Page 51 of The Chance

“We’ll get you upstairs. Laird can handle anything else down here, right?”

“Of course.” Laird said. He covered Aubrey with his suit coat. The warmth…helped. “Let’s get her upstairs before she goes into shock. We have an open fracture here, people. Let’s get Aubrey upstairs before we have compromised circulation.”

People moved around even faster. She was almost barely aware of it.

“I owe you one for this, McCoy. Don’t ever forget it. She’s my… everything,” Guthrie said. She heard him. And she liked the idea of being hiseverything.

Because he, and Ayla, werehers.

“Yeah, women like her, they don’t come around often. If I ever find another one, you’d better believe I’m going to take the chance.”

She heard the men’s words, but…she was safe now.

Aubrey finally gave in to the darkness threatening her.

Guthrie would take care of everything now.

43

Guthrie waited.He decided that for the rest of his career, he would never forget how horrible it was to be the one waiting like this. First with Genesis and then with Aubrey.

Someone sat down next to him. He looked over, into his oldest brother’s eyes. There was a baby in his brother’s arms. Guthrie just looked at that baby, thinking how that kid represented hope. He reached out—his brother passed him his new nephew without asking.

“I get it. Why you were so… terrified. When it was Ronnie back there.” Guthrie told him. “I’m not so sure I wouldn’t have been tearing these walls apart to get to her if it had been my woman and kids back there. You have far more restraint than I do.”

“I think Genesis had her friends in the ER slip me something, actually. Otherwise I would have.” George studied him. “You two are good together, I think. Same sense of compassion and kindness. I noticed it before.”

“She snuck under my skin fast.”

“They have a way of doing that,” Chad said, as he sank down in the chair next to Guthrie. Genesis was too busy pacing to sit. She was panicking a little. No denying that.

She was even worse than Ayla.

Poor kid. Gunn had brought her. Ayla was as pale as a ghost, her freckles standing out completely. While they waited.

Waited for Aubrey.

Guthrie was watching over her, but so was Greer and Giavonna and their mother—and Gunn. Gunn was hovering. No denying that, either.

None of them waited very well, that was for sure.

Finally, a big dark-haired man in green scrubs came into the waiting room. He turned toward Ayla first. Guthrie stood.

“How is she?”

“She’s in recovery. It was a relatively simple break to fix. She should be fully healed within the next six to eight weeks, as long as we keep her from overusing it,” Caine said, then gave Ayla a few more details. Guthrie, too. No one had missed how he felt about that woman.

He’d not deny it, either.

He was going to tell her first though.

“Can I go be with her?” Ayla asked, tears on her beautiful cheeks. “I just want to see her, please?”

“Of course. I suspect Guthrie can show you the way,” Caine said. He turned to Guthrie. “My father-in-law stopped me on the way down here. Dathan and the Laughlins are speaking with Mandy Kirby and Justin Michaels now.”

“Was Michaels the… one… everyone was looking for?”

Caine just shook his head. “No. He just stumbled onto Howard’s doings and felt conflicted about what he should do about it. Howard is his step-uncle, and family… families can be damned complicated. We’ll discuss everything more later. When Aubrey can be a part of the conversation. In the meantime… gobe with your woman. Every minute… every minute is precious. That is a lesson I have learned before.”

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