Page 73 of Fast Fury

She swallowed, trying to force the prickly obstruction down, but it wouldn’t budge. Instead it grew, filling her windpipe until she could barely breathe, the memory of the gun kicking in her hand so vivid it was as though it was happening all over again.

Had she killed him? Hit someone else by mistake?

Her stomach twisted, bile rushing up her throat. The shaking got worse, an uncontrollable tremor that rolled through her in waves. She shut her eyes, tried to block everything out.

Kai. She wanted Kai.

“Ma’am?” the security guard said.

Abby didn’t respond, just squeezed her eyes shut and struggled to hang on to the last shred of her control.

“Somebody bring her a blanket,” he called out.

She barely heard him, fighting the sobs that burned in her chest. Everything faded out. Sounds around her blurred, voices became indistinct. She couldn’t even feel her fingers clutching Walter’s hand anymore.

“Abby.”

That deep, familiar voice penetrated the thick fog she was in.

“Hey. Shortcake, look at me.”

She opened her eyes, raised her head. Searching for the source of that voice.

Warm fingers grasped her chin gently, tipping her face up to meet concerned dark brown eyes.

Kai. He was kneeling in front of her, a worried frown puckering his brow. “Abby, say something. Are you hurt?” His voice was urgent as he swept his hands over her arms, her sides. Checking for injuries.

The knot in her throat burst free. A hard, dry sob ripped out of her. Releasing Walter’s hand, she reached for Kai.

Kai cursed under his breath and caught her to him, his big, strong arms locking around her back. “Sweetheart, are you hurt anywhere?”

She shook her head and buried her face into his shoulder, her bloody hands clutching fistfuls of his shirt. God, they’d almost died tonight.

“Okay, it’s all right,” he soothed, one big hand coming up to cradle the back of her head. Protecting her, sheltering her.

But he couldn’t take away what had happened. Or what she’d had to do.

“Is he…d-dead?” she ground out between chattering teeth. God, she was shaking apart, her bones aching.

The hand on her hair tightened, pressing her face harder into the wet fabric stretched across his chest, the warm muscle beneath it. “Yes.”

Her face scrunched up as another sob tore loose.

He made a soothing sound. “I’ve got you, shortcake. Just hold on tight.” Scooping her up into his arms, he got to his feet.

“No—” Abby lifted her head and twisted around to see Walter. “I can’t l-leave him.”

“The paramedics are taking care of him. See?”

Her blurry gaze found the uniformed men loading her boss onto a stretcher. “But—”

“Where are you taking him?” Kai called out to them, correctly guessing what she’d been about to ask.

“Memorial,” one of them answered, and went back to tending Walter.

Kai carried her over to another paramedic. He pronounced her banged and scraped up, in shock, but otherwise uninjured.

“She should probably go to the hospital and get checked out, just in case,” the paramedic said.

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