Page 67 of The Leaving Road

Doc and Louise also showed up minutes after the chaos, and in the most shocking turn of events, Louise pulled me into a fierce hug and dabbed away the tears in her eyes when she saw my neck and Sloan’s face.

Doc was stumbling over himself in apologies since he had asked me to get Peaches and that this happened at the clinic. I could see the guilt written all over his face.

“I made a stupid decision to go out alone, and I wasn’t thinking when I didn’t set the alarm. It was my fault.”

“It was hisfault,Magnolia, whoever that man was. Don’t you dare blame yourself one bit,” Louise said, once again shocking me as she stood up for me. Sloan stayed almost eerily quiet throughout the exchange, but his eyes never left me for very long. Even when he was being questioned, only a few seconds would pass before he was actively seeking me out.

I’ll never forget what I felt in the moment when Sloan stood in front of the gun for me, the moment he tried to get him away from me by lying to him about opening the safe, the moment he attacked a man with agunfor me. He didn’t even hesitate, notonce.

I walked over to him and slipped my hand in his. “What do you say we grab Peaches and go home?”

“Home?” he questioned.

“Yeah, home.” I smiled at him and his gaze intensified, sending goosebumps all over my body.

I’m done fighting this.

Doc practically fell over himself to help get Peaches and the puppies loaded into my truck, demanding I take a minute to sit down and relax while Sloan and I were looked over again by the paramedics on site. It made sense that they came to do one last check on us since it seemed they knew Sloan.

“Man, you got so lucky. I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Thanks, Ted, means a lot,” he said to the paramedic.

“Listen, I don’t have to tell you that you have a concussion. You know the protocol. Follow it. Go to the hospital if you feel off in any way, you got me?”

I responded before Sloan even had a chance, “Don’t worry, he’s staying with me. I’ll watch him.”

I didn’t miss the way the corners of Sloan’s mouth ticked up at my answer, and he shifted his body even closer to me and tugged on my elbow.

“Louise said she’d drive us home, and Doc would drive separately with the dogs. I called Jace and Lexie; they know what happened and Lexie is demanding we come straight home.”

I shot a knowing look at him, and despite the night’s events, I found myself smiling at Lexie’s response. “Sounds like a plan.”

I held my hand out for him, and without hesitation, he grabbed it, leading me to the car so we could head home.

He quickly opened my door, put me in the front passenger seat, and buckled my seatbelt for me. I could barely stop myself from letting out a moan when his fingertips grazed my sides. I noticed how he froze, then shot me a look that made my body shake with want. Thankfully, Louise didn’t have much to say and didn’t catch our heated moment only a few seconds ago. Everything Sloan and I wanted to talk about was going to be better left behindcloseddoors.

Pulling up to the house, I saw Lexie standing on the porch, and I wanted to curse at her because it really was going to collapse with her on it one of these days if Jace didn’t get it fixed soon. She looked like a disheveled mess, and her hair looked like she had been obsessively running her hands through it. As we got closer I noticed her red-rimmed eyes, and I knew she was feeling the effects of tonight as well.

Wasting no time, she flew down the porch and reached the car, yanking open the door. She didn’t even unbuckle me before tossing her body halfway into the car and pulling me to her.

“Magnolia! I swear, I told you not to go anywhere. Youpromised,and this is what happens. Have bad horror movies taught younothing?”she ranted and raved at me, all while holding me in an intense hug. Finally, she let me go and pulled away from me, staring at my neck and then back at Sloan—it was like she sensed what he had done for me. She looked back at him and mouthed, “Thank you,” before pulling me out of the car.

Doc pulled in just a few seconds behind us, and I noticed Jace was on the porch, watching us all pull up. He held an immensely guilty expression and suddenly, I feltawful.I knew he was going to blame himself for what had happened, and hereally shouldn’t.I was a bit of a pain in the ass about wanting to get out of the house.

Sloan climbed out after me and met Doc at his truck before he had a chance to get out. He promptly started to get Peaches and the puppies out of the car.

“Would you guys like some help?” I asked.

“No, that’s okay. Go inside and shower the night away. Then we can talk.” His tone left no room for discussion.

Talk…I wanted to domuchmore than talk.

Chapter 42

Sloan

For the last few hours, I was very aware of the fact that my heart was beating outside of my chest, and it would be wherever Magnolia was. Seeing her with the gun pointed at her, feeling her latch on to me, seeing her run back into the clinic to help me… I was besotted. She wasitfor me. I didn’t care if it took five minutes or fifty years to convince her.She’s mine.

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