Page 99 of Thornhill Road

Evenhefeared that version of himself.

Mustang rode the ambulance’s bumper the whole way to the hospital.

He paid little attention to where he parked, but he did manage to kill the engine before he got out from behind the wheel.

As soon as the doors to the ambulance opened, Tess was jumping out, and a team of nurses and a doctor were there to help escort his baby girl inside.

“Oh, shit. Tess?”

Mustang jerked his head in the direction of Jenna’s voice. She was already gloved, her hair pulled back into a messy ponytail, obviously on duty that afternoon.

“She’s still not waking up,” said Tess. “Jenna, she’s overdosing.”

Mustang’s blood turned cold at the word.

The paramedics started relaying more information, the doctor in the lab coat asking questions as they all rushed into the emergency room, but Mustang could make sense of none of it. There was only one word circling around his brain.

Overdosing.

His four-year-old wasoverdosing.

When Tess was no longer of use, the ER staff busy at work in the bay they’d taken MK, she came to his side and took hold of his hand. Reflexively, he squeezed hers in return.

“They’re going to pump her stomach,” she told him. “It could take twenty minutes or so. Tell me what you need.”

He didn’t take his focus off his daughter as he muttered, “Need my girl to open her eyes.”

“I know. I know, babe, and they’re working on that.”

She hugged his arm, pressing her lips against his bicep comfortingly. His brow furrowed as it hit himwhereshe’d kissed. In the center of his tattoo. The tattoo he’d gotten in an attempt to memorialize another Mary-Kate he’d lost way too soon.

“Fuck,” he spat through gritted teeth. “Fuck!”

“Hey. Hey, look at me,” Tess demanded, cupping a hand around his cheek.

He found her golden-brown gaze and held on, desperate for the calm she still exuded.

“She’s in good hands. All we can do now is wait, babe. While we do that, you need to keep it together. Mary-Kate needs you to be strong. And I have every confidence that you will do that for her, because I know—to the depths of my soul—you would doanythingfor that little girl.

“And if you need a little help, well, I’m right here, sweetheart. I’m not going anywhere. If you want me to call Bull or Winnie or anyone? Just tell me, and I’ll do it. Whatever you need, Mustang. All you have to do is ask.”

He forced in a deep breath and let it out slowly, all the while drawing strength from the hand he still gripped tightly in his. When he felt a little less like losing his shit, he touched his forehead to hers and nodded.

“Need Bull. Winnie’ll be worried, too.”

“Okay. I’ll call them. I’ll call them right now.”

Before she could move away from him, he buried his fingers in her hair, gripping a fistful and keeping her close.

“I can’t lose her,” he whispered. “I’ll kill her. With my bare hands, Tess. If anything happens to my baby—”

She cut him off, pressing her lips to his in a hard, close-mouthed kiss. She hardly pulled away when she mumbled against his mouth, “If she’s anything like her daddy, and we both know she is, Mary-Kate isn’t going down without a fight. And so far as I’m aware, her daddy always wins—so I’m willing to bet, she will, too.”

Her words buoyed him, and he tightened his grip in her hair before delivering his own hard, close-mouthed kiss. Then he let her go.

“I’ll be right back. My phone is in my purse. I left it in Winnie’s car.”

She hurried toward the entrance, and he looked back at the bed that seemed to be swallowing MK. He folded his arms tight across his chest, the sight of a tube shoved down her throat making him want to come out of his skin.

---