling the front. There was a man running out into the parking lot who looked vaguely familiar, but she didn’t linger on it. Duncan had to be her priority right now.

Zeke took off toward the hospital entrance, bellowing for a stretcher. In a minute, this place would be a madhouse.

Automatically, she started taking vitals, and wished she had her stethoscope hanging around her neck. And her penlight. God, had he cracked his head too?

A man in blue scrubs appeared at her side and began going through the motions. He had his stethoscope already in his ears.

More people flowed from the hospital, and a stretcher rolled out. Questions were asked, and she had no idea how to answer them, other than to say Duncan was a veteran with a prior medical history and what she’d heard when they went down. The sound of the crack would echo through her mind forever. They moved him onto the stretcher, and even unconscious he groaned in pain.

Though she prided herself on her professional demeanor, her eyes filled with tears. This one was too close.

A heavy hand rested on her shoulder and she looked up at John. “He’s been through a lot. They’ll check him out and I’m sure he’ll be okay.”

Her eyes focused on a discoloration in his black shirt. “Is that your blood?”

John glanced down at the spots when she pointed them out. “I’m fine. It’s not me. It must be the other guy.”

Alex grabbed the shirt of a nurse. “We have another injured in the parking lot. Grab someone and come on.”

She took off running. There were sirens screaming in the distance, surely coming this way.

Chad and Zeke were out on the lot, scanning vehicles. The third man, dressed in a heavy coat, seemed to be headed toward a specific one though. She followed him, because the blood had to be his.

The men converged on the black truck first. Zeke and Chad had guns drawn, but the third man didn’t seem as concerned. “He’s gone.”

Alex drew close enough to see his face and gasped. “Aiden?”

The man turned to her, giving her a sheepish look when he realized who it was. “Hey, Doc.”

She shook her head, dazed. “What the ever loving hell are you doing here? I don’t understand what’s going on. Are you bleeding?”

He winced and pulled back when she reached for him. “I’m not going to hurt you, damn it,” she growled. “I never did. Why are you looking at me like that?”

Aiden lifted a dirty hand to rub his face. “I know, doc. Old habits. I don’t think I’m hit.”

Obviously, the adrenalin was flowing through his body. That blood hadn’t been John’s, so it had to be Aiden’s. “Let me look.”

She stepped forward and pushed his coat wide. She found where he’d been grazed by a bullet on his left deltoid. Living in Kansas City she’d seen more than her fair share of bullet wounds. The coat was cut completely through, leaving a three inch gash in his skin. It wasn’t deep but fairly wide. “What the hell is going on, Aiden?”

He was looking into the empty truck bed at the deserted rifle. There was a large puddle of blood there, running along the corrugation of the metal. Zeke and Chad were sweeping the area, looking for the man who had shot at them, and the owner of the blood.

But again he avoided her question. “Is Duncan okay?”

Her throat tightened and she fought the need to run and check on him. “I’m not sure. He broke something when he fell. I’m not sure what.”

Wincing, he let her apply pressure to the cut.

“Now,” she said firmly. “What the hell is going on? Why were you protecting John?”

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