Page 65 of Justice for JoElla

“JoElla?” She wheeled to find Jerrica three feet from her, and the nurse’s mouth dropped open. “Oh my god! What happened? Are you hurt?”

All JoElla could manage was to point and whisper, “Brandon.”

Jerrica spun and took off at a dead run. JoElla hadn’t thought the little blond could move that fast, but apparently looks were deceiving. She could hear Quint’s voice as he asked a nurse’s aide, “Could you find something for her to wear and point us to somewhere for her to clean up?”

“Sure,” the young woman answered.

“Come sit down,” Quint ordered and took her by the elbow.

“Brandon. I can’t leave Brandon. I have to wait to see if he’s okay.”

“We’re not leaving, honey. We’re just going to sit down until they can bring you some scrubs or something to change into.” That was the moment when JoElla looked down at herself.

They could’ve heard her wail two blocks away. Every sad, hurt, frightened second of her life was there in the room with her. There had been three people in her life who’d loved her?her mom and GrannyFaye had loved her. And Brandon said he loved her. She didn’t have any reason to not believe him. Everything he’d done, including throwing himself into harm’s way, he’d done for her. And what had she said to him?I love you too, dumbass. Wow. Those might’ve been the last words she’d ever say to him, and she’d said that? JoElla was hurt and frustrated with herself. Regardless of the mistakes he’d made, Brandon had shown her nothing but affection and concern. As she sat there, pondering it all with a man she barely knew sitting beside her to comfort her, there was some yelling and someone stopped in front of her. “JoElla!”

She looked up and into Brandon’s eyes. Of course, they weren’t his?they were Landon’s. A glance at Quint told her he was confused. “Twins,” she said in way of explanation.

“Oh. Hey, I’m QuintAxton. I was visiting the sheriff’s department here when all of this happened. Your brother is in surgery.”

“Yeah, that’s what Jerrica told me. The nurse who was out here talking to JoElla a few minutes ago?”

“Oh! Small? Blond?”

“Yeah. She’s my wife.”

“She’s down there too.”

“JoElla, what the fuck happened to Brandon?”

Quint’s voice was like smoldering iron. “Hey, cut her some slack. She’s had a helluva night, almost got herself killed and?”

“It’s okay, Quint. I owe Landon an explanation.” She straightened and looked into those familiar eyes. “I went to meet someone and Brandon followed me. He certainly wasn’t supposed to. And when that person tried to kill me, Brandon threw himself in front of me.”

“Who was this ‘person’?” Landon said, practically spitting the words.

“LanceMargolis.”

Landon’s brow plummeted downward and his lips took on a huge frown. “The police chief?”

“Yeah. Apparently he wanted me dead. And it turns out he was the one who shot me during the original shooting. From what he said, he had the gang bangers on the hook and they flubbed because he thought they’d kill me, but they didn’t. The whole damn thing was a setup and they sacrificed that kid just to pull it off. Plus saving me made him a hero too. He just wanted me incapacitated so I’d leave the force. He was afraid I’d become chief before he had a chance to. And when Roy hired me, that scared him.”

“And where is this asshole?”

JoElla pointed to Quint. “Dead, I’m pretty sure. Brandon wasn’t the only one who followed me.”

“Thank god for that,” Quint mumbled.

Landon rolled his eyes. “Yeah. No shit.”

JoElla stared at Landon. “You’re not mad at me?”

“Why would I be?”

“Your brother got shot because of me.”

“No, my brother got shot because hefollowedyou. You had nothing to do with that. Did you know he was there?”

“Yeah. Caught him sneaking in. Told him to stay his ass right where he was.”

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