Page 63 of Break My Fall

Meredith collapsed back onto the floor. “We’ll be okay, then.”

Gray didn’t know what to do with that so he tucked it away in his mind for later. Bronwyn leaned against Gray’s shoulder as they watched Carol run Meredith through a few tests before she allowed her to sit up.

“I have the mother of all headaches.” Meredith squinted at her aunt.

“You may have a concussion. You have a goose egg on the back of your head, a nice scrape on your face that’s going to be fun foryou for the next few days, and your pants are ripped. Were they ripped before? Or is that new?”

Meredith grinned at her aunt, and when she did, Gray finally allowed himself to believe that she really would be okay. He couldn’t keep sitting here. He was no one to her. Not even a friend. Not anymore. And he had a job to do. Even still, it took everything he had to stand up and walk away.

He stepped outside.

Donovan met him on the sidewalk. “Chief, I’ve got both of their purses. They were beside Bronwyn’s car. I’m guessing they dropped them when they were tackled.”

“They weren’t tackled.” Brick Nolan, one of Gray’s deputies, shook his head. “You tackle someone standing still, everybody goes down pretty close to where they started. They landed in the middle of the daggum road. I found a bracelet a foot from the center line. I think it’s Bronwyn’s. Whoever hit them shoved them into the road. This wasn’t no accident. It was attempted murder.”

SEVENTEEN

After a trip to the ER to confirm that her head wasn’t permanently damaged, Meredith spent Monday night into Tuesday morning in her childhood bed so her mom could check on her every few hours. She’d forgotten how uncomfortable it was to sleep in a twin-size bed and insisted on going home on Tuesday.

She slept better in her own bed but woke up on Wednesday morning with a raging headache, a body that hurt everywhere, and a deep sense of dread.

Sounds from the kitchen told her that Mo was in her house, making her breakfast. “Mo?”

“Yo,” he called back.

“Go home.”

“You want eggs? Or oatmeal?”

She rolled over and bit back a scream.

“Smoothies for everybody.” Mo sounded way too cheery.

“Everybody?”

“Morning, Mer.” Cal’s voice floated up the stairs.

She eased from her bed and down the stairs. The two men in her kitchen watched her with unconcealed protectiveness. If Mo wasa boiling cauldron of anger, Cal was a swarm of hornets. Both of them kept their emotions in check when they were with her, but she knew them too well. They were primed and ready for battle. The slightest hint of danger would set them off.

“How’s the head?” Cal asked.

She ignored him and walked into her bathroom. She took care of business and then looked in the mirror while the whirring of the blender drowned out the sound of her dismayed whimper. The scrapes were a little better. The bruising was worse. She’d have to text Bronwyn later this morning and see how she was doing. At least Bronwyn had had the good sense to keep her head from the pavement. But her knees and elbows were probably several times their normal size by now.

She walked into her kitchen, went straight to her medicine cabinet, and grabbed some pain reliever. Mo shoved a smoothie in her direction, and she took it. “Thank you.” She swallowed the pills and squeezed in between her brother and her cousin. “Good morning.”

The arms that came around her were gentle.

She took a sip of her smoothie and bumped her head against Cal’s shoulder, wincing at the jolt of pain. “I know why Mo is here. Why are you here?” When he didn’t respond with a pithy comment, anxiety licked through her veins. “What is it?”

“Gray called this morning.”

Meredith didn’t want to think about Gray. The look on his face as she climbed into Mo’s Jeep Monday night kept popping into her brain. He didn’t have any right to look at her like that. He didn’t want her. He didn’t choose her. He didn’t get to hold her hand. He didn’t get to make her feel safe.

“He got a hit on the truck that tried to run you down. It was stolen from Tennessee three days ago.”

“Are we surprised by that?” Meredith took another sip. Moreally did make fabulous smoothies. “You have to be a special kind of moron to try to run someone down in your own vehicle.”

Meredith walked around her small counter and settled into a seat at the kitchen table. Tiny house living was awesome for one person. Maybe two. But three, especially when two of the three were men in a bad mood? Things were a little cramped in that situation.

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